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DOE outlines research needed to improve solar energy technologies
August 15, 2005To help achieve the Bush Administration's goal of increased use of solar and other renewable forms of energy, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has released a report describing the basic research needed to produce "revolutionary progress in bringing solar energy to its full potential in the energy marketplace." The report resulted from a workshop of 200 scientists held earlier this year.
"The tax credits contained in the historic energy bill signed by President Bush will greatly help expand the use of renewable energy," said Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, Director of DOE's Office of Science. "This research will help improve a critical component of renewable energy, solar technology, in the future. Increasing the use of renewable energy is a clear way to help meet our growing energy needs using environmentally-friendly power sources."
Every hour more energy from sunlight strikes the Earth than is consumed on the planet in a year. Yet today, solar electricity provides only approximately one thousandth of the total electricity supply. The report notes that a "huge gap between our present use of solar energy and its enormous undeveloped potential defines a grand challenge in energy research" and that "sunlight is a compelling solution to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy in the future."
The report notes that progress in the proposed research could lead to: artificial "molecular machines" that turn sunlight into chemical fuel; "smart materials" based on nature's ability to transfer captured solar energy with no energy loss; self-repairing solar conversion systems; devices that absorb all the colors in the solar spectrum for energy conversion, not just a fraction; far more efficient solar cells created using nanotechnologies; and new materials for high-capacity, slow-release thermal storage.
The report further notes that revolutionary breakthroughs come only from basic research and that, "We must understand the fundamental principles of solar energy conversion and develop new materials that exploit them."
Solar energy conversion systems fall into three categories: solar electricity, solar fuels and solar thermal systems. Workshop participants considered the potential of all three approaches. They identified 13 priority research directions with the "potential to produce revolutionary, not evolutionary, breakthroughs in materials and processes for solar energy utilization." Cross-cutting research directions include: coaxing cheap materials to perform as well as expensive materials; developing new solar cell designs that surpass traditional efficiency limits; finding catalysts that enable inexpensive, efficient conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels; and developing materials for solar energy conversion infrastructure, such as transparent conductors and robust, inexpensive thermal management materials.
DOE/US Department of Energy
Solar Energy Current Events and Solar Energy News RSSChemists describe solar energy progress and challenges, including the 'artificial leaf'
Scientists are making progress toward development of an "artificial leaf" that mimics a real leaf's chemical magic with photosynthesis - but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.
Toward home-brewed electricity with 'personalized solar energy'
New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities.
Berkeley Researchers Find New Route to Nano Self-Assembly
If the promise of nanotechnology is to be fulfilled, nanoparticles will have to be able to make something of themselves. An important advance towards this goal has been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) who have found a simple and yet powerfully robust way to induce nanoparticles to assemble themselves into complex arrays.
NC State Develops Material That Could Boost Data Storage, Save Energy
North Carolina State University engineers have created a new material that would allow a fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, far exceeding the storage capacities of today's computer memory systems.
Shifting the world to 100 percent clean, renewable energy as early as 2030 -- here are the numbers
Most of the technology needed to shift the world from fossil fuel to clean, renewable energy already exists. Implementing that technology requires overcoming obstacles in planning and politics, but doing so could result in a 30 percent decrease in global power demand.
Solar Cycle Driven by More than Sunspots; Sun Also Bombards Earth with High-Speed Streams of Wind
Challenging conventional wisdom, new research finds that the number of sunspots provides an incomplete measure of changes in the Sun's impact on Earth over the course of the 11-year solar cycle.
Gold Solution for Enhancing Nanocrystal Electrical Conductance
In a development that holds much promise for the future of solar cells made from nanocrystals, and the use of solar energy to produce clean and renewable liquid transportation fuels, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported a technique by which the electrical conductivity of nanorod crystals of the semiconductor cadmium-selenide was increased 100,000 times.
Key issues for the future of wind energy
The prestigious journal Energy Policy has recently reported two studies that highlight some key issues for the future of wind energy in Spain.
Scientists uncover solar cycle, stratosphere and ocean connections
Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according to research appearing this week in the journal Science.
Connections among solar cycle, stratosphere and ocean discovered
Subtle connections between the 11-year-solar cycle, the stratosphere and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according to research results appearing this week in the journal Science.
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