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Major grant drives forward cost efficient solar power
September 14, 2004Whether the search for alternative energy sources is driven by our concern about global fossil fuel supplies or over the atmospheric effects of burning of fossil fuels, the government has laid out its aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60% of 1990 levels by 2050, and aims to over- achieve its goal of sourcing 10% of energy from renewables by 2010.
In a significant step to achieve these targets, an enormous £4.5 million award has been made under the UK SuperGen programme to drive the search for cheaper solar power. The grant, made by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is the largest awarded under the SuperGen programme, which finances the sustainable power generation and supply initiative.
Renewable sources such as wind wave and solar power are already being used to produce a small percentage of UK energy needs, but if the government's targets are to be met, the contribution needs to be more significant and the technology more cost-effective.
The technology used to derive electrical energy from the sun, photovoltaics, provides theoretically, the best solution, even in the UK, though current technology means that there are high 'front-end' costs to the technology, and consequently take-up has been low.
This new UK research into photovoltaics, or solar cell technology, has brought together 6 university and 7 industrial partners with the aim of finding novel ways for driving down costs and making solar power generation a cost-effective alternative.
"Renewable energy must grow and become more visible in the 21 century. To do this it must become cost effective. The aim of this research is to slash the costs of providing solar energy by half," said Professor Stuart Irvine, of the University of Wales, Bangor's School of Chemistry, who is managing the whole project.
"The high cost of solar cells is associated with the semiconductor materials that are needed to convert light into electricity. This project will look at ways of reducing the amount of expensive semiconductor material, such as silicon, while at the same time seeking ways to improve the conversion efficiency of light into electricity. This will have a double benefit where the cost of each solar panel will be reduced but will generate more renewable energy."
Wales Bangor, University of
The technology used to derive electrical energy from the sun, photovoltaics, provides theoretically, the best solution, even in the UK, though current technology means that there are high 'front-end' costs to the technology, and consequently take-up has been low.
This new UK research into photovoltaics, or solar cell technology, has brought together 6 university and 7 industrial partners with the aim of finding novel ways for driving down costs and making solar power generation a cost-effective alternative.
"Renewable energy must grow and become more visible in the 21 century. To do this it must become cost effective. The aim of this research is to slash the costs of providing solar energy by half," said Professor Stuart Irvine, of the University of Wales, Bangor's School of Chemistry, who is managing the whole project.
"The high cost of solar cells is associated with the semiconductor materials that are needed to convert light into electricity. This project will look at ways of reducing the amount of expensive semiconductor material, such as silicon, while at the same time seeking ways to improve the conversion efficiency of light into electricity. This will have a double benefit where the cost of each solar panel will be reduced but will generate more renewable energy."
Wales Bangor, University of
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Flax and yellow flowers can produce bioethanol
Surplus biomass from the production of flax shives, and generated from Brassica carinata, a yellow-flowered plant related to those which engulf fields in spring, can be used to produce bioethanol.
Is global warming unstoppable?
In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day.
'Hobbits' are a new human species -- according to the statistical analysis of fossils
Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease.
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Developing 'green' tires that boost mileage and cut carbon dioxide emissions
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Scientists Unravel Evolution of Highly Toxic Box Jellyfish
With thousands of stinging cells that can emit deadly venom from tentacles that can reach ten feet in length, the 50 or so species of box jellyfish have long been of interest to scientists and to the public. Yet little has been known about the evolution of this early branch in the animal tree of life.
Earth's early ocean cooled more than a billion years earlier than thought: Stanford study
The scalding-hot sea that supposedly covered the early Earth may in fact never have existed, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in 3.4 billion-year-old ocean floor rocks.
UT Knoxville and ORNL researchers turn algae into high-temperature hydrogen source
In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles.
Climate studies to benefit from 12 years of satellite aerosol data
Aerosols, very small particles suspended in the air, play an important role in the global climate balance and in regulating climate change.
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