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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
Fossil Current Events and Fossil News RSSGene expression in alligators suggests birds have 'thumbs'
The latest breakthrough in a 120 year-old debate on the evolution of the bird wing was published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.
Thinking it through: Scientists call for policy to guide biofuels industry toward sustainability
As the United States and other nations commit to the path of biofuels production, a group of scientists is calling for sustainable practices in an industry that will, as MBL scientist Jerry Mellilo says, "reshape the Earth's landscape in a significant way."
Emissions rising faster this decade than last
The latest figures on the global carbon budget to be released in Washington and Paris today indicate a four-fold increase in growth rate of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions since 2000.
Are we trading energy conservation for toxic air emissions?
A team of Yale scientists has found that certain countries and some U.S. states stand to benefit from the use of compact fluorescent lighting more than others in the fight against global warming. Some places may even produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting.
Carbon sinks: Issues, markets, policy
With reducing carbon emissions on the national agenda, a group of expert panelists will discuss methods, markets, testing and policy issues on how carbon sinks or carbon sequestration may be used to reduce atmospheric CO2.
CO2 emissions booming, shifting east, researchers report
Despite widespread concern about climate change, annual carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and manufacturing cement have grown 38 percent since 1992, from 6.1 billion tons of carbon to 8.5 billion tons in 2007.
Growth in the global carbon budget
Today the new Global Carbon Budget was launched simultaneously by Global Carbon Project co-chair Michael Raupach in France at the Paris Observatory, and in the USA at Capitol Hill, Washington by GCP Executive Director Pep Canadell.
Modest CO2 cutbacks may be too little, too late for coral reefs
How much carbon dioxide is too much? According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need to be stabilized at levels low enough to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." But scientists have come to realize that an even more acute danger than climate change is lurking in the world's oceans-one that is likely to be triggered by CO2 levels that are modest by climate standards.
Long-term study shows effect of climate change on animal diversity
Two species of giraffe, several rhinos and five elephant relatives, along with multitudes of rodents, bush pigs, horses, antelope and apes, once inhabited what is now northern Pakistan.
IMPACTS: On the Threshold of Abrupt Climate Changes
Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn't received much attention. That's about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS - Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions - a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.
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