Engineering Commons^™

Slides: Appropriate Sustainable Energy Technologies: A Light To The World, Lakshman D. Guruswamy, Jason B. Aamodt, Blake Feamster

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Jason Aamodt, Attorney; Adjunct Professor, University of Tulsa

15 slides

Agenda: A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint For The American West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, University Of Colorado Boulder. Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute, Western Resource Advocates, Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.)

A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint for the American West (Martz Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The future of the planet may depend upon our ability to increase energy supplies even as we reduce carbon emissions. This conference will address how a low-carbon energy program might evolve with a particular focus on the American West. It will focus on the future of energy in the West--on a “managed transition” to a different energy mix, on the need to nest this effort in a framework that acknowledges interconnections, and on identifying the most salient opportunities to consider the legal, political, financial, and technical challenges.

Multipolymer Interactions In Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices, Grant Olson

Physics

Multipolymer photovoltaics, single layer devices made up of multiple photoactive polymers, can create organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with a wider spectral response than single polymer systems without the difficult fabrication of a tandem. Our group has successfully created multipolymer solar devices with 2% power conversion efficiency. We have analyzed the optical and electrical properties of these devices, and found that it may be possible for polymers to assist each other with charge extraction, though combining polymers disrupts single polymer crystallinity.

Dynamic Modelling Of Single Phase Grid Connected Photovoltaic System, Gopi Krishna Ari

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) power systems have been sustaining an exponential growth rate during the past decade. This steep growth is driven by a growing concern about climate change, the adoption of an aggressive regional renewable portfolio standard, rebates and tax incentives, and reduction in PV system cost. One of the main technical barriers that can ultimately limit further PV penetration is the fast variations in the PV system's output power induced by cloud transients. Such events are known to cause voltage fluctuations which may lead to excessive operations of voltage regulation equipment and light flickering.

Solar irradiance variability, which can …

Solar Cell Design Using Metamaterials, Yang Liu, Yitung Chen, Jichun Li

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Natural structure with simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability has not been discovered yet. However, using specially-designed metal embedded in dielectric bodies can achieve a kind of artificial negative index. This periodic structure which is smaller than the guided wavelength is known as a metamaterial. However, recent designs of metamaterials have some disadvantages when they are used in the application of solar cell. The perfect absorption is only within a narrow band, and for most of the solar spectrum, the absorption is no more than 10%. Here, a new kind of absorber for the solar spectrum has been designed and analyzed, …

Improved Photovoltaic Performance Of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells With Modified Self-Assembling Highly Ordered Mesoporous Tio2 Photoanodes, Ziqi Sun, Jung Ho Kim, Yue Zhao, Fargol Bijarbooneh, Victor Malgras, S X. Dou

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Strategies for improving the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are proposed by modifying highly transparent and highly ordered multilayer mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes through nitrogen-doping and top-coating with a light-scattering layer. The mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes were fabricated by an evaporation-induced self-assembly method. In regard to the modification methods, the light-scattering layer as a top-coating was proved to be superior to nitrogen-doping in enhancing not only the power conversion efficiency but also the fill factor of DSSCs. The optimized bifunctional photoanode consisted of a 30-layer mesoporous TiO2 thin film (4.15 mm) and a Degussa P25 light-scattering top-layer (4 mm), which …

Effects Of Atomic Layer Deposited Thin Films On Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Performance, Jonathan A. Campbell, Mervyn Deborniol, Attila J. Mozer, Peter J. Evans, Robert P. Burford, Gerry Triani

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

"The application of thin titania films by atomic layer deposition on top of a low temperature nanoparticulate TiO₂ electrode was found to enhance the performance of dye sensitized solar cells. Dynamic measurements of photoinduced charge extraction showed that the atomic layer deposited top coat increased the electron lifetime at the same electron density. This was attributed to an increased electron trap concentration, which resulted in slower charge transport and increased charge carrier lifetimes.

Technical Feasibility Of Storage On Large Dish Stirling Systems, Charles E. Andraka, K Scott Rawlinson, Nathan P. Siegel

Faculty Journal Articles

Dish-Stirling systems have been demonstrated to provide high-efficiency solar-only electrical generation, holding the world record at 31.25%. This high efficiency results in a system with a high possibility of meeting the DOE SunShot goal of $0.06/kWh. Current dish-Stirling systems do not incorporate thermal storage. For the next generation of non-intermittent and cost-competitive solar power plants, we propose a thermal energy storage system that combines latent (phase-change) energy transport and latent energy storage in order to match the isothermal input requirements of Stirling engines while also maximizing the exergetic efficiency of the entire system. This report takes an initial look at …