Energy Generation
We use energy all the time, from powering our buildings and electronic devices to transportation and the industrial processes. For the past two hundred years we have relied on fossil fuels to generate this energy, from burning coal and gas to generate electricity, to combusting oil in our vehicle engines. While many scientists pointed to this earlier, it is only in the past three decades that the dangers of burning fossil fuels have become appreciated.
Most countries around the world now accept that we need to replace fossil fuels, but it is difficult. Fossil fuels are convenient, widely available, and, until recently, the cheapest source of energy.
The climate crisis is already impacting many communities across the globe, and these impacts are only set to increase. We must transition to non-carbon emitting sources of energy, fast. Replacements in the form of renewable energy sources must be as cheap and readily available as fossil fuels, as energy is vital for a good standard of living.
While solar and wind energy can provide cost-competitive alternatives to fossil fuels in many regions, there remains much to do before we can make an effective transition. Renewables are not as compact a source of energy. Oil, coal, and gas have had the benefit of many millions of years of extreme heat and pressure in the Earth鈥檚 crust. Solar and wind energy installations can take up a great deal of space. For many applications this is not an issue, solar panels can be installed on rooftops, wind turbines on hills or offshore, but there remain many applications, a primary example being transport, where this low energy density is a challenge.
Here are just some of the ways in which several of the Research Foci are making advances in this Impact Area:
Fusion Power
- Development of theoretical models and understanding of plasmas and reactor geometries for fusion reactions.
Solar Power
- Analyses of solar cells installations in different locations around the globe and the local impact of these instillations.
- Development of new photovoltaic materials for converting solar energy to electricity.
- Detailed characterization of photovoltaic materials, enhancing understanding to inform future materials design.
- Development of new device structures, such as tandem silicon-perovskite cells, to enhance efficiency and affordability.
- Evaluation of the robustness and reliability of new solar cell technologies.
- Evaluation of how to best integrate solar power into the power grid.
Wind Power
- Development of more efficient turbine designs
- Development of computational simulation models to inform the location of wind farms and turbine installation locations.
- Evaluation of how best to integrate wind power into the power grid.