Location

Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall

Start Date

3-12-2009 1:00 PM

Description

Increasing domestic and international demands for vital resources provide an impetus to develop novel energy-efficient technologies. This is a timely opportunity given some of the uncertainty over the availability and cost of fossil fuels in a period of growing energy demand in the U.S. and the rest of the world. This opportunity is also timely because of the growing concerns that several critical factors are driving climate change and generating the uncertainty of a sustainable future. However, we are entering this period of uncertainty with a vast storehouse of scientific discoveries and engineering innovations that give us reason to hope that these challenges can be overcome. The true challenge is to harness these opportunities in a systematic and sustainable manner to "reengineer" our energy and material world.

Our goal is to develop and employ tools inspired by concepts of system engineering to address critical issues related to energy production – its conversion, its use, and its storage with an emphasis on sustainable energy sources that are environmentally friendly and renewable. In this talk, I will present our ongoing efforts in tuning traditional systems approaches to probe fundamental questions in the design of energy-efficient, renewable technologies. Specific examples include (i) the development of novel energy-efficient, photocatalytic advanced oxidation technologies, (ii) evaluating a platform for the potential conversion of aquatic weeds to cellulosic ethanol, and (iii) the synthesis of alternative thermochemical cycles for hydrogen production. I will also briefly describe some extensions of our systems work to biotechnology applications and towards the design of advanced materials.

Comments

Downloadable file is a PDF of the original event flier.

COinS
 
Mar 12th, 1:00 PM

Designing Renewable Energy Systems via Systems Engineering Approaches

Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall

Increasing domestic and international demands for vital resources provide an impetus to develop novel energy-efficient technologies. This is a timely opportunity given some of the uncertainty over the availability and cost of fossil fuels in a period of growing energy demand in the U.S. and the rest of the world. This opportunity is also timely because of the growing concerns that several critical factors are driving climate change and generating the uncertainty of a sustainable future. However, we are entering this period of uncertainty with a vast storehouse of scientific discoveries and engineering innovations that give us reason to hope that these challenges can be overcome. The true challenge is to harness these opportunities in a systematic and sustainable manner to "reengineer" our energy and material world.

Our goal is to develop and employ tools inspired by concepts of system engineering to address critical issues related to energy production – its conversion, its use, and its storage with an emphasis on sustainable energy sources that are environmentally friendly and renewable. In this talk, I will present our ongoing efforts in tuning traditional systems approaches to probe fundamental questions in the design of energy-efficient, renewable technologies. Specific examples include (i) the development of novel energy-efficient, photocatalytic advanced oxidation technologies, (ii) evaluating a platform for the potential conversion of aquatic weeds to cellulosic ethanol, and (iii) the synthesis of alternative thermochemical cycles for hydrogen production. I will also briefly describe some extensions of our systems work to biotechnology applications and towards the design of advanced materials.