AWD 3302: Project Files

Title: Title of Assignment

Author: Daniel Doherty

Date:

As oil reserves diminish and concern for the environment increases, cities will increasingly be required rely upon renewable energy to provide basic services to the residents of their communities. In addition to decreasing oil reserves, switching to renewable sources of energy is necessary if the world is to be perserved for future generations. However, cities have limited space and the types of renewable energy sources available are limited by geographical location and climate. Boston is limited by its geographical location to solar and wind power to supply a majority of its renewable energy if it is to eventually become 100% dependent on sustainable sources. In order to achieve this goal, renewable energy sources must become economically viable and be able to compete with traditional sources of energy on the open market. Solar technology is currently very expensive to implement and suffers intermittent power generation due its dependence on the sun shining directly onto solar panels. In addition solar panels suffer from low energy efficiency, losing much of the sun's potential energy to the form of heat. The problems with the economics and energy efficiency of solar technology must first be resolved if cities are going to become 100% renewable energy dependent.^[i.n.]

Cusick, Daniel (2013). Fossil Fuel Use Continues to Rise. Scientific American Global RSS

Daniel Cusick is a reporter for American Scientific^[i.n.] who frequently writes about topics concerning the intersection of renewable energy and the economy. This article comments on the increasing use and dependence on fossil fuel despite concerted global efforts to reduce carbon emissions through the expansion of clean and renewable energy sources. Cusick discusses recent 2012 data that show that reliance on fossil fuels continues to increase, largely due to the increasing urbanization of third world continues and the increase of natural gas production via shale fracking in the U.S.^[i.n.] This article is mainly a summary of recent fossil fuel production data from 2012 but does offer insight on the reasons behind the increase in fossil fuel consumption as a portion of the total energy market. Energy development remains a business, and traditional sources or energy continue to offer larger profit margins for energy developers and cheaper energy for the average consumer. This article underlines the main obstacle to renewable energy development, which is the economic viability of the energy program. Until sustainable and clean energy sources, such as solar, can compete with fossil fuels without government subsidization, the world, and especially developing cities, will continue to depend on traditional energy sources.

Renewable Energy Tax CreditU.S. Department of Energy (2015). Retrieved from http://energy.gov/savings/residential-renewable-energy-tax-credit

This information was retrieved from the U.S. Department of Energy's website concerning the tax rebates the U.S. government^[i.n.] offers to those individuals who purchase^[i.n.] solar power for their homes or businesses. In order to encourage renewable energy development in the United States, the government voted to extend the tax breaks offered in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2015 for those that purchase solar or thermal energy systems for their homes. The tax breaks are necessary as solar systems have high initial investment costs that most homeowners cannot afford. To promote development, the government voted to offer a 30% Personal Tax Credit to anyone who purchases a solar system prior to 2019, in order to offset the high investment costs. It is clear that the government recognizes the fact that most people do not have the required capital to make the switch to renewable energy, even if they wanted to. However, this program only offers the 30% tax credit until 2019, with a decreasing credit offered for renewable energy systems purchased prior to 2022. For the development of private solar energy systems to continue in the United States, the tax credit will have to be extended or there must be significant developments in solar technology that increase its economic viability for the average citizen. As there is no guarantee that the U.S. government will renew this tax credit before it expires completely in 2022, it is essential that increased funding be put towards the continued development of solar technology.^[i.n.] Solar energy can be made more affordable by increasing panel efficiency and the development of large-scale energy storage system capable of supporting urban population centers. By continuing to make solar energy more economical, small scale personal renewable energy development will continue in the United States, which could significantly impact climate change and reduce carbon emissions if enough individuals participate.^[i.n.]

Yu, J., Gao, J, Hummelen, J.C., & Heeger, A.J. (1995). Polymer Photovoltaic Cells: Enhanced Efficiencies via a Network of Internal Donor Accepted Heterojunctions. American Association for the Advancement of Science

This article was written by a group of researchers at the Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids at the University of California at Santa Barbara, who tested various polymer blends in photovoltaic cells to observe the effects on the electron transfer rate and efficiency of the panels. This article focused on an alternative approach to designing solar panels with the use of blended polymers as photovoltaics in place of traditional inorganic semiconductors such as silicon, which are found in most commercial solar panels. The authors cite the low production cost of polymer-based photovoltaic cells and the faster transition of the electron to the conducting polymers as economic motivators for the research. They conclude that a panel designed with a polymer photovoltaic conductor would lower the cost of solar panels and at the same time, have the potential to greatly improve panel efficiency from the current average of 15% as a result of the reduced contact time of the electrons with the polymer based conductors in the photovoltaic cells. This article provides a brief yet complex overview of the potential impact of using polymers in photovoltaic cells to improve the efficiency of the panels and reduce their high economic cost. It is important to keep in mind that while the higher efficiencies of 30-40% observed in this study are promising, polymers have yet to be tested on a large scale, which could have a significant impact on the actual effectiveness of the polymers.^[i.n.]

Braff, William Allen (2014), Membraneless Hydrogen Bromine Laminar Flow Battery for Large-Scale Energy Storage Massachusetts Institute of Technology

William Allen Braff was a candidate for PhD at MIT when he published this research as his thesis to the Department of Mechanical Engineering.While Braff submitted his thesis to the Department of Mechanical Engineering as part of his doctoral requirements, he was also advised by the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Mathematics as Ion Flow Batteries are highly complex storage systems that involve aspects of all three disciplines. The development of electrochemical storage systems as a new means of energy storage for renewable energies has the potential to make solar power much easier to implement on a large scale. Braff examines Hydrogen Bromine batteries, which are a specific type of ion flow battery, and the benefits of operating the battery system without a membrane. Ion flow batteries store energy during peak generation hours for later use by using excess energy to power a reversible chemical reaction that separates electrons, thus storing energy. When this energy is needed, the reaction can be reversed and the electrons will again be exchanged, thus releasing energy to the grid. Ion flow batteries are currently very expensive and cannot compete economically with conventional storage methods, though they have better efficiencies and a larger storage capacity potential. To reduce the costs of the battery systems, Braff suggests removing the membrane that divides the two electrolytes solutions which exchange electrons to store and release energy. Instead of a membrane, the two electrolytes would be moved through the battery in a laminar flow pattern, that is uniform, which would not allow the two different electrolytes to mix and thus ruin the battery system. By keeping the electrolyte solutions at very low velocities while they move through the battery, laminar flow would be achieved. The removal of the membrane from the Ion Flow Battery would make the storage system a practical option for large scale energy storage. The suggestion of using laminar flow to prevent the two solutions from mixing would increase the lifetime of the batteries, as the membrane degrades over time and must be periodically replaced. This would greatly reduce the cost of the battery system, as the membrane is often the most expensive component. This membraneless battery system can be easily scaled up by adding addition stacks, chambers in which the electrolyte solutions interact, and represents a completely reversible system. This storage system has the potential to make solar energy economical viable on a large scale as it greatly reduces the impact of solar's intermittent energy production and can be scaled to support peak periods of energy demand.

U.S. Department of Energy (2013, December). Grid Energy Storage

This report was compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy to outline its goals for future energy storage development within the United States. This report specifically focuses on the goal of enhancing energy storage systems to incorporate and support more renewable energy sources, and to make this economical^[i.n.] competitive with other technologies performing a similar function. In respect to this goal, the Department of Energy narrowed in on four criteria that must be met for any energy storage system, which are: cost competitive storage technology, validated reliability, equitable regulatory environment and industry acceptance. Through this report, it is clear that the Department of Energy (DOE) agrees with the scientific community that their is a significant need to focus on the development of energy storage systems capable of incorporating renewable technology while maintaining economic viability. The Department of Energy seeks to catalyze the development of these improved energy systems and is attempting to provide some guidelines and general goals for developers to focus on, as those who work alongside the DOE to achieve its goal are more likely to receive federal funding for the development of improved energy storage systems.^[i.n.]