Heliotactic Press

Interdisciplinary exploration of solar energy conversion, photovoltaics, and integrative design, and scientific philosophy.

Natural Fusion recap 2008/04/19

Filed under: Natural Fusion,Penn State,photovoltaics,Solar Decathlon — nanomech @ 08:25

It has been a very busy semester at Penn State. I’ve served as the faculty director for the Solar Decathlon 2009 effort (Natural Fusion project), I’m developing a course in solar energy conversion, I’m establishing my materials research laboratory, and I’m the outreach and recruiting coordinator for my department. Even so, one of the fun aspects of my job is that so many things overlap each other, and there seems to be an unusually high rate of “moments of synchronicity”. The class overlaps with the project, and the project helps with recruiting, and I’ve gotten to know more people on campus than I ever would have hoped for in my first year at University Park. What a blast!

In the Natural Fusion project, I have 15 amazing students serving as project managers from multiple colleges. They all have the vision and energy to turn this competition into a brilliant learning experience for integrated design, green building, and entrepreneurship. We also already have a team of over 100 (!) students that are helping in our design and marketing process.

I am also fortunate to have two other experienced faculty members deeply involved in the mentoring experience, and several more faculty available for support in the future. The team has been out to several industries seeking support in mentoring, materials, and direct funding–and things are looking very good. Even in the first four months, it appears that we will be testing and deploying many new technologies in photovoltaics and energy efficient materials. It’s not without its stressful periods, but I feel that we have a really great thing going that will be both memorable and valuable to all of our futures.

 

Solar Decathlon…ho! 2007/12/11

Filed under: Morning Star,NREL,Penn State,photovoltaics,Solar Decathlon,sustainability — nanomech @ 16:44

The Solar Decathlon is a progressive competition, offered to selected universities across the nation and outside of the USA every other year, in which students from multiple disciplines design and build a home completely powered by the sun. The focus of the competition is to combine BIPV (Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics) with new energy efficient architecture and its engineering systems. The competition was initiated in 2002 by NREL/DOE in conjunction with major sponsorship by British Petroleum, and the official two-year cycle was continued as of 2005 (SD2005).

The Decathlon operates within the general goals of the Solar America Initiative of the DOE, to make photovoltaic solar energy cost-competitive with conventional energy forms by 2015 (levelized costs of $0.10/kWh for PV). A major focus is to encourage relations between Academia and Industry for integrated design of photovoltaics within standard building practices. However, it includes the incorporation of the project into the curriculum of the students, as well as their involvement with industry. The Decathlon is projected to continue until 2015.

The winner of SD2007 was: Technische Universität Darmstadt. That’s correct; Germany won the USA solar home competition on their first try (why shouldn’t the biggest PV player in Europe be a strong competitor?). Perhaps this was an appropriate challenge to wake up integrated PV education in the states.

My own new home, Penn State University, took 4th place on their first attempt, Morningstar Pennsylvania. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to return and improve upon that standing in SD2009. It’s a great opportunity for students and faculty alike, and all products displayed in the Solar Decathlon homes are commercially available, which will make the project pretty interesting as the competitions progress to 2015.

 

On a road to somewhere! 2007/08/18

Filed under: environmentally aware materials science,Penn State,photovoltaics,solar cells — nanomech @ 16:03

Greetings all. My delay in contributing to these posts was for a very good reason. After many years of graduate school, and after experiencing the transient life of a postdoc, moving from Wisconsin to France and then back to Wisconsin for positions as a research scientist, I believe I will be staying put for a while.

We’re in the process of relocating the whole family to State College, Pennsylvania for my new position as an assistant professor at Penn State, in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. I will be pursuing my dream of environmentally aware materials science in the pursuit of new photovoltaic devices. I admit, I’m excited and terribly nervous at the same time. I plan to work hard and make progress in my research, and in extending my network of connections with academia, government, and industry. I also really want to be a good mentor to both undergraduates and graduate students. So much of this, you just have to do it rather than make the perfect plan. The system is dynamic and fun, and more like surfing than following a recipe.

So wish me luck, and keep an eye out for new posts from the bench of the new nanomech professor!

 

 
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