Cleaner, more efficient, robust alternatives to fossil fuels are still evolving in the areas of research, development and industry, despite recent policy shifts to the contrary. Here are just a few examples.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads the way with its Future Energy Systems Center. “The modeling capabilities that have been established by our researchers allow us to look at the entire system,” explained Martha Broad, Executive Director of the MIT Energy Initiative. The Center invites wide collaboration on the biggest energy questions of the day, offers help for utilities and industries, and considers financial costs along with technology innovation in decarbonization.
Researchers in Japan and Germany have created a way to harvest far more energy from sunlight than ever before. Kyushu University published details of its success in a laboratory setting. If this research can inform commercial development, this hyper-efficiency could help solar cells become exponentially more powerful for photovoltaics.
Sustainability research at Stanford University includes better preparation for the next power outage. A postdoctoral researcher used machine learning to manage decades of data, coming up with a way to forecast future power outage risk. Various others are working on energy efficiency along with renewable energy options.
Even the government-run National Renewable Energy Laboratory, renamed as National Laboratory of the Rockies, maintains space for research on photovoltaics. The lab website states, “Our cutting-edge research focuses on boosting solar cell conversion efficiencies; lowering the cost of solar cells, modules, and systems; and improving the reliability of PV components and systems.”
Anne Brock-Rankin is Marketing Coordinator for Solar Alliance, a renewable energy company based in Knoxville. She can be reached at abrock@solaralliance.com.
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