ICAM 2009 - CD-ROM
   

IUMRS Energy Forum

Energy Forum—Program Listing
Intended start time, 9:30 AM Wednesday, September 23 (or immediately after the plenary session)
Sponsors: IUMRS, MRS
Organizer:  Howard Katz, Chair, Department of Materials Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218

  1.  Enrico Traversa, Principal Investigator, Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Group, World Premier International Research Center for Materials (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044 Japan 

Fuel Cells for Sustainable Energy Production: With or Without Hydrogen.
Increasing world population and the need for improving the quality of life of a still large percentage of human beings are (and should be) the driving forces for the search of sustainable energy production systems, alternative to fossil fuel combustion. Among the various types of alternative energy production technologies, fuel cells show the advantage of possible use both for stationary and mobile energy productions. Fuel versatility is another advantage of fuel cells, especially for those operating at higher temperatures, such as solid oxide fuel cells. Therefore, fuel cells are not tightly connected with hydrogen as a fuel and their development should be independent from the advent of hydrogen economy. Nonetheless, the latest development of US energy policies somewhat penalized fuel cells by considering their development bound to using only hydrogen as a fuel. As a matter of fact, sadly, energy policies in the world are strongly affected by politics and economical factors. Role of researchers should be keeping balance towards objective facts for a sustainable development.

  1.  Julia M. Phillips, Director, Physical, Chemical, and Nano Sciences Center  Sandia National Laboratories  Albuquerque, NM  87185-1427

Materials Needs for Alternative Energy Sources. 
Securing a viable energy future for humankind will require an effort of gargantuan proportions.  One aspect of meeting the energy challenge that is particularly important is the development of carbon-neutral energy sources, including renewable sources. Fundamental advances in scientific understanding are needed to broadly implement many of the technologies that are held out as promising options to meet future energy needs.  Materials challenges abound, ranging from the need for specific combinations of properties to reliability and cost effectiveness.  I will discuss some recent results and new directions in the search for viable alternative energy sources from around the world, emphasizing the multidisciplinary, team nature of the endeavor.  I will also offer some thoughts about how to encourage translation of science into pervasive technologies.

  1.  Fernando Galembeck, and Márcia M. Rippel, University of Campinas, Brazil

Biofuel, food and materials production: synergy rather than conflict. 
Materials production became largely dependent on oil during the past century but the importance of  biomass raw materials increased recently, parallel to biofuels. Debate on conflicts between energy, materials and food production has increased but there is also much opportunity for synergy. Ethanol output in Brazilian southeast is now concurrent with the production of kraft and white office paper, sucrose and cellulose from bagasse, lysine, vitamin B-12, protein-rich yeast for human and animal food, polyester and more than 7 GW power capacity are other by-products. Soybeans and eucalyptus product chains offer other impressive examples, creating opportunities for cooperation between researchers and professionals from many different areas.

  1.  John Sarrao
    Los Alamos National Laboratory
    Los Alamos, NM 87545

Facing our energy challenges in a new era of science: examples from superconductivity and materials in extremes

Meeting the demand for double the current global energy use in the next 50 years without damaging our economy, security, environment or climate requires finding alternative sources of energy that are clean, abundant, accessible and sustainable.  The transition to greater sustainability involves tapping unused energy flows such as sunlight and wind, producing electricity without carbon emissions from clean coal and high efficiency nuclear power plants, and using energy more efficiently in solid-state lighting, fuel cells and transportation based on plug-in hybrid and electric cars. Achieving these goals requires control at the nanoscale, creating materials of increasing complexity and functionality to direct the transformation of energy between light, electrons and chemical bonds. Fortunately, materials research is on the brink of a new era - a transition from observation and validation of materials performance to prediction and control of materials properties – that holds great promise for meeting these challenges [i].

In this talk, I describe the nature of the current challenge and the prospects for success with a particular focus on superconductivity and advanced materials in extreme environments. Superconductors provide dramatically higher current carrying capacity, greater reliability through unique power control devices that are fast, smart and self-healing, and significant increases in efficiency in urban areas where most electricity is used. Finally, I discuss a specific facility concept, MaRIE, that will provide needed capabilities to meet these challenges, especially for materials in extreme environments. MaRIE, for Matter-Radiation Interactions in Extremes, is Los Alamos' concept to realize this vision of 21st century materials research.

[i] “New Science for a Secure and Sustainable Energy Future” http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/reports/list.html
Materials Science for High Penetration Renewables and Large Scale Energy Storage

  1.  David Ginley, NREL, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO 80401

For renewable energy to make an impact on the terrawatt scale will require production of energy  generation technologies on an unprecedented scale and rate.  We will look at the prospects for the direct generation of electricity from solar resources.  What technologies can contribute to achieving power generation on this scale and what new materials science is needed to achieve this will be the primary topic of the talk.  In addition, more broadly as intermittent renewables (solar and wind for example) reach large scale power production then energy storage will be required.  This can take the form of virtual storage on a smart grid, large scale technologies like CAES and Pumped-hydro and of batteries and ultracapacitors in the form of plug in hybrid fleets.  We will discuss the materials challenges to integrating large scale energy storage with renewables and the potential impact on renewable energy generation.

 

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