Next Steps for Hydrogen - physics, technology and the future

Hydrogen has been proposed as a future energy carrier for more than 40 years. In recent decades, impetus has been given by the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. In addition, hydrogen has the potential to facilitate the large-scale deployment of variable renewables in the electricity system. Despite such drivers, the long-anticipated hydrogen economy is proving to be slow to emerge. This report stresses the role that physics and physics-based technology could play in accelerating the large-scale deployment of hydrogen in the energy system. Emphasis is given to the potential of cryogenic liquid hydrogen and the opportunities afforded by developments in nanoscience for hydrogen storage and use. The use of low-temperature liquid hydrogen opens up a technological opportunity separate from, but complementary with, energy applications. The new opportunity is the ability to cool novel materials into the superconducting state without the need to use significant quantities of expensive liquid helium. Two of the authors have previously coined the term “hydrogen cryomagnetics” for when liquid hydrogen is utilised in high-field and high-efficiency magnets. The opportunity for liquid hydrogen to displace liquid helium may be a relatively small business opportunity compared to global transport energy demands, but it potentially affords an opportunity to kick-start the wider commercial use of hydrogen. The report considers various important factors shaping the future for hydrogen, such as competing production methods and the importance of safety, but throughout it is clear that science and engineering are of central importance to hydrogen innovation and physics has an important role to play

Solar-thermal and hybrid photovoltaic-thermal systems for renewable heating

Grantham Briefing Papers analyse climate change and environmental research linked to work at Imperial College London, setting it in the context of national and international policy and the future research agenda. This paper and other Grantham publications are available from: www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/publicationsThis paper looks at the barriers and opportunities for the mass deployment of solar-thermal technologies and offers a vision for the future of solar-thermal systems. HEADLINES: -Heat constitutes about half of total global energy demand. Solar heat offers key advantages over other renewable sources for meeting this demand through distributed, integrated systems. -Solar heat is a mature sustainable energy technology capable of mass deployment. There is significant scope for increasing the installed solar heat capacity in Europe. -Only a few European countries are close to reaching the EU target of 1 m2 of solar-thermal installations per person. -One key challenge for the further development of the solar-thermal market arises from issues related to the intermittency of the solar resource, and the requirement for storage and/or backup systems. The former increases investment costs and limits adaptability. -An analysis of EU countries with good market development, suggests that obligation schemes are the best policy option for maximising installations. These do not present a direct cost to the public budget, and determine the growth of the local industry in the long term. -Solar-thermal collectors can be combined with photovoltaic (PV) modules to produce hybrid PV-thermal (PV-T) collectors. These can deliver both heat and electricity simultaneously from the same installed area and at a higher overall efficiency compared to individual solar-thermal and PV panels installed separately. --Hybrid PV-T technology provides a particularly promising solution when roof space is limited or when heat and electricity are required at the same time.Preprin

Viable 3C-SiC-on-Si MOSFET design disrupting current Material Technology Limitations

The cubic polytype (3C-) of Silicon Carbide (SiC) is an emerging semiconductor technology for power devices. The featured isotropic material properties along with the Wide Band Gap (WBG) characteristics make it an excellent choice for power Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs). Nonetheless, material related limitations originate from the advantageous fact that 3C-SiC can be grown on Silicon (Si) wafers. One of these major limitations is an almost negligible activation of the p-type dopants after ion implantation because the annealing has to take place at relatively low temperatures. In this paper, a novel process flow for a vertical 3C-SiC-on-Si MOSFET is presented to overcome the difficulties that currently exist in obtaining a p-body region through implantation. The proposed design has been accurately simulated with Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) process and device software and a comparison is performed with the conventional SiC MOSFET design. The simulated output characteristics demonstrated a reduced on-resistance and at the same time it is shown that the blocking capability can be maintained to the same level. The promising performance of the novel design discussed in this paper is potentially the solution needed and a huge step towards the realisation of 3C-SiC-on-Si MOSFETs with commercially grated characteristics

Heater Control for Thermionic Power Generation

The purpose of this report is to detail the conceptualization, analysis, budget, manufacturing, and assembly the heater for a thermionic energy converter for portable energy generation. This proof of concept will be created to provide a full thermionic energy converter with a reliable and satisfactory heater than can be used in future systems. The report highlights the feasibility and realities in the design and fabrication of the system

Energy Storage Roadmap for Northeast Ohio 2019: Full Report

The 2019 Energy Storage Roadmap examines the trends that are driving growth in energy storage for the electric power grid, transportation, and consumer electronics applications. The report also highlights the commercial and structural assets that Northeast Ohio currently possesses that could enable it to capture an increasing share of what is projected to be a $100 billion market by 2025. While disruptive market forces are causing the ground to shift for the advanced energy industry, this shift will present opportunities for Northeast Ohio to capitalize on innovative technologies being developed regionally that would enable the realization of appreciably greater economic growth. The 2019 Roadmap provides a background on Energy Storage technologies and the role the region currently plays in their development. The Roadmap also provides a vision for how existing local assets can be leveraged in conjunction with funding opportunities for technology innovation to capture a larger share of this high-growth market. The goal of the 2019 Roadmap is to propose how assets and strategies can together be deployed to establish the region as an energy storage activity hub

Innovative Use of Hydrogen in Energy Retrofitting of Listed Buildings

Existing buildings represent the major challenge in energy efficiency strategies applied to the building stock. Moreover, architectural and landscaping constraints related to listed buildings are further limitations to possible interventions. When listed buildings are used as museum, achieving the same effectiveness level of typical energy efficiency measures is very difficult and, if possible, very expensive. In order to couple preservation of cultural heritage and CO2 emission reduction, the approach would move to energy supply rather than modifications in building envelope or installation of new HVAC components. So, this study focuses on the opportunity to green NG supply of existing heating systems by means of Power to Gas option at district level. Thus, the recent advancements in Hydrogen enriched Natural Gas produced by RES electricity excess offer a zero-impact strategy to decarbonize the listed buildings using existing energy infrastructures. At the same time, the absence of changes in building features and the introduction of a renewable share in the supply address the sustainability issues of cultural heritage. In conclusion, a first original attempt was made towards the future crucial task of museum's deep energy refurbishment

Energy challenges for ICT

The energy consumption from the expanding use of information and communications technology (ICT) is unsustainable with present drivers, and it will impact heavily on the future climate change. However, ICT devices have the potential to contribute signi - cantly to the reduction of CO2 emission and enhance resource e ciency in other sectors, e.g., transportation (through intelligent transportation and advanced driver assistance systems and self-driving vehicles), heating (through smart building control), and manu- facturing (through digital automation based on smart autonomous sensors). To address the energy sustainability of ICT and capture the full potential of ICT in resource e - ciency, a multidisciplinary ICT-energy community needs to be brought together cover- ing devices, microarchitectures, ultra large-scale integration (ULSI), high-performance computing (HPC), energy harvesting, energy storage, system design, embedded sys- tems, e cient electronics, static analysis, and computation. In this chapter, we introduce challenges and opportunities in this emerging eld and a common framework to strive towards energy-sustainable ICT

Laser diode area melting for high speed additive manufacturing of metallic components

Additive manufacturing processes have been developed to a stage where they can now be routinely used to manufacture net-shape high-value components. Selective Laser Melting (SLM) comprises of either a single or multiple deflected high energy fibre laser source(s) to raster scan, melt and fuse layers of metallic powdered feedstock. However this deflected laser raster scanning methodology is high cost, energy inefficient and encounters significant limitations on output productivity due to the rate of feedstock melting. This work details the development of a new additive manufacturing process known as Diode Area Melting (DAM). This process utilises customised architectural arrays of low power laser diode emitters for high speed parallel processing of metallic feedstock. Individually addressable diode emitters are used to selectively melt feedstock from a pre-laid powder bed. The laser diodes operate at shorter laser wavelengths (808 nm) than conventional SLM fibre lasers (1064 nm) theoretically enabling more efficient energy absorption for specific materials. The melting capabilities of the DAM process were tested for low melting point eutectic BiZn2.7 elemental powders and higher temperature pre-alloyed 17-4 stainless steel powder. The process was shown to be capable of fabricating controllable geometric features with evidence of complete melting and fusion between multiple powder layers

The impact of disruptive powertrain technologies on energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from heavy-duty vehicles

Minimising tailpipe emissions and the decarbonisation of transport in a cost effective way remains a major objective for policymakers and vehicle manufacturers. Current trends are rapidly evolving but appear to be moving towards solutions in which vehicles which are increasingly electrified. As a result we will see a greater linkage between the wider energy system and the transportation sector resulting in a more complex and mutual dependency. At the same time, major investments into technological innovation across both sectors are yielding rapid advancements into on-board energy storage and more compact/lightweight on-board electricity generators. In the absence of sufficient technical data on such technology, holistic evaluations of the future transportation sector and its energy sources have not considered the impact of a new generation of innovation in propulsion technologies. In this paper, the potential impact of a number of novel powertrain technologies are evaluated and presented. The analysis considers heavy duty vehicles with conventional reciprocating engines powered by diesel and hydrogen, hybrid and battery electric vehicles and vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, and free-piston engine generators (FPEGs). The benefits are compared for each technology to meet the expectations of representative medium and heavy-duty vehicle drivers. Analysis is presented in terms of vehicle type, vehicle duty cycle, fuel economy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, impact on the vehicle etc.. The work shows that the underpinning energy vector and its primary energy source are the most significant factor for reducing primary energy consumption and net CO2 emissions. Indeed, while an HGV with a BEV powertrain offers no direct tailpipe emissions, it produces significantly worse lifecycle CO2 emissions than a conventional diesel powertrain. Even with a de-carbonised electricity system (100g CO2/kWh), CO2 emissions are similar to a conventional Diesel fuelled HGV. For the HGV sector, range is key to operator acceptability of new powertrain technologies. This analysis has shown that cumulative benefits of improved electrical powertrains, on-board storage, efficiency improvements and vehicle design in 2025 and 2035 mean that hydrogen and electric fuelled vehicles can be competitive on gravimetric and volumetric density. Overall, the work demonstrates that presently there is no common powertrain solution appropriate for all vehicle types but how subtle improvements at a vehicle component level can have significant impact on the design choices for the wider energy system