This webinar will provide an overview of impact and relevance of energy consumption in the building sector in global scenario and its potential to mitigate climate change.
This webinar highlights the relevance of the waste sector to climate change, provides different technology options, and ways to overcome common barriers faced by developing countries when adopting these waste management technologies.
Global demand for climate technologies is growing fast and every region is keen to drive local economic development and grow local industries that can meet a portion of this demand both locally and for exports.
According to the EC (19 November, 2008) “waste means any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard.” Recycling materials and products – that are considered waste - is an ancient practice which shows that in times of resource scarcity (i.e. shortage of virgin materials) societies attach more economic and societal value to their own waste. This implies that throughout time the definition of waste can change as well. Generally speaking longer use or re-use of materials and products this is often mainly to cover a society’s needs.
Under the anaerobic (oxygen free) conditions of landfill sites, organic waste is broken down by micro-organisms, leading to the formation of landfill gas (LFG). LFG is a gaseous mixture which consists mostly of methane and carbon dioxide, but also of a small amount of hydrogen and occasionally trace levels of hydrogen sulphide.
The incorporation of various additional constituents into I-III-VI2-based chalcopyrite absorber layers in particular the introduction of Ag into Cu(InGa)Se2 to form (AgCu)(InGa)Se2 absorber layers may be used as a means of increasing open-circuit voltage reducing processing temperature and/or improving device performance without otherwise modifying the absorber layer or device fabrication processes.
Nanoparticle-Embedded Glass Redirects Scattered Light to Solar Cells Within Window Frames that Produce Electricity These sunlight-harvesting windows embedded with metal nanoparticles and framed with photovoltaic cells produce four times as much power as other solar windows. In 2014 the United States installed enough solar photovoltaics to power 4 million homes. The growing solar industry now employs nearly 175000 workers more than Google Apple Facebook and Twitter combined.
This catalyst offers an alternative to ruthenium based catalysts used on dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology. These catalysts show promise in providing greater energy conversion as well as the potential for new applications such as transparent solar cells that can be used anywhere clear glass is used. Details: Dr. Louis Barriault of the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Catalysis Research and Innovation developed this family of dimeric gold catalysts and demonstrated a current in a small DSSC set up.
Background: Stanford researchers at the Fan Group have developed a novel method of passively cooling solar cells via a radiative cooling mechanism. The pyramid structures made of silica glass (shown in image below) provide maximal radiative cooling capability. Technology Description: We have developed a way of passively cooling solar cells that are exposed to the sun and hence heat up via a radiative cooling mechanism. This is an enormously important issue since solar cells operate at high temperatures which degrade both their efficiency and long-term durability.
Background: Photovoltaics have thus far been largely based on semiconductors e.g. Si CdTe and cadmium indium selenide. Solar cells using these materials have increasingly been available commercially but still need improvement relative to stability cost and environmental concerns. A leading alternative solar-cell technology relies on photoelectrochemistry and the absorption and excited-state properties of dye molecules bound to a TiO2 substrate. Research on such dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has targeted and achieved higher efficiency.