Program
Ab 16:00 Uhr
Faculty Colloquium
“The Quest for Sustainable and Renewable Energy”
with Prof. Gerald J. Meyer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Director, CHASE Solar Fuels Hub, and Deputy Editor, ACS Ap-plied Energy Materials
This presentation outlines a global journey to secure clean, sustainable energy from the sun, a quest sparked by political events and environmental concerns. The story traces back to 1973 when the OPEC oil embargo, a response to the U.S. support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli conflict, led to a severe energy crisis. This event highlighted the unreliability of Middle Eastern energy resources and ignited discussions about oil dependency and the need for fossil fuel alternatives.
These discussions have gained urgency with growing environmental worries, particularly about fossil fuels' role in global warming. This historical backdrop sets the stage for the current pursuit of sustainable and renewable energy, a focus for scientists worldwide. The presentation will spotlight China's foray into the silicon photovoltaics market and the rise of wind energy as signs that 'grid parity' is near, suggesting that wind and solar might soon meet all electrical needs.
However, harnessing the sun's full potential requires massive-scale energy storage. 'Solar fuels,' offering higher energy densities at lower costs than batteries, emerge as a promising solution. These fuels are produced using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, necessitating light-absorbing materials for efficiency. The talk will introduce an approach by the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which uses silicon and hybrid photoelectrodes to generate liquid fuels from air's chemical components. More information is available at CHASE.
The Colloquium will be live-streamed: https://chemie.univie.ac.at/fakultaetskolloquium
Afterwards:
Musical contribution
Punch, chestnuts and roast potatoes (in courtyard 1 around 17:30)
For organisational reasons, please register by 5.12.2023
