讲课老师: 英国剑桥大学物理系Neil Clement Greenham教授
 授课对象：材料、物理、化学专业高年级本科生，低年级硕博士生
 课程题目: What Does Science Tell Us About Whether Renewable Energy is Feasible?
 时间: 第一讲：2017年10月23日19:00-21::00
         第二讲：2017年10月24日15:00-17:00
         第三讲：2017年10月25日19:00-21:00
 地点: 科技园国重大楼N308A
 欢迎广大师生积极参加!

  
                                                    材料科学与工程学院
                                                      2017年10月16日
 课程摘要：
 This  short series of lectures aims to show how we can analyse the challenges  surrounding sustainable generation, storage and use of energy using  relatively simple ideas from physics and chemistry.  The lectures will  focus on understanding the physical limits of energy technologies.   Would it, even in principle, be possible to generate China’s energy  needs from renewable (non-nuclear) sources, without breaking the  constraints of physics and geography?  Without going into too much  detail, we will also look at how close current engineering gets to the  physical limits.  Of course economics and politics will determine what  happens in practice, and these lectures will not focus on these  aspects.  Instead, we will try to make approximate but quantitative  estimates of what might be possible from particular energy technologies,  so we can make meaningful comparisons between the large numbers on both  sides of the energy supply and demand equation. 
 The approach draws  heavily on the book Renewable Energy Without the Hot Air, by David  MacKay.  The book is available freely online at www.withouthotair.com,  and students are encouraged to look there, either before or after the  lectures. 
 The lectures should be accessible to anyone with a basic  grounding in physics or chemistry, including undergraduate and graduate  students.  The style of the lectures will be less traditional and more  interactive than you may be used to.  Particularly in the first lecture,  you will need to make estimates, discuss them with your fellow  students, and not be shy to participate.
 Each of the three lectures will be approximately 2 hours in duration, with a short break at the halfway point.
 Lecture 1.
 How  much energy do you use per day?  How much is used on your behalf, or  for manufacturing goods for export?  We will come up with estimates  based on everyday experience, and compare them with the official numbers  for the whole country.
 How much power can a wind turbine generate?   How many cars could be powered by one wind turbine?  What fraction of  China would we need to cover with wind farms to generate all its  electricity demand, or all its energy demand?
 What about solar?  What  efficiencies can be achieved, in theory and in practice?  What total  amount of generation is realistic? Does it make sense to import  electricity from sunnier places?  What are the relative advantages of  solar thermal and solar photovoltaic systems?
 Lecture 2
 Why is  some energy more useful (and expensive) than other energy?  The concept  of exergy as a measure of the ability to do useful work.  Efficiencies  of engines and heat pumps.  What is the most efficient way to heat your  home?  A gas fire is almost 100% efficient at converting chemical energy  to heat; how can we do better than this?
 What storage capacity do we  need to cope with intermittency in renewable energy generation?  What  technologies might allow this, and how big would they need to be?  How  do batteries and fuel cells work, and why are fuel cells so much less  efficient?  Is there a role for hydrogen as a transport or storage fuel?
 Lecture 3
 Does  it make sense to grow crops for biofuels?  What is the efficiency of  photosynthesis, and where is energy lost in the complicated chain of  photosynthetic processes?  When might biofuels play a role, despite the  low efficiency of photosynthesis?
 Clearly we will need a mix of  energy technologies to decarbonise the energy sector at a national and  global level.  What combinations of choices on supply, storage and  demand might work?  We will use online tools such as  tool.globalcalculator.org to investigate.  If enough students have  access to a laptop/tablet with an internet connection you will be able  to experiment during the lecture to find your own solution.

 Note: Greenhan 教授建议所有听课的同学尽可能携带可连接WiFi的手提电脑来听课，他会让同学们在课程中看一些网上的材料以进行互动。

 Greenham教授简历:

 Neil  Greenham is Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory,  University of Cambridge.  His research focuses on novel low-dimensional  semiconductors that can be deposited from solution, in particular  conjugated polymers and semiconductor nanocrystals.  During his Ph.D. at  Cambridge he made important early advances in the development of  polymer light-emitting diodes, improving efficiencies and understanding  the physics of device operation.  He was a Miller Fellow at the  University of California, Berkeley from 1995-96, where he developed the  first solar cells based on blends of polymers with inorganic  semiconductor nanocrystals.  His research now focuses on photovoltaics,  using device measurements, spectroscopy, advanced imaging techniques and  modelling to understand and control loss mechanisms, thus improving  device performance.  He was awarded the Royal Society Kavli Medal and  Lecture in 2013.