Energy-Efficient Vehicle Project given the “Green” Light
Progress in the design of environmentally friendly automobiles has been hampered by a variety of issues, not least the fact that the technologies to date have not produced electric cars that can compete, in terms of performance, with their petrol- or diesel-powered brethren. However, in light of the inevitable depletion of fossil fuels and the imperative to reduce carbon emissions for the benefit of the environment, there will be a greater emphasis in the future to produce viable and saleable electrical cars, as well as more energy-efficient motor vehicles.
Investigations into the design of such technologies are to be undertaken by a pan-European consortium of researchers, including groups from University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), as well as industrial involvement from SolarPrint Ltd., an Irish company that was co-founded by UCD graduate Dr. Mazhar Bari. They will be joined in the SMARTOP project by the research arm of the Fiat Corporation, as well as other collaborators from Italy, Germany, France, and the UK.
The idea of the project is to design new solar cell panels that can be incorporated into the roof of both electrically powered cars and standard motor vehicles. Such panels will have the capacity to convert energy from the sun into electricity, which could then be used to power on-board devices, lights, and cooling systems in fossil-fuel-powered cars, thus reducing the power consumption from the engine in such vehicles, and in turn lowering the carbon emission. In addition, electricity produced in this manner could potentially be stored in lithium batteries and used to power fully electric vehicles. For such applications, there is a great need for more efficient solar-cell materials, and this is the key driver for the work to be carried out by the Dublin-based groups.
Work at UCD will be carried out by the Solar Energy Conversion Strategic Research Cluster (SRC), which will be led by SFI Engineering Professor. K. Ravi Thampi. They will be working closely with their consortium partners in SolarPrint and also with Prof. Yurii Gun’ko, an SFI-funded chemist from TCD, who will design new materials for storing the energy created by the solar cells. The Director of the SRC, Prof. Don MacElroy, noted the importance of this EC-supported project: “Solar energy research in Ireland is not only of benefit for attaining self-sufficient sustainable energy practices, but also to develop new export-oriented industry”. The three Irish partners are set to receive approximately €1M through their involvement in the SMARTOP project, which is scheduled to begin later this year.
http://www.ucd.ie/chembioeng/staff/professorravindranathanthampi/
http://www.tcd.ie/Chemistry/staff/people/yuriigunko.php
