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Erasmus Intensive Programme
in energy conversion chemistry
from 7 to 18 of July, 2014
Chemistry Department
University of Crete

 
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uoc biochememe

 

 

... Few words after the summer school:

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thanassis.

 

... avant propos
World demand for energy is projected to more than double by 2050 and to more than triple by the end of the century. Incremental improvements in existing energy networks will not be adequate to supply this demand in a sustainable way. Finding sufficient supplies of clean energy for the future is one of society’s most daunting challenges.

Sunlight provides by far the largest of all carbon-neutral energy sources. More energy from sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour (4.3 × 1020 J) than all the energy consumed on the planet in a year (4.1 × 1020 J). We currently exploit this solar resource through solar electricity — a $7.5 billion industry growing at a rate of 35–40% per annum — and solar-derived fuel from biomass, which provides the primary energy source for over a billion people.

Yet, in 2001, solar electricity provided less than 0.1% of the world's electricity, and solar fuel from modern (sustainable) biomass provided less than 1.5% of the world's energy. The huge gap between our present use of solar energy and its enormous undeveloped potential defines a grand challenge in energy research. Sunlight is a compelling solution to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy in the future. It is readily available, secure from geopolitical tension, and poses no threat to our environment through pollution or to our climate through greenhouse gases.

One route to harvesting the energy of the sun involves learning to mimic natural photosynthesis. Here, sunlight falls on a porphyrin, one member of a family of molecules that includes the chlorophylls, which play a central role in capturing light and using its energy for photosynthesis in green plants.

Efficient light-harvesting of the solar spectrum by porphyrins and related molecules can be used to power synthetic molecular assemblies and solid- state devices — applying the principles of photosynthesis to the produc- tion of hydrogen, methane, ethanol, and methanol from sunlight, water, and atmospheric carbon dioxide.

from the Report on the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on
Solar Energy Utilization 2005
 

The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the publisher and that the European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information

 

Financial support from the program  LLP/ERASMUS-ΙΚΥ


 



Program 

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List of Participants 2014 :
Foreign Students, Greek Students, Program

List of Participants 2013 :
Foreign Students, Greek Students, Program

 



LLP Erasmus
Intensive Programme

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Hellenic National Agency, I.K.Y.

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University of Crete, Chemistry Department
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