24 May 2006

Solar system brings power to people

Countries throughout the world remain mired in various forms of energy problems. One way to solve those problems is to create an efficient, affordable, easy-to-maintain energy system.

That is where Anjane’yulu’ Krothapalli from the Don Fuqua Eminent Scholar Chair of Engineering at Florida State University comes in. He created a research center at FSU, the Sustainable Energy Science & Engineering Center (SESEC, www.sesec.fsu.edu), which is developing technologies that can transform much of the developing world. These technologies could also help the U.S. and other developed nations deal with ever-rising energy costs and combat the spread of global warming.

“The principles really are very simple,” said Krothapalli, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Florida A&M University-FSU College of Engineering since 1983. “We are exploring ways to combine existing technologies to convert solar radiation to heat; to use that heat to produce steam to run a low-cost, highly efficient turbine; and then to use the power generated by that turbine to run a small electric generator. Individual homes could be equipped with these technologies. So, rather than being connected to a vast power transmission system, which is prohibitively expensive in much of the world, individual homeowners would be able to generate the energy they need.”

The center has the ability to take existing technologies and find ways to make them simple to install and operate, much cheaper to produce, and more sensitive to the environment, Krothapalli said.

“For such a system to work in a rural village in India, for example, it has to meet those criteria,” he said. “It must be easy enough for the average person to maintain, inexpensive enough for that person to afford or his government to subsidize, and clean enough that it won’t exacerbate global warming.”

To demonstrate the various technologies, plans are under way to build a small, completely self-sustaining demonstration house in a parking lot outside Krothapalli’s office. The 800-square-foot facility, which will include living space and an office, will use “green” (environmentally sensitive) materials, will produce zero greenhouse-gas emissions, and will feature low-energy LED lighting.

The house’s 5-kilowatt solar energy facility will even produce hydrogen fuel to run a specially equipped automobile. The house will serve as a precursor to the biannual “Solar Decathlon” competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/).

Krothapalli earned a patent for one of his innovations last year, and four others are now under review. He and his colleague, Brenton Greska, formed an outside business, Sustainable Technology LLC, to help bring some of the energy systems to market.

“The challenge is to fuel worldwide economic growth and a reliable energy supply without despoiling our environment,” he said. “At SESEC, we’re focusing on technologies that will ease some of the burden that humanity places on our planet.”

For related information, go to www.isa.org/environment.