Water, energy, and materials science
- PDF / 780,600 Bytes
- 1 Pages / 585 x 783 pts Page_size
- 16 Downloads / 227 Views
Inside: EDITORIAL
Water, energy, and materials science ENERGY SECTOR ANALYSIS
Crises and opportunities at the energy-water interface
“ Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
ENERGY SECTOR ANALYSIS
Will next-generation membranes rise to the water challenge?
ENERGY QUARTERLY ORGANIZERS CHAIR Andrea Ambrosini, Sandia National Laboratories, USA Monika Backhaus, Corning Incorporated, France Kristen Brown, Commonwealth Edison Company, USA David Cahen, Weizmann Institute, Israel Russell R. Chianelli, The University of Texas at El Paso, USA George Crabtree, Argonne National Laboratory, USA Elizabeth A. Kócs, University of Ilinois at Chicago, USA Shirley Meng, University of California, San Diego, USA Sabrina Sartori, University of Oslo, Norway Anke Weidenkaff, University of Stuttgart, Germany M. Stanley Whittingham, Binghamton University, The State University of New York, USA Steve M. Yalisove, University of Michigan, USA
Energy Sector title image page 404: Silicon wafer with an array of water sensor chips. Credit: University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Media Office. Energy Sector title image page 406 credit: The University of Manchester.
To suggest ideas for ENERGY QUARTERLY, to get involved, or for information on sponsorship, send email to [email protected].
Water, energy, and materials science A large part of the world’s population echoes this feeling, even though we live on a planet that is covered by water on two-thirds of its surface. With an ever-increasing population, the demand for water for drinking and for many industrial processes is increasing steeply. There is a symbiotic relationship among water, energy, and materials. For instance, water is needed for producing hydroelectric power, cooling in power plants, fracking, and other energy-related industries. Energy is needed to treat water and pump it. Materials are critical for both. Ancient civilizations attempted water purification using limited resources. Aristotle described a process to evaporate water using sunlight and condensation. The efficiency was low because of heat lost to the environment. In a modern version, a paper coated with carbon in the form of an inverted V is used to absorb solar radiation and convert it to heat. The bottom of the paper is soaked in water, which gets heated. The sloped region is not affected by the sun directly, remains cool, and attracts heat from the surroundings. Hence, efficiency is greater than what can be obtained from natural sunlight falling on an uncoated flat surface. This is a low-cost solution and can serve remote areas. Better coatings such as carbon-based nanomaterials can be used, but at a higher cost. The sources of water are many, and the potentially harmful contaminants of water have to be measured carefully. For example, measurement of lead in drinking water needs sensors that work for measurements below 15 parts per billion. Commercial sensors for heavy metals, bacteria, and nutrients have yet to be developed. The role of wat
Data Loading...
