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January 24, 2005 Vol. 76, no. 2S
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| SOLAR CONVERSION:
Graduate students (from left) Cliff Chen and Andrew Mills of ERG
and Matt Pickett of MSE helped research the cost benefit of the
Murray Bill, which would require one million solar-powered homes
and buildings in California by the year 2017. |
New
course for the solar-psyched
Photovoltaic students take solar cell work beyond
the classroom
How many times have you
done a class project with lots of potential for application in the world,
and then, after the class is done, the project dies? It happened many
times to Ilan Gur (B.S. '02 MSE), now an MSE Ph.D. candidate. So,
as a graduate student instructor, he wanted to develop a class that
would provide student projects a broader context and get them out into
the world.
"You might be sitting on an incredible technology, but unless you
think beyond the science, it has little chance of having the desired
impact," Gur explains.
It just so happens that the incredible technology Gur likes is solar
cells, and the broader context is their use in California and elsewhere.
On top of that, the MSE department didn't offer a solar cell course.
Last fall, Gur, along with MSE professor Eicke Weber, Energy Resources
Group (ERG) professor Dan Kammen, and Applied Science and Technology
graduate student Tonio Buonassisi, Eicke Weber, Energy Resources Group
(ERG) professor Dan Kammen, and Applied Science and Technology graduate
student Tonio Buonassisi, solved the problem. The new class, "Photovoltaic
Materials: Modern Technologies in the Context of a Growing Renewable
Energy Market," debuted with a full roster of solar- psyched students
from nine different departments and the Haas School of Business. The
interdisciplinary course offered not only traditional materials science
and device physics, but also practical discussions of connectivity,
cost and market analysis, and policy considerations.
Students' projects reflected the variety. One team developed a
solar- powered device to run wireless nodes that would bring cell phone
communication to developing regions of the world. Another team taught
solar concepts in the San Leandro School District. Still another team
investigated how to brand solar power.
Two teams analyzed last year's Senate Bill 199. The bill, which
is supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, calls for a target of
one million solar powered-homes and buildings in California by
2017. One team examined how the bill would create jobs, while another
analyzed the bill's economic benefit over time. "Diversifying
the state's energy portfolio to hedge against risk is always a
good thing," says Matt Pickett, an MSE Ph.D. student who worked
on the second team.
Using a cost-benefit approach, the team found that the costs outweighed
the benefits. "We were conservative in our assumptions," explains
Andrew Mills, an ERG graduate student. The group says it hopes to reexamine
its research in the next month or two. Whatever the outcome, they plan
to travel to Sacramento sometime this spring to share their findings
with state legislators, who will debate a new version of the bill this
legislative session.
An opportunity like that couldn't have happened without Gur's
determination to make student projects shine outside the classroom.
"I'm excited to see where these projects go," he says.
Learn more at http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kammen/C226/.
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