Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009 - (Page 18)

SCIENCE • TECHNOLOGY • ENVIRONMENT • POLICY • SOCIETY Nelson Tansu Tim Coull Sudhakar Neti FINDING ENERGY SOLUTIONS When you turn on an incandescent light bulb, more than 95 percent of the electricity needed to power it is wasted as heat. A fluorescent lamp is about four times more efficient, but it contains mercury, which can pose environmental and health concerns. So imagine if there was a way to increase the energy efficiency of an incandescent light bulb by 10 times, from 5 percent to 50 percent—without the harmful environmental side effects of fluorescent lighting. That’s what Nelson Tansu, the P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, and his team are working on using semiconductor technology at Lehigh’s Center for Optical Technologies (COT). Solid-state lighting, a technology that relies on light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which emit light from semiconducting materials, could significantly reduce the amount of energy needed to light houses, schools, office buildings, and more. LEDs illuminate cell phones, car dashboards, and the backlighting in the liquid crystal displays in laptops and TVs, and are also used in a growing number of traffic signals and city and highway billboards. Meanwhile, Sudhakar Neti, professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, is working on how to more effectively harness the power of the sun to generate electricity. Neti and four other Lehigh researchers recently received a $1.5 milToday, about one-third of the energy produced in the United lion grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to explore novel heat-transfer methods that will States is used to generate electricity. And about 22 percent enable solar thermal systems to store energy long enough so it can be generated on cloudy days of that electricity is used for lighting. and at night. “By greatly improving the efficiency of the 22 percent of Solar thermal systems employ panels of mirrors to concentrate sunlight and convert it into electrical power that we currently use for lighting, solid-state heat, which in turn is used to drive turbines or engines to generate electricity. Finding a solution to lighting can significantly reduce the worldwide demand for the storage problem is one of the keys to making solar energy viable on a large scale, Neti says. energy, while still providing reliable and environmentally By recognizing how inextricably linked issues involving energy and the environment are and by friendly solutions,” says Nelson Tansu, who with Volkmar fostering collaboration across disciplines, the new STEPS initiative will be a boon to researchers Dierolf, an associate professor of physics and COT faculty working in these areas, Tansu says. researcher, recently received a three-year grant from the DOE “Lehigh is putting significant energy behind issues that matter,” he says. to study methods of improving the efficiency of white LEDs. Tim Coull ’08, a mechanical engineering graduate who is working with Tansu and Neti on The $600,000 award is being matched by $150,000 in heat transfer issues related to thermo-electric generation as he pursues a master of sciadditional funding from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ence degree, says of STEPS: “It’s really great to have an actual program here that recThe research on potential storage solutions for solar ognizes and legitimizes the idea that all of these global issues need to be addressed. thermal systems being conducted by Sudhakar Neti’s And students get to work on them. It’s a visible thing.” multidisciplinary group could ultimately address two of the main factors that have held solar energy back from more widespread use: cost and availability. 18 LEHIGH UMNIULLETIN AL B Why it matters

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Lehigh Bulletin - Winter 2009 Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Research Arts & Culture Sports Teaming Up to Tackle Global Challenges Positively 4th Street A Sweet Job From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009

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