This module will introduce students to some advanced and current topics in the areas of renewable energy, sustainable technology and environmental physics. Each option presents some of the latest research and technology developments in the given area. The topics offered will vary from year to year. Some examples are: solar concentration; thin film photovoltaics; innovations in wind energy; energy applications of plasmonics; solar hydrogen generation; atmospheric physics. Not all of these topics will be offered in any one year. Each year five topic s will be covered, as decided by the Programme Committee. New topics will be introduced, as appropriate. Topics chosen may overlap with areas in which final year research projects are being carried out.
Examples of topics for seminars on energy and environmental physics are:
• Solar concentration
• Thin film photovoltaics
• Innovations in wind energy
• Energy applications of plasmonics
• Solar hydrogen generation
• Atmospheric pollution
• Nanotechnology and Energy (new technologies that will foster more efficient and less-polluting energy sources. From nanoenabled solar panels to long-lasting green batteries)
• Green Nanotechnology (green nanotechnology involves the ability to eliminate waste and toxins from production processes and the environment. It incorporates aspects of product design, risk migration, and life cycle analysis)
The students will be presented a series of (extended) seminars on a set of pre-defined advanced energy and environmental physics topics. In each topic the students will be given a recent research paper in the field, which will form the basis of further detailed research and study on their part.
The research paper will be of length 4-8 journal pages, including references, and will have been published in the previous four years.
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Formal Examination | 100 |