A Florida State University researcher is working towards the development of new energy technologies that are easy to install, environmentally sound and, most importantly, inexpensive to produce.
Dr Anjaneyulu Krothapalli has established the Sustainable Energy Science & Engineering Center, a new research centre at FSU, which is working on technologies that could help 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.
"At SESEC, 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," he explained.
What SESEC brings to the energy table, Krothapalli said, is 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.
"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 subsidise,
and clean enough that it won't exacerbate global warming."
Already, Krothapalli's work has generated considerable interest around the world. Governmental officials from India, Brazil and a number of other countries have contacted him to find out more, and he travels regularly to conferences throughout the world to share his ideas with fellow scientists and others.
"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."
