The Role of Thermal Engineering in Green Growth

Climate Change and Global Energy Challenge

  • Climate Change and Global Energy Challenge

  • What is the Global Exergy Flux, Reservoirs and Destruction?

  • What is Green Growth?

  • We need to put more R&D money to overcome the valley
    - there is a valley between the chasms from R&D output to tangible assets and tangible assets to the marketable products –

  • Solar Cell Market Develpment

  • How does the Growth Cylcle Look?

  • How can we Create Tangible Assets and Convert to Successful Business?

  • What can thermal engineering do in green growth?
    - Efficiency improvement, Fossil fuel transformation and renewable energy -

  • Efficiency Improvement of Thermal Systems

  • Example: Zero Energy Building

  • Fossil fuel transformation

  • Renewable energy

  • Thermal engineering plays a key role in the development of green growth.



  • Climate Change and Global Energy Challenge

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    As you know, the global temperature increased by 0.74 degrees in recent 100 years which is projected to be 6.4 degrees at the end of this century if we do not put any extraordinary efforts against temperature rise. Considering the reported increase by 2 degree in Celsius exterminates 15 to 40% of lives, international development strategies is in immediate needs of compressive and systematic promotion of green growth. The global electrical energy consumptions, current consumption is about 14 TW and it could be doubled in the year 2050 that is 28 TW based on very conservative predisposition. I'm wondering actually the CO2 is the main cause of climate change or not but anyway if you want to sustain CO2 level of 450 ppm, 26.5 TW should be produced without emission out of 28 TW. If you cover 10 TW by nuclear power, 10,000 units of 1 GW nuclear reactors should be constructed. In other words, construction of one nuclear reactor every other day until 2050, so you imagine how much it is challenging.



    What is the Role of R&D Funding in Societal Challenges from a European Perspective?

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    What you see here is Global Exergy Flux, Reservoirs and Destruction of various energy resources including solar radiation with some derivatives, fossil fuel deposits and geothermal energies and so on. What you see here, the number next to the line with arrow head indicates the amount in current use. You can estimate the time limit of fossil fuel deposits from this figure and then if you see the solar radiation on Earth is 162,000 TW, but current use is only 0.016, very tiny portion of this total solar radiation, that means really great unlimited potential from this solar radiation energy.



    What is Green Growth?

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    Green Growth is a concept that is pursuing a harmonic promotion of economic development and environmental sustainability at the same time through creating green tech industries. To create new growth engines, the strategic expansion of R&D investment is essential to enhance green technology development and to promote technology transfer for commercialization or industrialization. The R&D investment can properly be allocated in accordance with the technology readiness level, so-called TRL, and an extensive input should be made to overcome two chasms in the growth cycle of the start business. I'll explain in more detail in the next slides.



    Solar Cell Market Develpment

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    Here solar cell market development as an example. This data is real outdated. It is actually prepared in the year 2011, three years ago, but the growth rate of the of the solar cell market is much faster than the semi-conductor memory market, so it is predicted the solar cell market cross over this memory market maybe next year. It generates new employment of nearly 2 million people and then the CO2 saving of 190 M tons.



    How does the Growth Cylcle Look?

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    There is growth cycle. There are two chasms I mentioned earlier. From R&D output to tangible assets and from tangible assets to the marketable products, so currently the research funds are heavily allocated up to here. Most of the university professors terminate their research after publishing a nice paper in journals with so-called high impact factors. They don't consider very much about the business, utilizing their research outputs. We need to put more R&D money here to overcome this valley. To do that I think here, in this chasm money should be invested from the public sector. If we convert this high-quality research output to tangible assets, which can draw attention from the venture capitalist. We need cooking of basic research to tangible assets and then money from my private sectors will come up at this position. Hopefully, then we can convert this to the successful business.



    How can we Create Tangible Assets and Convert to Successful Business?

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    Here what I am showing is the various factors and educational factors and then incubations at different stages. We should develop business model and then venture capital comes here and then marketing is also very important and then some surrounding competing areas, we have to carefully identify.



    Thermal Engineering in Green-Tech Development

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    Then I'll move on to the options of thermal engineering and green tech development. This part is quite much overlapped with Professor Jaluria's presentations, so I'll move on very fast. There's three options – the first one is efficiency improvement of conventional thermal systems and the second one will be fossil fuel transformation and thirdly, renewable energy development. This efficiency improvement is the most cost-effective, near-term option and then that provides multiple benefits, such as reducing environment impact, enhancing energy security and flexibility, and creating employment. Some thermal issues that are upbringing for the green tech business, I'll skip this and then this is some example, zero energy buildings – requirements for zero-energy buildings, high efficiency, low-energy consumption and then own energy production facility and then connection to the electric power grid and then some detail components, what we need is here.



    Example: Zero Energy Building

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    For example, heating is less than the 15 kWh in European countries, but in Korea, the dwelling houses consume more than 10 times as much as energy, so we can reduce this energy from 50 to 90% of current consumption.



    Fossil fuel transformation

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    Fossil fuel transformation that is transformation toward decarbonization and the clean energy systems. Major challenges are actually, this is quite emphasized Professor Jaluria, expanding CCS will require costs reductions, scale-up and then storage integrity and environmental compatibility and then securing storage. Growing roles of natural gas and the least carbon intensity and cleanest fossil fuel, including for shale gas, requires that environmental issues are resolved. Then co-processing of biomass, coal and natural gas with CCS is important for coproducing electricity and low-carbon liquid fuels.



    Renewable energy

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    Renewable energy, the increase in the share of renewable energy in global primary will be two to three folds and in some regions 90% by year 2050. The major challenges are – reducing cost, of course, through learning and scale-up. Creating a flexible investment environment that provides the basis for scale-up and diffusion. Integrating renewable energies into energy systems and enhance research and development to ensure technical advances. Lastly, assuring the sustainability of the proposed renewable technologies.



    Thermal engineering plays a key role in the development of green growth.

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    Thermal engineering plays a key role in the development of green growth as well as global environmental sustainability that can generate combined with green growth policies, sustainable economic, environmental, and the social benefits, including creating a new employment business and opportunities and the social welfare. To create new growth engines, an integrated approach is necessary for coordinating R&D investment strategies, education, technology transfer for commercialization and industrial collaboration with research institutions. Thank you very much.