Dr. Tobias Hanrath

Associate Professor, Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, College of Engineering, Cornell University

Recent advances and future directions of solar photovoltaic energy

Solar energy continues to evolve at an astonishing pace with remarkable advances in technology and deployment. This talk will attempt to capture recent advances and future directions with themes range from fundamental solid-state concepts and operating principles of photovoltaics (PV) to manufacturing of cells and modules, balance of system aspects, life-cycle assessment and perspectives on second- and third- generation photovoltaic technologies and recent trade and economic considerations. Beyond technoeconomic aspects, we also discuss societal and legal aspects of solar energy deployment and system-level integration.  Solar PV is positioned to play a prominent role in our transition towards a sustainable energy portfolio, however, beyond the broad deployment enabled by dramatic reduction of PV manufacturing and installation cost, we must apply responsible foresight and ask the critical question ‘have we looked far enough ahead?’; towards that end the talk will also address outstanding challenges concerning the end-of-life considerations of broad PV deployment. 

Biography

Tobias is a Professor in the Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Tobias received a B.S. from University of Tulsa, OK (2000), M.S. from University of Texas at Austin (2002) and PhD., University of Texas at Austin (2004). He served as Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MIT (2005) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, TU Eindhoven, and The Netherlands (2006-2007).