Peter Mark Jansson

Bridging the gaps for global sustainable development: A quantitative analysis

Global human progress occurs in a complex web of interactions between society, technology and the environment as driven by governance and infrastructure management capacity among nations. In our globalizing world, this complex web of interactions over the last 200 years has resulted in the chronic widening of economic and political gaps between the haves and the have-nots with consequential global cultural and ecosystem challenges. At the bottom of these challenges is the issue of resource limitations on our finite planet with increasing population. The problem is further compounded by pleasure-driven and poverty-driven ecological depletion and pollution by the haves and the have-nots respectively. These challenges are explored in this paper as global sustainable development (SD) quantitatively; in order to assess the gaps that need to be bridged. Although there has been significant rhetoric on SD with very many qualitative definitions offered, very few quantitative definitions of SD exist. The few that do exist tend to measure SD in terms of social, energy, economic and environmental dimensions. In our research, we used several human survival, development, and progress variables to create an aggregate SD parameter that describes the capacity of nations in three dimensions: social sustainability, environmental sustainability and technological sustainability. Using our proposed quantitative definition of SD and data from relatively reputable secondary sources, 132 nations were ranked and compared. Our comparisons indicate a global hierarchy of needs among nations similar to Maslows at the individual level. As in Maslows hierarchy of needs, nations that are struggling to survive are less concerned with environmental sustainability than advanced and stable nations. Nations such as the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway and others have higher SD capacity, and thus, are higher on their hierarchy of needs than nations such as Nigeria, Vietnam, Mexico and other developing nations. To bridge such gaps, we suggest that global public policy for local to global governance and infrastructure management may be necessary. Such global public policy requires holistic development strategies in contrast to the very simplistic north-south, developed-developing nations dichotomies.

Performance measurement of amorphous and monocrystalline silicon PV modules in Eastern U.S. Energy production versus ambient and module temperature

This paper reports new data and findings related to the decreased performance of a mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) system in the northeastern United States when compared with an amorphous silicon (a-Si), thin film system. These findings are based on a kWh per installed kW basis during a warm summer period with relatively high ambient temperatures. Electric utilities will become increasingly dependent upon the performance of renewable energy systems during peak demand periods to meet their renewable portfolio standard obligations to public utility commissions as their investments in these systems expand. At present there is little data available to correlate the performance of lower efficiency thin film PV modules with higher efficiency mono-crystalline modules in a side-by-side test environment. The research findings demonstrate that while amorphous (a-Si) PV systems are generally regarded as inferior (due to their lower overall efficiency on a kW/m2 basis) their performance on a kWh/kW basis during periods of high ambient temperature is shown herein to be superior to higher efficiency single crystal silicon modules. These performance measurements, completed over the summer of 2008, provide a detailed analysis of energy and temperature measurements on an hourly basis during the higher demand periods for summer peaking electric utilities. The summary data shows a clear correlation where a-Si modules outperform mono-crystalline PV modules when ambient conditions lead to increased operating cell temperatures above ca. 30°C. Below this temperature threshold single crystal PV materials performance generally exceeds that of the thin film devices. At present, the cost differentials between the two technologies make a-Si more attractive for many utility scale applications and these findings indicate that PV power plants of this construction will outperform their more efficient competitors during the typical weather conditions of many summer peaking utility systems.

Instrument and Measurement Technology Education—A Case Study: Inexpensive Student-Designed Power Monitoring Instrument for Campus Submetering

In an innovative engineering course on Sustainable Design in Engineering, two Rowan University electrical and computer engineering (ECE) students designed a prototype for an inexpensive power measurement instrument. Their motivation was to more economically and conveniently monitor the energy flows on a university campus that currently uses over

Creating an Agile ECE Learning Environment Through Engineering Clinics

7 million of electricity and gas annually. These students continued the development of their initial design prototyped for the above course by redesigning, constructing, and testing a more easily manufacturable instrument in their Senior Engineering Clinic class. The engineering clinic sequence at Rowan University represents an ideal mechanism for the inclusion of key instrumentation and measurement (I&M) concepts and principles into an engineers education. While the core ECE curriculum does not teach I&M technology (I&MT) as a distinct subject area, the students engage in a hands-on and minds-on learning environment in this clinic, which proves ideal for I&MT applications and education. Their challenge was to create an inexpensive I&MT that could provide the means by which Rowan University could affordably monitor its electrical energy use in many of its unmetered buildings. With these data, the university could then find out exactly why it leads a group of 20 peer universities and colleges in energy consumenergy consumption ption per square foot and to assist the university in meeting its sustainability commitment to the Governors Office and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. With the assistance of their professor and the use of their electrical engineering training, the team undertook to develop an energy auditors dream machine, i.e., a cheap, portable, and easily installed energy measurement instrument that produces reliable data and can be used to safely instrument each key building without requiring the aid of a professional electrician. This paper details the background of their challenge, the approaches they considered, the benefits of this project-based learning clinic on I&M education and, quite importantly, the innovation they have created, i.e., a single-phase power sensing, measuring, and monitoring instrument for a total cost of less than

Composing a new ECE program: the first five years

100 (their design can be easily expanded to three phase for a nominal increase in sensor cost).

The role of the electric power industry in global sustainable development

To keep up with rapidly advancing technology, numerous innovations to the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) curriculum, learning methods and pedagogy have been envisioned, tested, and implemented. It is safe to say that no single approach will work for all of the diverse ECE technologies and every type of learner. However, a few key innovations appear useful in keeping undergraduate students motivated to learn, resilient to technology evolution, and oriented amid the overload of new information and ECE applications. Engineering clinics, similar to their medical clinic counterparts, provide project-based experiences within the core of an ECE education that enable transformation of the entire curriculum toward an outcomes-oriented, student-centered, total-quality environment. Clinics and project-based learning approaches build skills that give the students confidence and motivation to continuously self-learn and adapt as the technologies around them give way to new, more effective paradigms. Perhaps more importantly, engineering clinic experiences provide numerous opportunities for students to experience the holism of true engineering problem-solving approaches and the ranges of potential technology solutions. This paper reviews the clinic innovations that will enable ECE education to become more effective in the midst of the present plethora of information and technology. Assessment results are provided and are very encouraging. This paper concludes that agile learning environments, created to graduate engineers who can be rapidly productive in the professional and research worlds, are enhanced by clinic and/or project-based learning experiences in the ECE curriculum.

Novel inverter technology reduces utility-scale PV system costs

The authors have developed a new Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at Rowan University, NJ, USA. The first class graduated in May 2000. Features include: a continuous engineering clinic sequence; a mixture of two-, three- and four-credit courses; and technology focus electives. Project-based instruction is employed as a tool for motivating students and to demonstrate the relevancy of material. Multidisciplinary courses provide the opportunity for students in different disciplines to work together. Some of the approaches-and lessons learned-of interest to other start-ups and programs considering transformation.

Integrating Large-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants into the Grid

This paper explores the major roles that the electric utility industry might play in paths toward global sustainable development. It is widely believed that a key contributor to global climate change is the continued growth of the global economy with its commensurate increased consumption of fossil fuels. A key consumer of this energy and the key infrastructure for the economic expansion of nations is the electricity grid. While it is known that this system has an overall energy conversion efficiency of less than 30%, alternatives remain less cost-effective or lack technological readiness for the reliability required by such an important global infrastructure. The key factors involved in achieving sustainable electricity production are described. And a key role of public policy in shaping more sustainable futures for electric power is identified. Clearly, the solutions to this complex issue will require a multi-faceted technological approach supported by strong public policy incentives.

Vertical integration of System-on-Chip and Green Engineering across the undergraduate curriculum

Total PV system design and installation costs can be lowered if key architectural elements can be changed. This paper describes a new grid-tie inverter technology that has two major elements. First, the DC outputs of PV modules are aggregated through an element termed a solar power optimizer and transmitter (SPOT), which produces a 2.5kV output. In turn, SPOT outputs are connected to a novel inverter architecture. Termed a regulated current source inverter (RCSI), the advantages of the new inverter include lower switching speeds and corresponding losses, which makes it practical to scale up to the MW levels needed for utility-scale PV generation plants. The potential impact of the new approach is assessed by comparing costs for a nominal 10MW plant using existing inverters based on pulse width modulation schemes and costs based on the novel technology.

Inexpensive remote campus power sensing, measurement and monitoring system via a student designed and manufactured device

The electric power industry in the U. S. will undergo radical change unlike any it has seen in its history as the renewable portfolio standards [RPS] of over 26 States are implemented during the next decade. The application queues of the largest RTOs in the U.S. are dominated by dispersed, intermittent renewable power generators such as wind and photovoltaics [PV]. Now that over half the States in the U.S. have adopted aggressive RPS, with some like Maine calling for as much as 40% renewables in the next decade, the issues of how a large penetration of dispersed renewables can be reliably integrated into the grid must come to the forefront of the technology discussion. The authors contend that the major challenge facing the U.S. electric power industry of the 21st century is fulfilling its societal obligations to be simultaneously reliable, economically priced and environmentally responsible as this most pervasive technological system grows into a new level of complexity under RPS requirements, deregulation and industry restructuring. This paper discusses as an example the origin and construction of a key grid scale PV power plant in Pennsylvania (the first on PJM) as well as how the free market forces have responded to federal tax incentives and regulatory-based incentives to integrate photovoltaics into the PJM grid. We describe how aggressive public policy has played an important role in that transition.