Energy
If you want to edit this page please click here to login (username: tppStudent password: E40)
Topic: Environmental Cost Benefit Analysis of Alternative Jet Fuels
By: Matthew Pearlson TPP ‘11
Supervisor: James Hileman
Description of the project: Alternative jet fuels hold the promise of energy supply diversification in the face of rising oil prices. In addition, alternative fuels may reduce environmental impact from aviation-related combustion emissions. To properly account for the environmental costs and benefits of introducing alternative fuels, we must evaluate the environmental impacts. This extends from the fuel origin, as it is produced; to its end, as combustion products enter the environment; what is referred to as a “well-to-wake analysis.”
Topic: Light Trapping Features on the Surface of Multi-Crystalline Solar Cells
By: Amine Berrada TPP ‘10
Supervisor: Emmanuel Sachs
Description of the project: Light trapping features on the surface of crystalline Silicon solar cells can significantly increase their overall efficiency and performance. The project consists in achieving a trapping pattern known to increase cell efficiency using low cost, scalable methods, two basic requirements for the success of any solar cell technology in terms of achieving Tera Watt scale manufacturing.
Topic: Bacteriophage-based Titania Nanowire Network for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
By: Becky Ladewski TPP ‘10, ChemE ‘12
Supervisor: Paula Hammond, Angela Belcher
Description of the project: Genetically engineered M13 bacteriophage are used as templates for titania nanowires. Using layer-by-layer assembly, a titania nanowire network is created and used to create a dye-sensitized solar cell in the lab. This research may lead to cheaper or more efficient devices.
Topic: The Linkage Between Oil and Natural Gas Prices
By: David Ramberg TPP ‘10
Supervisor: John Parsons
Description of the project: Historically, WTI oil and Henry Hub natural gas prices have tended to exhibit similar price movements despite being used for very different purposes. This project analyzes both the nature of the linkage as well as the possible underlying points within the market structures of each commodity to determine what the price relationship is, how they are linked, changing trends in those market structures, and what could happen in the future to change that relationship (and whether there are in fact various distinct relationships between the fuels).
Topic: Study of the Future of Solar Energy
By: James Merrick TPP ‘10
Supervisor: Joshua Linn
Description of the project: An interdisciplinary study which considers a wide variety of issues in relation to the future development of solar energy. My own research to date has incorporated an assessment of international policies to incentivise solar energy, an assessment of solar forecasting methods and currently an assessment of the policy and technical issues associated with the incorporation of solar energy onto existing electricity systems and markets.
Topic: Study of the Future of the Electric Grid
By: Andy Whitaker TPP ‘11
Supervisor: John Kassakian
Description of the project (from the study prospectus): A faculty-led, interdisciplinary study that will examine the substantial issues surrounding the national initiative to enhance the functionality and reliability of the electric grid. It will explore the contribution that an enhanced electric grid could make to meeting the growing and changing energy needs of the nation in an efficient and environmentally responsible manner, and it will evaluate the technical, regulatory, and institutional obstacles that must be surmounted if it is to make that contribution. My own research will likely deal with power transmission as opposed to demand-side issues.
Topic: Integration of Carbon Capture and Sequestration Coal Power Plants with the Western US Electricity Grid
By: Gary Shu TPP ‘10, DUSP ‘10
Supervisor: Howard J. Herzog, Mort Webster
Description of the project: Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has been determined to be an essential greenhouse gas mitigation technology and will require large additional capital and infrastructure supported by policy and regulatory incentives. The siting of new CCS power plants and retrofitting of existing coal generators will be subject to additional constraints such as sequestration sink proximity and access to available transmission capacity to load. The project will model the electricity grid in the western United States, the Western Interconnection, to determine the impact of location, fuel price scenarios and a carbon pricing policy on various carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
Topic: Modeling Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) in MIT EPPA model
By: Ellie Ereira TPP ‘10
Supervisor: Howard Herzog, Mort Webster
Description of the project: The MIT Emissions Prediction Policy Analysis (EPPA) is a Computable General Equilibrium model that represents the economic flow of goods and services and models sectors, regions and energy technologies under different policy scenarios. CCS is an important energy technology for the future, but given the uncertainty over energy prices and political support, how should we make investment decisions today to ensure it’s availability in the future? The project examines decision under uncertainty and under what conditions full capture (90% of CO2 captured) and partial capture (less than 90% captured) are adopted.
Topic: The Future of the Electricity Grid: A Proposal for Transmission Regulation in the US
By: Jordan Kwok, TPP ‘10
Supervisor: Ignacio Perez-Arriaga
Description of the project: The next in a series of “Future of” reports, the Future of the Electricity Grid will seek to define what a secure and economically sound electricity grid will look like in a carbon constrained world. My particular research will seek to understand how transmission regulation is executed in the existing regulatory framework of the United States. I will then attempt to project an idealized regulatory scheme onto that framework to suggest what an improved US regulatory structure could look like in the context of the future grid.
Topic: Emergence of an Integrated Electronic-Photonic Device Platform
By: Ece Gulsen, TPP ‘11
Supervisor: Randolph Kirchain, Lionel Kimerling
Description of the project: As the Information Age continues to evolve, electronic devices (such as computers, servers, mobile phones, etc.) become more and more demanding in data and storage capacity and associated energy burden of both production and operation. Integration of photonics with electronics within these devices promises drastic changes in data speed and energy efficiency. My project will focus on identifying the current energy comsumption trends in electronics industry and analyzing the requirements and consequences of an integrated device platform.