CAREER: CAS-Climate: Sustainable Design Principles for Emerging Photovoltaics

该项目的总体目标是确定环境上最可持续和经济上最可行的计划，为能源市场的新兴光伏技术做好准备，使其成为真正可持续的太阳能技术。为实现这一目标，将在三个目标内协同整合研究和教育相关任务：（1）根据循环寿命（EoL）选项确定环保车辆的可持续设计原则，并推进与EoL相关概念的可持续性教育;（2）分析EPV的使用和EoL阶段相关的环境影响和成本维度，并在南达科他州的高等教育中推进太阳能教育，和;（3）评估环境-经济模型以实现EPVs的新应用，创建决策支持工具（EPV-Life工具），并通过举办研讨会传播研究成果。考虑到EPV可以为太阳能行业创造一个重要的市场，EPV的环境经济模型及其新应用对于告知光伏利益相关者有关环境，经济和社会可持续太阳能的途径至关重要。因此，该项目的社会效益包括抵消温室气体的方法，并促进有效的教育机制，为EPV技术。研究人员将设计EPV的架构后，再生，再制造和回收（三重-r）的原则，而这项技术仍然是部分的研发阶段。三重R设计的重点是确定允许环境友好和经济可行的EoL管理方案的设备架构。研究者将评估由于灾难性事件和/或破损或处置不当导致的EPV使用和EoL阶段的生命周期毒性影响。因此，安装在铺设的（即，屋顶）和未铺砌的（即，将更好地了解与不适当倾倒有关的表面和长期影响，并可制定防止这些情况发生的战略。研究人员将使用平准化电力成本（LCOE）指标设计EPV整个生命周期中涉及的所有流程，并明确重点评估三重R选项的净成本，以最大限度地降低EPV的净电力成本。EoL与LCOE指标的整合将允许采用闭环方法全面开发EPV。本计画将以环境经济的权衡来设计环保型太阳能电池的整个生命周期所涉及的所有制程及其新的应用领域。主要重点将是评估城市/郊区部署中使用的双面系统和农村/偏远地区应用中的EPV耦合电池系统。该项目的研究和教育目标通过集中于五个更广泛的影响活动进行整合：1）培训研究生和本科生，2）与青年家庭服务密切合作，向K-12学生推广，包括来自服务不足，经济弱势和代表性不足的少数民族学生（例如，3）与拉皮德城的可持续发展委员会合作，推广当地社区，以促进可持续的太阳能，并告知他们住宅太阳能部署的好处，4）与太阳能行业和研究中心合作，以加强研究和教育的基础设施，以及5）通过同行评审的出版物，国家和国际演示文稿，以及EPV-生命工具，该项目由ENG/CBET环境可持续发展计划和刺激竞争力研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The overarching goal of this project is to identify the most environmentally sustainable and economically feasible schemes to prepare emerging photovoltaic (EPV) technologies for the energy market as truly sustainable solar technology. This goal will be pursued by synergistically integrating research and education-associated tasks within three objectives: (1) identifying sustainable design principles for EPVs based on circular end-of-life (EoL) options and advancing sustainability education with EoL-related concepts; (2) analyzing the use and EoL phase-related environmental impacts and cost dimension of EPVs and advancing solar energy education in higher education in South Dakota, and; (3) assessing enviro-economic models for novel application of EPVs, creating decision support tools (EPV-Life tool), and disseminating the research results by offering workshops. Considering that EPVs can create an important market for the solar energy industry, enviro-economic models of EPVs and their novel applications are essential to inform PV stakeholders regarding the pathways for environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable solar energy. As a result, the societal benefits of this project include methods for offsetting greenhouse gases and facilitating an effective education mechanism for EPVs technology.The investigator will design the EPV architectures following refurbish, remanufacture, and recycle (triple-r) principles while this technology is still partially in the R&D stage. The focal point of design for triple-r is to determine device architecture that allows environmentally friendly and economically feasible EoL management schemes. The investigator will assess the life cycle toxic impacts from the use and EoL phase of EPVs due to a catastrophic event and/or breakage or improper disposal. As a result, the use phase-related environmental impacts of PV projects installed on paved (i.e., rooftops) and unpaved (i.e., ground-mounted) surfaces and long-term impacts related to improper dumping will be better understood, and strategies to prevent these from happening can be formulated. The investigator will design all processes involved in the entire life cycle of EPVs using the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) metric, with explicit focus on assessing the net cost of triple-r options that minimize the net cost of electricity from EPVs. Integration of EoL to the LCOE metric will allow for comprehensive development of EPVs with a closed-loop approach. All processes involved in the entire life cycle of EPVs and their novel application fields will be designed using enviro-economic tradeoffs analyzed in this project. A primary focus will be on assessing bifacial systems used in urban/ sub-urban deployment and EPV coupled battery systems in rural/remote applications. The research and educational goals of this project are integrated by focusing on five broader impacts activities: 1) Training graduate and undergraduate students, 2) working closely with Youth & Family Services to outreach to K-12 students, including minority students from the underserved, economically disadvantaged, and underrepresented (e.g., Native American) in western South Dakota, 3) working with Rapid City’s Sustainability Committee to outreach local communities to promote sustainable solar energy and inform them about residential solar deployment’s benefits, 4) partnering with the solar industry and research centers to enhance the infrastructure for research and education, and 5) disseminating research results broader communities with peer-reviewed publications, national and international presentations, and EPV- Life tool, and the team’s Twitter account and YouTube videos.This project is jointly funded by the ENG/CBET Environmental Sustainability program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.