Upcoming Meetings

Transforming Urban Landscapes with Adaptive Materials: Smart Windows and Beyond
Sarbajit Banerjee, Texas A&M

Buildings consume an inordinately large amount of energy across the world and are often static structures that interact little with their outside environment. A recent report from the United Nations estimates that 30-40% of primary energy usage across the world occurs within buildings. In the United States, the Department of Energy estimates that 41% of the total energy consumption occurs within buildings. Much of the energy consumed within buildings goes towards space cooling, space heating, lighting, and ventilation. There is increasing emphasis worldwide on the development of components of the building envelope that adaptively respond to changes of climate. I will review advances in thermochromics, electrochromic, and PV-integrated fenestration with an emphasis on the underlying physics of these active structures. Electron correlation, electron-phonon coupling, polaronic motion—foundational and beloved concepts in condensed matter physics underlie the design of these adaptive materials. Beyond describing the fundamental physics and reviewing recent progress in the disciplines, I will make note of the regulatory environment and market considerations.

Renewable Approaches to Distributed Energy Storage
Eric Toberer, CSM

Development of a renewable, reliable electrical grid increasingly demands energy storage solutions. In this talk, we will explore routes to time-shift solar energy into the evening hours and how to convert this stored energy into electrical power.Techno-economic analysis suggests that thermal storage solutions and thermal-to-electric conversion are near-term solutions and will be the primary focus of this talk. Three key topics will be explored: First,the energy landscape for dispatchable electricity and a survey of possible solutions and their associated challenges. Second, we will explore how physicists can contribute to thermal energy storage challenges. Finally, we will look in depth at solid state thermal-to-electric conversion using thermoelectric materials.Emerging routes to control electron and phonon transport will be discussed and grand challenges that remain will be highlighted.

Magnetism in the Energy Sector
Steve Constantinides, Arnold Magnetic

Energy is not only important to our quality of life, but to our very survival. Millennia ago, humankind depended upon fire for heat and light, for cooking food and for making articles of ceramic and of metal. We depend upon energy ever more greatly, but today it is made available in many ways, for example, fossil fuels for heating, transportation and generation of electricity and renewable electric generation via hydro, solar, biomass, and wind power. Electricity and magnetism are irrevocably linked—magnetism is more accurately called "electromagnetism". Some materials have useful (electro-)magnetic properties. What are these magnetic materials and what role do they play in the production, transmission and consumption of energy and how is that role changing?