The energy and climate portion of the G8 nations’ statement issued at the end of this week’s summit includes a promise to intensify clean energy research and development.
I’m a big supporter of basic research and I hope a lot more money goes to science, but a less sexy piece of the clean energy puzzle deserves equal attention: manufacturing. An exciting piece of technology isn’t going to do much good if it can’t get out in the world, and that means it has to be mass producible.
Sterling Energy Systems, makers of a concentrating solar-thermal power system, recently unveiled their second-generation model. The company is tapping the automotive industry supply chain to enable economical high-volume production. It’s using stamped sheet metal to make the system’s mirrors.
This makes me wonder if in the near future we’ll be able to point to a breakthrough in production as the Model T of clean energy. It also makes me think of John Deutch’s comment that energy innovation needs to be a team sport where science, engineering and business all happen at the same time.
Another often overlooked aspect of this interrelationship is research focused on manufacturing processes. One researcher who exemplifies this is Frederik Krebs of the Technical University of Denmark’s National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy. Much of the polymer scientist’s work is focused on roll-to-roll solar cell manufacturing. It’s not headline-grabbing work, but it could quietly make the difference in when and how clean energy technologies reach the market.
The familiar R&D acronym has recently been expanded to RD&D, meaning either research, development and demonstration, or research, development and deployment. We could start using RD3 to encompass both meanings. And maybe we could parse this further by adding manufacturing: RD3M.
Eric Smalley is the editor of Energy Research News. He has written about technology since 1987 and has freelanced for many publications including Discover, Scientific American, Wired News and The Boston Globe on topics ranging from quantum cryptography to global warming.
