More than 900 students throughout Florida converged Saturday, May 7 at the University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) in Cocoa to compete in the day-long competition showcasing student projects in alternative fuel technologies.

Solar Energy Cookoff teams were judged on their cooker's design and the dish they cooked.

Events included the Bright House Solar Energy Cookoff, a solar cooker design and cooking contest; the Junior Solar Sprint, model-size solar car races; the High School Hydrogen Sprint and Hands-On-Hydrogen, model-size hydrogen-powered car races; and Energy Innovations, a full-scale solar electric design challenge.

The Bright House Solar Energy Cookoff challenged students to design and build solar cookers, and also cook a recipe of their own creation in their oven. Students’ creative dishes – such as O’Sol Meatballs and Kicken’ Swamp Cabbage – were judged on taste, ingredients and creativity.

The Junior Solar Sprint cars not only raced on the track, but were also judged on vehicle design, quality of craftsmanship, and innovation.

One of the most popular events is the Junior Solar Sprint (JSS), where students in grades 6-8 design, construct and race solar-powered vehicles. This hands-on competition encourages scientific know-how, creative thinking, experimentation and teamwork. Awards were given based on vehicle design, quality of craftsmanship, innovation and vehicle speed.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars gain speed every year.

The Hands-On-Hydrogen competition for middle school students, and the Hydrogen (H2) Sprint, a competition for high school students in grades 9-12, challenges students to design, build and race model-sized cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The competitions expose students to hydrogen’s potential as an alternative fuel source. The H2 Sprint provides graduates of the JSS program an opportunity to continue designing and building alternative-fueled vehicles. Student teams not only showcased their skill on the track, but they also demonstrated their understanding of hydrogen in a 10-minute presentation.

Students develop creative ways to utilize full-size photovoltaic panels in the Energy Innovations competition.

The Energy Innovations program is a full-scale solar electric design and marketing challenge for middle and high school students. Each team designed and constructed a product or artistic work fully powered by photovoltaic panels, more commonly known as solar electric panels. Additionally, teams created marketing pieces, such as brochures, fliers, and posters, to promote their innovative product and educate spectators.

The Bright House Solar Energy Cookoff doubled in size this year.

“Our event continues to grow each year,” said Susan Schleith, education coordinator at FSEC. “The number of solar cooking teams doubled compared to last year and we had more than 70 solar car entries – a new record. It’s gratifying to see more and more students excited about alternative energy.”

Competition results are listed below. Photos of the award winners are available on our Facebook page at FloridaSolarEnergyCenter, or visit www.fsec.ucf.edu/go/energywhiz for more event photos.

JUNIOR SOLAR SPRINT

6^th Grade Race

1^st Place –
Pine View School (car #62, Last Minute Candy Machine), Osprey

2^nd Place –
Gulf Coast Academy (car #37, Jamacia), Spring Hill

3^rd Place –
Hollywood Christian Academy (car #11, Geiko), Hollywood

7^th Grade Race

1^st Place –
McLane Middle School (car #15, Vibot 2), Brandon

2^nd Place –
Jupiter Middle School (car #28, Robin-Sun), Jupiter

3^rd Place –
Conway Middle School (car #68, Kramer’s Favorite), Orlando

8^th Grade Race

1^st Place –
McLane Middle School (car #14, Vibot 1), Brandon

2^nd Place –
McLane Middle School (car #16, Vibot 3), Brandon

3^rd Place –
Cornerstone Middle School, (car #50, S-Car-Go), Tallahassee

Most Innovative Vehicle Design (overall)

1^st Place –
Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr High School (car #13), 7^th grade team, Merritt Island

2^nd Place –
Hollywood Christian Academy (car #12), 7^th grade team, Hollywood

3^rd Place –
Einstein Montessori School (car #48), 8^th grade team, Cocoa

Best Vehicle Design (overall)

1^st Place –
McLane Middle School (car #14), 7^th grade team, Brandon

2^nd Place –
McLane Middle School (car #16), 7^th grade team, Brandon

3^rd Place –
Hollywood Christian Academy (car #12), 7^th grade team, Hollywood

HYDROGEN SPRINT

1^st Place Race –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (Imperial High Inquisitors), Merritt Island

1^st Place Design –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (Imperial High Inquisitors), Merritt Island

1^st Place Performance –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (Race Girls), Merritt Island

Overall Ranking:

1^st Place –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (Imperial High Inquisitors), Merritt Island

2^nd Place –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (Race Girls), Merritt Island

3^rd Place –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (H₂ Fuel Cows), Merritt Island

HANDS-ON-HYDROGEN

1^st Place Design –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (car #2, The Hula), Merritt Island

1^st Place Overall –
McLain Middle (car #17, H₂ Go), Brandon
2^nd Place Overall –
Andrew Jackson Middle School (car #8, Fred), Titusville

3^rd Place Overall –
Trinity Prepatory (car #1, Brain the Train), Winter Park

BRIGHT HOUSE SOLAR COOKOFF

Elementary School Division

WOW! Award –
Hollywood Christian (#21, Metallic Core), Hollywood

1^st Place Cooker Design –
Fellsmere Elemen. (#18, The Baja Grillers), Fellsmere

2^nd Place Cooker Design –
Knight’s Elementary (#13, Whiz Kids), Plant City

3^rd Place Cooker Design –
Hollywood Christian (#21, Metallic Core), Hollywood

1^st Place Solar Chef –
Fellsmere Elemen. (#18, The Baja Grillers), Fellsmere

2^nd Place Solar Chef –
Fellsmere Elemen. (#17, Cocina del Sol), Fellsmere

3^rd Place Solar Chef –
Hollywood Christian (#21, Metallic Core), Hollywood

Middle School Division

WOW! Award –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (#8, Panda Dynasty), Merritt Island

1^st Place Cooker Design –
Hidden Oaks Middle (#18, Alessa Grill), Palm City

2^nd Place Cooker Design –
Hidden Oaks Middle (#17, Sol Power), Palm City

3^rd Place Cooker Design –
Conway Middle (#25, Chef JLJ), Orlando

1^st Place Solar Chef –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (#8, Panda Dynasty), Merritt Island

2^nd Place Solar Chef –
Hidden Oaks Middle (#18, Alessa Grill), Palm City

3^rd Place Solar Chef –
South Seminole Middle (#4, International Cooking Flare), Casselberry

Energy Innovations

Wow! Award (combined division) –
Gulf Coast Academy (NEXXAN Sun Glider), Spring Hill

Middle School

1^st Place Photovoltaic Design –
Gulf Coast Academy (NEXXAN Sun Glider), Spring Hill

2^nd Place Photovoltaic Design –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (The Air Heads), Merritt Island

3^rd Place Photovoltaic Design –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (The Dukes), Merritt Island
High School

1^st Place Photovoltaic Design –
Pasco High (Solar Tricycle), Dade City

2^nd Place Photovoltaic Design –
South Broward High (Sun Tiki), Hollywood

3^rd Place Photovoltaic Design –
Edgewood Jr/Sr High (The Happy Cows), Merritt Island

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PR11-04

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Q&A with Nazim Muradov

Muradov’s highly cited article, “From hydrocarbon to hydrogen-carbon to hydrogen economy,” published in the “International Journal of Hydrogen Energy” in March 2005, is now featured as a Fast Moving Front paper in the field of engineering on Thomson Reuters’ ScienceWatch^® Web site:  http://sciencewatch.com/sciencewatch/dr/fmf/2009/09mayfmf/09mayfmfMura/.

“I’m deeply honored that the work conducted at FSEC has received such broad attention and recognition among professionals,” Muradov said. “It shows that so many people are concerned with the issues of clean and abundant energy supply, and they consider future Hydrogen Economy as a viable solution to the current energy and environmental problems.

“It is very important to recognize the scope of problems and available options early in order to adequately plan long-term strategies for the transition to sustainable carbon-free energy systems, because the failure to do that will have enormous negative impact on our planet.”

This paper describes a novel concept for addressing and dealing with the energy and environmental issues during the transition from the present fossil-based economy to a sustainable carbon-neutral economy of the future. It outlines a new way of producing clean fuels and advanced structural materials from traditional fossil-based resources, such as natural gas, in an environmentally sustainable way.

Muradov’s complete paper can be seen at www.sciencedirect.com.

About Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators^SM
Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators^SM is a resource that enables researchers to conduct ongoing, quantitative analyses of research performance and track trends in science. Covering a multidisciplinary selection of 11,000+journals from around the world, this in-depth analytical tool offers data for ranking scientists, institutions, countries, and journals.

This unique and comprehensive compilation of science performance statistics and science trends data is based on journal article publication counts and citation data from Thomson Reuters’ scientific databases. Available as a ten-year rolling file, ESI covers 10 million articles in 22 specific fields of research, and is updated every two months.

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• The Junior Solar Sprint is a competition that challenges middle school students to design, build and race model solar cars. Awards are given based on vehicle design, quality of craftsmanship, innovation and vehicle speed.
• The Hydrogen Sprint is a high school competition that provides opportunities for students to explore hydrogen power with a hands-on design component and a presentation.
• The Energy Innovations program is a full-scale solar electric design and marketing challenge for middle and high school students. Each participating team designs and constructs a product or artistic work fully powered by photovoltaics (PV), also called solar electric cells. Teams also create marketing pieces, such as brochures, fliers, and posters, to accompany their products.
• The Bright House Solar Energy Cook-Off challenges students, in grades 4th – 8th, to design and build solar cookers, and to also cook a recipe of their own creation using the power of the sun.  In Top Chef-style, each dish will be judged by a panel of experts based on taste, ingredients and creativity.

WHY:
These hands-on renewable energy competitions – for elementary, middle and high school students – expose students to alternative energy fuel sources, and encourage scientific know-how, creative thinking, experimentation and teamwork.

WHO:
More than 650 elementary, middle, and high school Florida students – from Tallahassee to Miami and everywhere in between – will participate in the EnergyWhiz Olympics.

Number of Teams in Each Competition –
Junior Solar Sprint:  60
Hydrogen Sprint:  13
Energy Innovations:  12
Solar Cook-off:  46

WHEN:
Saturday, May 9 starting at 9 a.m.

9:00 a.m.    Welcome – Auditorium
Dr. James Fenton, Director, Florida Solar Energy Center

9:30 a.m.    Technical Judging Begins – Junior Solar Sprint, Hydrogen Sprint
Hydrogen Sprint Presentations
Energy Innovations Displays Open to Public
Solar Energy Cook-Off – Design Judging
Solar Cookers – Displays Open to Public

11:30 a.m.    Energy Innovations Judging – Middle School Teams

12 noon    Energy Innovations Judging – High School Teams
Junior Solar Sprint Race Begins (Track Area 1)

1:00 p.m.    Hydrogen Sprint Race Begins (Track Area 2)

2:00 p.m.    Solar Energy Cook-Off – Recipe Judging (Auditorium)

3:30 p.m.    Awards Ceremony (Auditorium)

WHERE:
Florida Solar Energy Center, 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa, FL 32922

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

For more information on these exciting educational events, visit
http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/education/k-12/events/ewhiz_olympics.htm or view a video about the EnergyWhiz Olympics at http://vimeo.com/982597.

Contact Susan Schleith, FSEC Education Coordinator, at 321-638-1017 or Susan@fsec.ucf.edu.

###

PR09-07

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This series of online courses offers practical education from building science experts with more than 30 years of research and experience. These courses are appropriate for architects, builders, contractors, designers, educators, energy auditors, energy raters, engineers, prospective homebuyers and utility representatives.

During these tough economic times, builders are looking for ways to attract home buyers and the new government administration is concentrating on creating “green jobs.”  Zero Energy Homes provide an opportunity to accomplish both and save consumers money while reducing their carbon footprint. These courses will show participants how to maximize energy-efficient design, make the best “green” choices, and optimize performance from solar and home energy management systems.

The 12-course Webinar series begins June 3, 2009.

“We’re excited to offer online courses so we can reach a larger audience,” said Rob Vieira, Buildings Research director at Florida Solar Energy Center. “A unique feature of our Webinars is that most courses will include a video case study, showing the successful implementation of green building strategies – from design to occupancy,” added Vieira.

FSEC will offer two online courses each month, beginning on June 3. Participants who attend 10 of the Webinars and pass a quiz will receive a Certificate for Zero Energy Home Building. The complete list of courses offered in 2009 include:

1. Defining a Zero Energy Green Home – June 3
2. Designing a Zero Energy Green Home – June 17
3. Highly Efficient Water Heating Choices – July 1
4. Selecting Solar Water Heating for Zero Energy Green Homes – July 15
5. Selecting Windows and Walls for a Zero Energy Green Home – August 5
6. Constructing Roofs and Attics for a Zero Energy Green Home – August 19
7. HVAC Systems for Zero Energy Green Homes – September 2
8. Selecting Appliances and Plug Loads for a Zero Energy Green Home – September 16
9. Sizing and Selecting Solar Electric Systems for a Zero Energy Green Home – October 7
10. Using Your Home Solar Electric System for Emergency Power – October 21
11. Installation Considerations for Solar Electric Systems – November 4
12. Monitoring and Operating the Zero Energy Green Home – November 18

For more details about the courses and to register, visit www.floridaenergycenter.org/go/zero

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The University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and the Brevard Community College Green Team will host the event on Saturday, April 18, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Everyone is invited, and admission is free.

Learn from the experts how to cut your energy costs without sacrificing comfort, the benefits of green roofs, the basics of solar energy and the latest research in alternative fuel technology. Tours of the center will also be offered.

Exhibitors and vendors will offer presentations, demonstrations and activities.
Solar energy, environmental and educational exhibits — including various types of alternative fuel vehicles — will be on display, and a farmer’s market will feature local organic food. Activities for kids include a bicycle rodeo, solar boat demonstrations, a bouncy house and face painting. In addition, the Middle School Science Bowl finalist teams will race their model hydrogen fuel cell cars.

The BCC Green Team will present free educational and environmental films, “Gimme Green,” “Who Killed the Electric Car?” and “Kilowatt Ours.” The BCC Planetarium and Observatory will present two showings of the movie “A Living Sea,” which is shown in IMAX, at a discounted rate of $3.

Sunsational EarthFest activities will be located throughout the north end of the Brevard Community College Cocoa Campus and at the Florida Solar Energy Center, 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa.

Sunsational EarthFest is sponsored by the Florida Solar Energy Center, the BCC Green Team, Bright House Networks, FLORIDA TODAY and SolarWorld.

For more information, call Susan Schleith at (321) 638-1017 or go to www.floridaenergycenter.org/go/earthfest.

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Alternative energy is called alternative, until it is cheaper, but cheaper than what? – electricity out of the wall at 12 cents yesterday, 15 cents today, 18 cents tomorrow?  Are you aware that people in the U.S. pay different amounts for electricity?  The average residential retail price of electricity in the U.S. was 10.6 cents per kWh in 2007.  Florida was 11.2 cents, most southern states were about 9 cents, WV 7 cents, UT 8 cents, NY and CT about 18 cents, and CA and NJ 15 cents.  So, states that burn coal have the cheapest electricity rates. Places like Utah and West Virginia burn their own coal, so even though they get all the pollution and the greenhouse gasses, at least they get to keep all their money, unlike Florida which ships more than $25 billion out of state to purchase fuel.  Florida has already been paying more for cleaner burning fossil fuels than the Southern states to our north.  We are now paying more for natural gas than we are for coal, and that price increase is more than what is being suggested to add to our electric bills for solar energy.

New Jersey has more solar than Florida because homeowners in NJ have a Renewable Portfolio Standard, and fees (collected into a Public Benefit Fund) are used to incentivize the homeowner for solar on their roof.  If such a fund collected $1.50 on your electric bill in Florida, we could have the equivalent of California’s Million Solar Roofs Program.  Clearly $1.50 is less than the $40 a month cost of doing nothing.  While solar water heating is cost effective today, solar electricity (photovoltaics) without a subsidy is not cost effective today, but the subsidy is still less than the cost of “accelerated cost recovery” for nuclear power.  What about the jobs?  These jobs will not be in China and India, they will be done by your neighbor.  Vote Solar estimates that more than 3,800 megawatts (MW) of solar could be added by 2020 and with it approximately 85,500 new jobs in Florida. What a great way to love your neighbor.

Jim Fenton, Director
Florida Solar Energy Center

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The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a research institute of the University of Central Florida, today released EnergyGauge Summit Premier 3.15. FSEC will be exhibiting the software at the Greenbuild conference in Boston Nov. 19 – 21. This state-of-the-art software provides construction-industry professionals with the opportunity to substantially reduce the time required to complete energy modeling for the commercial construction LEED® rating system. It also offers a time-saving automatic federal tax deduction qualification feature.

Summit Premier was first released in November 2007 at Greenbuild Chicago.   The new version contains several improvements that make it more functional in its use for LEED and other calculations. They include:

• The required treatment of District Thermal Energy in LEED NC 2.2.  EnergyGauge Summit allows users to perform the steps required to incorporate district heating and cooling in their proposed building, as per requirements from USGBC.  EnergyGauge automatically models the typically time-consuming two-step calculation process required by the USGBC. Both step 1 and step 2 reports have been automated for saving additional time.

• Profiles and schedules are now editable. The user can modify, or create and assign, space and zone load profiles, and schedules for people, lighting equipment, etc. This will allow modeled building loads to be closer to actual load scenarios.

• TMY3 Weather data now available. The new TMY3 weather data set for numerous locations has been implemented. TMY3 represents a more recent weather data set and is understood to be a more accurate representation of current weather parameters than the old TMY2 weather data set. The user can select either dataset for analysis.

• Several new inputs now available to user. The user can now specify several new inputs, such as outdoor air quantities, thermostat type and range, number of people and/or area per person, and equipment loads. These inputs allow more accurate analysis of the building.

• New reports. EnergyGauge now has additional reports to help modelers understand those periods where the loads are not met by the HVAC system (unmet hours). Profiles and schedule reports have also been added. Additionally, the software includes a printable replica of the LEED online-report.

This easy-to-use new software product is an advancement of a product that is used in Florida for commercial building code compliance by more than 1,500 users.  The Premier edition includes nationwide climates and offers the automatic federal tax deduction qualification and LEED® energy optimization features.

The United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system is the leading green building rating system in the United States. The organization recently mandated that each project achieve at least two energy optimization points in their rating. EnergyGauge Summit Premier allows engineers to simply enter the design building characteristics and the software calculates everything else for these important point credits.

At Greenbuild’s expo booth 2450, FSEC will demonstrate the ability to complete and submit the LEED 2.2 EA Credit 1 template to the LEED-Online database.  This automatic baseline building-generation and template-completion feature will save the typical energy modeler many hours on each building submission.

The software automatically creates the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard 2004 90.1 baseline building; performs the ASHRAE 2004 Appendix G rating procedure, and calculates the points achieved for LEED energy optimization. It also calculates ASHRAE Standard 90.1 compliance, based on the performance method, as called for in ASHRAE performance-based energy code compliance methodology.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has listed EnergyGauge Summit Premier as qualified software for calculating energy savings for the energy-efficient, commercial-building tax deduction under Internal Revenue Code §179D.

EnergyGauge Summit Premier performs an annual 8,760-hour simulation, taking just a few seconds on typical new computers. The Windows-based program uses a DOE2 engine, originally developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

A free, fully-functional trial version of the new EnergyGauge Summit Premier software can be downloaded at www.EnergyGauge.com. The software retails for $949 per annual license.

About EnergyGauge®
EnergyGauge energy analysis software is produced and distributed by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a research institute of the University of Central Florida.  EnergyGauge is a registered trademark of FSEC.  FSEC has been conducting research on energy efficiency in buildings since 1980.  EnergyGauge software products include EnergyGauge Summit for commercial buildings, EnergyGauge USA for residential buildings nationwide and EnergyGauge FlaRes for Florida’s residential code compliance.  EnergyGauge is on display at the Greenbuild conference at booth 2450. More information at www.EnergyGauge.com.

About FSEC
The Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida, is the largest and most active state-supported energy research institute in the nation. Current divisions and their research activities include Advanced Energy Research: alternative transportation systems, hydrogen fuel and fuel cells; Buildings Research: energy-efficient buildings; and Solar Energy: solar water and pool heating and solar electric and distributed generation systems. For more information about the center, visit www.floridaenergycenter.org or call the FSEC Public Affairs Office at 321-638-1015.

About ASHRAE
ASHRAE creates standards used internationally for building energy and ventilation performance such as ASHRAE 90.1 for commercial building energy performance. More information is available at www.ashrae.org.

About LEED®
LEED is a registered trademark of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and represents The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. One of the key elements for earning points in the popular LEED rating system is the buildings energy performance. For new buildings, the applicant can earn one LEED credit point for each 3.5 percent improvement in performance relative to ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004 using the Building Performance Rating Method in Appendix G of the Standard. More information on LEED is available at www.usgbc.org/.

About Greenbuild
Greenbuild is the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building. Scheduled for November 19 – 21, 2009, more than 20,000 building professionals from around the world gather for three days of outstanding educational sessions, renowned speakers, green building tours, special seminars, networking events.

About the Energy Tax Deduction
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) is the first effort of the United States government to address U.S. energy policy since the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Among many other things, the 1,724-page law provides new tax incentives for a number of solar and energy efficiency measures including tax deductions for commercial buildings. This provision offers business taxpayers a deduction of $1.80 per square foot for commercial buildings that achieve a 50 percent reduction in annual energy cost to the user, compared to a reference building defined by the industry standard ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1-2001. Energy costs refer only to heating, cooling, lighting and water heating, since only these uses are within the scope of the ASHRAE standard and within the control of the building designer. More information on the IRS procedure can be found at: www.irs.gov/irb/2006-26_IRB/ar11.html.

Each of the three energy-using systems of the building: the envelope, the heating, cooling and water heating system, and lighting system, is eligible for one third of the incentive if it meets its share of the whole-building savings goal. Explicit interim compliance procedures are provided for lighting.

New construction in an existing building is also eligible for the tax deduction, with one-third of the deduction amount for new construction that affects the new energy-using system (such as lighting or heating, cooling and water heating).

Compliance is determined by third-party inspectors who review the plans and the actual in-place construction. Energy savings are determined by software that must be certified by the Department of Energy as meeting criteria of consistency and accuracy. EnergyGauge Summit is listed as qualified software by the U.S. Department of Energy, visit: www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/qualified_software.html

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The World Hydrogen Energy Conference provided a setting for scientists to present their research on methods to provide the world with clean energy, including a new paradigm featuring hydrogen. The budding hydrogen economy will be brought about by emerging science and technologies such as those featured at the conference.

The research conducted by Drs. Huang and Raissi was initially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. It is now part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant for a hydrogen research and development program funded by NASA Glenn Research Center, involving research at several Florida universities. The program is managed by FSEC.

Dr. Huang, principal investigator for this project, said, “I am honored to receive this award. To have my work recognized by the leaders of this conference is, indeed, an honor.” Dr. Raissi added that “This is a real honor for us since our work was recognized by the scientific committee of WHEC-15 and especially the committee’s chair Professor Hideo Kameyama, who is the world-renowned researcher in the thermochemical hydrogen production arena and the inventor of the famous UT-3 cycle.”

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, but on earth, it is chemically reactive and exists at normal conditions in combination with other elements such as oxygen in water or carbon in natural gas. This leads to a technical problem with hydrogen: it must be produced or extracted from the compound in which it is contained. In the long term, hydrogen must be produced from sustainable resources such as solar energy and water. In their research, Drs. Raissi and Huang address the production of hydrogen through high-temperature thermochemical water-splitting cycles.

The use of thermochemical water-splitting cycles (TCWSCs) employing solar energy as a heat source is an innovative approach to produce hydrogen. It presents a viable option for the future production of hydrogen. TCWSCs can be highly efficient processes compared to other hydrogen production methods based on water splitting.

Several presentations submitted by FSEC researchers were presented at the conference. To view their presentations, please visit http://www.hydrogenresearch.org/WHEC15.htm The Florida Solar Energy Center is the largest and most active state-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development organization in the United States and functions as the State’s energy research and training center. For more information about FSEC’s hydrogen research programs, visit http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/hydrogen or call FSEC Public Information Office at (321) 638-1015 or go to http://www.fsec.ucf.edu.

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