Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

More documents

Recommendations

Info

34 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING By Farah Ibrahim Renewable Energy A Sector in Research and Development Because carbon emissions are causing climate change... Because we need to wean ourselves off foreign oil... Because fossil fuels are going to run out in the next hundred years... Because drilling for oil sometimes causes spills... What do the four statements have in common? They’re reasons for investing in renewable energy. On June 29th, Bill Gates announced he is going to invest $2 billion over the next five years in renewable energy. Last year, worldwide investment in renewables increased 17 per cent, according to the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance. The hunt for the energy of the future is on. Solar Energy "Solar Energy is most attractive because the sun will never disappear", says Professor Yibing Cheng from Monash University. He has been researching solar panels for the past 10 years and believes that solar is the energy source of the future. It is abundant and can be used in land-locked countries. Solar energy is synonymous with silicon solar cells. However, the iconic, black panels we see atop rooftops and in solar power plants, are "not commercially competitive", says Professor Cheng. The production of silicon wafers and silica sand used in these panels are expensive. So is their installation and maintenance. The challenge of the solar energy sector is to make solar panels more economical. For Professor Cheng, this means a new type of solar energy - the printed thin film solar cells. Based on wet solvents and ink, these solar cells can be printed. Professor Cheng hopes this new technology will do for solar energy what the printing press did for newspapers: make them so cheap and easy to produce that solar panels would be as common place and accessible as your daily newspaper. Currently, silicon based solar cells dominate ninety per cent of the market. In order to compete with that, the new thin film solar cells would need to be more than three times more efficient. These new solar cells are not in their infant stages of development. Flexible, polymer solar cells are out in the market, but have the same problem- too expensive for mass production and not very efficient. Plus they’re not printed and would not bring about the revolution that Professor Cheng envisions. To make solar energy the powerhouse energy of the future that Professor Cheng has in mind, there would have to be a flurry of new technologies of printing, capsulation, solar panel materials and solar cell structures. Biofuels Biofuels, since they come in liquid form, are seen as an easier a substitute for fossil fuels. Bioethanol can be substituted for petrol and biodiesel for petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is available in blends, according to the Biofuel Association of Australia. B100 is biofuel on its own. B5 is five per cent biodiesel mixed with petrodiesel. It does not need to be labelled as a biofuel when sold. A blend of 20 per cent biodiesel with petrol diesel is not available for commercial use. However, biofuels have been criticised for taking resources away from agriculture. Land and water that could be used for food crops or for feedstock are diverted for biofuels. Algae-based biofuels remedy this, explains RMIT University professor Aidyn Mouradov. Algae grow in saline, brackish or wastewater. Thus, it doesn’t need agricultural land. It can also be produced quickly. Algae are fast growing and take eight to twelve hours to double their biomass. EADS Airbus has tested algae-based biofuels for jet-fuel. However, it is not yet currently available for commercial use. Commercially and practically, fossil fuels dominate the markets. In 2012-2013, about 72% of Australia’s electricity was produced by black and brown coal, according to the Energy Supply Association of Australia. Meanwhile, the renewable energy from wind and hydro sources took up 11 per cent. Despite this unfortunate fact, the future looks brighter, with investment in renewable energy overtaking investment in fossil fuels in that same period. Image Courtesy of: https://www.flickr.com/photos/basf/4837267013/
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING 35 Internships Quite a few positions are open at the moment! Best of luck! Company Where When Looking For Length Paid? Apply PwC Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney Summer Engineering Students 3-8 Weeks Unspecified before mid August Aurecon GE KPMG Hatch Suncorp Bank Deloitte Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Wollongong Brisbane, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney, Townsville Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney Adelaide, Alice Springs, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney Summer Summer Summer & Grad Positions Summer Summer Grad Positions Engineering Students Engineering Students Engineering Students Engineering and Science Students Engineering Students Engineering Students 3 Months Unspecified before mid August 3 Months Unspecified before mid August 8-12 Weeks Unspecified before August 23 3 Months Yes before August 23 10 Weeks Yes before September - Yes before September 2 CBA Sydney Summer All Students 10 Weeks Unspecified from July Orica Adelaide, Gladstone, Mackay, Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney, Townville Summer Engineering Students 3 Months Yes from October Jane Street Hong Kong, London, New York Northern Hemisphere Winter Eng/Science/IT Students 2-4 Weeks Unspecified Unspecified
Page 1 and 2: Lot’s Wife MoNASH UNIVERSITY stud
Page 3 and 4: Monash Student Association (Clayton
Page 5 and 6: EdIToRIAL 3 Editorial Imagine the s
Page 7 and 8: oB REPoRTS 5 Environment & Social J
Page 9 and 10: 7 7 PoLITICS Politics ILLUSTRATION
Page 11 and 12: POLITICS 9 The ALP National Confere
Page 13 and 14: POLITICS 11 The Tumblr page ‘Your
Page 15 and 16: POLITICS 13 This month’s issue: S
Page 17 and 18: POLITICS 15 The Past, Present and F
Page 19 and 20: 17 17 PoLITICS Student Affairs ILLU
Page 21 and 22: STUDENT AFFAIRS 19 Electronic Cheat
Page 23 and 24: STUdENT AFFAIRS 21 Fossil Fuels: Mo
Page 26 and 27: 24 STUDENT AFFAIRS By Georgia Cox S
Page 28 and 29: 26 STUdENT AFFAIRS Event Schedule M
Page 30 and 31: 28 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING By Timothy
Page 32 and 33: 30 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING BY CoURTNE
Page 34 and 35: 32 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING BY KATHY Z
Page 38 and 39: 36 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING By Riana S
Page 40 and 41: 38 ARTS & CULTURE By Anna Zhang Edu
Page 42 and 43: 40 ARTS & CULTURE By Emily Neilsen
Page 44 and 45: 42 ARTS & CULTURE By LISA HEALY Cel
Page 46 and 47: 44 ARTS & CULTURE BY GRACE MCKINNoN
Page 48 and 49: 46 arts & culture By brodie everist
Page 50 and 51: 48 ART SHOWCASE CHLOE BLYTHMAN
Page 52: Peer Support offers one-on-one sess

Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?