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Young Energy Professionals: Cutting edge technologies
Speaker abstracts and biographies
Chair: Matt Sullivan, Technical Advice Specialist, Moreland Energy Foundation
Matt Sullivan works as a Technical Advice Specialist for the Moreland Energy Foundation and as a consultant in energy efficiency for Water and Energy Savers. After completing a Masters in Energy Studies at the University of Melbourne he has expanded his expertise in efficiency solutions through work with several firms and assisted Engineers Without Borders with their sustainability programme. Prior to his work within the energy field Matt developed control systems in industrial automation. Matt is the YEP convener for the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Institute of Energy.
Laser future energy and your future
Providing abundant power from fusion energy maybe closer than everyone thinks. Researchers have been working for decades on achieving energy gain from fusion in the laboratory, with the dream of employing the processes that power the sun and stars to generate high-volume electricity without the negative impact of carbon-based energy sources. Demonstrating ignition is the goal of the 2010–2012 National Ignition Campaign, which is being pursued at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. NIF is the world’s most energetic laser, capable of producing 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of ultraviolet light. By concentrating the energy from all of its 192 extremely energetic laser beams into an mm3-sized target, NIF can reach the conditions required to initiate fusion reactions.
Demonstrating ignition and net energy gain on NIF will be a landmark scientific achievement and an essential step toward demonstrating the practicality of inertial confinement fusion as a source of clean energy for humankind. If fusion is determined to be a feasible energy option, it will provide the solution to one of the most daunting challenges facing our 21st century world. This talk will describe the plans for achieving ignition and net energy gain on NIF and for demonstrating the feasibility of Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) as a source for abundant, carbon-free energy. The talk will also discuss LIFE’s roadmap toward commercial power plant development, a path that will help meet the goal of abundant, secure, and clean energy for the world’s population.
This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.
Dr Edward Moses, Director, National Ignition Facility (NIF) and Principle Associare Director, NIF and Photon Science Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
Dr Edward Moses is the Director for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Principal Associate Director for the NIF and Photon Science organization at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California. Dr Moses was responsible for completing construction and activation of the NIF, the world’s largest and most energetic laser system and transforming it into an experimental platform for the broad national and international scientific user community. Experiments on NIF will access high energy density regimes with direct application to strategic security as well as applications for fusion energy research, high energy density science, and astrophysics. Dr. Moses is also the National Director of the National Ignition Campaign to achieve fusion ignition in the laboratory, the culmination of a 50-year quest. The NIF and Photon Science principal directorate is also responsible for the development of advanced diagnostics and laser technologies for homeland security, economic competitiveness, and energy needs.
Edward is internationally recognised in laser and optical sciences. He received a B.S. in 1972 and Ph.D. in 1977, both in Electrical Engineering, from Cornell University. He holds several patents in laser technology, fusion and fission energy, and computational physics. He has received many honors, including the Fusion Power Associates 2008 Leadership Award, the National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Award of Excellence, the Memorial D.S. Rozhdestvensky Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Lasers and Optical Sciences, and the R&D100 Award for the Peregrine radiation therapy program. Dr. Moses is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of SPIE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The prospects for hydrogen and fuel cells in Australia
The global hydrogen and fuel cell industry is nearing commercial maturity with the major car manufacturers already offering electric fuel-cell hybrid vehicles on commercial lease programs in California, Europe and Japan where networks of hydrogen refuelling stations are already in operation, and a wide array of commercial hydrogen and fuel cell products are also available for stationary energy applications, such as distributed generation, and as back-up power in the communications and data management industries.
The Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy (AAHE), was established in late 2009, following the success of the World Hydrogen Energy Conference held in Brisbane in 2008. The Association aims to promote the role of hydrogen as an energy carrier in sustainable energy and transportation and co-ordinate representation of hydrogen-energy interests in Australia.
This presentation will present on the status of hydrogen-energy activities in Australia and outlines the wealth of activities being undertaken by the AAHE.
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Attilio Pigneri, Board Member and Acting Marketing Director, Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy
Dr. Attilio Pigneri is a Founding Board Member of the Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy. A professional mechanical engineer from Italy, with Masters and PhD in the energy and environmental areas, Attilio has more than 10 years of professional and academic experience in the broader energy area in Europe, California, China, Australia and New Zealand, with a strong academic and professional focus on strategic planning for the development alternative energy infrastructures and greenhouse gas mitigation initiatives.
Attilio’s hydrogen-energy research focuses on the integration between hydrogen and the existing electricity and gas infrastructures, with a particular focus on hydrogen delivery issues and the development of utility-scale energy storage options integrated with intermittent renewable energy power generation. Attilio is an expert contributor to the IEA-HIA task 24, wind-energy and hydrogen integration.
Attilio is an alumnus of the Sustainable Transportation and Energy Pathways Program (STEPS) at University of California, Davis and has been an Associate Director at the Centre for Energy Research, Massey University in New Zealand. He sits on the Board of several national and international industry and academic associations and has served as an expert reviewer for the IPCC.
