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Maybe you know of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where people challenge themselves to write 50 000 words in 30 days, starting 1st November. Well, I present to you ThesisWriMo, my own attempt at getting myself to write something (anything!) because hey, my PhD funding runs out in October, and my supervisors want to see a draft before the new academic year starts, and they're going on holiday at various points in summer, etc. etc.
Scroll down for the rules (I can impose my own rules, no one says I can't), and progress updates... This blog post is about the future. It's also a tale from the past. The content is based on a talk by Dr. Christopher Case, CTO of Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV). A lot has happened since the summer of 2012. That was when I did a little project work in the group of Prof. Henry Snaith. Their research had led to the spinout company that is Oxford PV. Back then, we were all giddy with excitement over solution-processed perovskite solar cells. Our own plucky hero Mike Lee had voyaged to Japan and learned the ways of solution processing - leading to the production of 11% efficient solar cells.
After the (ahem) roaring success of my essay on battery recycling, I bring you the hotly anticipated SOLAR PANELS edition of "Things whose issues with recycling reflect really badly on the renewable energy industry". To cover:
Roll up! Roll up! No one can resist the lure of... the BATTERY SHREDDER! All credit to my colleagues on the CDT in energy storage, they designed a mighty fine interactive battery recycling demo.
That was the tone of the conference dinner conversation. The conference being the 3rd Annual Conference of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Storage and its Applications (Sheffield, 11-12th September).
Now that I have your attention, here comes my usual awkward summary of random things I learned. (There's a more coherent bit later, but I'm obliged to give some people a mention. And yes, I will explain the dinner conversation.) Hi folks, not really a real update today... just changed some things on this site a little, and now I have a page specifically for showing off my work.
At the end of the page I've stuck a coursework essay I wrote in the 0th year of the CDT (also below, for your convenience, if Scribd is working...). It's here because people keep asking me about the state of battery recycling. It is just cobbled together from various sources in the existing literature, and is not a subject I have real experience in - but I hope it serves as an interesting summary. Also, if you're assigned a similar piece of coursework, don't plagiarise me - software is clever these days and it'll be obvious. A couple of months ago, the fabulous folks at the Science Room invited me to chair a discussion on energy. It was going to be centred around the questions 'How can sustainability be measured?' and 'Is renewable energy sustainable in the long term?' - and there's a short recording of Phil discussing those questions with me afterwards, along with a transcript, below.
Some time ago, I had a marvellous conversation with some friends, triggered by this petition (itself inspired by a new law recently introduced in California). You can read the conversation in full (screenshots) below, or follow this link to read it and add your thoughts too. I'd be delighted to hear them!
Edit: relatedly (while we're talking about energy-efficient home insulation), there's an ongoing podcast on the Grenfell Tower inquiry here. I raised some questions in this blog post, and I'm hoping we'll get some answers. That's why I tuned in - there were also commemorations of the victims by their friends and relatives, which were very moving. Did you hear? The World Bank Group pledged to stop investing in oil and gas exploration after 2019. I thought I’d try being topical again and take this chance to tell you a couple of stories (or one big over-arching story) about finance and climate change. It starts in my third year at university, nearly six years ago. Regardless of how cynical or optimistic I feel now about the World Bank Group’s announcement, back then I couldn’t have dreamed of such an announcement even being made.
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Susan's BlogIn which I scribble words about energy, the environment, climate change, and other science things. Views expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of the CDT staff or sponsors. Archives
August 2019
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