The OSA Photovoltaics Meeting - Optics and Energy Needs
Baohua Jia
Fundamentally, I think the cost problem is the efficiency problem; 1% efficiency improvement can lead to several percent of cost reduction if the market is large enough. Unfortunately, the efficiency of the main stream products on the solar market have been saturated at a comparatively low level for a while, holding most people from installing the panels on their roof top.
Realizing the grand challenge and tremendous opportunity, the Optical Society of America (OSA) hosts the Optical Nanostructures and Advanced Materials for Photovoltaics (PV) conference from 02 - 05 December 2014. This conference allows the optics experts to join force with the PV experts to collectively work on the solar challenge and tackle the problem with new opportunities and flexibilities offered by nanostructures and nanomaterials that were not considered in the thermal dynamic limit of conventional PV cells.
The plenary speaker is the Noble Laureate Steven Chu, Stanford University, USA and the lineup for the keynote speakers include James Anderson, Harvard University, USA, Martin Green, University of New South Wales, Australia and many others with their names you have heard many times. You can check this out on the conference page. What I can say is this is indeed a highly prestigious conference. But what made me really passionate about is that by attending this conference we can all be part of this champion for solving the grand energy challenge.
For those of you, who have not come to Australia before, there is one more good reason to join this conference. Just look at the beautiful image below, can you resist coming?
Parliament House on Capital Hill in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia
(Image from http://svc111.bri11l.webmetrix.com.au/nsw-act-bandb/gallery/canberra.html)
