The 25 IEA energy efficiency policy recommendations to the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action

The imperative to pursue energy efficiency improvements is clearly on the political agenda at all levels of governments. This paper explores the lessons from past attempts at galvanising international efforts to expand energy efficiency activities through the use of international-level recommendations. Drawing on these lessons, the paper outlines the IEA response to the call for policy advice on energy efficiency through the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action. Specifically, the paper outlines a ‘necessary conditions’ framework that was used to develop a set of energy efficiency policy priorities and describes the subsequent recommendations presented to the G8 in Hokkaido–Toyako Summit in 2008. The recommendations cover 25 fields of action in seven priority areas: buildings, appliances, lighting, transport, industry, energy utilities and cross-sectoral issues. Together, the suite of recommendations sets out an ambitious road map for global energy efficiency improvement. If implemented globally without delay, they could save around 8.2 GtCO₂/yr or 96 EJ/yr by 2030. This is equivalent to roughly twice the current total EU energy-related CO₂ emissions.     

Performance tests of catalysts for the safe conversion of hydrogen inside the nuclear waste containers in Fukushima Daiichi

The safe decommissioning as well as decontamination of the radioactive waste resulting from the nuclear accident in Fukushima Daiichi represents a huge task for the next decade. At present, research and development on long-term safe storage containers has become an urgent task with international cooperation in Japan. One challenge is the generation of hydrogen and oxygen in significant amounts by means of radiolysis inside the containers, as the nuclear waste contains a large portion of sea water. The generation of radiolysis gases may lead to a significant pressure build-up inside the containers and to the formation of flammable gases with the risk of ignition and the loss of integrity.In the framework of the project “R&D on technology for reducing concentration of flammable gases generated in long-term waste storage containers” funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), the potential application of catalytic recombiner devices inside the storage containers is investigated. In this context, a suitable catalyst based on the so-called intelligent automotive catalyst for use in a recombiner is under consideration. The catalyst is originally developed and mass-produced for automotive exhaust gas purification, and is characterized by having a self-healing function of precious metals (Pd, Pt and Rh) dissolved as a solid solution in the perovskite type oxides. The basic features of this catalyst have been tested in an experimental program. The test series in the REKO-4 facility has revealed the basic characteristics of the catalyst required for designing the recombiner system.     

Fabricating high performance a-Si solar cells by alternately repeating deposition and hydrogen plasma treatment method

The performance of a p-i buffer layer in pin amorphous silicon solar cell was improved by the “alternately repeating deposition and hydrogen plasma treatment method (ADHT)”. The optical bandgap of the a-Si film was increased by hydrogen plasma treatement. The wide optical bandgap and the high photoconductive a-Si:H films without carbon could be fabricated by the ADHT method. The conversion efficiency of the solar cell with a-Si:H buffer layer was almost the same as that using an a-SiC:H buffer layer. Second, the a-Si (ADHT) films were applied to the n-i buffer layer. The insertion of a-Si (ADHT) films between the i-layer and the n-layer was effective to improve the cell performance, especially the fill factor. With the use of high performance a-Si p-i and n-i buffer layer deposited by ADHT method, a cell conversion efficiency of 12.9% was obtained.     

Production of d-glucose from pseudo paper sludge with hydrothermal treatment

To convert cellulosic organics contained in industrial paper sludge into glucose, reaction of pseudo paper sludge composed of cellulose and inorganic compounds (calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), talc (Mg₃(Si₄O₁₀)(OH)₂), kaolin (Al₂(Si₂O₅)(OH)₄)) under hydrothermal conditions was studied. Significant amounts of glucose (ca. 23%) could be produced from cellulose in the absence of CaCO₃ for reaction in water at 523 K and 12 min reaction time. On the other hand, in the presence of CaCO3, most glucose decomposed over all conditions, whereas the addition of talc and kaolin to the mixtures increased the glucose yield to about 30%. For the case of chemical recycle of paper sludge with hydrothermal treatment to obtain d-glucose, it can be concluded that it is preferable to separate the calcium carbonate from the paper sludge before hydrothermal treatment.     

Performance evaluation of membrane on catalyst module for hydrogen production from natural gas

We have been developing a hydrogen production module with a Pd-based membrane on catalyst (MOC) from natural gas. The MOC module is expected to be more compact and cheaper than the conventional hydrogen production module. To evaluate the hydrogen production performance of the MOC module and to clear the factor that dominates the effective hydrogen production, we compared the reforming performance of the catalytic support without hydrogen permeable membrane and the MOC module at various reaction conditions. As a result, it was cleared that hydrogen permeation through the membrane improves the methane conversion drastically in the MOC module by comparing with the support only module and changing the experimental conditions.     

Proton decay measurement with RIPS for astrophysical interest

The decay property of ²⁰Na was studied using a ²⁰Mg beam to obtain a better understanding of the onset mechanism of the rapid proton process. The delayed protons were successfully measured, which correspond to one of the known 1⁺ states. There is no clear beta decay to the first excited 1⁺ state above the proton threshold in ²⁰Na, suggesting that this state would not be the s-wave resonance as was expected before. The present result is preliminary; the final result will be published elsewhere.     

Enhanced heat transfer during oscillatory flow in annular channels

Heat transfer during oscillatory flow in a circular straight tube with a solid‐core tube inserted in its center was numerically simulated. The purpose of the solid‐core tube is to enhance axial heat transfer by increasing the lateral heat transfer effect for high frequency of the oscillatory flow. Simulation results showed that (a) axial heat transfer increases with the increasing diameter of the solid‐core tube, (b) the material of the solid‐core tube does not significantly affect axial heat transfer, and (c) efficiency based on the ratio of heat transfer to the work done is higher than that in a bundle of circular capillary tubes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 35(1): 61–74, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20094     

Development of low cost production technologies for polycrystalline silicon solar cells

To develop a technology of forming grooves for low cost cell production, a multi-blade wheel grinding method was investigated. The process time of groove formation on the surface of 10 × 10 cm² polycrystalline silicon substrate was reduced to 30 s by a newly developed high-speed groove formation machine. Simultaneous formation of junction and anti-reflection coating by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) technique was also investigated. For electrodes formation process, single firing method for both side electrodes made possible to simplify the firing process and to speed up from a conventional speed of 400 mm/min to 5000 mm/min.     

Advanced fabrication technologies of integrated-type structure for a-Si solar cells

This paper proposes a new advanced fabrication technology for a low-cost integrated-type a-Si solar cell. Integrated-type cells provide many advantages and have been industrialized with a laser patterning method. However, a higher throughput and more efficient patterning method was required for applying a-Si solar cells to a power generating system. Plasma CVM (Chemical Vaporization Machining) was first applied to advanced patterning because of its advantages of high speed and selectivity. In this method, a plasma generated under high pressure localizes near the wire electrode and concentrates reactive radicals. As a result, we achieved an etching rate of more than 1 μm/s and selective patterning of a 200 μm-wide a-Si layer in 1 s multiline patterning was also developed for large-area modules.     

Photodegradation of chlorofluorocarbon alternatives on metal oxide

HCFC and HFC were photodegraded on metal oxides. Degradation rate on several metal oxides was in the order: TiO₂ZnO > Fe₂O₃kaolin SiO₂ Al₂O₃. Principal degradation products were CO₂, Cl⁻ and F⁻. Minor products which oxidize I⁻ were included for some HCFC's. A photocatalytic process is suggested for the degradation reaction. An overall reaction equation is proposed on the basis of mass balance.