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1. A Pathway for Sustainable Agriculture

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084328  

   AL-agele, Hadi A. ; Nackley, Lloyd ; Higgins, Chad W. ( April 2021 , Sustainability)

   null (Ed.)

   Expanding populations, the impacts of climate change, availability of arable land, and availability of water for irrigation collectively strain the agricultural system. To keep pace and adapt to these challenges, food producers may adopt unsustainable practices that may ultimately intensify the strain. What is a course of technological evolution and adoption that can break this cycle? In this paper we explore a set of technologies and food production scenarios with a new, reduced-order model. First the model is developed. The model combines limitations in the sustainable water supply, agricultural productivity as a function of intensification, and rising food demands. Model inputs are derived from the literature and historical records. Monte Carlo simulation runs of the model are used to explore the potential of existing and future technologies to bring us ever closer to a more sustainable future instead of ever farther. This is the concept of a moving sustainability horizon (the year in the future where sustainability can be achieved with current technological progress if demand remains constant). The sustainability gap is the number of years between the present and the sustainability horizon. As demand increases, the sustainability horizon moves farther into the future. As technology improves and productivity increases, the sustainability horizon is closer to the present. Sustainability, therefore, is achieved when the sustainability horizon collides with the present, closing the sustainability gap to zero. We find one pathway for water management technology adoption and innovation that closes the sustainability gap within the reduced-order model’s outputs. In this scenario, micro-irrigation adoption, minimal climate change impacts, reduced food waste, and additional transformative innovations such as smart greenhouses and agrivoltaic systems are collectively needed. The model shows that, in the absence of these changes, and continuing along our current course, the productivity of the agricultural system would become insufficient in the decade following 2050. 

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2. Material Requirement and Resource Availability for Silicon Photovoltaic Laminate Manufacturing in the Next 10 Years

   https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9518663  

   Heidari, Seyed M ; Anctil, Annick ( June 2021 , 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC))

   Material scarcity is a considerable threat to energy transition towards renewables. Photovoltaics (PV) installations are expected to increase rapidly in the next decade, which may increase the amount of material needed. This study created three scenarios (S 1 , S 2 , & S 3 ) to evaluate the impacts of potential technology improvements on the quantity of materials necessary for manufacturing silicon PV (Si PV) laminate in the next ten years. Our baseline was similar to previous studies, which applied theoretical models on PV historical data and ignored PV technology improvements that can influence future material projections. S 1 considered only market share and module efficiency, while S 2 covered wafer thickness improvements as well. S 3 was the scenario that more likely will occur in the next decade, which included module efficiency, market share, wafer thickness, glass thickness, and potential replacements such as using perovskite/silicon tandem. The material requirement for Si PV laminate manufacturing in S 3 was 22% to 78% lower than the baseline, S 1 , and S 2 . The highest material demand is expected to be for solar glass (74 million metric tons) and Metallurgical grade silicon (3 million metric tons) in the next decade. This study showed the importance of considering technology improvements to project the PV material requirement. 

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3. Technology Pathways Could Help Drive the U.S. West Coast Grid's Exposure to Hydrometeorological Uncertainty

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002187  

   Wessel, Jacob ; Kern, Jordan D. ; Voisin, Nathalie ; Oikonomou, Konstantinos ; Haas, Jannik ( January 2022 , Earth's Future)

   Previous studies investigating deep decarbonization of bulk electric power systems and wholesale electricity markets have not sufficiently explored how future grid pathways could affect the grid's vulnerability to hydrometeorological uncertainty on multiple timescales. Here, we employ a grid operations model and a large synthetic weather ensemble to “stress test” a range of future grid pathways for the U.S. West Coast developed by ReEDS, a well‐known capacity planning model. Our results show that gradual changes in the underlying capacity mix from 2020 to 2050 can cause significant “re‐ranking” of weather years in terms of annual wholesale electricity prices (with “good” years becoming bad, and vice versa). Nonetheless, we find the highest and lowest ranking price years in terms of average electricity price remain mostly tied to extremes in hydropower availability (streamflow) and load (summer temperatures), with the strongest sensitivities related to drought. Seasonal dynamics seen today involving spring snowmelt and hot, dry summers remain well‐defined out to 2050. In California, future supply shortfalls in our model are concentrated in the evening and occur mostly during periods of high temperature anomalies in late summer months and in late winter; in the Pacific Northwest, supply shortfalls are much more strongly tied to negative streamflow anomalies. Under our more robust sampling of stationary hydrometeorological uncertainty, we also find that the ratio of dis‐patchable thermal (i.e., natural gas) capacity to wind and solar required to ensure grid reliability can differ significantly from values reported by ReEDS.

    

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4. Cadmium Telluride Cells on Silicon as Precursors for Two-Junction Tandem Cells

   Pandey, R. ; Drayton, J. ; Gregory, C. ; Mohan Kumar, N. ; Tyler, K. ; King, R. ; Sites, J. ( January 2020 , Conference record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference)

   Cadmium telluride and silicon are among the widely used absorber materials in photovoltaic industry. A tandem solar cell of these two can absorb significant portion of solar spectrum to yield high efficiency due to the added voltage of the two solar cells. On basis of low-cost production, a CdTe/Si cell has the potential to produce low-cost and high efficiency tandem PV. The CdTe top cell in a substrate configuration is essential to achieve a tandem between CdTe and Si. A functional CdS/CdTe solar cell in the substrate configuration was fabricated on a Si wafer. Current -Voltage measurements show a diode-like curve with lower J-V parameters compared to standard CdS/CdTe cells. SCAPS simulations were performed to identify possible reasons for poor performance and help improve the device performance. 

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5. Separation of Tellurium from Metal Chalcogenides through Mild Anhydrous Chlorination

   https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202202364  

   Uible, Madeleine C. ; Kieser, Jerod M. ; Bart, Suzanne C. ( December 2022 , Chemistry – A European Journal)

   The separation of tellurium from cadmium telluride is examined using a unique combination of mild, anhydrous chlorination and complexation of the subsequent tellurium tetrachloride with 3,5‐di‐tert‐butylcatecholate ligands (dtbc). The resulting tellurium complex, Te(dtbc)₂, is isolated in moderate yield and features a 10³to 10⁴reduction in cadmium content, as provided by XRF and ICP‐MS analysis. Similar results were obtained from zinc telluride. A significant separation between Te, Se, and S was observed after treating a complex mixture of metal chalcogenides with this protocol. These three tunable steps can be applied for future applications of CdTe photovoltaic waste.

    

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