Solar Energy

About

The Solar Energy Research Team will design more efficient photovoltaic systems as well as develop nanotechnology that uses solar energy to generate non-petroleum based fuels. These technologies can reduce atmospheric CO₂ and address current limitations to the use of photovoltaic systems, including the substantial amounts of water needed to produce some of these systems.

The Solar Team will conduct research in three areas:

1. Nanoscience and technology can unlock the potential of solar energy to convert atmospheric CO₂, which is linked to global climate change, to formate, a key intermediate step toward the methanol economy.
2. Inexpensive, earth-abundant, and well-defined metal complexes will facilitate solar-driven catalytic water oxidation to generate oxygen.
3. We will develop solar photovoltaic power to generate energy directly from sunlight to compete with water-intensive concentrated solar power systems (CSPs).

New Mexico has abundant solar resources that can be more extensively utilized to meet our energy needs as well as to stimulate economic development.

Institutions

• New Mexico Highlands University
• New Mexico Tech
• University of New Mexico