To meet the dual challenge of harnessing renewable energy sources and renewing the power generation and supply system, a twofold strategy is needed: increasing energy efficiency, and rapid growth in the use of renewable energies. NLV Solar AG is working on both fronts, using digital prototyping to develop improved photovoltaic cells as well as devices that are more energy efficient.
The energy economy
Ultimately, the question of energy supply is a social and political one. We have become so hooked on cheap energy that no government dares make it anything less than a top priority. Simply put: quality of life equates to rising energy consumption.
World energy demand is predicted to grow by a further 55%, from around 9 billion tons to 15 billion tons of crude oil equivalent per annum. That is almost five times more than we should be burning if we are to avoid raising average temperatures by more than 2 degrees by the end of the century.
We face the dual challenge of harnessing renewable energy sources and renewing the power generation and supply system. To increase energy efficiency, we must increase the share of local energy networks, with power generated closer to where it is consumed. The world’s biggest consumer of power is the grid itself.
At the same time, to satisfy the energy needs of modern society without compromising the resources of future generations, we have to push forward with the development of renewable energies in innovative applications.
The good news is that, in theory, the sun can meet the energy requirements of several thousand well-populated planets. We just have to harness its potential.
NLV Solar AG is working on both fronts, using digital prototyping to develop improved photovoltaic cells as well as devices that are more energy efficient and applications that make direct use of solar power where it is generated: for example, the Quant car with its thin-film solar-cell skin.