Carnot Batteries and the Decarbonisation of the Global Energy System – Birmingham Energy Institute and Chemical Engineering Lecture

Monday 4 February 2019, 17:00 - 17:45 (followed by a drinks reception)
Venue: Lecture Theatre 124, Chemical Engineering Building, (Y11 on campus map - PDF)

The Birmingham Energy Institute and the School of Chemical Engineering are delighted to welcome Professor André D. Thess to the University of Birmingham.

Professor Thess, Director of the Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stuttgar, will discuss carnot batteries and the decarbonisation of the global energy system.

Carnot Batteries and the Decarbonisation of the Global Energy System

In his talk, Professor Thess will discuss a unified view of an emerging family of thermal energy storage (TES) systems, referred to as Carnot Batteries (CB). A CB transforms fluctuating electricity or heat from renewable sources into dispatchable electricity by means of intermediate energy storage in the form of heat or cold. He will then explain the technical properties and economic features of CB, and compare them to conventional electrochemical batteries for stationary electricity storage applications. Particular emphasis will be placed on the advantageous properties of CB, namely free deployability, use of inexpensive and abundant storage materials, intrinsic safety, favourable scaling properties and high cyclic stability. The opportunity of providing auxiliary services in the form of cold and heat for residential air conditioning or high-temperature heat for process industries will also be briefly discussed. Finally, he will put the work into a wider perspective and outline a new concept for limiting the global CO2 emissions.

Biography

Professor Thess is Director of the Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart. His research fields are thermochemical energy storage, electrochemical energy storage, and analysis of energy systems. His particular interests are simulation of energy storage systems from the micro-to the macroscale, the development of isentropic energy storage technologies and electric flight. Professor Thess’s book “The Entropy Principle – Thermodynamics for the Unsatisfied” has contributed to the improvement of teaching methods in undergraduate Engineering Thermodynamics.

Professor Thess' full biography can be read here (PDF):
https://www.dlr.de/tt/en/Portaldata/41/Resources/dokumente/institut/institutsleitung/2015-01-08_CV_long_Thess_Frutiger45light.pdf

Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks will be served at the drinks reception following the event. Alcoholic drinks will be only be served to those who are aged 18 or over.

Registration