Showing papers by "Claes-Göran Granqvist published in 1994"

Optical Materials Technology for Energy Efficiency and Solar Energy Conversion XIII

Abstract: The limited availability of fossil and nuclear fuels and their environmental impacts make it urgent that technologies for energy efficiency and solar energy be investigated and promoted. In a long-term global perspective, the proper use of such technologies is a matter of survival. The importance of optical technology in this context has been clearly realized by some individuals for more than a century. However, shortsighted political and business-oriented decisions have tended to obscure the view, and solar energy materials research and development have only rarely received the status and funding they deserve. In fact, the interest in solar energy research, seen from an international perspective, has fluctuated strongly during the past two decades. During the latter half of the 1970s, interest in solar energy was high as a consequence of the oil crisis. In the 1980s, interest faded in most parts of the world. The early 1990s have seen yet another trend, and it is now widely recognized that solar technology and energy efficiency can alleviate the imminent environmental crisis manifested by global heating through the greenhouse effect and by hazardous increases of ultraviolet radiation through ozone holes. The present conference is a clear testament to the, increased interest inmore » this subject. Separate abstracts were prepared for most of the papers.« less