深圳市太航半导体有限公司

The Burning Issue: Minimizing Heat Generation

Global electrical energy demand is now at a staggering level—with nearly 30 petawatts forecast in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency. This is an almost incomprehensible number to those of us who can only appreciate high power in multiples of 1kW toasters. The figure is set to increase, driven mainly by Asian economies, and, of course, a focus is to meet the demand from renewable sources in order to mitigate climate change effects. Intercepting solar, wind, and other green energy sources to extract electricity before it is converted to heat should have no net warming effect, but while fossil fuels are still a major source of energy, heat is released that would otherwise remain "locked up." The efficiency of the conversion process from raw mineral to useful work is therefore critical to avoid yet more excess energy being lost to the environment—and to save costs.