Encyclopedia of Alternative And Renewable Energy: Volume 25 (advanced Thin Film Solar Cell Techniques)

"You, 0 Sun, are the eye of the world You are the soul of all embodied beings You are the source of all creatures You are the discipline of all engaged in work" - Translated from Mahabharata 3rd Century BC Today, energy is the lifeline and status symbol of "civilized" societies. All nations have therefore embarked upon Research and Development pro­ grams of varying magnitudes to explore and effectively utilize renewable sources of energy. Albeit a low-grade energy with large temporal and spatial variations, solar energy is abundant, cheap, clean, and renewable, and thus presents a very attractive alternative source. The direct conver­ sion of solar energy to electricity (photovoltaic effect) via devices called solar cells has already become an established frontier area of science and technology. Born out of necessity for remote area applications, the first commercially manufactured solar cells - single-crystal silicon and thin film CdS/Cu2S - were available well over 20 years ago.

This book presents peer-reviewed papers of the 2023 9th International Conference on Environment and Renewable Energy (ICERE 2023), which was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, during February 24–26, 2023, in hybrid mode (both online and in-person). The conference was sponsored by the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam, and facilitated exchanging the latest and most advanced information between scientists and engineers in the fields of environment and renewable energy. The book focuses on research related to environmental management; water resources management; ground water remediation; water treatment and reclamation; solar, biomass and wind energy; nuclear energy engineering; renewable energy grids; environmental impact assessment; and renewable energy utilization, among other topics. This volume serves as an excellent reference for researchers and engineers seeking to understand the latest technological developments in these fields.

Soft Computing in Green and Renewable Energy Systems provides a practical introduction to the application of soft computing techniques and hybrid intelligent systems for designing, modeling, characterizing, optimizing, forecasting, and performance prediction of green and renewable energy systems. Research is proceeding at jet speed on renewable energy (energy derived from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides, rain, geothermal heat, biomass, hydrogen, etc.) as policy makers, researchers, economists, and world agencies have joined forces in finding alternative sustainable energy solutions to current critical environmental, economic, and social issues. The innovative models, environmentally benign processes, data analytics, etc. employed in renewable energy systems are computationally-intensive, non-linear and complex as well as involve a high degree of uncertainty. Soft computing technologies, such as fuzzy sets and systems, neural science and systems, evolutionary algorithms and genetic programming, and machine learning, are ideal in handling the noise, imprecision, and uncertainty in the data, and yet achieve robust, low-cost solutions. As a result, intelligent and soft computing paradigms are finding increasing applications in the study of renewable energy systems. Researchers, practitioners, undergraduate and graduate students engaged in the study of renewable energy systems will find this book very useful.