On Friday, December 12, 2008 I had the privilege of making a presentation to the Mobile Regional American Society of Mechanical Engineers.  The PowerPoint slides for the renewable energy presentation can be found below.  Special thanks to Hargrove & Associates for sponsoring the talk.   

Synopsis:  I discussed the impacts of the growing residential scale renewable energy market.  Potential obstacles and opportunities for residential scale renewable energy were identified and discussed.  Additionally, implications for society as a whole and for individual users were highlighted.  This presentation provides a good opportunity to discuss the ethical implications of renewable energy.   

I also presented a technical and financial comparison of small-scale renewable energy technologies for residential and small-commercial applications.  With solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind and geothermal systems widely available, technologies yielding optimal performance and return on investment can vary dramatically depending on location.  Variables that affect system performance must be evaluated at the local level including solar and wind resources, temperature and utility electricity rates.  An overview of each technology was provided as well as a discussion of how each system performance is influenced by the interaction of the above variables.  I also introduced the progress in development of a comprehensive online renewable energy analysis tool. Phillip HamiltonPhD Chemical Engineering

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