Solar Leader Receives Local Recognition
In the battle against climate change and global warming, Professor Martin Green is a shining light. Over the past three decades he has led the international field in solar cell development, delivering cost-effective technology that has the ability to rival and ultimately replace human reliance on fossil fuels. For his leadership and research on photovoltaics, Professor Green, Executive Research Director of the ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence at the University of NSW, has won the 2010 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science.
Professor Martin Green is not only 'the father of photovoltaics', he is the global leader in solar cell technology. While many innovations in alternative energy production remain experimental, Professor Green has had a real impact by taking this technology out of the laboratory and into the factory. Many scientists regard photovoltaics as the most promising solar technology. It involves the direct conversion of light into electrical energy through a solar cell. With the burning of fossil fuels now widely acknowledged as the cause of global warming, there is need for an affordable, efficient energy alternative.
Professor Green has been a pioneer in photovoltaics research for more than 30 years, holding the world record for silicon cell efficiency almost continuously over this period, including the present record of 25% -- a level of efficiency long believed to be impossible. His team is considered to be well ahead of its international competitors.
Having created the world's leading photovoltaics research centre, Professor Green has attracted some of the best local and international talent. The list of alumni from the centre reads like a 'who's who' of the solar energy world. Former students include Professor Andrew Blakers, director of the ARC Centre for Excellence for Solar Energy Systems (Australian National University); Dr Roland Einhaus, Research and Development Director of Apollon Solar in France; and Dr Stuart Bowden, Research and Development Director at the Solar Power Laboratory at Arizona State University. And with Professor Green's assistance, entrepreneur Dr Zhengrong Shi has commercialised solar cell technology in China on an unprecedented scale.
Professor Green's global leadership has been recognised by his appointment as Chair of the panel for review of the US Department of Energy's Photovoltaic Program, and membership of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation Consultative Group on Solar Energy Research and Applications.
He is at the forefront of first and second-generation solar technologies. First-generation technology - or 'buried contact' solar cells - has been one of the most commercially successful technologies in the photovoltaics field over the past 20 years. Sales under license currently exceed US$1billion. Second-generation technology saw Professor Green producing thin-film solar cells using the benign and abundant element silicon, an achievement once believed to be a million-to-one possibility.
The $10,000 Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science is awarded to an Australian individual who has demonstrated an outstanding role and impact in science. It is sponsored by the CSIRO.
