ASU Establishes Solar Power Lab
In response to the Arizona Board of Regents' Solar Energy Initiative,
Arizona State University (ASU) announced last Friday that it is establishing a Solar Power Laboratory. The university also announced it has brought on Christiana Honsberg, Stuart Bowden, and George Maracas to help lead the venture.
ASU reported that it plans to hire top engineers and scientists in the field and will use the laboratory to help increase the efficiency of solar energy systems, while reducing the cost of implementation. A collaboration between the university's Global Institute of Sustainability and Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, the new lab will also help unify various solar-energy research efforts throughout the campus.
"Our goal is for ASU to have the pre-eminent academic solar energy research, development and training program in the United States, and one of the top such programs in the world," said Jonathan Fink, director of the Global Institute of Sustainability, in a prepared statement. "The establishment of the Solar Power Laboratory and the hiring of Honsberg, Bowden and Maracas combined with our ongoing research efforts help us meet this objective."
Economic development will be a main focus of the new laboratory, as well as the advancement of clean, sustainable solar energy technologies that can be used throughout Arizona and the Southwest.
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