Vivian Wing-Wah Yam
Abstract:
A major global issue that the world is facing today is the upcoming depletion of fossil fuels and the fast-growing global demand for energy. Today, more than 80 % of the energy is generated from fossil fuels which include oil, gas and coal. This also translates into huge annual emissions of carbon dioxide that leads to massive environmental problems, particularly global warming, which could be disastrous. A major challenge confronting the world is to find the extra energy needed when our energy reserves based on fossil fuels are vanishing and when there is an urgent need and pressing demand for a carbon-neutral energy economy. Clearly there is an obvious demand for the development of clean sources of renewable energy. Solar energy is amongst one of the most attractive as there is more energy from the sun that hits the earth in one hour than all of the energy consumed on our planet in an entire year. Apart from the development of clean sources of renewable energy, developments related to increased energy efficiency, such as in the development of more energy-efficient lighting, would also lead to a reduction in the energy demand as lighting currently takes up about 19 % of the global energy demand. In this presentation, the basic concepts of colour and light, with the introduction of energy levels in the form of quanta, will be presented. Relevance to the encounters of daily life from dyes and pigments all the way to the more advanced technological applications including those of imaging and data storage systems such as optical memories, display and solid-state lighting systems such as organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), solar energy conversion such as artificial photosynthesis and solar cells will be included.
