Photonics can reduce energy consumption in information processing and communications while simultaneously increasing the interconnect bandwidth density. The energy consumption in data centers is shifting from logic operations to interconnect energies. Without the prospect of substantial reduction in energy per bit communicated, the exponential growth of our use of information is limited. The use of optical interconnects fundamentally addresses both interconnect energy and bandwidth density, and is the only scalable solution to this problem.

Light-matter interaction is one of the fundamental phenomena of the universe that has greatly impacted the development of the human society, including the evolution of our visual systems and visually guided behavior. In this talk, we present research on light-matter interactions at nanoscale, also known as “nanophotonics”, to help brighten the future of energy sustainability. The applications include dispatchable solar electricity, ultralow-power photonic data links, and color-contrast manipulation of single atomic/molecular layers towards energy-efficient display in the future.

This presentation focuses on two recent contributions on model compression and acceleration of deep neural networks (DNNs). The first is a systematic, unified DNN model compression framework based on the powerful optimization tool ADMM (Alternating Direction Methods of Multipliers), which applies to non-structured and various types of structured weight pruning as well as weight quantization technique of DNNs. It achieves unprecedented model compression rates on representative DNNs, consistently outperforming competing methods.

Are you worried about losing power during a scheduled power outage? Solar Systems paired with batteries can keep your home or business online!

Join us for a conversation with City and County energy staff, local solar and energy storage companies, SCE, and community leaders to learn about energy storage (battery) options for your home or business. We will discuss public safety power shutoffs, safety, financial incentives, technical details and more.

Effective management of heat has become a critical challenge in many energy and electronic applications due to the increasing power density and shrinking length scales. For example, next-generation lithium-based batteries for electric vehicles are designed to be charged at ~10 times of the electric current used now, which means ~100 times higher joule heating; high-performance gallium nitride based power electronic devices require heat dissipation of ~1000 W/cm2, which is 1/6 of the heat flux at the surface of the Sun.

Power conversion circuits are essential components in every electronic device from laptops and cellphones to wearable and implantable devices. These circuits convert the DC voltage of the battery or energy source to the appropriate DC level or AC form required by a load. The key challenge of this class of circuits is that they often define the size and energy of an electronic system. This is since the volume-size and quality-factor of the required large inductors render power conversion circuits disproportionately large and lossy to the rest of the electronic
system.

The UCSB Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE) is a world-renowned leader in developing breakthrough energy technologies that substantially save energy while advancing the standard of living worldwide. IEE's interdisciplinary research has been the foundation for numerous energy-saving innovations including bright and energy-saving white light LED lighting, more energy efficient data-center communications and interconnects, and software that manages and reduces energy usage in buildings worldwide.
 

This talk will present results from recent Environment and Energy Transitions (ENVENT) Lab research on Californian energy politics. This work examines the politics of solar adoption, wildfires, and Public Safety Power Shut-Offs. In a first study, we use a combination of satellite imagery and voter file data to examine the political identities of US households with residential solar installations.

In the recent Presidential debates, it was noted that hundreds of thousands of people would be thrown out of work by a ban on fracking. What would be gained by this action? In this presentation, I will consider how much oil, gas, and coal are likely be burned in the long run. The conventional wisdom today is that even with a large expansion in production, there would be no significant pressure on supplies for more than 100 years.

Semiconductor inks promise a new manufacturing paradigm for thin film (opto)electronics and photovoltaic materials and devices. Ink-based semiconductors include conjugated organic molecules, colloidal quantum dots and hybrid metal halide perovskites, all of which are making tremendous inroads in (opto)electronic and solar energy applications. The formation of solid-state materials is not well understood or controlled, especially in application-relevant processing conditions, which tend to be kinetically far-removed from equilibrium.