Harnessing direct solar energy – a progress report
The text of the media release issued by the Council is reprinted here:
Professor Martin Green is an engineer and scientist who specialises in harnessing solar energy conversion.
Professor Green has been declared an Australian Achiever for his contribution to renewable energy technology in Australia.
Brisbane-born and a graduate of the University of Queensland, Martin has dedicated his career to establishing Australia as a leader in one of the most important technologies for the future.
He is currently Director of the Photovoltaics Special Research Centre at the University of NSW, where he has established one of the largest and most sophisticated centres for solar cell research in the world.
Martin's research group has – since 1983 – held the world record for the highest energy conversion efficiency of a silicon solar cell and produced graduates who hold prominent positions in solar cell and related industries in Australia and overseas.
It developed the world's most efficient silicon solar cells, and is the most effective internationally in getting this work into commercial practice.
His group's work was most recently seen in the Honda Dream, the international solar car which won the 1996 World Solar Challenge race from Darwin to Adelaide.
Despite offers from overseas, Martin is determined to stay in Australia and ensure that the benefits of his work are available locally.
His work has received many prestigious local and international awards; he is one of the youngest people to be elected a member of the Australian Academy of Science and is also a member of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
He has written three books on solar cells as well as numerous reports and conference papers and has had more than 150 papers published in international journals in the areas of semiconductor properties, microelectronics and solar cells.