【Title】Zero Carbon Manufacturing and Supply Chain Operations: The New Industrial Paradigm

【Presenter】Tongdan Jin, Ph.D., Ingram School of Engineering, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 786666, USA

【Host】 Dr. Kaibo Wang

【Date】 April. 01, 2016, 14:00-15:00 (Friday)

【Venue】Room 412, Shunde Building

【Language】English

【Abstract】Manufacturing and service activities account for 30-40% of global carbon emissions. To reverse the climate change, many firms have installed onsite wind and solar generating systems to power their operating infrastructures. Onsite renewable generation differs from central generation in that the energy sources are installed in a close proximity to end users. However, power intermittency and equipment cost are the main obstacles against their broad adoption. In this talk, we intend to address two fundamental questions: 1) is it cost-effective to deploy onsite wind turbines and solar photovoltaics (PV) systems to achieve net-zero carbon environmental performance? and 2) how to design a reliable onsite generation system to meet the uncertain load albeit the power intermittency? We develop a stochastic programming model to minimize the levelized cost of renewable energy by optimizing the sizing and siting of wind turbines and PV panels. Our preliminary study shows that adopting wind generation realizes cost-savings in locations where the average wind speed is above 5 m/s. If the PV installation cost had reduced by 50%, this technology would be cost-competitive in areas where the overcast days are less than 35% in a year.

【Bio】Dr. Tongdan Jin is an Associate Professor in The Ingram School of Engineering at Texas State University. Prior to academia, he held a reliability engineer position for five years in Teradyne Inc., Boston. He obtained his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rutgers University. His MS and BS degrees in engineering are, respectively, obtained from Beijing Institute of Technology and Shaanxi University of Science Technology, China. He has authored and co-authored many papers published in IEEE Transactions on Reliability, European Journal of Operational Research, and IIE Transactions, among others. He is a recipient of Evans-McElroy best conference paper in Reliability and Maintainability Symposium in 2014. His current research is focused on reliability modeling and optimization, and renewable energy integration. 

All interested are welcome!