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The Department of Energy and Environmental Physics is an
interdisciplinary research group. It includes scientists
with training in applied mathematics, mechanical
engineering, meteorology, geography, chemistry, and physics.
Research work at the department covers various aspects of
the physical environment. These include solar energy
utilization, the desert climate, the application of remote
sensing methods for desert research, applied optics as well
as more basic aspects of nonlinear dynamics and of
thermodynamics as related to environmental processes,
diffusion processes, the thermodynamics of irreversible
processes, nonlinear dynamics, stochastic processes and
statistics.
The solar research activity includes solar thermal systems,
electricity generation, radiation measurement, optical
concentration of radiation, the stochastic analysis of
energy storage, energy in buildings, system and component
design, etc. Experimental solar research is conducted at
the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center.
Work on diffusion processes includes nonlinear diffusion
(specifically, phase change processes and diffusion of ions
across membranes) and diffusion in porous media (e.g., of
water in the soil). In irreversible thermodynamics, the
research concentrates on the analysis of cyclic
thermodynamic processes (`Finite Time Thermodynamics`) and
on the study of phase change processes. The research on
nonlinear dynamic systems focuses pattern formation in
nonlinear systems on the perturbative analysis of small
nonlinear disturbances.
Members of the department collaborate with other research
groups in the Institute on the mathematical and physical
aspects of various research problems. The department
provides consultation services, to government agencies and
to municipalities with regards to the optimal utilization
of solar energy in specific projects, and to industry on
the development of novel solar devices, in particular, the
design of novel radiation concentrators.
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