News

Prof. Shengwei WANG, Director of RISE has been awarded the “ASHRAE Hong Kong Chapter Technology Award 2025 in the category of “Commercial Buildings (Existing)”.

Prof. Shengwei Wang, Director of Research Institute for Smart Energy, Chair Professor of Building Energy and Automation, and Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Smart Buildings, has been awarded the “ASHRAE Hong Kong Chapter Technology Award 2025” in the category of “Commercial Buildings (Existing)”.   Prof. Wang and his team have been collaborating with the International Commerce Centre (ICC) management team to implement the life cycle retro-commissioning (LC-RCx) technologies aiming at optimizing the large and complex air-conditioning systems. This initiative involves analyzing the building's energy consumption and developing strategies to enhance energy performance. As a result, ICC has achieved significant improvements in energy efficiency, realizing approximately 39% energy savings from July 2023 to June 2024 compared to the energy use in 2012.   ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international society of more than 50,000 heating, refrigerating and air conditioning professionals from over 132 nations, dedicated to serving humanity and promoting a sustainable world. The ASHRAE Hong Kong Chapter was founded in 1984 and is one of the largest Chapters in ASHRAE.  

RISE young star Prof. Guang YANG and his team published research in Nature Sustainability

We are pleased to announce that our RISE young star Prof. Guang YANG, Member Assistant Professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), collaborating with Prof. Jinsong HUANG's team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published groundbreaking research titled "Reductive cation for scalable wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells in ambient air" in Nature Sustainability. The team innovatively incorporated a reductive methylhydrazinium cation (Mhy+) into wide-bandgap perovskite materials, enabling scalable fabrication of solar cells in ambient conditions. Key highlights: Material Improvement: Mhy+ significantly reduces defect density while suppressing iodide oxidation and halide demixing, leading to enhanced efficiency and stable production of wide-bandgap solar cells in ambient air conditions. Performance Breakthrough: Achieved 23.3% power conversion efficiency (PCE), 1.28 V open-circuit voltage, and just 0.37 V voltage loss, setting new records. Successfully fabricated 25 cm² mini-modules with 19.8% efficiency. Stability Enhancement: Under accelerated aging conditions at 55±5°C, the mini-modules maintained 94% of their initial efficiency after 700 hours of light soaking, demonstrating exceptional long-term stability. This research not only addresses the technical challenges of scalable fabrication but also provides a viable pathway for the sustainable use of solar energy, paving the way for future innovations in the field. Read the full paper:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01529-5  

智慧能源研究院院長王盛衛教授獲邀出席Road To EcoCity中國香港環保科技論壇2025並發表主題演講 ( 只有中文版本 )

2025年3月24日 - 由減碳生活基金會和香港科技創新教育聯盟聯合主辦的 Road To EcoCity中國香港環保科技論壇2025順利舉行。當日中聯辦經濟部部長 徐衛剛先生及環境及生態局副局長 黃淑嫻女士等獲邀出席為主禮嘉賓。繼2022年首届論壇「聚焦雙碳目標，踐行綠色發展」隆重啓動后，本届論壇以「智能減碳，綠色科創」為主題，進一步聚焦並探討了科技賦能環境產業發展的發展方向和策略，以及高密度城市碳中和路徑及建築物的角色與技術。香港理工大學智慧能源研究院院長王盛衛教授獲邀為是次主題作演講，共同探索人類科技與環境保護的「綠色未來」。    

Prof. NI Meng discusses hydrogen energy development on RTHK TV programme

We are please to share that Prof. NI Meng,our RISE Management Committee Member, Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Construction and Environment and Chair Professor of Energy Science and Technology, shared his expertise on hydrogen energy in a recent interview with RTHK TV programme Hong Kong Connection.  Prof. Ni elaborated on the benefits and limitations of grey, blue and green hydrogen, emphasising their important roles in the global transition to sustainable energy systems. He also pointed out that renewable energy supply and demand are not always matched, resulting in the generation of more renewable energy than needed, hence causing renewable energy being wasted; if the excess renewable energy can be used to produce hydrogen, this can not only avoid energy waste, but also truly achieve zero-emission hydrogen production, contributing to carbon neutrality and sustainability. Online coverage: RTHK - https://polyu.me/4hcfKKX (06:39 - 08:53; 15:05 - 16:23)（只有中文）

Prof. WANG Shengwei co-authors white paper on enhancing building energy flexibility through smart technologies

Prof. WANG Shengwei, Director of Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE) and Prof. Lasantha MEEGAHAPOLA, Associate Professor of School of Engineering of RMIT University, have recently published a white paper titled “Delivering Demand Response Services to the Power Grid via Smart Building Load Flexibility”.   The white paper, a deliverable from a research project supported by the PolyU–RMIT FutureLab, explores the provision of demand response services through smart building load flexibility. The project “Advanced Grid Support Services from Smart Buildings and Building Microgrids” involves experiments on load flexibility, building data analytics and developing machine learning models to identify load flexibility in smart buildings, and building microgrids to provide grid support services.   Demand response, a method of power balancing, encourages customers to adjust their energy usage in response to price signals. Digitalisation and advances in communications technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning further enhance buildings’ potential for demand response.   The white paper demonstrated how building energy flexibility can be characterised by power adjustment direction, capacity, availability, predictability and response time. The team also analysed ancillary service frameworks in Australia, China and Hong Kong, and concluded by examining the regulatory and policy landscapes across the three places and posing open industry and research questions. Overall, advancements in electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, smart energy conversion, and digitalisation provide substantial opportunities for leveraging smart building load flexibility for demand response services to power grids. Effective regulations, policies, and market mechanisms will be critical for unlocking building load flexibility.   Read the full paper at: https://zenodo.org/records/14571315

Prof. Lin LU Vivien integrates green radiative cooling coating with photovoltaics for energy saving in buildings

We are delighted to share with you that Prof. Lin Lu Vivien lead investigator of RISE and her research team, was interviewed by Sing Tao on 21 Jan 2025, regarding to integrate the solar-driven adaptive radiative cooling (SARC) coating they developed, with bifacial solar photovoltaics (PV) to achieve synergistic enhancement in thermal management and power generation, transforming buildings from energy consumers into energy harvesters, with the support of the PolyU Carbon Neutrality Funding Scheme. This Scheme aims to support the application of university research outcomes and to take the campus as a testbed to apply research solutions, with a goal of achieving carbon neutrality on campus and supporting Hong Kong’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The team is planning to install bifacial PV panels on the rooftops of the under-construction PolyU Kowloon Tong Student Hostel, with new coating applied on the corresponding area under the panels, to enhance power generation while radiatively cooling the buildings.   The carbon dots (CDs)-driven photoluminescent radiative cooling nanocoating can be applied to building rooftops and exterior walls. This novel coating can automatically adjust its absorption and emission of solar and thermal radiation in response to changes in environmental temperature or light conditions, helping to mitigate the heat island effect caused by building materials. It uses photoluminescence technology to convert ultraviolet light into visible light, thereby improving the absorption and utilisation of light by PV and increasing its conversion efficiency.   Compared to traditional coatings, this novel coating can effectively improve effective daytime solar reflectance from 92.5% to 95%, increase the cooling effect by 10% to 20%, and reduce the temperature by up to 25°C when applied to concrete rooftops. This nanocoating is environmentally friendly, water-soluble, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)-free, and can be produced in various colours, thus demonstrating significant application potential. Press Release: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/media/media-releases/2024/0924_polyu-researchers-unveil-novel-carbon-dots-driven-green-radiative-cooling-coating/ Online coverage: Sing Tao Headline - https://polyu.me/4hofXLG (Chinese only)    

RISE Research: Prof. Siqi BU develops real-time assessment method for addressing multiple stability problems in power systems

Prof. BU Siqi, Member of the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE), Associate Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and his colleagues recently published a research paper titled “Real-time Multi-stability Risk Assessment and Visualization of Power Systems: A Graph Neural Network-based Method” in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. The paper proposed a real-time Multi-stability Risk Assessment (MSRA) method based on a graph neural network (GNN) for addressing multiple stability problems in renewable energy-integrated power systems effectively, including rotor angle (small-disturbance and transient), voltage (short-term and long-term), frequency and converter-driven stability. The team employed a GraphNorm method to tackle the over-smoothing problems and improve the generalisability of GNN. The method proposed by the team can simultaneously and continuously predict the risks of the multiple types of stability based on real-time data, and visualise the stable and unstable operation regions (SURs) based on alpha shapes. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified in the IEEE 39-bus system, the 179-bus western electricity coordinating council (WECC) system, and the Great Britain (GB) system. Read the full paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10819251/metrics#metrics  

First International Conference on Digital Intelligence for Energy Systems was successfully held on 5-8 January 2025

We are delighted to share with you that the First International Conference on Digital Intelligence for Energy Systems was successfully held on 5-8 January 2025! It is our honour to have Ir Dr Otto Poon Lok To BBS, OBE to join our ceremony. We would like to thank you Ir Professor Christopher Chao, our Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Ir Kwok-ying Poon Raymond JP, Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) to deliver the welcome speech and the opening speech. In the Conference, around 200 speakers and participants from different countries, such as Denmark, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Mainland China etc. were invited to share their valuable insights and innovative ideas towards Smart Energy. Besides, different experts from academic, industry and government were invited as panellists in the below three sessions, which greatly boost up the discussion atmosphere for discussion! Debate between “promoters” and “challengers” in energy field Dialogue between power generation, distribution and consumers Dialogue between scientists, professionals and policy makers Participants joined different parallel workshops and sessions in these days happily and actively! Furthermore, we had a Best Paper Award Presentation during the closing ceremony. Five best papers are selected. At the end of the closing ceremony, Professor Kashem Muttaqi, announced an existing news which is the 2nd international Conference will be held in Australia two year later! Undoubtedly, this Conference build up a large platform, bringing different international experts, students and colleagues to exchange the knowledge and technologies on smart and sustainable energy from power generation, distribution and demand sides. It is a milestone for us to organise more research events to gather all the experts in energy field in the future! Thank you so much for all the participants to join our Conference!   More Detail: Conference website: https://events.polyu.edu.hk/rise_digital_intelligence/home PAIR 抖音 channel: 理大高等研究院PAIR的抖音 - 抖音 香港理大建築能源與自動化研究室WeChat: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ZB5510O9tDwfokooLj9xsg     

RISE Research: Organic solar cell breakthrough from Prof. Gang LI’s team

Prof. Gang Li’s research team published a paper “19.5% Inverted Organic Photovoltaic with Record Long-lifetime via Multifunctional Interface Engineering featuring Radical Scavenger” on Nature Communications on 04 December 2024, which reported breakthrough in both efficiency and lifetime of organic solar cells.  Advances in improving the operational lifetime of highly efficient organic photovoltaic (OPV) and understanding photo-degradation mechanisms in molecular level are currently limited, especially on the promising inverted OPV, posing critical challenges to commercialization. Here, the authors report a radical scavenger capped zinc oxide nanoparticles as the electron transport layer, achieving operationally stable devices with efficiency of 19.47%. Dr. Huang Jiaming is the first author. Dr. Jiehao Fu is equal contribution author.  The paper is available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54923-6  

Prof. CHAI Yang elected as IEEE Fellow

Professor Yang CHAI, our RISE member has been elected to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Fellow Class of 2025 for his contributions to bioinspired in-sensor computing.  Headquartered in the United States, IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. The IEEE Fellow grade recognises unusual distinction in the profession and is awarded to persons with outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest.  Congratulations to Professor Chai!  Online coverage: The Paper - https://polyu.me/3ZJRtXf NetEase - https://polyu.me/41lYdeY Sina - https://polyu.me/3ZKXrXW Sohu - https://polyu.me/4f4aub7 qq - https://polyu.me/3OHl90P