Wednesday, 4 June 2025 11:00am – 12:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 3

Speaker: Prof Jeffrey Reimers

Host: Dr Cassandra Fleming

Title: Household energy use and investment

Abstract
This interactive presentation (mobile phone required) explains the basics of how the electricity system works, intended for: users of electricity who do not pay for it, consumers who do, and prosumers who also sell electricity.  I strong current connection is drawn between saving money on electricity bills (for ourselves, our companies, or our electricity retailers) with actions that enhance the transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources.  How to tell which are good and bad times to use or sell electricity is shown.  Described is the national grid and its operation, local electricity distributors and the tariff structures that the offer, leading to discussion of retailers and their plans that depict customer choices.  Then the basics of the modern economics of electricity generation by home solar cells (PV) is described.  This leads to analogous discussion of the economics of home batteries or electric vehicles (EV) to profit from high grid prices.

Bio
Jeff Reimers studied organic spectroscopy under Ian Ross and Gad Fischer before doing a PhD with Bob Watts on the structure, thermodynamics, and spectroscopy of water and ice.  He then studied semiclassical quantum mechanics in USA under Kent Wilson and Rick Heller, before returning to Australia to be an ARC Research Fellow from 1985 to 2010 at the University of Sydney and there as a professor until 2013.  There he collaborated extensively with Noel Hush and Max Crossley on problems involving electron transfer, molecular electronics, porphyrin chemistry, self-assembly, electronic-structure theory, and photosynthesis.  In 2014 he moved to a joint appointment at University of Technology Sydney and Shanghai University, focusing mostly on basic chemistry and spectroscopy, nanophotonics, and molecular electronics.  He is now “transitioning to retirement”.  His work spans a wide range of chemical applications, from biochemical function to electronic devices to the origins of consciousness.  He has received the RACI Physical Chemistry Division Medal and the H.G. Smith Medal, the David Craig Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, and the Shanghai Magnolia Medal; he is a Fellow of the RACI, the Royal Society of NSW, and the Australian Academy of Science.