Page 234 - ISES SWC50

David Mills

David Mills (Australia) is a physicist and active solar energy researcher at the
University of Sydney who worked on a variety of technical areas in direct solar
conversion. Born in Canada, he was active in solar energy research for many years
and had many patents in the field. In the late ‘70s as a student, he developed
theoretical limits for asymmetrical and general linear maximal concentration
optical systems, together with new asymmetrical non-imaging optical designs
like the prism PV concentrator and asymmetrical mirrors for seasonal output
bias, which are the ancestors of some modern Swedish solar thermal arrays.
In the 1980s he developed the first pressurized water storage solar cooker,
Figure 64: David Mills, displayed at the Hamburg Congress, and a solar industrial steam technology
ISES President using non tracking reflector technology. He also improved theoretical limits for
1997 -1999 selective coating performance that allowed the possibility of low emittance
high temperature coatings. In the 1990s he led the project which produced the
advanced double ceramic-metal (cermet) layer selective absorber coating, now in
large-scale production under license in China. In 1993, he originated a new low-
cost solar thermal electric power plant design called the compact linear Fresnel
reflector (CLFR, now commercialized), using direct boiling and innovative optics.
This has led to much increased general interest in linear Fresnel systems as a
low- cost alternative to parabolic troughs for large power plants. Mills also was
also very involved with ANZSES in the 1980s and 1990s as Chairman of the New
South Wales Branch and ANZSES Vice President and was the ANZSES political
lobbyist during the Australian Ecological Sustainable Development process.
He presented a paper on Greenhouse mitigation impact of solar technologies
to the Australian Senate in 1988 and helped write the energy policy for two
political parties.

Cesare Silvi

Cesare Silvi (Italy) has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Nuclear
Engineering from the University of Rome and Bocconi University. Within ISES, he
supported the strengthening of traditional technical-scientific aspects and at the
same time promoted the association’s attention to the history, art and culture of
solar energy. From 1975 to 1981, he was at the Nuclear Safety and Environmental
Protection Directorate of the CNEN (National Nuclear Energy Committee). From
1981 to 1996 he worked in the International Affairs Directorate of ENEA (Italian
Body for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment). In 1986/1987 he
Figure 65: Cesare Silvi, was Resident Fellow at the Institute for East-West Security Studies in New York.
President 1999 - 2001 From 1996 to 1998 he was Director of the Italian Agency for the Promotion of
European Research. During his professional career, he published various technical
reports and popular articles on industrial safety, international collaboration in
the scientific and technological fields, disarmament, energy policies, renewable
energy, environmental protection and recently on the history of solar energy.

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