Nowadays, energy issues are among the most important concerns for us and also significantly involved in environmental issues. Particularly, the depletion of fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas is expected to be encountered in not distant future of 40-60 years. Even a shorter period than 250 years is also speculated for the coal depletion.
In this regard, the energy issues includeimportant research subjects such as how to increase the efficiency of energy conversion systems, how to develop new energy resources including natural energy and waste energy, how to save energy consumption, how to decrease pollutant emission from energy systems, etc. For all of these issues, spectroscopic analyses are indispensable to optimize energy systems. In this lecture, starting with general background of energy issues, the following typical research results obtained by the speaker"s group will be introduced.

1. Two-dimensional monitoring of combustion flame used for high temperature energy conversion systems such as gas turbines and furnaces.

2. Two-dimensional monitoring of plasmas used for analytical chemistry and nuclear fusion.

3. Laser monitoring of fuel cells and alleviation of catalyst deactivation with CO.

4. Hydrogen production from biomass and biowaste through hydrothermal reaction.

5. Development of panel LED illumination devices, and spectroscopic and psychological evaluation.