A new, open-source computer model to quantify baseline life cycle impacts of electricity consumption in the United States is allowing for more robust and consistent analyses to inform decision makers and stakeholders. Developed through a collaboration among NETL, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the model is transparent and multifunctional for users.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and NETL announced selection of four projects for cost-shared research and development under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA), DE-FOA-0002180, Design Development and System Integration Design Studies for Coal FIRST Concepts. When fully negotiated and awarded, it is estimated that approximately $80 million in federal funding will be provided to these projects.

The final week of the 2020 Virtual Integrated Project Review Meeting, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL, will explore the accomplishments and upcoming work to be undertaken by two NETL-led programs — the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) and the Science-informed Machine Learning for Accelerating Real-Time Decisions in Subsurface Applications (SMART) Initiative. 

A team of national laboratories, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) with support from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory, is collaborating in a multi-scale modeling project that resulted in an approach that significantly improves the prediction of hydraulic fracture propagation.

NETL researchers such as Dominic Alfonso are using advanced computational tools to repurpose carbon dioxide (CO2) from a waste product into chemical building blocks to manufacture fuels and a range of high-value items. The work undertaken by Alfonso and other members of NETL’s Computational Materials and Engineering Team focuses on recycling CO2 generated by fossil energy plants and other industrial sources into chemicals, alcohols, acids and syngas, which are used to manufacture fuels, polymers and fertilizer.

NETL and multination technology conglomerate Raytheon Technologies Research Center (RTRC) will discuss opportunities for technical collaboration during an upcoming virtual meeting highlighting the Lab’s research in several areas. Scheduled for Oct. 26-28, the virtual meeting will feature sessions on various topics such as programs within the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, Hydrogen and Sustainability, Advanced Power Generation and Advanced Energy Management.

With topics ranging from artificial intelligence and machine learning to commercialization pathways for new innovations and projections of the future for the natural gas industry, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) InnovationXLab CarbonX Summit hosted by NETL showcased DOE technologies and the national laboratories’ capabilities at the heart of the domestic energy economy.

Emerging technologies to extract resources from offshore reservoirs and other challenging environments, advances in the development of corrosion-resistant well components and new techniques for pipeline monitoring will be among the topics presented Oct. 26-28 at the 2020 Virtual Integrated Project Review Meeting hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL.

NETL and members of the nation’s energy and manufacturing industries came together Oct. 21 to commence the long-awaited Department of Energy (DOE) InnovationXLab CarbonX Summit, sharing ideas and pitching novel solutions to new challenges facing the power generation sector and economy as a whole. The central theme of this CarbonX Summit was societal use and reuse of carbon spanning from the production of energy to reduction of emissions to manufacturing of commercial goods.

Since joining NETL last year, computer scientist MiKyung Kang, Ph.D., has supported the Lab’s high-performance computing (HPC) environment across all three of its research facilities, empowering the Lab to continue finding new ways to fuel the nation using the abundant supply of fossil fuels in a sustainable manner.