Growing up near Moundsville, West Virginia, NETL’s Mike Fasouletos loved riding all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), dirt bikes and practically anything with a motor and wheels on the family’s farm. Those activities were more than a hobby. They drove Fasouletos to a career in engineering. “My dream job was going to be designing the next great bike or ATV for the big manufacturers who made the machines I loved to ride,” Fasouletos said.

Erin Russell-Story, an NETL project manager who has dedicated much of her career to advancing the use of alternative fuel vehicles, received the Stephen R. Connors Visionary Award at the 20th annual AltWheels Fleet Day, the largest meeting of corporate and municipal fleet managers on the East Coast. The award was presented by AltWheels, a nonprofit organization that focuses on building sustainable transportation alternatives, to an individual who exhibits leadership in helping to make changes in the environmental sector that positively impact the world.

Hannah Sieger, NETL’s contracting officer representative (COR) for the upcoming Direct Air Capture (DAC) Center, grew up watching as evidence and effects of climate change mounted, and today she stands ready to support the Lab as it works to address this challenge. The testing and development of DAC technologies is an essential component of achieving a low-carbon economy and a tool to help mitigate some of the environmental issues the nation is facing.

Washington — As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced over $444 million to support sixteen selected projects across twelve states that will fight climate change by bolstering the nation’s carbon management industry.

Developed by NETL researchers in coordination with the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), Carbon Matchmaker, an online information hub, connects users across the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) community and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) supply chains, helping to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through strong public-private partnerships in a just and sustainable way.

As a recognized leader in research data curation, collaboration and virtualization for the national decarbonization effort, NETL’s geo-data infrastructure work was on display at national summits in October. The Lab’s digital infrastructure and resources are invaluable in advancing decarbonization projects related to carbon capture and storage (CCS), critical minerals (CM) and hydrogen.

Representatives from NETL showcased the Lab’s research to decarbonize the U.S. economy and power sector through advances in carbon management and hydrogen energy, among other initiatives, during the 2023 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting.

The 2nd Annual University of Pittsburgh Infrastructure Sensing Workshop (UPISW) highlighted the exchange of ideas on the development of sensor technologies for monitoring infrastructure, energy delivery and storage, conventional and renewable energy generation, carbon storage, operation of the nation’s electrical grid, and other topics.

An NETL expert recently discussed the need for state-of-the-art sensor technologies, such as those advanced by Lab researchers, that can monitor the nation’s extensive network of new and existing pipelines and other distribution infrastructure to pinpoint deterioration and potential gas leaks.

NETL experts took part in the recent Global Direct Air Capture Conference, a two-day event that brought together global leaders and innovators who are working to develop direct air capture (DAC) as a robust, cost-effective and environmentally just technology to remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.