Water is an essential resource for human life. It’s also a key component of energy production. In celebration of World Water Day, we’re sharing some of our innovative water conservation projects. For example, thermoelectric power generation accounts for more than 40 percent of freshwater withdrawals and more than 3 percent of freshwater consumption. That adds up to billions of gallons of water per day. As populations grow and economic development continues to expand, so too will our energy demand and water consumption.

Nine thousand high school students, more than four thousand middle school students, and thousands and thousands of volunteers have come together to put on a competition like no other since 1991. The U.S. Department of Energy manages and sponsors the National Science Bowl, a nationwide academic competition that tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science and mathematics, each year in Washington, D.C. during the month of April. The competition is a culmination of hard work from teachers, coaches, and students from across the country to volunteers, organizers, and sponsors who put together the qualifying rounds that feed winners into the big show. Qualifying rounds for the Jeopardy-style competition are held in all 50 states, in Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, making the National Science Bowl one of the largest science competitions in the nation.

Morgantown High School Team 2 and Suncrest Middle School Team 2, both of Morgantown, claimed victory at the 27th annual West Virginia Regional Science Bowl held Feb. 9-10, 2018, at the West Virginia University (WVU) Mountainlair. Twenty-three teams from high schools and 21 teams from middle schools throughout the Mountain State participated in the competition, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and WVU.  The West Virginia Science Bowl tested students’ knowledge of math and science with round-robin and double-elimination competition rounds. Middle school teams competed Feb. 9, followed by high school students on Feb. 10. This year’s West Virginia competition included welcoming remarks from Congressman David McKinley, as well as representatives from NETL and WVU. Participants also explored hands-on engineering activities and an academic information fair from institutions around the state.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has announced up to $2.75 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) projects. Future amounts are subject to congressional appropriations. This funding is available under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001854 , Innovative Technology Development to Enhance Fossil Power Systems Operability, Reliability, and Economic Performance. Selected projects will support DOE’s Fossil Energy Crosscutting Research Program, which bridges basic R&D of innovative technologies to the successful development of ultra-clean, reliable, high-efficiency fossil energy power systems. The goal is to seek innovative R&D projects to improve the performance, cost, and reliability of fossil energy technologies. 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has announced up to $2.75 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) projects. Future amounts are subject to congressional appropriations. This funding is available under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001854 , Innovative Technology Development to Enhance Fossil Power Systems Operability, Reliability, and Economic Performance. Selected projects will support DOE’s Fossil Energy Crosscutting Research Program, which bridges basic R&D of innovative technologies to the successful development of ultra-clean, reliable, high-efficiency fossil energy power systems. The goal is to seek innovative R&D projects to improve the performance, cost, and reliability of fossil energy technologies. 

As our nation expands its technological horizons and stretches the boundaries of what is currently feasible, we open doors to a future that is bright with promise. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are the tools required to empower that promising future. Through advances in STEM, we can solve our nation’s energy and environmental challenges, maintain American competitiveness, and usher in a new era of prosperity and sustainability.   Reaching these new heights requires teamwork, dedication, and knowledge. It also requires a domestic workforce that is available and qualified for the jobs of the future. In 2017, The U.S. Department of Energy launched a new campaign to ensure a STEM-ready workforce, to take on the energy and environmental challenges of our future, to equip our nation for new jobs, and inspire the next generation of innovators. The initiative is STEM Rising and it’s a call to inspire, educate, and spark an upward trajectory to lifelong success through STEM. AnneMarie Horowitz, director of the STEM Rising program, said that DOE takes its responsibility as a STEM leader seriously.

The National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) Toolset has been selected as a finalist for a prestigious R&D 100 Award. NRAP is an NETL-led multi-lab partnership that also includes Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, and Pacific Northwest National Lab. The Toolset is a software package that includes 10 science-based computational tools that predict environmental risk performance of geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites. These tools support industry and regulatory stakeholders as they design and implement safe and effective geologic carbon storage projects to sequester the large volumes of human-made CO2.

Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (DOE) announced a new high-performance computing (HPC) initiative that will help U.S. industry accelerate the development of new or improved materials for use in severe environments.  “The High Performance Computing for Materials Program will provide opportunities for our industry partners to access the high-performance computing capabilities and expertise of DOE’s national labs as they work to create and improve technologies that combat extreme conditions,” said Secretary Perry. “This initiative combines two, crucial elements of the Administration’s mission at DOE – advances in high-performance computing and the improved transition of energy technologies to market.”

Multiphase flow research examines the way materials in different states like gas, liquid or solids with different chemical properties mix and flow together. Multiphase flows occur in most commercial energy and environmental processes, and understanding the interaction among these phases is critical to understanding and predicting the performance of many energy system devices. It’s a complex area of investigation but one which holds the key to unlocking advanced energy applications like using biomass feedstocks in energy-producing reactors. NETL, along with a team of researchers from other DOE National Laboratories, is on the task.  Biomass is an energy source from plants like wood, food crops, agriculture or forestry residues, algae or even fumes from landfills. But much work remains to find the most efficient ways to use biomass as an energy source. That’s why NETL researchers are applying their skills in multiphase flow to help design systems to effectively unlock energy from this renewable feedstock.

Chemical reactors—like fluidized beds, transport beds, and gasifiers—are critical and complex components of power generation systems that involve a variety of multiphase chemical reactions. Understanding the reactions and designing optimized reactors requires intricate modeling and simulation. A new toolset being developed by NETL multiphase flow science experts will make the optimization process faster and more efficient. NETL modeling and simulation experts are creating a new toolset for optimizing chemical reactors with the goal of creating technologies to reduce costs and increase efficiency of coal-based power generation systems. “The toolset has the potential to redefine how innovation comes about,” said Dr. Dirk Van Essendelft of NETL’s multiphase flow science team. “These new simulation and modeling tools will change how the technology development community conceptualizes, designs, and builds coal conversion reactors and plants that are economically attractive while reducing the environmental impact of fossil energy use.”