The U.S. energy industry has been an economic powerhouse, employing 8.27 million workers in 2019 and creating jobs at rates 50% faster than the rest of the economy for the past five years. But what does the future hold, especially during this period of economic volatility? Find out at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 21, when NETL’s Regional Workforce Initiative holds a free webinar to discuss the 2020 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER).

NETL recently released the spring 2020 edition of Fire in the Ice, which features various projects and initiatives supported by the program.

NETL’s Anthony Armaly is bringing hope and opportunity to communities like Harlan County, Kentucky, through his involvement in the Appalachian Leadership Institute. Last fall, Armaly met Colby Kirk, executive director of One Harlan County, an economic development organization in the southeast corner of the state.

NETL efforts to develop next-generation energy storage technologies and ensure abundant, cleaner energy using the nation’s fossil fuel assets drew interest from more than 300 engineers, researchers, federal policymakers and others who took part in a webinar on the topic, held April 22.

On-site drilling is set to continue on an NETL-supported field laboratory which will characterize and assess the potential economic value of unconventional shale resources in Central Appalachia.

As a testbed for new innovations on the road to commercialization, the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) has proved vital to NETL’s work in developing technologies that lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the nation’s coal and natural gas power plant fleet. The Lab’s Research and Innovation Center developed transformational solvent, sorbent, and membrane carbon capture technologies and the NCCC could provide critical industrial-scale testing.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and NETL have announced up to $131 million for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) research and development (R&D) projects through one new funding opportunity announcement (FOA) and the winners of five project selections from a previous FOA. 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and NETL have issued a request for proposal (RFP) as an unrestricted, full, and open competition for the conceptual design of a system to produce 1–3 tonnes per day of mixed rare earth oxides or rare earth salts from domestic coal and coal by-product feedstocks. The proposal also includes an option to conduct a feasibility study sufficient to support an AACE Class 4 cost estimate to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the approach identified in the conceptual design.

Growing up outside Detroit, Katharina “Katy” Daniels and her sisters were encouraged to pursue their dreams, even if it meant choosing a career in a field such as engineering where opportunities for women traditionally have been limited. “Fortunately, I never had any reason to think there was a limitation on what I wanted to become,” said Daniels, a general engineer who joined NETL’s Carbon Capture Team in June.

A recently released report, “Safe Geologic Storage of Captured Carbon Dioxide: Two Decades of DOE’s Carbon Storage R&D Program in Review” dives into how the department and NETL and other national laboratories, research organizations, and industry stakeholders have worked collaboratively to meet the challenge of addressing the emission of greenhouse gases while ensuring the continued use of fossil fuels that underpin our nation’s economic prosperity.