Suncrest Middle School’s Team 1 captured first place at the 33rd West Virginia Science Bowl (WVSB) middle school competition, which was held Friday, Feb. 2. Sixteen teams from 10 middle schools throughout the Mountain State participated in the event, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL.

Gary Covatch can recall his first day on the job at NETL-Morgantown with vivid clarity. “My new boss was off sick the day I started,” he said. The individual filling in for the supervisor had not been informed that the recent Pennsylvania State University graduate was reporting for duty. “So it was kind of a shock to that person when I showed up,” Covatch said.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has released a Request for Information (RFI) that seeks input intended to assist DOE in the planning of priorities and initiatives to catalyze the development, demonstration, and deployment of carbon capture, conversion, and storage technologies to decarbonize America’s industrial sectors. Large-scale deployment of carbon management infrastructure is crucial to meeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious climate goal of achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, while also delivering a healthier environment and economic opportunities for our communities and workers. This plan will supplement the material included in the September 2023 DOE report, Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Industrial Decarbonization.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), in collaboration with NETL, will develop buoy-based optical fiber sensors to study how the oceans remove carbon from the air and generate findings that could advance the development of marine-based technologies to reduce atmospheric levels of greenhouse gas.

A team of NETL and University of Pittsburgh researchers has developed a record-setting catalyst that electrochemically converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into formic acid, which can be used as a hydrogen carrier in the new clean energy economy.

A new study conducted by NETL researchers investigated long duration energy storage options that can better accommodate deficits of variable renewable energy (VRE) sources over multi-day and seasonal timescales. The work calls for additional long-term research and development investments to reduce costs and help enable an improved electrical grid that features increasing amounts of VRE.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced its intent to release a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to support the creation of coalition teams comprising private industry; university; federal, state, and local government and tribal  personnel who will develop and implement strategies that enable each specific U.S. region to realize its full economic potential for producing critical minerals and materials and high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products.

NETL researchers focused on developing carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion technologies recently demonstrated that the material on which a catalyst is affixed, called a support, can have a dramatic impact on its performance. The discovery could lead to improved energy efficiency, boosted catalyst performance and a reduction the amount of expensive metallic catalyst materials needed for these systems, which will be crucial for meeting the nation’s decarbonization goals.

As technology advances and unlocks new applications, it also encounters new challenges, such as in data curation. However, the Energy Data Exchange, a virtual library and data laboratory built to find, connect, curate, use and re-use data to advance fossil energy and environmental research and development, has solutions for these problems.

As part of the NETL Energy Markets Analysis Team, Amanda J. Harker Steele helps ensure America’s historic power-producing communities aren’t left behind as the nation transitions to a decarbonized energy sector and economy.