U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb (17-PA), Chairman of the House Science, Space & Technology Energy Subcommittee, was joined by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (9-OH), Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, on a visit to the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Pittsburgh for briefings and a tour of key research laboratories.

Kaptur’s Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee has jurisdiction over funding for the Department of Energy (DOE) and other key government agencies. Lamb serves on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and chairs its Energy Subcommittee with jurisdiction over DOE research, programs, and laboratories. He also serves on the Subcommittee on Environment.

NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., hosted the visit.

“NETL is in a unique position to accelerate the development of technology solutions through mission-driven R&D. We solve energy issues and promote crosscutting innovation that advances the energy sector by increasing efficiency, reducing emissions, and driving down energy costs while powering economic prosperity,” Anderson said. “We were pleased to have members of Congress come to NETL to see some of our leading-edge science and technology first-hand.”

While visiting NETL, the U.S. Representatives participated in discussions and a tour of the laboratory that focused on:

• Effective Resource Development: NETL pursues technologies that effectively and economically develop energy resources to supply the world’s growing energy demands and convert domestic resources (e.g. coal and natural gas feedstocks) into high-value products. Additionally, NETL enables innovative modeling, simulations, and experimental methods to solve challenges inherent to improving the recovery efficiency from unconventional oil and natural gas resources.

• Efficient Energy Conversion: NETL focuses on cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient energy conversion technologies for the production of electricity and enables advanced materials and tools to predict alloy behavior, detect and prevent faults in system operations, predict maintenance for critical components, and empower distributed intelligent controls for energy systems of the future. By using high-performance computing and modeling cutting-edge technology, development is accelerated, saving time, money, and materials.

• Environmental Sustainability: NETL drives transformative technology development and enables solutions to protect our air, land, and water for future generations. The Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) program implements cost-effective technologies throughout the power-generation sector ensuring the United States will continue to have access to safe, reliable, and affordable energy. By using high-performance computing, NETL is able to screen carbon capture materials quickly and identify viable options. NETL also promotes R&D that utilizes CO2 to generate value-added products, providing revenue generation to partially offset carbon capture costs from the utility and industrial sectors.