Colorado State University's (CSU) inclusion among twelve projects receiving a share of $35 million for developing methane reduction technologies is a prideful achievement for the state, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said in a recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) press release.
CSU will receive $1.5 million to develop hardware that redirects methane emissions through a natural gas engine's turbocharger to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency, the Dec. 2 release said.
“I am proud of Colorado's continued leadership to cut harmful methane emissions,” Bennet said in the release. “That includes developing innovative technologies that prevent methane emissions leakage not only across the oil and gas supply chain, but also from natural gas vehicles.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm
| energy.gov/
News of the DOE grant came less than a week after the university posted record-breaking research expenditures this year, with $446.8 million spent “to acquire knowledge to protect people from disease, recover drought-and fire-ravaged communities, and respond to the climate emergency,” a CSU press release said.
“The growth of our research enterprise is extraordinary – yet absolutely reflective of the scope and caliber of the research we do here at CSU, and the urgency with which we conduct it,” CSU President Joyce McConnell said in the release. “Our faculty, staff, graduate student and undergraduate researchers are focused on problems that need answers right now, and they are determined to make a positive, demonstrable impact with their work. That impact will be felt here in our own community, across the country and, in some cases, around the globe.”
The DOE grants were awarded to universities and private companies, the DOE release said. They will fund projects that focus on developing technologies to reduce methane emissions in the oil, gas and coal industries. Other recipients include Marquette University, Texas A&M and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The grants are part of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year (REMEDY) program unveiled earlier this year, the release said. These projects support President Joe Biden's U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, announced at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which seeks to reduce methane emissions and promote American innovation and manufacturing of new technologies to achieve climate goals.
“Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide and we must adopt technologies to dramatically reduce these emissions,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in the release. “By creating new technologies, we are working to mitigate climate change and minimize the cost of methane abatement.”
