Category: Colorado

Mines, Lunar Outpost test lunar excavation rover in 15-day durability demonstration 9/11/2023

Mines, Lunar Outpost test lunar excavation rover in 15-day durability demonstration

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow George Sowers is featured in this article about how the Outpost Digger System is going to operate for 15 consecutive days at Colorado Air and Space Port starting Sept. 9.  The 15-day test, part of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, began Sept. 9 at the Colorado Air and Space Port near Watkins. Under the terms of the challenge, the two-rover Outpost Digger System must excavate, transport and dump at least 12 metric tons of concrete-hard lunar regolith simulant over a continuous 15-day test period. The demonstration will be live streamed to NASA officials.  September 11, 2023.

How Colorado’s oil and gas industry helps and hurts the economy 8/30/2023

How Colorado’s oil and gas industry helps and hurts the economy

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this article about how economic benefits, like jobs and tax revenue, weigh against costs, like clean-up of environmental damage.  As Colorado’s oil and gas industry plans to drill hundreds of new wells along the Front Range in the coming years, residents want to know how the financial benefits and costs of those operations will affect their lives. The answer is complicated, and not all economists agree.  August 30, 2023.

The need for balance in the regulation of the oil and natural gas industry 8/29/2023

The need for balance in the regulation of the oil and natural gas industry

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Jennifer Miskimins and Jim Crompton write about how to get the balance between environmental action and economic reality right, we all need more collaboration.   Over the past several years, Colorado has implemented precedent-setting regulations, from baseline groundwater testing and monitoring, to air regulations targeting methane leak detection and repair. But we still have a long way to go, and while it’s not an easy road for regulators, it’s crucial we stay the course.  August 29, 2023.  

Mines professor wins DOE Early Career Research Program Award 8/7/2023

Mines professor wins DOE Early Career Research Program Award

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Michael McGuirk, assistant professor of chemistry at Colorado School of Mines, has been honored with an U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award. The award covers five years of research with funding totaling $875,000.  McGuirk’s research focuses on separations science and developing a better understanding of how to separate materials using less energy.  August 7, 2023.

Today’s energy economy is building Colorado’s zero-carbon future 7/26/2023

Today’s energy economy is building Colorado’s zero-carbon future

Payne Institute Program Managers Anna Littlefield and Simon Lomax and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the transition to a zero-carbon economy may look like a case of “out with the old, in with the new.” Dig deeper and the reality is much different, however.   Many of the skills, technologies and scientific research that support the energy sources we use today are also essential for developing the new energy sources of tomorrow.  July 26, 2023.

ACCOUNTING FOR NON-MARKETED CAPITAL 7/25/2023

ACCOUNTING FOR NON-MARKETED CAPITAL

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Graham Davis and Robert Cairns write about how intangible capital is a key input to production that is distinct from tangible capital. Most forms of tangible and intangible capital have observable, pecuniary values. Their complement is non-marketed capital. This paper studies non-marketed capital from the points of view of an investor contemplating investing in a project and of a manager running the project. At the point of investment, an apparent positive net present value is realized through the marshalling of non-marketed capital.  July 25, 2023.

Sonnenberg recognized with RMS AAPG Robert J. Weimer Lifetime Contribution Award 7/12/2023

Sonnenberg recognized with RMS AAPG Robert J. Weimer Lifetime Contribution Award

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Stephen Sonnenberg was awarded the RMS AAPG Robert J. Weimer Lifetime Contribution Award for contributions to the practice of geosciences and petroleum geology in the Rocky Mountain region.  Sonnenberg’s research focuses on unconventional reservoirs, sequence stratigraphy, tectonic influence on sedimentation, and petroleum geology.  July 12, 2023.

How do hydrogen electrolyzers work? 7/10/2023

How do hydrogen electrolyzers work?

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Neil Sullivan is featured in this article discussing how the Colorado Fuel Cell Center has been exploring — and expanding — the possibilities of fuel cells and electrolyzers for a variety of inputs, outputs and applications for more than 15 years now.  Sullivan walks through the process that turns intermittent wind and solar energy into hydrogen that can be stored, transported and used whenever it is needed for chemical production, clean steel manufacturing, transportation and more.  July 10, 2023.

Characterization work aims to address cost of green hydrogen technologies 7/10/2023

Characterization work aims to address cost of green hydrogen technologies

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Svitlana Pylypenko is featured in this article about how the appeal of green hydrogen is clear, but before hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyzer technologies can be adopted on a commercial scale, questions of cost, durability and performance still need to be addressed.  Including looking for answers to questions of cost, durability and performance at the microscopic — and even nano — scale.  July 10, 2023.