Net Zero Emissions
Multidisciplinary approach to scientific and engineering research on Net Zero Emissions technological innovations, coupled with crosscutting work on policy, markets, and regulation
Multidisciplinary approach to scientific and engineering research on CCUS technological innovations, coupled with crosscutting work on policy, markets, and regulation
Net Zero Emissions is a technology that can be applied across the energy system. The Colorado School of Mines has directly relevant science and technology expertise that spans from fundamental chemistry through reactor engineering. There are on the order of 30-50 faculty actively engaged with areas related to one or more aspects of the Net Zero Emissions chain.
Most, if not all, CO2 reduction to fuels or chemicals depends on catalytic hydrogenation or dehydrogenation processes. Thus, the design, synthesis, and implementation of selective catalysts are essential aspects of CO2 utilization for the production of value-added chemicals. As a practical matter, cost-effective and timely technology development depends on closely coordinated multidisciplinary research and engineering.
Through collaboration and research Colorado School of Mines and the Payne Institute are connecting the technical expertise on campus related to Net Zero Emissions with industry, government and civil society to increase awareness of the opportunities related to CCUS. Maintaining the focus of the University as a leader at the frontiers of science and engineering, related to earth, energy and environmental stewardship.
NEWS
Colorado School of Mines awarded $10.5M in fuel cell funding 4/26/2024
Colorado School of Mines awarded $10.5M in fuel cell funding
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Robert Braun is featured in this article about how his research team received three federal awards boost funding for fuel cell and hydrogen technologies research. The team is approaching this challenge from a multidisciplinary lens, with researchers bringing experience across cutting-edge fuel-cell research capabilities including new materials development, high-temperature electrochemistry, device design and characterization, ammonia chemistry, and systems integration. April 24, 2024.
Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Assessment for Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas 4/23/2024
Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Assessment for Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this report from the National Petroleum Institute on titled Reducing GHG Emissions from the U.S. Natural Gas Supply Chain. His contributions were made to Chapter 4 – Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Assessment for Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas. The chapter introduces the fundamental concepts of LCA, discusses modeling GHG emissions from U.S. natural gas and LNG supply chains, quantifies life cycle GHG emissions, and explores application of LCAs in public and corporate policies. April 23, 2024.
Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Must Sync With Biden’s Climate Agenda 4/10/2024
Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Must Sync With Biden’s Climate Agenda
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director Greg Clough, and Responsible Gas Program Advisor Simon Lomax write about how President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda is more aggressive than anything previously in US energy and environmental policy. But involving many federal departments and agencies in administering these initiatives introduces risks that must be managed, such as the danger of disorganization and conflicting policies from different parts of the US government that will make reducing carbon emissions slower and more expensive. April 10, 2024.
The United States’ Strategy for Securing Critical Minerals Supplies: Can It Meet the Needs of the IRA? 4/9/2024
The United States’ Strategy for Securing Critical Minerals Supplies: Can It Meet the Needs of the IRA?
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Raphael Deberdt published this policy brief about how the United States reliance on foreign supplies of raw and processed critical minerals is pressing Washington to devise a strategy to secure short-, medium- and long-term solutions. Pressure only increased with the booming demand spurred partly by the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) policies. April 9, 2024.
Making Sense of the U.S. LNG Pause: Five Key Data Points 4/9/2024
Making Sense of the U.S. LNG Pause: Five Key Data Points
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director Greg Clough, and Responsible Gas Program Advisor Simon Lomax write about how the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export approvals will be over in a matter of months. They provide five data points offer some critical clues. April 9, 2024.
Colorado School of Mines, Chevron announce partnership for Global Energy Future Initiative 4/8/2024
Colorado School of Mines, Chevron announce partnership for Global Energy Future Initiative
Mines Global Energy Future Initiative Vice President John Bradford contributes to an article about a new partnership between the Colorado School of Mines and Chevron to support the Mines Global Energy Future Initiative. Through this partnership, Chevron will sponsor research projects and participate in steering committees and working groups, adding industry expertise to solve complex problems related to the energy transition. April 8, 2024.
Greening the black gold? How private carbon finance can tackle oil & gas 4/5/2024
Greening the black gold? How private carbon finance can tackle oil & gas
Payne Institute Sustainable Finance Lab Program Manager Brad Handler writes about how a set of entrepreneurs in the U.S. are considering how carbon finance and the Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM) can be harnessed in new ways to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Their target: oil and natural gas wells. These entrepreneurs are looking across the “lifecycle” of a well or a whole oilfield and, in the process, targeting different GHGs. April 5, 2024.
Hydropower production took a hit in 2023 3/28/2024
Hydropower production took a hit in 2023
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall is on this podcast discussing how U.S. hydropower production was down 11% from the year before and dipped to a 22-year low last year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. To make up for the hydro deficit, the U.S. bought natural gas power, which emits more carbon than hydro does, as well as some solar energy. March 28, 2024.
Biden’s Clean-Industry Grants Punch Above Their Weight 3/26/2024
Biden’s Clean-Industry Grants Punch Above Their Weight
Payne Institute Fellow Liam Denning writes about how one measure of success for President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda is that $6 billion of funding for new projects doesn’t even sound like that much anymore. The conditional grants announced this week for 33 projects aimed at decarbonizing industrial processes are equivalent to perhaps 1% of the headline clean-energy budgets of the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. March 26, 2024.
Energy Dept. Awards $6 Billion for Green Steel, Cement and Even Macaroni Factories 3/25/2024
Energy Dept. Awards $6 Billion for Green Steel, Cement and Even Macaroni Factories
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this article about how industries produce 25 percent of America’s planet-warming emissions but so far have proved very hard to clean up. The Biden administration is trying by with plans to spend up to $6 billion on new technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions from heavy industries like steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum, which are all enormous contributors to global warming but which have so far been incredibly difficult to clean up. March 25, 2024.
Energy, material, and resource efficiency for industrial decarbonization: A systematic review of sociotechnical systems, technological innovations, and policy options 3/25/2024
Energy, material, and resource efficiency for industrial decarbonization: A systematic review of sociotechnical systems, technological innovations, and policy options
Jinsoo Kim, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Fellow Steve Griffiths, and Minyoung Yang write about how efficiency stands out as one of the most important options for achieving industrial decarbonization. In addition to carbon emissions reductions, improving energy, material and resource efficiency can bring many desirable benefits, such as cost savings, increased energy and resource security, and higher productivity. We conducted a comprehensive and systematic review through a socio-technical lens of more than 2.8 million references and 380 selected studies on industrial decarbonization. March 25, 2024.
Detection, localization, and quantification of single-source methane emissions on oil and gas production sites using point-in-space continuous monitoring systems 3/20/2024
Detection, localization, and quantification of single-source methane emissions on oil and gas production sites using point-in-space continuous monitoring systems
Payne Institute Student Researchers William S. Daniels and Meng Jia, and Faculty Fellow Dorit M. Hammerling write about how they propose a modular framework for methane emission detection, localization, and quantification on oil and gas production sites that uses concentration and wind data from point-in-space continuous monitoring systems. The framework leverages a gradient-based spike detection algorithm to estimate emission start and end times (event detection) and pattern matches simulated and observed concentrations to estimate emission source location (localization) and rate (quantification). March 20, 2024.
Read All News
For more information about the Net Zero Emissions Research Area at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Deputy Director, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.