December 19, 2000
Unplugging Pipelines - University of Tulsa to Study Ways To Prevent Paraffin Deposits in Deepwater Pipelines
A new project between the Energy Department, the University of Tulsa, and 14 private companies will tackle the problem of paraffin accumulation that can restrict the flow of oil and gas in deepwater pipelines.  

December 15, 2000
National Labs to Take on Gas Hydrate Studies
DOE is bringing four of its national laboratories into its gas hydrates program to study the properties and production potential of this intriguing - and likely immense - source of natural gas.  

December 11, 2000 
Energy Department to Expand Penn State Research to Study Diesel Engine Durability using Future Clean Fuel Blends
New contract to go to Penn State to test cleaner-burning fuel blends for tomorrow's
cars and trucks.

December 11, 2000
Carnegie Mellon to Study Role of Coal Plants in Airborne Levels of Microscopic Particles
Carnegie Mellon to use DOE funding to upgrade air monitoring station to detect tiny airborne particles.

December 11, 2000
Cal State to Explore Use of Marine Algae To "Soak Up" Carbon Dioxide
Cal State will study whether ocean algae can be cultivated at power plants to soak up greenhouse gases.

December 6, 2000
DOE Tackles Power Plant Reliability Problems
The Department of Energy is asking the power industry to comment on a new fast-track program to demonstrate advanced power plant technologies that could help prevent future brownouts and blackouts.  

December 4, 2000
Innovations in Gas Turbines to be Pursued In 2 New Energy Department Projects
At the final review of the Advanced Turbine Systems program, DOE's Robert Kripowicz reviews the 8-year effort that produced a breakthrough in turbine technology and announces new projects.

November 28, 2000
Converting Coal Wastes to Clean Energy
DOE Advances 3 Projects to Extract & Clean Coal Fines from Waste Impoundments
Three new technologies that can help the nation's coal industry turn the discarded wastes of disposal ponds into a new source of clean energy are now ready to be scaled up at commercial sites.

November 15, 2000
New Fracturing Technique Brings New Mexico Gas Field Back to Life
An Energy Department project in New Mexico has shown that "downhole" mixing of fluids used to fracture natural gas formations offers a more effective and safer way to produce more natural gas at lower costs.

November 1, 2000
Tulsa Oil Office to Become Arm of National Energy Technology Laboratory
The U.S. Department of Energy's primary field office for petroleum technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will become part of the agency's national laboratory complex as an arm of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The objective is to elevate the status of department's petroleum research program.

October 27, 2000
Fuel Cell-Turbine Hybrid to Power EPA Environmental Laboratory at Fort Meade
The most efficient onsite power plant in the world - a revolutionary fuel cell-gas turbine "hybrid" - is slated to power one of the federal government's principal environmental laboratories beginning in 2002. The Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency will join in sponsoring the "showcase" clean energy project.

October 20, 2000
Fire in the Ice Web Site to Track Deep Dive for Natural Gas Hydrates in Gulf of Mexico
A National Energy Technology Laboratory web site will give students and others the opportunity to share the experiences of scientists aboard the ALVIN mini-sub in their first-ever deep dive to explore natural gas hydrates on the ocean floor. 

October 11, 2000
DOE Asks for Feedback on Planned Solicitation for Research to Enhance Reliability of Gas Infrastructure
The Energy Department has taken its initial step in a new joint government-industry research program to address critical technology needs in the nation's natural gas pipeline system, issuing a draft solicitation for industry comment outlining a $10 million, 3-year program to develop a wide range of infrastructure innovations. 

October 6, 2000
Energy Department, Air Force Research Laboratories Team for Cleaner Air
The Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory and the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson military base in Ohio will be working together on fuel research to reduce air pollutants.

October 2, 2000
Converting Natural Gas to Liquids, Upgrading Low Quality Gas
A technology that converts natural gas into liquids and a process for upgrading low-quality natural gas to pipeline grade are the focus of two new projects selected by the Energy Department. 

September 22, 2000
Energy Department Selects 1st Projects for Ultra Clean Fuels of the Future
With the nation's automakers and fuel suppliers facing tight new federal emission standards later this decade, the U.S. Department of Energy has selected eight teams it believes can help pioneer a new generation of ultra-clean transportation fuels and tailpipe emission controls.  

September 15, 2000
DRAFT Fuel Cell Solicitation
DOE Asks for Comments on Upcoming Competition for Solid State Advances to Dramatically Lower Costs of Fuel Cells.

September 14, 2000
Tapping Coal Mine Methane - Three Companies to Turn Emissions into Energy
The Energy Department has selected three projects to develop ways to turn methane emissions from active coal mines into new sources of clean energy - reducing an environmental threat while adding to the nation's gas and power supplies.

September 14, 2000
West Virginia University Extracting Carbon Products from Coal
The Energy Department will award a new research contract to West Virginia University to advance a process for extracting carbon products from coal using powerful organic solvents.

September 11, 2000
Monitoring of Tiny Airborne Particles Expands Into Nation's Deep South
To assist the Environmental Protection Agency, state offices, and the energy industry determine the most effective way to reduce airborne levels of microscopic particles, the Energy Department is awarding a contract to Southern Research Institute to set up an air monitoring station in Alabama.

September 5, 2000
Five New Projects to Help Enhance Prospects for Future Gas Supplies
To develop the tools needed to reach, produce and store tomorrow's natural gas supplies, the Energy Department has selected new projects to develop more durable drill bits, keep gas flowing from "stripper wells," probe for gas hydrates, produce gas in Arctic environments, and improve the capability to store gas in salt caverns.

August 14, 2000
New Technologies to Help Industry Meet Tighter Mercury Standards
With health officials warning of mercury buildup in fish and marine mammals, the Energy Department's Fossil Energy program is preparing to award just over $5.5 million to companies proposing to test full-scale advanced mercury control methods at several of the nation's coal-fired power plants.

August 3, 2000
Pollution-Free Energy Plant of the Future Continues to Take Shape
The Energy Department is adding more of the technological "building blocks" for its Vision 21 energy plant of the future - a concept for a pollution-free power and fuels facility in the next decade.  

July 21, 2000
Energy Department Launches 13 New Research Projects to Capture and Store Greenhouse Gases
The innovative ideas of 13 private sector research teams for affordable ways to capture and store the gases that cause the "greenhouse effect" have been judged the best of more than 60 concepts submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy.  

July 11, 2000
From Biomass to Biotechniques - DOE Looks to Improve Tomorrow's Power Plants
Four new research projects show that innovations to boost power plant performance can take many forms - from new ways to mix biomass and municipal waste into future fuels to new microbiological techniques that minimize water intake obstructions. 

July 4, 2000
Cleaning America's Air & Water - 7 New Projects to Study Advanced Methods
Research to improve the quality of the nation's air and water is the focus of seven new industry and university research projects selected in the Energy Department's Fossil Energy program.  

June 27, 2000
New DOE Projects Boost Gas Prospects
With projects ranging from studies of ice-like gas hydrates to a new type of ramjet gas-powered generator, the U.S. Department of Energy is adding a broad slate of new efforts to its fossil energy research program to boost prospects for natural gas.

June 13, 2000
Clean Coal Product May Help Keep Gas Wells Flowing
The Energy Department has selected a proposal to test a possible spin-off benefit of a Clean Coal Technology project that would use a coal-based material to sharply reduce the costs of disposing of waste water from low-volume gas wells.

May 24, 2000
Richardson Announces Grants to Historically Black Universities
Six historically black universities will share nearly $1 million in federal funding for projects ranging from oil reservoir characterization to designs for low-emission burners to pollution reduction from car engines. 

May 18, 2000
DOE's Strategic Gas Center Now Operational
The Energy Department's new Strategic Center for Natural Gas, charged with a full range of the agency's natural gas activities, is now officially in operation. Energy Secretary Richardson announced his intent to establish the Center when he created the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

May 8, 2000
Coal-to-Gas System at Power Test Facility Previews New Clean Coal Technology
The successful test run of a new type of coal gasifier at the nation's state-of-the-art power system test facility in Wilsonville, Alabama, has enhanced prospects for the system's future use in cleaner, more efficient coal-based power plants. 

April 26, 2000
Studies Begin on Next Generation of Mid Size Gas Turbines
Aiming to extend the success it recently achieved with a new class of large utility-scale gas turbines, the Department of Energy has selected four proposals to begin studying ways to boost the performance of the next generation of mid-size electric power generating gas turbines. 

April 17, 2000
Department of Energy Announces World's First "Hybrid" Fuel Cell-Turbine
A revolutionary new type of fuel cell power plant - the first in the world to combine a fuel cell and a microturbine - has been built and tested in Pittsburgh. The ultra-clean, high efficiency electric power generator is now being readied for shipment to Irvine, California, for a year of testing at the National Fuel Cell Research Center. 

April 6, 2000
Cleaner Steelmaking - DOE Project Shows How
An advanced iron making technology demonstrated in the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Coal Technology Program stands out for its potential to provide major environmental and financial benefits to the United States steel industry. A new DOE report profiles this technology success story. 

March 31, 2000
Year-Long Operation Verifies Fuel Cell Reliability
FuelCell Energy Inc., one of DOE's primary developers of advanced fuel cells, has achieved one year of sustained operation of its 250-kilowatt-class carbonate fuel cell, an important milestone in confirming the reliability of future commercial units. 

March 29, 2000
Microscopic Airborne Particles - How Much Do We Breathe?
Fine airborne particles called "PM2.5" are in the air around us, released by both natural and human sources. But do we breathe in as many of these particles inside our homes as we do outside? A new Energy Department co-funded study in Ohio will help find out. 

March 20, 2000
New Effort to Cut Mercury Releases from Coal Flue Gases
With federal regulators due to decide in December whether to regulate mercury emissions from coal-burning boilers, the Energy Department has kicked off a major effort to develop affordable mercury emission controls.

March 7, 2000
Energy Plant of the Future Begins to Take Shape
In the first major project selections in its Vision 21 program, the U.S. Department of Energy has chosen six projects to begin designing the key modules and technologies that will be at the core of the energy plant of the future.   

March 7, 2000
DOE Picks 2nd Set of Projects to Help Stripper Gas Wells
The Energy Department has selected two research projects that could help sustain, or perhaps boost, production from many of the nation's 192,000 "stripper" natural gas wells.  

February 18, 2000
World's Most Advanced Gas Turbine Now Ready To Cross Commercial Threshold
For natural gas turbines - the technology likely to dominate the growing market for new electric power generation - the future has been unveiled.  Natural gas turbines are expected to make up more than 80 percent of the power generating capacity to be added in the United States over the next 10 to 15 years. 

February 18, 2000
DOE Selects Eight National Lab Projects as Research to Capture, Store Greenhouse Gases Expands
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will tap the talents of eight of its national laboratories as it expands its research into future ways to capture and store greenhouse gases. 

February 4, 2000
Energy Department Opens Ultra Clean Fuels Initiative
Six weeks after President Clinton proposed the toughest auto emission standards ever, the Energy Department opened a $75 million program to develop ultra clean fuels and new emission control devices for tomorrow's cars and trucks. 

January 31, 2000
All Solid State Ceramic Fuel Cell Passes One Year of Power Plant Operations
An experimental all-ceramic fuel cell, built in the United States and being tested in the Netherlands, has passed its first year of operations with high marks for reliability, efficiency and environmental performance. The technology could help usher in a new way to generate electricity without combustion, using the same principles as a battery. 

January 12, 2000
Minority Institutions to Compete for Research Dollars
The Energy Department's Fossil Energy Office has begun its annual competition to select innovative coal, oil and gas research projects from the nation's historically black colleges and universities or other minority institutions. 

January 7, 2000
New Competition Underway to Develop Black Liquor, Biomass Gasification for Paper Mills
A new competition begun by the Department of Energy could make the pulp and paper mills of the 21st century cleaner and more energy efficient by demonstrating ways to turn their black liquor streams into new sources of electricity and steam.