"When it’s fully functional, we’ll move beyond our current visualization capabilities and into the world of virtual reality. We will not only see the data, but we’ll hear it and interact with it in very natural, multi-sensory ways," Halow said.

In collaboration with Ames Laboratory, NETL is developing the CAVE-like facility into a science laboratory and engineering design center for the fossil-fueled energy plants of the future. And that future is closer than most people think. DOE program plans call for the first of the near-zero-emissions Vision 21 power plants to come on-line in about 2020.

Just as virtual design technologies brought the Boeing-777 to market in the mid-1990s and continue to bring new automotive designs to market in record cycle times, the NETL VE center will play an important role in finding science, engineering and design solutions critical to Vision 21 plant development.

The new plants will incorporate technology systems only now being developed. NETL will have the capability to predict dynamic responses of entire energy systems such as hybrid generating systems that use fuel cells in combination with advanced gas turbines, and coal gasification systems that incorporate processes to separate and sequester the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

"At millions of dollars a pop, we can’t build and test these technologies in the real world until we’re pretty sure we’ve got a winner. Problem solving in the virtual world is much cheaper – and faster," said Halow.