USU Alternative and Unconventional Energy Research and Development

Abstract

The purpose and rationale of this project has been to develop enduring research capabilities at Utah State University (USU) and the Utah State University Research Foundation (USURF) in a number of energy efficient and renewable energy areas including primarily a) algae energy systems, b) solar lighting, c) intuitive buildings, d) electric transportation, 3) unconventional energy environmental monitoring and beneficial reuse technologies (water and CO2), f) wind energy profiling, and g) land use impacts. The long-term goal of this initiative has been to create high-wage jobs in Utah and a platform for sustained faculty and student engagement in energy research. The program’s objective has been to provide a balanced portfolio of R&D conducted by faculty, students, and permanent staff. This objective has been met. While some of the project’s tasks met with more success than others, as with any research project of this scope, overall the research has contributed valuable technical insight and broader understanding in key energy related areas. The algae energy systems research resulted in a highly productive workforce development enterprise as it graduated a large number of well prepared students entering alternative energy development fields and scholarship. Moreover, research in this area has demonstrated both the technological and economic limitations and tremendous potential of algae feedstock-based energy and co-products. Research conducted in electric transportation, specifically in both stationary and dynamic wireless inductive coupling charging technologies, has resulted in impactful advances. The project initiated the annual Conference on Electric Roads and Vehicles (http://www.cervconference.org/), which is growing and attracts more than 100 industry experts and scholars. As a direct result of the research, the USU/USURF spin-out startup, WAVE (Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification), continues work in wirelessly charged bus transit systems and is poised to quickly become a multi-million dollar company with clients around the globe. Moreover, USU students and researchers alike are now on the leading edge of the electrified transportation workforce. Finally, the legacy of this DOE investment in electric transportation is continuing at USU with the formation in progress of an industry sponsored research center built around the Electric Roadway and Vehicle (EVR) research facility and test track (http://evr.usu.edu). The research conducted in unconventional energy environmental monitoring and beneficial reuse technologies experienced broad success developing experimental and modeling tools and implementing those tools to better understand environmental impacts of industrial processes used in unconventional energy development in the Utah’s Uintah Basin. Before this project began the USU Uintah Basin branch campus had minimal capability to perform this regionally critical environmental research. This research investment enabled monitoring and modeling equipment and expertise to assess impacts of energy development to all aspects of environmental quality. Laboratory capability for environmental analysis has been developed and engaged along with field testing at multiple locations. Successful campaigns to measure greenhouse gas and hydrocarbon emissions from produced water surface impoundments and leakage from subsurface oil and gas infrastructure were executed. A computer model of meteorological conditions during winter inversion episodes was created, and commercialization efforts are underway for those models. Finally, in the past 24 months, nearly $2 million in non- DOE external funding from state, local, federal and private entities has been awarded to USU Uintah Basin to continue and add to work and capability established by this task. The preceding examples represent a few highlights resulting from the USU Alternative and Unconventional Energy Research and Development project. The following report provides further detail.