Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls.
Idaho Lab's New Energy Research Center
December 2008 / January 2009
Volume 6 Number 6
We each face daily energy challenges. Rising gasoline and diesel prices increase transportation costs for the goods and services we buy, as well as for our business and personal travel. Our reliance on imported fuels and other natural resources threaten our national security. Increasing demand for energy production and use impact our land, air, and water. With national attention focused on these and other issues, it has become apparent that 21st century energy options must be economical, abundant, secure and environmentally friendly.
The Center for Advanced Energy Studies, known as CAES, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, opened its doors in September and will respond to these challenges with cutting-edge energy research that engages industry to foster technology-based economic development, that better prepares our future energy workforce by educating new energy professionals via expanded educational opportunities and informs stakeholders concerned with the appropriate energy mix and associated policy options by creating a venue for dialogue that shapes both Idaho and national energy policy.
CAES was created in 2005 as a collaborative partnership between Boise State University Idaho State University, the University of Idaho and Battelle Energy Alliance (the operating contractor of Idaho National Laboratory) and private industry. Through this arrangement, the CAES partners leverage their resources, capabilities and expertise in collaboration with others to provide timely energy research on scientific, technical and policy issues associated with the expansion of energy production from commercial nuclear power; the management of carbon emitted from fossil fuel energy systems; the availability of renewable energy, such as carbon-neutral biomass-based (agricultural residues) transportation fuels; and the protection of our environment during energy production, distribution and consumption.
The CAES energy research program is grounded in collaborations with industrial partners that contribute to technology-based economic development. For example, Premier Technology, a leader in manufacturing and industrial contracting based in Blackfoot, Idaho, is working with CAES to develop advanced welding and joining techniques and to promote technician education. Westway, located in Caldwell, Idaho, a major ethanol producer and a division of ED&F Man, is working with CAES to improve the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues and non-food by-products. Areva, a world leader in nuclear energy, is also working with CAES on energy workforce issues by providing scholarship support for nuclear science and engineering students at our Idaho universities.
Expanding science and engineering education in Idaho is a key element of the CAES mission. With the financial support of the Department of Energy, university partners have hired ten new CAES-affiliated research and teaching faculty. They focus their expertise on the nuclear engineering, material sciences and chemistry disciplines. As a result, course offerings and student enrollments have increased at all three Idaho universities. Thanks to ongoing support from the State of Idaho, the Idaho universities are planning to hire additional faculty who represent a variety of energy-related disciplines. These people will further expand undergraduate and graduate educational opportunities in Idaho Falls as well as at each of the state's three university campuses.
As its founder, the laboratory plays an instrumental role in sustaining CAES. INL research funds are being invested to form collaborative research teams that involve all of the CAES partners as well as to obtain unique state-of-the-art research equipment. This equipment and these teams, including national laboratory researchers, university faculty, students, industrial partners and visiting scientists, are housed in the new CAES research laboratory. This facility will serve as a new gateway to the capabilities at INL including the Advanced Test Reactor and the high-performance computing center.
The new CAES research laboratory is a high-performance, energy-efficient, "green building." The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED—„) criteria developed by the U.S. Green Building Council guided the design of this facility. The 55,000 sq. ft. building, made possible through the financial support of the State of Idaho, the Battelle Memorial Institute and URS Corporation/Washington Group, will provide flexible office and laboratory space to accommodate energy projects and experiments involving chemistry, radiochemistry, hydrogen, carbon management, material science, computer simulation, and advanced visualization. The CAES facility will also provide opportunities for students to observe and participate in hands-on research and policy analysis, and will provide Idaho Falls with a world-class venue for scientific and technical conferences and meetings.
The opening of the CAES facility represents exciting new opportunities. The CAES research partnership will deliver enhanced educational opportunities, trained energy professionals, technology-based economic development, a range of new energy-related career opportunities, and secure sustainable energy solutions.
Kevin Kostelnik is deputy director of Idaho National Laboratory.
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