NETL Director Anderson says addressing climate change requires decarbonization of industrial sector

During his keynote address in Pittsburgh Wednesday, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Director Brian Anderson said addressing climate change will require the industrial sector to face decarbonization from every avenue.

Speaking at Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Energy Week, Anderson addressed advanced carbon management technology in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like steel, cement production, and petrochemicals.

“To address climate change at the source and achieve economy-wide net zero emissions by 2050, we must explore all methods of decarbonizing our country’s industrial sector,” Anderson said. “Between clean hydrogen production sourced from America’s vast energy resources paired with carbon capture and storage processes, new carbon-reducing industrial processes, and direct air capture (DAC) technologies, NETL is pioneering a variety of options that will drive economic growth while lowering emissions.”

According to Anderson, NETL is well-position to develop DAC technology as the lab has been working to advance research in CO2 capture from flue gas streams produced by power plants and other industries while storing it permanently and safely in underground complexes or using it as a feedstock to produce high-value products like chemicals and plastics.

Anderson, executive director of the Biden Administration’s Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, said decarbonized energy could bring job opportunities to Appalachia. A report from the IWG recommended ways to catalyze economic activity and support workers in the American energy sector. NETL researchers under Anderson have advanced a range of technologies that would ensure affordable, abundant, and reliable energy, he said.