Environment
Air Quality
At the Energy Institute, our team of experts on air quality are working to quantify and better understand the impacts of indoor and outdoor air pollution on the environment and on our health. Specifically, researchers are exploring topics related to air quality like exposure science, aerosol technology, chemistry and air pollution-related disease.
Researchers
- Dr. John Volckens: Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Center for Energy Development and Health at the CSU Energy Institute. Learn more about the Volckens Lab.
- Dr. Shantanu Jathar: Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering
- Dr. Ellison Carter: Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Dr. Azer Yalin: Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Dr. Tami Bond: Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Walter Scott, Jr. Presidential Chair in Energy, Environment and Health
- Dr. Jennifer Peel: Professor and Section Head of Epidemiology in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences at CSU
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Methane is the primary component of natural gas and is a greenhouse gas that is many times more potent than carbon dioxide when released into the atmosphere unburned. The nation’s vast natural gas infrastructure – including wells, pipelines, and storage facilities – is one of many sources of methane emissions in the United States. While carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for about 82 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the U.S., methane is roughly 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas. At the Energy Institute, our research team is estimating methane emissions from the transmission and storage sector of the U.S. natural gas industry. It is part of the largest on-site measurement campaign of the U.S. natural gas infrastructure to date. Learn more about our research in methane emissions. Learn more about METEC CSU.
Researchers
- Dr. Bryan Willson: Executive Director of the Energy Institute and Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Dan Zimmerle: Senior Research Associate and Director of METEC
- Dr. Richard Conant: Ecosystem Ecologist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
- Dr. Joe Von Fischer: Associate Professor of Biology
Water Use / Beneficial Reuse
Water reuse is the use of treated wastewater for beneficial purposes, offering an opportunity to expand supplies of freshwater is communities facing water shortages. At the Energy Institute, our team researches effective ways to use wastewater from energy generation and production products (fracking, as an example).
Researchers
- Dr. Kenneth Carlson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Dr. Mazdak Arabi, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Land Reclamation
Land reclamation is the process of improving lands after energy production to make them suitable for more intensive use or back to their natural ecosystems. Reclamation helps to ensure that any effects of oil and gas development on the land and on other resources and uses are not permanent. The ultimate objective of reclamation is ecosystem restoration, including restoration of any natural vegetation, hydrology, and wildlife habitats affected by surface disturbances from construction and operating activities at an oil and gas site. At the Energy Institute, our research asks how energy generation or natural resource extraction will affect the land and natural ecosystems. We also consider land that has already been used and develop paths toward restoration.
Researchers
- Dr. Jim Ippolito: Associate Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
- Dr. Matt Ross: Ecosystem/watershed scientist in Colorado State’s Ecosystem Science and Sustainability Department
Generation / Production
Transmission / Distribution
Conversion /
Storage
End-Use
Policy
Techo Economic Analysis
Environment
Developing World Access
Human Dimensions
Innovation / Entrepreneurship