Proposal gives more juice to universities’ energy research

A proposal from the Brookings Institution may help the University of Nebraska-Lincoln flex its research muscle.

The nonprofit public policy organization called for a national boost in federal funding for energy research, from about $2.5 billion a year to between $20 billion and $30 billion a year. The Brookings' proposal would also allocate at least $6 billion, or about 25 percent, of that funding to energy innovation institutes at universities.

This would put more federal money toward university-based energy research and encourage partnerships and collaborations with private firms and government labs. Both sometimes have too many restrictions to work at their full potential.

"Most federal energy research is conducted within ‘silo-ed' labs that are too far removed from the marketplace and too focused on their existing portfolios to support ‘transformational' or ‘use-inspired' research targeted at new energy technologies and processes," the report read.

Last year, from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008, UNL received $106 million in total research funding, about $72 million of which was from the federal government, said Prem Paul, UNL's vice chancellor of research and economic development.

During the last several years, as funding for the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health has remained stagnant, their funding for UNL's research proposals have been lower than the usual 25 percent, Paul said.

"Even though (UNL faculty) write very good proposals and they were meritorious, the funding agency was not able to fund us," he said.

The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research, a collaborative product between UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman and the Nebraska Public Power District, is a two-year-old center that researches renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and energy conservation.

Among the myriad projects underway at the center are plans for a super loop biorefinery, an ethanol plant that would run entirely on by-products of the system itself.

"The concept is everything that comes out of this system is recycled or used in some way to generate maximum efficiency and minimum environmental impact," said Ken Cassman, director of NCESR.

The self-sufficient plant could be a reality with some of the federal money from the Brookings proposal.

NCESR aims to make faculty more competitive for grants from the federal government and private markets. The center works to balance long-term projects with short-term work that will show results within a few years.

Some people criticize the proposal, saying that universities and the students helping with research are too far-removed from the marketplace to produce practical solutions. However, Brookings Institution policy analyst Sarah Rahman said university labs may have more freedom to explore a wider range of options, and students work under expert supervision.

"University labs have more flexibility in their mission to connect to the market on the ground," Rahman said.

In the process, students learn to turn abstract ideas they learned in class into practical solutions they can take into their future careers.

"Almost all the research projects that we have underway at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln engage students," Paul said. "The experiences that they gain both in research labs and internships at other companies prepare them well to be competitive in the new economy."

Putting more research money in university hands puts more hands in the work and will bring faster results, Rahman said.

The proposal's goals include creating partnerships throughout the energy research field and cultivating the knowledge base to tackle the country's energy issues.

"There's so much interest in solving society's quest for renewable energy at a reasonable cost," Cassman said. "There's two great challenges you're going to face: The first is how to feed the world, and the second is how to provide enough energy."

andreavasquez@dailynebraskan.com