Dive Brief:

• The Department of Energy is investing $84 million in 18 research projects to help improve and drive down the costs of processes to capture carbon dioxide from new and existing coal-fired power plants.
• The awards announced Thursday range from $1 million to $15 million and address both pre-combustion and post-combustion CO2 capture technologies. The cost of the project will be shared with industry, universities and other research institutions.

Dive Insight:

The grants are part of the Obama administration's climate change agenda but also help dispel the charge that it is engaged in a "war on coal." As Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz acknowledged on Thursday, "Coal and other fossil fuels still provide 80% of our energy, 70% of our electricity, and will be a major part of our energy future for decades. That’s why any serious effort to protect future generations from the worst effects of climate change must also include developing, demonstrating and deploying the technologies to use our abundant fossil fuel resources as cleanly as possible."​