Global Energy Future Initiative
Connecting energy innovators,
industry leaders and policy makers
to advance scientific, data-driven solutions
for the global energy future
The Future of Energy is Now, at Mines
Join the Mines Global Energy Future Initiative as we bring together global energy thought leaders and world-class Colorado School of Mines faculty through research, education, workshops, seminars and outreach.
Why Mines Global Energy Future Initiative?
Governments and industry around the globe are pursuing increasingly ambitious initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify their energy portfolios, all while the world is facing significant growth in energy demand from emerging and developing economies. On these complex issues, Mines has a unique combination of expertise with the depth to meet the energy challenges head on. Mines has an exceptional track record of solving tough scientific and engineering problems across the gamut of energy and environmental fields. The university enjoys a hard-earned reputation as an unbiased problem-solver in disciplines often at odds in the energy-environment discussion; the university tagline, “Earth, Energy, Environment” is an accurate reflection of our expansive and growing purview.
With partners from academia, industry, government, and civil society galvanized by Mines’ uniquely comprehensive expertise, we’re developing energy solutions that will shape decision-making, now and in the decades to come.
Impactful Hubs
Low Carbon and Renewable Energy
Developing renewable, secure, resilient, and adaptive energy infrastructure that fosters economic growth while reducing environmental impact
Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage (CCUS)
Multidisciplinary approach to scientific, engineering and policy research on net zero emissions technological innovations
Clean Water Innovations
Role of technology innovation in reimagining global water in the future energy system
Minerals & Metals
Finding solutions to meet the minerals and metals needs to create our future energy system, including sustainable mining practices; technological innovations in mining; and the role of markets, economics and policy
Oil and Gas
Designing interdisciplinary research focused on the science, engineering and policy of oil and gas in the net-zero energy future
Supply Chain Transparency
Understanding how the future energy system will impact the global supply chain and the associated effects on markets, communities and the environment
Upcoming Events
Please join the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and the Colorado School of Mines – Payne Institute for Public Policy for the International Energy Workshop (IEW) on Tuesday, June 13 – Friday, June 15, 2023 in Golden, Colorado.
Latest News
Colorado School of Mines launches interdisciplinary research initiative to tackle “forever chemicals” 5/18/2023
Colorado School of Mines launches interdisciplinary research initiative to tackle “forever chemicals”
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Christopher Higgins, Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will be the lead investigator of the new initiative. PFAS@Mines will focus on development of treatment strategies for most challenging PFAS sites, improved methods to characterize human exposure. May 18, 2023.
Colorado gets $32 million to create carbon-stuffing hub underground at Pueblo 5/18/2023
Colorado gets $32 million to create carbon-stuffing hub underground at Pueblo
The Colorado School of Mines Global Energy Future Integrated CCUS Initiative received $32 million from the federal Department of Energy to study and develop a carbon sequestration hub in southern Colorado, considered a key to meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals in coming years. The hub will be located in the Pueblo area, where massive carbon emissions from two power plants and cement kiln, among other major carbon producers, may need to be stuffed underground to meet state and U.S. climate change targets. The large DOE grant gives School of Mines and partners — including Los Alamos National Laboratory — financing to define and drill test sites, and set the boundaries for a carbon sink in the Lyons Sandstone formation thousands of feet beneath Pueblo County. May 18, 2023.
Ambitious EPA Rules to Face Stark Permitting Reality 5/17/2023
Ambitious EPA Rules to Face Stark Permitting Reality
Payne Institute Program Manager’s Anna Littlefield and Brad Handler, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how in early May EPA proposed major new carbon emissions standards for coal and many gas-fired electric power plants. Prominent among the options is carbon capture and storage (CCS)—this represents a unique and significant possibility for the technology. The proposal highlights the pressing need to accelerate permitting of CO2 pipelines and injection wells. May 17, 2023.
Colorado is writing the national blueprint on ozone control 5/17/2023
Colorado is writing the national blueprint on ozone control
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Program Manager Simon Lomax, and Deputy Director Greg Clough write an opinion piece on how Colorado has done the hard work on energy and environment, but it promises historic results — and it was almost undone by state legislators demanding even more regulations. May 17, 2023.
Biden is scrambling for minerals. This U.S. cobalt mine just closed. 5/12/2023
Biden is scrambling for minerals. This U.S. cobalt mine just closed.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this article about how White House clean energy adviser John Podesta this week touted a cobalt mine in Idaho as just one example of a new domestic critical mineral project getting permits and coming online to support a booming electric vehicle industry. There’s just one problem: The mine quietly stopped construction in late March, a victim not of government red tape but of the vagaries of a global marketplace. May 12, 2023.
Why Mines?
Since 1874, Mines has been a pioneer at the frontiers of science and engineering, from locating and recovering earth resources, to energy production, to environmental stewardship.
Over time, Mines’ expertise expanded to meet the changing needs of industry and society, playing key roles in the growth of the global energy and natural resource industries. We are now positioned to leverage that deep expertise through a data-driven approach to informing the global energy future, in collaboration with academia, industry, government and civil society partners.
Leadership
John Bradford
Vice President for Global Initiatives
Morgan Bazilian
Director, Payne Institute for Public Policy
For more information about the Mines Global Energy Future Initiative at the Colorado School of Mines, please contact our Deputy Director, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.
Mines@150
As Colorado School of Mines approaches our sesquicentennial, we are ideally suited to lead this initiative. Our bold and ambitious MINES@150 strategic plan builds on the exceptional legacy of our PAST, the ways we impact the PRESENT and the POSSIBILITIES of our global energy future.