Interdisciplinary CEnREP project receives NSF funding
When fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity, they also produce the air pollutants sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These pollutants harmfully affect human respiratory health, and their effects are closely tied to both when and where they are emitted. However, the time and location of emissions can be changed using energy storage devices, such as batteries or pumped storage hydropower, which can in turn lessen the harmful health effects.
CEnREP Interim Director and ARE associate professor Harrison Fell is among a group of researchers who recently received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the use of such energy storage devices. The interdisciplinary project bridges economics, human health and engineering. The research team includes Fell, Jeremiah Johnson and Fernando Garcia Menendez, both in the NC State University Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. Together, they will tackle the question: Can energy storage devices be deployed in an optimal way to be both cost-effective and to reduce human health impacts?
NSF will award $300,000 over the next three years for the project. This supplements the $25,000 RISF grant the team received earlier this year to begin their work.