The US Department of Energy has awarded the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMIMT) $4 million in grants for fossil energy R&D. The monies will support projects which ‘enhance energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect human health’. NMIMT will create a free, widely available, ‘fuzzy’ expert exploration tool to aid in finding new oil reserves. The tool, originally developed for the Brushy Canyon formation in New Mexico, will analyze drilling prospects and ‘reduce the risk of drilling new wells’.
AI
The Fuzzy Expert leverages artificial intelligence to ‘simulate, but not replace’, a human expert. The project is scheduled to last three years and will cost a total of $4 million—of which half will be provided by the DOE.
Greenhouse gas
Other DOE-funded projects target the health effects of fine particulates emitted from coal-fired power plants, enhanced oil and gas recovery and carbon dioxide injection and sequestration.
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