Stanford gets $225 mln for 'green' energy research
Date: 22-Nov-02
Country: USA
The Stanford project, financed by Exxon Mobil Corp., General Electric, oil field services giant Schlumberger and others, aims to create affordable and clean energy systems through wide-ranging research that will also tap experts outside the university, said Lynn Orr, the project's director.
Stanford will retain the rights to any patents acquired in the course of the research project, which is expected to last more than a decade, a potentially lucrative area that could include biomass fuels, the storage and transportation of power and more efficient ways to use coal.
"Supplying energy to a growing world population is a critical challenge for this century and doing so with low greenhouse emissions will be an even greater challenge," Orr said.
Environmentalists were wary of the project's funding and warned it could be a smokescreen intended to delay costly government action on regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
Stanford said it plans to enlist other companies to back the research, which will include fields such as hydrogen power and alternative energy sources like wind and solar power.
GRANT DWARFED BY OIL INDUSTRY INVESTMENT
ExxonMobil - the world's No.1 oil company - has pitched in $100 million for the research. General Electric has provided $50 million and Schlumberger , one of the world's largest oil field services companies, has agreed to donate $25 million.
Another $50 million will come from privately-owned European energy firm E.ON, the university said.
The total is as large as all the corporate-sponsored research at Stanford over the past 10 years but dwarfed by the scale of ongoing investment in the oil industry. Exxon, for example, plans to invest $100 billion over the next 10 years on oil exploration and development.
Greenpeace spokesman James Moore also singled out Exxon for criticism, saying the donation was an attempt to garner good publicity without taking any action.
"This contribution fits into their pattern" Moore said. "They are researching the climate to death, rather than taking any action now."
An Exxon spokesman flatly rejected that notion and noted the $100 million donation marked the company's biggest-ever grant for basic research.
Exxon Vice President Frank Sprow said the project would help spur change because it would balance the needs of the environment with economic concerns.
"Unless changes are both convenient and affordable they are likely to be resisted and rejected," Sprow said. "The way to provide these appealing choices in energy is through technology."