Can research save coal? Answers to that provocative question will be explored at a lecture at West Virginia University.

James Wood, director of WVU’s U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center – Advanced Coal Technologies Consortium, will speak at 1 p.m. Friday (April 24) in 1001 Agricultural Sciences Building. A reception will follow.

In his presentation, Wood will “question the ability of the federal government to provide funding that is sufficiently targeted on problems as to provide timely economic solutions,” he explained. “What happens when the government funds competing research programs at levels that disadvantage one initiative over another? Is the public served better than it would be by letting the private sector conduct its own research on solutions?”

Wood has labored on both sides of the public-private divide, having joined WVU after a formidable career in the private sector and service as deputy assistant secretary for clean coal in the U.S. Department of Energy.

In his role with the Energy Department, Wood was responsible for the country’s $4.5-billion Clean Coal Program. He most recently was chairman, president and CEO of ThermoEnergy Corp., a Massachusetts-based company focused on industrial wastewater treatment and power generation technologies.

Wood’s lecture is sponsored by the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and the college’s Division of Resource Management.

-WVU-

dw/04/21/15

CONTACT: David Welsh, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
304.293.2394, David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.