BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed into law SB14-001, a $2 million appropriation to help fund the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory that involves four state institutions and a number of industry partners.
SB14-011 will provide $1 million in fiscal year 2014-2015 and $1 million in fiscal year 2015-2016 in matching funds to the Collaboratory, a clean energy research consortium of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Founded in 2006, the Collaboratory works with industry partners, government agencies, and other universities to conduct energy research and to create and speed the commercialization of renewable energy technologies, energy management systems, and energy efficiency tools.
The Collaboratory also supports economic growth in Colorado and the nation with renewable energy industries and educates the next generation of energy researchers and technicians, according to David Hiller, executive director. The Collaboratory has created a number of industrial and academic partnerships and has used roughly $6 million in state funding from previous years to attract more than $50 million in research funding from federal and private sources.
“This collaboration already has been shown to be a great fit for Colorado given the vast amount of energy research at our universities, government labs, and in private industry,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “We are pleased that this new funding bill has been signed, and we believe that bringing our top scientists and students from Colorado together is allowing us to play a more significant role in the development of new efficient and renewable energy technologies."
“More than 50 companies have engaged with the Collaboratory in research, from Fortune Global 100 companies to small startups,” said Hiller. In addition to the Colorado research institutions named above, other state universities as well as government research agencies like the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are partnering on energy research efforts with the Collaboratory.
For more information, visit www.coloradocollaboratory.org.
Publication date: 6/2/2014
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