The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), and national laboratories hosted a stakeholder listening day for the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative on January 19 and 20 in Livermore, California. Leaders of the initiative shared updates on the first year of the collaborative effort, and attendees were asked to provide feedback on the initiative’s cutting-edge work on advanced fuel and engine technologies. The objective of these discussions was to inform Co-Optima’s multi-year strategic plan and ensure alignment between public- and private-sector visions and goals.
A diverse group of experts in the transportation fuels and vehicles fields attended this event. Stakeholder presentations provided insight on recent innovations in advanced fuel and engine technologies, as well as research gaps that could be filled by the Co-Optima initiative. A stakeholder listening day summary report with highlights from the stakeholder presentations and listening day discussions will be made available to the public later this year.
BETO supports the development of affordable, scalable, and sustainable biobased fuels, and VTO supports the development and deployment of advanced vehicle technologies. The Co-Optima initiative began in 2016 under BETO and VTO, aiming to simultaneously transform both transportation fuels and vehicles in order to maximize performance and energy efficiency, minimize environmental impact, and accelerate widespread adoption of innovative combustion strategies. Addressing both offices’ objectives, Co-Optima’s vision is to set the stage for a rapid transition to advanced fuels and vehicle systems.
Through sponsorship of this event, BETO is engaging key stakeholders and carrying out a long-term applied research and development strategy to achieve commercial-scale biofuels, bioproducts, and biochemicals. BETO regularly hosts strategy workshops to engage stakeholder input on biofuels research and development strategy.