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Operations
To deliver sustainability with gas
Energy Delta Gas Research’s (EDGaR) purpose is to make sure that the changes in the gas sector that are required, and in particular the sustainable use of energy sources, are well and timely prepared. Therefore, it subsidizes high-quality research on gas. We think that natural gas can be used in the energy portfolio, over the course of the next fifty years, to facilitate the implementation of a sustainable and reliable use of energy. Therefore, we have coined the motto ‘To deliver sustainability with gas,’ an expression that captures in a nutshell the main result of EDGaR.
University-industry cooperation
EDGaR brings together scientists from the industry, research institute and universities. They cooperate together, at the Dutch level, to accrue benefits to all collaborators, because a research consortium brings in more value than uncoordinated and scattered projects. Researchers from the industry monitor new fundamental developments in natural, engineering and social sciences at the university. Meanwhile, university researchers stay current with the practical challenges that the gas industry faces. They train doctoral researchers, who form a pool of highly qualified workforce that specialized gas and sustainability issues. Finally, cooperative research at EDGaR creates economic opportunities. They will be captured in patents and valuated through new business activities in gas.
Multidisciplinary research
Several breakthroughs come out of multidisciplinary research. Therefore, EDGaR cuts across traditional boundaries between the natural, engineering and social sciences. In the natural sciences, researchers use chemistry, to understand catalytic and combustion reactions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and physics, to measure gas with spectroscopic instruments. In engineering, they rely on mechanical engineering, in relation with the physical infrastructure, and on process engineering, for the techniques of handling of gas through the distribution grid. In social sciences, they use management, which deals with how gas companies can operate, economics, which puts emphasis on market changes, and law, whose concerns are laws and regulations that comes with new gas technologies. The result of EDGaR’s researches is a holistic, integrated view on how natural gas can contribute to the advent of a sustainable use of energy.
High-quality research
EDGaR evaluates and monitors the quality of research against stringent scientific criteria. An international advisory board assesses the quality of the research proposals, while the program steering committee ensures that the projects remain up to par during their execution. EDGaR encourages research teams that have a strong record of scientific and technological achievements. Projects, aligned with one or several of the research themes, demonstrate a high degree of innovativeness in an international context. They will deliver results relevant to the scientific community, as well as social and economic benefits to the Dutch society.
Research consortium
EDGaR works on behalf of its participating companies and research institutions. It only awards research projects coming from them. To stimulate cooperation, it keep close track of research activities through contacts and conferences. To this day, EDGaR remains Europe’s unique research consortium that bring together industrial and university researcher from the full spectrum of sciences, to perform high-quality scientific research on natural gas. Its highest hope lies in bettering the world by providing an answer to how natural gas can facilitate the transition towards a sustainable use of energy.