UK teams up with energy company to seek better air quality

A University of Kentucky research center received a three-year, $1.5 million commitment Thursday from an energy company to study ways to reduce greenhouse gases.

E.ON U.S., which owns and operates Louisville Gas and Electric Co., said it would team with UK to study technology to improve air quality.

The company's commitment to UK's Center for Applied Energy Research will help researchers examine technologies to separate, capture and store carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants.

Victor Staffieri, chairman, CEO and president of Louisville-based E.ON U.S., said coal remains abundant, and coal-fired plants have enabled the company to keep utility rates among the lowest nationally.

"This partnership allows us an opportunity to maintain our competitive rates, seek better technologies to utilize this resource, support Kentucky's coal industry and look for ways to reduce greenhouse gases," he said.

UK President Lee Todd said the partnership "is a testament to the fact that economic development and protection of the environment are not mutually exclusive. They are, in fact, inextricably linked."

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