Vikram Rao
Executive Director
Research Triangle Energy Consortium
Areas of Expertise:
Liquid Fuels, Natural GasAdditional Areas of Expertise:
Biomass to energy, shale gas and oil, R&D, energy security
Vikram Rao is Executive Director, Research Triangle Energy Consortium www.rtec-rtp.org, a non-profit in energy founded by Duke University, North Carolina State University, RTI International and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Its mission is to illuminate national energy priorities, and those of the world by extension, and to catalyze research to address these priorities.
Dr. Rao advises venture capitalist Energy Ventures AS, and firms BioLargo Inc., Global Energy Talent Ltd., Biota Technology Inc, Eastman Chemicals Inc and Integro Earth Fuels Inc.. He retired as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Halliburton Company in 2008 and followed his wife to Chapel Hill, NC, where she is on the UNC faculty. Later that year he took his current position. He also serves on the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission as Chairman.
Dr. Rao’s book Shale Gas: the Promise and the Peril was released in 2012 by RTI Press and can be found at www.rti.org/shalegasbook. It is written for general audiences and is intended to inform on the heated debate on fracturing for shale gas. The revised edition will be released in August, 2015.
Dr. Rao holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, along with a master’s degree and a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University. He is the author of more than 50 publications and has been awarded 40 US patents and foreign analogs.
Recent Posts by Vikram Rao
Recent Comments by Vikram Rao
- "The Texas Freeze had multiple contributory events: one nuclear plant went down for a while, some coal piles froze, wind turbines froze (although on ba"
Texas’ Freeze, Energy Foresight, and Preparedness - "Climate change is certainly not being taken seriously enough, as evidenced most spectacularly by the west coast of the US being on fire. Earlier in th"
Climate Perspectives and The Future of Energy - "Encouraging small-scale LNG (ssLNG) industry is a good idea. Targeting the nations south of the US is a win-win. The distribution and consumption of"
A Big Step for Small-Scale LNG - "I must say I am a fan of ARPA E. I think of their approach as mission oriented fundamental science. Sometimes it is not quite fundamental science, b"
Can Additional Funding Boost ARPA-E’s Tolerance for Risk? - "China has been a world leader in the displacement of gasoline with methanol. The US could learn from their experience in the practicalities of implem"
U.S. – China Energy Cooperation: Risks, Opportunities and Solutions - "The SPR has a rated capacity of 714 MM barrels and is currently at 696 MM, so it is close to "filled to the brim". It was bought for an average price"
Should We Use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a Revenue Stream? - "Few will dispute that ground level ozone is harmful to health. I am not in a position to debate the adequacy of regulation. But I am certainly of th"
What Will EPA’s Ozone Rule Mean for the Energy Sector? - "Industry, with the help of EDF, has come a long way to identifying the sources of fugitive methane (Allen et al at UT, Austin). This falls in two buc"
Methane Emission Reductions: An Industry Success Story - "I agree with Reid Detchon that the industry ought to move towards engines suited to the substitutes. Certainly ethanol and methanol have high octane "
Increasing U.S. Energy Security and Reducing Greenhouse Gases in the Transportation Sector: Electricity vs. Biofuels - "The RFS was conceived in 2006. As pointed out by Bruce Dale the dual goals were decrea"
Increasing U.S. Energy Security and Reducing Greenhouse Gases in the Transportation Sector: Electricity vs. Biofuels