27 October 2009-- The Department of Energy said 37 research projects will get $151 million in funding, including some that could allow intermittent energy sources like wind and solar to provide a steady flow of power, or use bacteria to produce automotive fuel from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide (CO2).
The funding is being awarded through the Department's recently-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) (LINK). ARPA-E's purpose is to develop creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape. This is the first round of projects funded under ARPA-E, which is receiving a total of $400 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. A second round of ARPA-E funding opportunities will be announced later in the fall.
The grants will go to projects in 17 states from small businesses, educational institutions and large corporations.
Some of the projects selected for awards include:
- Liquid Metal Grid-Scale Batteries: A battery scientist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology created the all-liquid battery that could enable round-the-clock power from America's wind and solar power resources and increase the stability of the grid,
- Bacteria for Producing Direct Solar Hydrocarbon Biofuels: Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a bioreactor that has the potential to produce a flow of gasoline directly from sunlight and CO2 using a photosynthetic organism that directly captures solar radiation and uses it to convert CO2 to sugars, then another organism changes the sugar to gasoline and diesel transportation fuels,
- CO2 Capture using Artificial Enzymes: The United Technologies Research Center developed synthetic enzymes that could make it easier and more affordable to capture CO2 emissions from power plants and factories. If successful, the effort would mean a much lower energy requirement for industrial carbon capture and significantly lower capital costs to get carbon capture systems up and running, and
- Low Cost Crystals for LED Lighting: Developed by Momentive Performance Materials, this proposal for novel crystal growth technology could dramatically lower the cost of developing light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are 30 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs and four times more efficient than compact fluorescents. Lighting accounts for 14 percent of U.S. electricity use.
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