Sixty new green energy research projects aimed at dramatically improving how the US produces and uses energy, will take a share of a $156 million grant from the the US Department of Energy this week.
Arun Majumdar Director of the Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced the grants today, with the winning projects including research programmes focused on clean technology, finding rare earth alternatives, making breakthroughs in biofuels, thermal storage, grid controls, and solar power electronics.
“These innovative projects are at the forefront of a new technological frontier that plays a critical role in our future energy security and economic growth, “said Majumdar. “It is now more important than ever to invest in game-changing ideas that will build the technological infrastructure for a new, clean energy economy.”
The projects selected are located across 25 US states, with 50 per cent of projects led by universities and 23 per cent by small businesses. Prior to today, ARPA-E has already awarded $365.7 million in funds to approximately 120 ground-breaking energy projects within seven programme areas.
This round of funding goes to projects including those focused on PETRO (Plants Engineered To Replace Oil) research, like that run by the University of Florida, which is working to increase the production of turpentine, a natural liquid biofuel from pine trees. It is hoped this could lead to sustainable domestic biofuel of 100 million gallons of fuel per year from less than 25,000 acres of forestland.
Other projects gain funding for their REACT (Rare Earth Alternative in Critical Technologies) focus, such as that from the Pacific Northwest National Lab, which is looking to reduce the cost of wind turbines and electric cars by developing a replacement for rare earth magnets based on an composite using manganese material.
HEATS (High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage) projects gaining funding include that run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT’s ‘HybriSol’ project focuses on the use of innovative nanomaterials to develop a thermal energy storage device, that captures and stores energy from the sun to be released onto the grid at a later time. If successful, this heat battery could decrease fossil fuel consumption and emissions, enabling clean solar energy to be accessible 24 hours a day.
