DOE places bets on 'transformative' energy tech

The Department of Energy on Monday named the first winners of a program aimed at generating breakthroughs in clean-energy technologies.

The program, called Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), began taking applications earlier this year for research ideas that reduce imports of foreign fuel, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and improve energy efficiency. Funding for the agency is part of the Obama administration's goal to improve the economic competitiveness of the U.S. by investing in energy technology.

The DOE is awarding $151 million in 37 grants to both academics and green-tech companies, most of which are start-ups. The ideas are meant to be high-risk and high-reward, with a number not expected to meet their goals.

Authority to create the agency, roughly modeled on the DARPA defense program that spawned the space race, happened in 2007 but it wasn't funded until earlier this year. ARPA-E now has authority to fund as much as $400 million in research. A second tranche of grant awardees is scheduled to be announced later this fall.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

The naming of ARPA-E grants is being closed watched in the green-tech start-up community and among researchers. There were 3,600 concept papers submitted, followed by 300 full applications and ultimately 37 awardees.

One awardee is an effort at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to make an all-liquid battery, which would make storage of storage of solar and wind power more cost effective.

Another is funding for a bioreactor developed by the University of Minnesota that proposes using two microorganisms to make a vehicle fuel. One bacteria would convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into a sugar, and another would convert the sugar into a fuel.

Two other efforts include developing enzymes that would more effectively capture carbon dioxide from power plants and a low-cost material for making LED lighting. The full list of awardees is at the ARPA-E site (click for PDF).

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is scheduled to speak at Google Monday morning in Google to make an announcement, after which Google CEO Eric Schmidt will speak with Chu. Through its philanthropic arm Google.org, Google has invested in a number of renewable energy companies. It has also developed Web-based energy monitoring software for consumers.

[nicmart]

Boy, I sure hope this newfangled socialism thing pays off. It sounds like heaven on Earth.

[rmullen0]

What does this article have to do with socialism? You are a moron.

[rmva]

Maybe they can invent the energy equivalent of the internet. You never know until you try.

[dbargen]

I know how we can "reduce imports of foreign fuel": just let us drill here you enviro-whackos! You might even be able to pull Cali out of the red in a relatively very short period without trying to tax drug sales that already hide themselves from governments eyes. But then again, without such fuel for though, ideas like those trying to be awarded above would stop sounding feasible...

[rmullen0]

No, you are the whacko dude. The earth is flat moron. Keep telling yourself that.

[lovelandp]

Ah yes, cause the internet, the computer, the television, etc.... were created by just aware citizens trying to expand a market.

This is focused to push our economy into a smart economy. We no longer have the textile, auto manufacturing jobs that have sustained our economy over the last 100 years, and we need to move into the new century.

I sure hope you two dont run for office anytime soon.

[hasselton]

For limitless "green" power, go to "wet" power--the tides. They are powerful and predictable, and even with my electrical engineering illiteracy I can imagine ways to convert tidal power to electricity.

[scdecade]

The government has no incentive to improve the energy situation. In fact, they have no incentive to improve the lives of citizens across the board. They get the most power by making the situation worse. All of this money will be wasted. Looking to the government to solve problems is stupid.

[rmullen0]

Yeah, we should let the corporations take care of it since they've done such a bang up job of it so far. You are an idiot.

[USDecliningDollar]

And not one meention of EEScam / Stor - It would appear that the DOE has voted on EEStor and has decided that it is bunk. Thank god! Hopefully the cult of EEStor will all off themselves.

[BigSilverDollar]

>>And not one meention of EEScam / Stor - It would appear that the DOE has voted on EEStor and has decided that it is bunk. Thank god! Hopefully the cult of EEStor will all off themselves.<<

Maybe they should electrocute themselves with their EESU battery?

>>.but Richard Weir is on record as saying he will release his capacitor by the end of the year....then he will be a liar, or telling the truth.<<
Well Dick Weir has promised he'd deliver the EESU by the end of 2008 too. Did that make him a liar?
Or how about when he said it would be delivered in 2007, but failed to deliver it. Did that make him a liar?

You are probably referring to the comment he made in the leaked phone conversation he had with Paradigm Capital. DW was speaking off the record and made no comment to the public that the battery will be delivered to Zenn by the end of '09. It is Ian Clifford of Zenn that has said publicly that this is the time frame he is working on.

Will DW finally deliver on time? I hope so. But when you take into account is past missed deadlines, I wouldn't put any money on it.

[KahunaBear]

"Hopefully the cult of EEStor will all off themselves" ? What's wrong with you? You need to get a life and stop taking this stuff so seriously. Wow.

[TimBitts]

USDecliningdollar, how do you know it is bunk? Eestor has not released it's capacitor to the public. Maybe it didn't release it to the DOE......truth is, no one knows....but Richard Weir is on record as saying he will release his capacitor by the end of the year....then he will be a liar, or telling the truth.....Don't pretend you know the truth.....you don't know anymore than a door knob, and if you say you do, you are engaging in the same kind of lame speculation, posing as fact, that eestor hypers do all the time.

[USDecliningDollar]

How do I know it is bunk? I have science and scientists on my side! More to the point, I worked with one of Sec. Chu's current advisors. 2 years ago, I inquired about EEStor, provided him with the data and basically he said "no way". This was followed by "where is the peer reviewed data?" and we all know the answer to that question - there isn't any because "it's a secret". Now we have a Tesla exec saying that EEStror should be investigated by the FBI. Experts in energy storage do not believe the claims. Investor Kleiner Perkins did not "re-up". DOE denied funds to Zenn for building a "research and development facility". Vinod Khosla - EEstor really has nothing but "hope and a prayer".
Steve Pluvia, "EEStor is nothing more than a vehicle for a Canadian pump-n-dump, specifically Zenn Motors. Zenn has a powerful Canadian hype team supported by a crooked bucket shop (Paradigm Capital), paid promoters and degenerate gamblers.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/10/eestor/

[NoVista]

I love ad hominem responses to comments; why rebut with facts when you can just say 'moron'. Far be it from me to suggest that makes the responder an imbecile ...

However, the real issue is the reality of alternative energy at this point in time. And where was the DOE since 1977? Not to say some breakthroughs are not possible but it is likely 'too little, too late'. Oil shale and Canadian tar sands might sound good but both are expensive in production costs, yield little or none (shale has yet to see a viable conversion process; yeah, it might happen but hope is a poor substitute for solving the technical problems.

When you examine the entire production process, you find that ethanol and solar cells are both net-loss answers. If a source costs more in terms of materials, oil, natural gas, and water, than it yields, what has been gained?

[towiseguys]

Bio-fuels ,bio-technology and solar cells and newer battery technologies are not the only viable technologies available

. http://video.google.com/videosearch?
q=FREE+ENERGY&emb=0&aq=f#q=FREE+ENERGY&emb=0&aq=f&start=40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaf9v0K-rZw&feature=related

http://www.free-energy.ws/heatpumps.html

http://www.free-energy.ws/centrifugal-force.html


http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/

http://www.fuellesspower.com/Need_On_Paper.htm

http://www.panacea-bocaf.org/links.htm

http://www.cheniere.org/correspondence/050508.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWOxnXKB8VQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYYysBEwA6w&feature=related

[RMSorg]

These comments are more entertaining than the article!! ROFL Bottom line is that something has to be done. But necessity is the mother of all inventions and we need to improve our economic situation and stop giving Billions of dollars to the middle east for our oil dependency! We also need to improve the way we dispose of materials we have created to last forever. They are hurting our environment and the ecological system dependent on it! We need to come up with better ways to use resources that are here in the US that will help to boost our economy and provide so many with jobs!