The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signed off on a potential $10 million in funding earlier this month designed to support small businesses working to reduce energy consumption in the U.S.
In a press release from Feb. 1, the Department of Energy announced new funding that would be awarded to small businesses throughout the country that are actively working on technology that could reduce energy consumption on a large scale for the United States.
“SEED helps achieve ARPA-E’s mission of seeking impactful solutions through innovation,” said ARPA-E Deputy Director for Technology Dr. Jenny Gerbi, according to the article. “We're excited to continue to support small businesses that are developing potentially cutting-edge energy technology.”
The funding for the DOE investment comes from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Exploratory Topic – Supporting Entrepreneurial Energy Discoveries (SEED), which seeks to support entrepreneurial energy discoveries by supporting new concepts in energy-related technologies with small businesses, universities and national labs, according to the article.
Awards are handed out on the basis of supporting new research projects that aim at establishing potential new sectors for technology development, while also providing the ARPA-E with information that could lead to new sources of funding for ARPA-E programs. In order to qualify for the SEED funding, projects should explore new paradigms in energy technology while also having the potential to achieve significant reductions in U.S. energy consumption, energy-related imports, or energy-related emissions, according to the article.
So far, the current funding will be the third round of funding that ARPA-E has announced under the SEED Exploratory Topic. Potential topics for qualification include advanced bioreactors, enhanced geothermal systems, non-evaporative dehydration and drying technologies, separation of CO2 from ambient air, innovative deep ocean collector designs, environmental sensors and non-carbothermic smelting technologies.
A full list of potential qualifying technologies is available here.
