DOE to Invest $150 Million to Reduce Environmental Impacts of Energy Technologies

The U.S. Energy Department on Feb. 22 announced $150 million in funding to advance projects that would enhance efficiency and cut emissions from energy technologies and manufacturing. Researchers will use the grant to conduct projects supporting the agency’s  2021 Energy Earthshots Initiative targets to improve clean energy technologies within the next decade, including hydrogen technology, long-duration energy storage, and carbon capture. In addition to promoting good-paying jobs, the research is expected to develop climate solutions to achieve President Biden’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The research is expected to be elementary to the advancement of carbon capture, solar and nuclear energy technologies, innovative industrial processes, and energy storage. It will also support the use of critical minerals in energy technologies and engineering. In addition to funding research topics in basic chemistry and materials science, the grant will support the development of new clean energy approaches that draw inspiration from energy-efficient processes, such as photosynthesis.

Hydrogen Shot, announced in June 2021, aims to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80  percent to spur innovation and stimulate demand. The Long Duration Storage Shot, announced in July 2021, focuses on making grid-scale energy storage more affordable for clean power by decreasing costs by 90 percent. The Carbon Negative Shot was announced in November 2021 and calls for developing technologies and approaches that will allow the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its storage for less than $100 per net metric ton of CO2 equivalent.

The DOE encourages proposals that are led by Minority Serving Institutions underrepresented in the Basic Energy Sciences portfolio. The application process is open to all accredited colleges, universities, scientific laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private sector firms in the U.S.  The total planned funding is $150 million, with a maximum of $50 million in the fiscal year 2022, subject to congressional appropriations.

The submission deadline for pre-applications is Mar. 16, 2022