Efficiency

NextWatt is developing an ultrawide-bandgap optical triggered device that addresses the need for fast protection for solid-state transformers (SST), a promising technology for revolutionizing substations and renewable energy systems. NextWatt seeks to build an ultrafast optical switching device using a low-cost beta-gallium oxide semiconductor triggered with a readily available mid-wavelength optical beam. If successful, the device would enable solid-state-circuit breakers for protection of SSTs and other power and energy applications.

More information on this project is coming soon!

atdepth MRV is developing an ocean modeling system that utilizes graphical processing units (GPUs) which would dramatically improve modeling speed compared with traditional approaches that use central processing units (CPUs). The team seeks to build a model for marine carbon dioxide removal sites that would not only include global-scale ocean processes but also local processes no larger than a few meters, such as small-scale turbulence.

University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) is developing a system of optical underwater sensors to sense and measure dissolved carbon compounds. CU-Boulder seeks to build a sensor head that would be towed underwater by a cable containing optical fibers attached to an autonomous wave-energy harvesting surface vehicle. The proposed system takes advantage of dual frequency comb laser stimulated Raman spectroscopy—derived from a technology developed under ARPA-E’s MONITOR program—to bring laboratory-based optical spectroscopy to in-situ, persistent, and fast-moving ocean platforms.

The University of Texas at Austin is developing an acoustic sensor network to quantify ecosystem activity and how effectively carbon is stored in shallow seagrass beds, an important sink in the coastal blue carbon cycle. The proposed sensor network detects the acoustic signature of bubbles that are released from seagrass leaves as photosynthesis produces excess oxygen. The network also analyzes the refraction of sound through the seafloor to estimate the quantity of carbon locked in seagrass roots and sediment.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is developing a model and mesocosm experiments to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the marine carbon dioxide removal technique Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) in three major coastal areas in the United States. Unlike current models that lack ground-truth data to accurately simulate OAE, PNNL will conduct tank-based laboratory experiments to validate new models that may improve our capability to estimate the effectiveness of OAE.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is developing a system-on-a-chip for ocean carbon flux monitoring that would integrate the capabilities of several existing commercial sensors into a single miniature sensor chip, lightening the power requirements on ocean gliders and floats and reducing costs by an order of magnitude. The proposed system-on-a-chip would measure pH, oxygen, particulate organic carbon, and other variables.

[C]Worthy is developing a community framework for model building and data assimilation that would provide the structure and processes necessary to incorporate observations, manage model complexity, and meet the need for accurate carbon accounting for marine carbon dioxide removal. The proposed framework would incorporate observational and forcing datasets, data assimilation, an ocean general circulation model, biogeochemistry, tracers, and marine carbon dioxide removal and marine ecosystem modules to estimate the ocean’s state.