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Carbon Neutral Brews with an ARPA-E Flavor

If you spend your days thinking about the 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions that are associated with boiling water to create the steam used for things like industrial power, the enormity of addressing that challenge might just make you want to grab a cold one. And if you’re on the team at AtmosZero, your beverage of choice can be found just down the road at the New Belgium Brewing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. Earlier this week, ARPA-E awardee AtmosZero announced a partnership with Danish manufacturing outfit Danfoss to introduce a 650-kilowatt thermal electrified boiler at…


ARPA-E Program Director Dr. James Seaba Q&A Blog
Meet the Program Director: Dr. James Seaba

Dr. James Seaba currently serves as a program director for ARPA-E. His focus at ARPA-E is on the economically driven conversion of renewable energy to sustainable products and commodities. Tell us about your background and what brought you to ARPA-E. I’ve spent 33 years in energy-related research and development functions in both academic and industry environments. I’ve worked in the aerospace, automotive, oil and gas industries. The common thread throughout my career is developing energy technologies that are economically driven and address a major problem. I focused the last 20 years…


NEXTCAR Performer Dr Francesco Borrelli from UC Berkeley with U.S Secretary Jennifer Granholm and ARPA-E Director Evelyn Wang at the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit.
What’s Next for NEXTCAR?

NEXTCAR was originally launched in 2016 to explore the development of technologies using connectivity and automation features found in high-end vehicles (e.g., adaptive cruise control) to reduce energy consumption of on-road, surface transportation. Since then, these technologies, along with the automotive market as a whole, have evolved with a greater appreciation for their potential in contributing to the decarbonization of transportation-related emissions. During the original NEXTCAR Program, eleven teams developed and tested their technologies on a wide variety of vehicle (light-,…


SCALEUP 2023 Logo
ARPA-E Continues Work to Scale High-Risk, High-Potential Transformational Energy Technologies by Unveiling Third SCALEUP Program

ARPA-E recently announced the much-anticipated third round of its SCALEUP program. SCALEUP is designed to competitively select and support the commercial “scale up” of promising technologies from ARPA-E’s portfolio of projects, past and present. With the recent announcement of SCALEUP 2023, ARPA-E is building upon the success of the two prior SCALEUP programs launched in 2019 and 2021. SCALEUP Overview Through extensive interaction with stakeholders and performers, ARPA-E realized there was a need to further support technologies from earlier programs to help them fill a critical…


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ARPA-E Teams Selected as part of the DOE Office of Science Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program

Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the first selections of the DOE Office of Science Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, a key element of the Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy that was unveiled in March 2022 at a White House Fusion Summit. Many of these teams and their concepts have received longstanding support from the Office of Science, NNSA, as well as other public and private funding sources. Of the eight selected companies, five have or had a funding connection to ARPA-E: Zap Energy, which spun out from a University of Washington project…


ARPA-E Investor Update Blog Vol. 15 Captura
ARPA-E Investor Update Vol. 15: Captura's Direct Ocean Capture Tech

ARPA-E awardee Captura raised $12 million in Series A funding for their direct ocean capture (DOC) technology in a round led by Equinor Ventures, along with Aramco Ventures, the Caltech Seed Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Future Planet Capital, and mTerra Ventures in January 2023. Captura is using this funding to scale up their business and DOC technology that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) directly out of the ocean. Captura will use this funding to accelerate its piloting program and improve the DOC technology itself, including optimizing the CO2 permeable membranes and reducing CO2 removal costs.On…


SCALEUP Panel at CERAWeek
ARPA-E’s Active Role at CERAWeek 2023

CERAWeek brings the global energy industry together to share insights and strategies on what’s next for global energy markets, geopolitics, and technology. CERAWeek convenes government officials, industry leaders, academics, technology innovators, financial leaders, and thought leaders in one space for what Politico has coined the "[energy] industry's Super Bowl.” ARPA-E leadership utilized the 2023 CERAWeek Innovation Agora to engage attendees and give them an update on the agency’s accomplishments and future plans. The Innovation Agora is a part of CERAWeek and covers transformational…


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ARPA-E Announces Agreement with California Energy Commission to Coordinate Advancement on New Energy Technologies

ARPA-E and the California Energy Commission (CEC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), solidifying joint efforts to advance breakthrough energy technologies. “CEC and ARPA-E have long supported transformational energy innovation, and we have shared goals to enhance the economic and energy security of California and our entire nation,” said ARPA-E Director Evelyn N. Wang. “This collaboration will accelerate our critical work to research, develop, demonstrate, and ultimately deploy energy technologies.” “Clean energy research and development is key to combatting the…


ARPA-E Investor Update Blog v14 Emrgy
ARPA-E Investor Update Vol. 14: Emrgy's Hydrokinetic Turbine

On April 11, 2023, ARPA-E awardee Emrgy raised $18.4M for their proprietary hydrokinetic turbine (HKT) in a Series A funding round led by Oval Park Capital, including key investors Fifth Wall, Blitzscaling Ventures, Overlay Capital, and Veriten. Emrgy will use this funding to open their turbine assembly facility in Aurora, Colorado with an estimated production capacity of 5 megawatts per month, deploy their distributed hydropower plants, and hire staff for their development, operations, and engineering teams.Emrgy received $3.34M in ARPA-E funding in September 2021 as part of our Submarine…


ARPA-E Investor Update Blog v13
ARPA-E Investor Update Vol. 13: Enzinc's EV Battery Anode

ARPA-E awardee Enzinc raised $4.5 million in seed funding for their zinc microsponge EV battery anode in a round led by Portland-based 3x5 Partners in July of 2022. This seed funding, along with a $1.8 million Bringing Rapid Innovation Development to Green Energy (BRIDGE) grant from the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program through the California Energy Commission (CEC), has allowed them to finalize testing of their prototype and design an automated production line for their anode. Alongside the $1.8 million BRIDGE grant, Enzinc has won four out of the five CEC grants within the…