In early February, over 2,000 energy innovators gathered outside of Washington, DC for the 2015 ARPA-E Summit. The annual event brought together entrepreneurs, investors, industry and government thought leaders to collaborate, share knowledge, and build relationships to help bring transformative energy technologies to market. The Summit also highlighted the achievement of ARPA-E projects and their work to advance cutting-edge technologies to change the way we generate, use, and store energy. This year, we unveiled four new videos showcasing the achievements of several ARPA-E projects as…
When the sixth annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit convenes outside Washington, D.C., next week, more than 2,000 technologists, entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts and government thought leaders will gather to discuss America’s most pressing energy issues -- and to find ways to move promising new energy technologies out of the lab and into the market. As the nation’s preeminent energy innovation event, this annual conference and technology showcase attracts experts from different technical disciplines and professional communities to think about America’s complex energy challenges…
(Image Credit: IECR) What if we could develop innovative technologies that allowed us to inexpensively capture carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants? One ARPA-E awardee is addressing this challenge by pioneering a game-changing, low-cost membrane technology to separate carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gas. Through ARPA-E’s “Innovative Materials and Processes for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies” (IMPACCT) program, The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder) along with its partner The 3M Company (3M), developed and fabricated innovative new thin-film composite (TFC)…
Energy storage promises to play a key role in the modernization of our nation’s electric grid. While relatively little storage is deployed on today’s grid, advanced storage technologies can provide options for tomorrow’s energy demands. Increased grid storage would improve operating capabilities, enhance reliability, and enable the cost-effective integration of ever-increasing amounts of renewable and distributed energy sources. ARPA-E has invested in a number of potentially transformative grid-storage technologies, including novel battery chemistries and innovative design…
*Reposted from Energy.gov. Writing Credit: Allison Lantero; Video Credit: Matty Greene* Meet Cheryl Martin, Acting Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) and the latest profile in the Energy Department’s #WomenInSTEM video series. Her work focuses on catalyzing the advancement of transformational energy technologies that will allow the United States to stay at the cutting edge of technological innovation. Cheryl’s love for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) began in high school, where she wrote up lessons from her chemistry…
What if consumers were empowered with real-time data on the cost and efficiency of their energy use? During times of peak demand -- such as on a hot summer afternoon when homes and businesses crank up their air conditioning -- utilities could let cost-conscious consumers know how much they’re spending on energy or ask environmentally minded consumers to voluntarily reduce their energy footprint. Utilities would then be better positioned to quickly and efficiently manage demand and supply fluctuations on the grid. This is the innovative vision of AutoGrid Systems, a data analytics…
Dr. John Lemmon discusses the launch of ARPA-E’s new Reliable Electricity Based on Electrochemical Systems (REBELS) program and why it’s important to develop transformational fuel cell technologies for low-cost distributed power generation. Tell us a little about your background. How does your previous experience provide insight into your work at ARPA-E? Dr. John Lemmon: I was a research scientist at GE Global Research Center for 13 years before moving to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). I’ve worked on a lot of different materials related to electrochemical…
The Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has announced two awards of $5,000 each for solutions submitted in response to its Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) InnoCentive Challenge. ARPA-E’s REACT program is developing cost-effective alternatives to rare earth materials. These materials are elements with unique magnetic properties that are the high-performance magnets required for electric vehicle (EV) motors, wind generators, and many of the technologies that we rely on every day, such as cell phones and laptop computers. The REACT projects that comprise the…
ARPA-E is holding a crowdsourced energy challenge along with InnoCentive and Booz Allen Hamilton. This $10,000 ideation challenge will focus on ARPA-E’s REACT program, which aims to develop cost-effective alternatives to rare earths, the naturally occurring minerals with unique magnetic properties that are used in electric vehicle (EV) motors and wind generators. We recently sat down with Dr. Ping Liu to discuss the challenge. Thank you for joining us. Could you start off by telling us a bit more about the REACT program and the origin of this Challenge? It’s a pleasure to be speaking…