While there are also approaches to produce liquid transportation fuels from sunlight and carbon dioxide using photosynthesis, these approaches suffer from low efficiencies. ARPA-E requests innovative proposals that can overcome these challenges through the use of metabolic engineering and synthetic biological approaches for efficient conversion of carbon dioxide to liquid transportation fuels. Such approaches could be 10 times more efficient than current techniques that rely on photosynthetic biomass.
ARPA-E is also looking to develop a new generation of low-cost batteries with ultra-high energy densities for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs). ARPA-E's objective is to fund high-risk, high-reward research efforts that will promote leadership in the emerging EV battery market.
If successful, new battery technologies developed under this program will give electrified light-duty vehicles the range, performance, lifetime, and cost required to shift transportation energy from oil to a domestically powered U.S. electric grid. See the DOE press release, DOE's ARPA-E Web site, and the ARPA-E Web site for Funding Opportunity Announcements.
DOE also announced the creation of the ARPA-E Fellows Program, which will consist of scientists and researchers who will actively help create the strategic direction and vision of ARPA-E. Fellows, selected for no more than two year terms, will support ARPA-E's program directors in program creation, while also undertaking independent explorations of promising future research areas for the agency. They will also engage with world-class researchers and innovators to develop theses for high-impact ARPA-E research program areas, prepare energy technology and economic analyses, and make recommendations to DOE senior management. See the DOE press release.
Commerce Department to Speed Review of Green Technology Patents
The U.S. Commerce Department announced that its U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will pilot a year-long program to accelerate examination of certain "green" technology patent applications by as much as one year.
The initiative is designed to speed development and deployment of green technology, create green jobs, and promote U.S. competitiveness. In particular, the program focuses on patents for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, plus other environmental technologies. The program rules spell out 29 categories of renewable energy technologies and 23 categories of energy efficiency technologies that are eligible. Pending patent applications in these technologies will be eligible for special status and given expedited review. Earlier patenting of these technologies enables inventors to secure funding, create businesses, and bring vital green technologies into use much sooner.
Patent applications are normally taken up for examination in the order that they are filed. It typically takes the USPTO two and a half years to start taking action on a patent application, and it takes another 10 months to reach a final decision on the patent. Under the pilot program, the office will examine patent applications on an accelerated basis for the first 3,000 applications related to green technologies for which a petition is filed. Petitions are currently being accepted, and the program will accept petitions through December 8, 2010. If the trial is successful, the USPTO will consider ways to expand the initiative. See the
Commerce Department press release; the
USPTO Web site; the full details on the pilot program as published in the Federal Register (
PDF 452 KB); and the petition form for the pilot program (
PDF 158 KB).
