DOE's New Energy Hub to Develop Fuels from Sunlight
DOE: $30M for Energy-Efficient Housing Partnerships
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DOE announced on July 22 the creation of the "Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub" to develop revolutionary methods of generating fuels directly from sunlight.
The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), led by the California Institute of Technology in partnership with the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, will operate the initiative. JCAP will bring together leading researchers in an effort to simulate natural photosynthesis for practical energy production.
The goal is to build an integrated solar energy-to-chemical fuel conversion system.
The hub will receive up to $22 million in Fiscal Year 2010, then an estimated $25 million a year for the next four fiscal years.
Research will be directed at finding the functional components needed to assemble a complete artificial photosynthetic system, including light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers, and separation membranes. The hub will then integrate those components into an operational solar fuel system and will develop scale-up strategies to move the product from the lab to commercial viability.
The ultimate objective is to move from fundamental to applied research and technology development, setting the stage for a direct solar fuels industry. If successful, the concept-to combine sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make a clean fuel-would be an energy game changer.
DOE's Office of Science will oversee the project. The hub is the second of three such interdisciplinary hubs that will receive funding in FY 2010. In May, DOE announced that a team led by DOE's Oak Ridge National Lab would establish a hub on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors. The selection for the remaining hub will be announced in the coming months. See the DOE press release, the Fuels from Sunlight award fact sheet (PDF 183 KB), and the Fuels From Sunlight Hub Web page.
DOE Announces $30 Million for Energy-Efficient Housing Partnerships
On July 20, DOE announced funding for 15 research and deployment partnerships to help improve the energy efficiency of American homes.
For the first 18 months, multidisciplinary teams will receive up to $30 million to deliver innovative energy efficiency strategies to the residential market and to break down barriers to high-efficiency homes. They will provide technical assistance to retrofit projects and leverage industry expertise and funding to support DOE's energy efficiency retrofit programs.
DOE's Building Technologies Program selected the projects, which will each receive between $500,000 and $2.5 million.
The Habitat Cost Effective Energy Retrofit Program Team-Dow Chemical Company, Michigan State University, Ferris State University, and Habitat for Humanity-will apply innovative retrofit technologies to affordable housing in cold and mixed-humid climate regions.
