If we’re lucky, we won’t change our environment as much as Cyanobacteria did.  That’s the goal of the US Department of Energy ARPA-E. Inspired by the success of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; ARPA-E will fund high-risk, high-reward advances with the potential to completely change the way our species generates and consumes energy.

Arizona State’s Wim Vermass was of the 37 recipients of the DOE ARPA-E funding. He is teaching the ancient species to make our future fuel and to custom-make it just the way our species wants it.

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Like it or not, at least for the near future most of us are stuck with internal combustion engine powered cars. While a lot of hype is behind future cars and technology, from electric to hydrogen to everything in between, a lot of improvements can yet be made on the ICE engine.

To that end, the Department of Energy has awarded GM with $2.7 million to develop a working prototype of a Shape Memory Alloy engine. In theory, this engine could recycle the waste heat and turn it into electrical energy, perhaps one day even replacing alternators and improving fuel efficiency.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) along with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is looking to fund $2 million dollars in coal research as part of the University Coal Research (UCR) Program. The research projects will be an attempt to improve the “fundamental understanding of the chemical and physical processes that govern coal conservation and utilization, by product utilization, and technological development.”

From an Administration that is attempting to reduce America’s dependence on oil through greenhouse gas emissions reductions, this is one of the—excuse me—stupidest ideas our country has had… at least for today. Look people, coal is NOT clean, even though the coal industry wants you to believe it is. As a matter of fact, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a front group for the coal and utility industries, is currently running a ‘clean coal” campaign in excess of $35 million according to a Washington Post article from last year.

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Many manufacturers of high-mpg and electric vehicles have adopted a 3-wheeled layout for cost and weight savings, and—in some cases—aerodynamic efficiency. In most states, however, these vehicles are classified as motorcycles. That motorcycle moniker has made them ineligible for DOE funds set aside to foster innovation among American automakers… until now!

More details, after the jump.

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If this statement is being represented accurately, it would not only put Chu directly at odds with Obama administration policy, it would mean that he doesn’t really believe in how his department is distributing their $36.7 billion dollar slice of stimulus funds. The statement would also contradict Chu’s previous stances on biofuels development. Comment from DOE was not immediately available, but I’ve got a request in to confirm or deny the statement as accurate. I’ll update as soon as I hear word.

Update 8:00 PM Pacific Time 10/13/2009: DOE’s Director of Public Affairs, Dan Leistikow, responded to my request from earlier today in an email, saying “I can’t verify the quote the blogger is using from an undisclosed source at an undisclosed meeting, which is at best wildly out of context.” He also added, “Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to Secretary Chu also knows he is one of the country’s staunchest advocates for pursuing a broad portfolio of clean energy research, and has warned against investing all our resources in a single technology to the exclusion of all others.”

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Steven Chu, US Energy Secretary, announced at the start of the Solar Decathlon on DC’s National Mall on Friday that the Department of Energy (DOE) would be dishing out an additional $87 million in new funding for the development and rapid deployment of solar energy technologies.

This money is being given to 47 projects in a range of sub-fields and sectors.

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Rather than discard that “geothermal” resource created by the process of oil extraction, the DOE is going to show the traditional energy industry how to tap into those waste fluids to power equipment at the site.

The renewable energy division (EERE) of Steven Chu’s energetic new Department of Energy is buying the waste heat geothermal unit from Ormat Technologies to do the demo. Ormat makes both geothermal and combined heat and power units.

The DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will collaborate with Office of Fossil Energy to make low temperature geothermal power from waste drilling fluids using a waste heat geothermal unit.

The electricity produced would be used to power field production equipment, which would offset purchased electricity. Because this would reduce the fossil energy needed to extract each barrel of oil, this would reduce the pollution costs the traditional oil industry would be liable for under new legislation pending.

If the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act passes, there will be an incentive to reduce carbon pollution.

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The US Treasury gave another $550 million in stimulus funds for renewable energy this week. This brings the total to over $1 billion.

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Check out the prefab community blooming online these days! Tiny House Village is trying to connect communities of creative small dwellings. Ideas are abound for these eco communities with Resources For Life’s Small House Society.

Tiny House design has a great set of resources all linked here as well. Check out the plethora of architectural resources,

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The Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. and Nissan North America win a $99.8M grant from the Department of Energy to support the largest deployment of electrical vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure in U.S. history.

The project will use Nissan’s LEAF, an early stage zero-emission EV to study and develop the logistics and necessary scale behind the implementation of a national charging infrastructure, that will in turn, support large-scale EV deployment.  Initial stages of the project include the deployment of 5,000 EVs and EV charging stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.  Don Karner, President of eTec, sums up the industry e-coup:

By studying lessons learned from electric vehicle operations and the infrastructure supporting these first 5,000 vehicles, the Project enables the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 electric vehicles…Nissan and over 40 government and industry partners, will enable this Project to successfully pave the way for electric transportation nationwide.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/08/06/ecotality-and-nissan-to-get-100m-from-department-of-energy/feed/ http://gas2.org/2009/08/06/smith-electric-vehicles-awarded-10-million-grant-from-doe/ http://gas2.org/2009/08/06/smith-electric-vehicles-awarded-10-million-grant-from-doe/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:46:33 +0000 Joanna Schroeder http://gas2.org/2009/08/06/smith-electric-vehicles-awarded-10-million-grant-from-doe/ “Today the Obama Administration demonstrated its commitment to this fast-emerging industry and to green fleet vehicle technologies that will define the future of American automotive manufacturing. We are honored to be among the DOE grant recipients and commend the Administration for its leadership and shared vision that we can create a viable, sustainable industry and deliver green fleets today,” said Bryan Hansel, CEO of Smith Electric Vehicles, a company producing all electric trucks.

Smith Electric Vehicles was awarded a $10 million grant today by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The money is to be used for the production of all-electric, zero emissions commercial trucks for a nationwide demonstration project. The goal is to validate the performance of these vehicles across a range of climates and locations.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2009/08/06/smith-electric-vehicles-awarded-10-million-grant-from-doe/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/27/clean-energy-hq-will-relocate-to-asia-while-america-stalls/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/27/clean-energy-hq-will-relocate-to-asia-while-america-stalls/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:06:58 +0000 Daniel Spitzberg http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/27/clean-energy-hq-will-relocate-to-asia-while-america-stalls/

American progress in energy education and research is getting ridiculous.

Watching the race to lead worldwide energy technology, an editorial in today’s San Francisco Chronicle details the recent gangbuster investments into clean energy technologies in China, Japan, and Korea. The piece doubles the point by mentioning the recent rejection of President Obama’s RE-ENERGYSE initiative (for ‘REgaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge’).

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/27/clean-energy-hq-will-relocate-to-asia-while-america-stalls/feed/ http://gas2.org/2009/07/23/us-energy-and-ag-departments-providing-63m-for-specialized-biofuels-research/ http://gas2.org/2009/07/23/us-energy-and-ag-departments-providing-63m-for-specialized-biofuels-research/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:59:06 +0000 Nick Chambers http://gas2.org/2009/07/23/us-energy-and-ag-departments-providing-63m-for-specialized-biofuels-research/

US Department of Energy secretary Steven Chu and US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have announced that the two agencies will be providing $6.3 million dollars for 7 projects at research institutions throughout the US to improve the use of plant feedstocks in biofuel production.

Although biofuels have fallen out of favor in the public eye recently, the federal government — led by Secretary Chu — is still forging ahead with providing money to research next generation biofuels.

“Part of the solution to the energy problem will be home-grown energy crops,” said secretary Chu in a statement. “These projects will help us unlock the true potential of advanced biofuels, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and create new jobs and a thriving biofuels industry in America.”

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]]> http://gas2.org/2009/07/23/us-energy-and-ag-departments-providing-63m-for-specialized-biofuels-research/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/22/thank-public-transit-for-your-quicker-trip-home-public-transit-saves-us-hundreds-of-millions-of-hours-a-year/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/22/thank-public-transit-for-your-quicker-trip-home-public-transit-saves-us-hundreds-of-millions-of-hours-a-year/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:17:57 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/22/thank-public-transit-for-your-quicker-trip-home-public-transit-saves-us-hundreds-of-millions-of-hours-a-year/
Ever get upset because you got stuck behind a bus while driving your car? Think again. That bus is saving you time. How many people are on that bus? If they were driving, how many cars would be in your way instead?

A new report by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) finds that public transit saved Americans “646 million hours in travel time and 398 million gallons of fuel” in 2007. The 2009 Urban Mobility Report identifies the great advantages of public transit for everyone, not just those who use it. The report also identifies that the cost of congestion increased in 2007 but that it would have increased considerably more (16%, or, an additional $13.7, from two years before) if it weren’t for public transit.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/22/thank-public-transit-for-your-quicker-trip-home-public-transit-saves-us-hundreds-of-millions-of-hours-a-year/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/22/over-100-groups-urge-senate-to-re-energyse-kids-like-obama-had-promised/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/22/over-100-groups-urge-senate-to-re-energyse-kids-like-obama-had-promised/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:28:27 +0000 Daniel Spitzberg http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/22/over-100-groups-urge-senate-to-re-energyse-kids-like-obama-had-promised/

RE-ENERGYSE trains students to take on the world of energy

Today, more than 100 universities, student groups, and professional associations signed a letter drafted by the Breakthrough Institute (read the press release) urging the U.S. Senate to fund RE-ENERGYSE, a program aimed at ‘REgaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge’.

With a name like that, who could say no?

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/22/over-100-groups-urge-senate-to-re-energyse-kids-like-obama-had-promised/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/21/one-small-step-for-doe-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/21/one-small-step-for-doe-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:10:07 +0000 Ruedigar Matthes http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/21/one-small-step-for-doe-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/

In light of the 40th anniversary of mankind’s first steps on the moon, the Department of Energy (DOE) has launched its own “giant leap” venture. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is taking his small step into the Facebook world (an ever growing, ever consuming world). Chu set up a page that will hopefully make a huge impact on climate change.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/21/one-small-step-for-doe-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/21/carbon-sequestration-buzz-bees-in-balloons-looking-for-leaks/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/21/carbon-sequestration-buzz-bees-in-balloons-looking-for-leaks/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:21:14 +0000 Jeff Kart http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/21/carbon-sequestration-buzz-bees-in-balloons-looking-for-leaks/

You’ve heard of the canary in the coal mine as an indicator of a toxic environment.

The U.S. Department of Energy is using bees and helium balloons to make sure carbon dioxide is staying put in sequestration sites.

How? Researchers at the National Energy Technology Lab are using chemical tracers to fingerprint CO2, then comparing it to pollen collected by the bees.

“Researchers will determine if pollen collected by bees contains measurable quantities of tracer or if bees bring back tracer from direct contact with foliage. They will use balloons to determine atmospheric variations in tracer content to assess the effectiveness of CO₂ storage sites,” the DOE reports.

The agency is working with researchers from Michigan State University, which by the way, makes its own honey.

Michigan is home to a carbon sequestration test site in Gaylord, part of a larger project called the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership.

(Image Credit: Doug Stremel, via Flickr).

PRESS RELEASE:

o Department of Energy Awards GM $2.7 Million Create Prototype with Partners
o Latest Example of Collaborative R&D Model to Speed Commercialization

WARREN, Mich. — The day is coming when the heat from your car’s engine exhaust is captured and converted to mechanical energy capable of powering your vehicle’s stereo, power seats and air conditioning.

General Motors R&D received a $2.7 million federal award Monday that will help build a prototype using Shape Memory Alloy, or SMA, that would generate electricity from the heat in automotive exhaust.

“When you heat up a stretched SMA wire, it shrinks back to its pre-stretched length, and when it cools back down it becomes less stiff and can revert to the original shape” said Jan Aase, director of GM’s Vehicle Development Research Laboratory. “A loop of this wire could be used to drive an electric generator to charge a battery.”

It is too soon to identify a vehicle where this technology could work, but hybrid or conventionally powered vehicles are possible applications.

“No one else anywhere in the world is doing this work as far as we know,” Aase said. “In a hybrid system, the electrical energy could be used to charge the battery. In a conventional engine, this could perhaps even replace the alternator without any load on the engine.”

The award from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Program Agency – Energy, or ARPA-E, was the only grant to an automaker among $151 million in distributed by the DOE. GM will work with HRL Laboratories; Dynalloy, Inc., a Tustin, CA manufacturer of shape memory alloys specially made to be used as actuators, and the Smart Materials Collaborative Research Lab at the University of Michigan.

“This award is significant for the gains in energy efficiency it could bring, and because it signifies how GM is doing business though collaboration and partnership,” said Alan Taub, GM vice president of global R&D.

“The days are gone when we would do this kind of groundbreaking work on our own. We need to continue to find ways to combine our deep technical knowledge with others who can help take our ideas from concept to commercialization,” he said.

The idea of an SMA heat engine “has been around for 30 years,” Aase said, but the few devices that have been built were too large and too inefficient to make it worthwhile.”

Even now, the technology is in the very early stages. Over the next two years, GM and its partners will work to create a working prototype.

“We’re taking advantage of a network of people that we’ve been working with for a number of years on shape memory alloys,” Aase said. “And we have some novel approaches to make this high-risk, high return project successful.”

]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/21/carbon-sequestration-buzz-bees-in-balloons-looking-for-leaks/feed/ http://gas2.org/2009/07/17/another-day-another-humungous-renewable-funding-announcement-from-doe/ http://gas2.org/2009/07/17/another-day-another-humungous-renewable-funding-announcement-from-doe/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:43:51 +0000 Susan Kraemer http://gas2.org/2009/07/17/another-day-another-humungous-renewable-funding-announcement-from-doe/

Recovery Act Announcement: DOE Announces Recovery Act Funding of up to $85 million for Algal and Advanced Biofuels

For big fans of renewable energy like me, these are just halyon days, indeed. Hardly have I finished reading that wind is to get a huge jolt from the new DOE, but today, even more huge funding is announced for biofuels development.

It’s almost enough to make you think that maybe we are not too stupid to survive, after all! Yay, us!

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $85 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop algae-based biofuels and advanced (yet infrastructure-compatible) biofuels.

DOE press release for the details:

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]]> http://gas2.org/2009/07/17/another-day-another-humungous-renewable-funding-announcement-from-doe/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/16/a-new-report-shows-that-wind-is-more-popular-than-the-beatles/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/16/a-new-report-shows-that-wind-is-more-popular-than-the-beatles/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:50:04 +0000 Ruedigar Matthes http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/16/a-new-report-shows-that-wind-is-more-popular-than-the-beatles/

Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It could be many things: God, love, E.T., or even Michael Jackson. But today, right now, it is wind. Wind has always been around. I think that few would argue with that. But wind power, on the other hand, has been hidden from mankind’s view for centuries. But now wind power is on the rise, especially in America. And a new report shows that wind power is more popular than the Beatles…or not.

The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a report today, which came on the same day that Secretary Chu announced the selection of 28 new wind energy projects for up to $13.8 million in funding – $12.8 million of which will be Recovery Act funds.

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