Policy

Cal Tech, LBNL, Stanford and UC Berkeley, San Diego and Santa Barbara get $122M for artificial photosynthesis

By / July 22, 2010

With today’s announcement that it will be using $122 million to launch a new energy hub on artificial photosynthesis, the DOE is making a sizable commitment to both renewable energy…

Read More

Because lithium has worked so very well for Bolivia’s economy

By / July 20, 2010

I hope a PIO is to blame for this too-clever headline: “Lithium could be gold mine for Afghanistan.” But, the premise of this story is false and is emerging as…

Read More

U.S advanced battery market share to leap to 40% by 2015?

By / July 15, 2010

A new White House report and press release asserts that the United State’s share of the world’s advance battery market will have grown tremendously in about six years, moving from…

Read More

DOE announces availability of $30M for small business materials-oriented tech commercialization

By / July 14, 2010

Materials folks – are you already working on a Phase II SBIR or STTR grants project and itching to take it to the next level? The DOE just announced that…

Read More

ARPA-E announces $92M in advanced energy science, materials awards

By / July 12, 2010

DOE’s ARPA-E program today announced it would be funding 43 new high-risk, high-reward energy projects to the tune of $92 million. The funding is grouped into three areas: Grid-scale modular…

Read More

Bad news for advanced ceramic & glass world: China enforcing new rare earths export restrictions

By / July 12, 2010

According to new reports in BusinessWeek and Metal-Pages, China is cutting export quotas for the rare earths and metals – required in many advanced ceramic and glass applications – by…

Read More

DOE’s Nuclear Energy University program announces $18 million in scholarships and grants

By / July 10, 2010

There’s more than $18 million in new funding coming to students and U.S. university programs that are focusing on nuclear power education and research. The DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Program…

Read More

Friday federal funding facts: Life in the slow lane

By / July 9, 2010

For a change, I am going to start my macro-level observations by looking at the National Science Foundation. As indicated in the chart above the agency has only been able…

Read More

CO2 utilization versus sequestration: DOE funds research to put CO2 to use for products, energy

By / July 7, 2010

So far, nearly all of the discussion regarding what to do about high CO2 levels has focused on sequestration, i.e., figuring out where to hide the stuff. But, a growing…

Read More

DOE commits to $1.45B loan for concentrating solar and $400M for thin solar

By / July 3, 2010

Today the Administration announced that the DOE agreed to guarantee large loans for two separate solar power equipment makers, Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar Manufacturing. The Abengoa project involves using…

Read More