ARPA-E Grant to Study Tobacco as a Fuel Source
The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, has awarded a $1.8-million grant to Texas Agrilife Research in College Station, Texas to study the potential of tobacco as a direct source of fuel. Another $2-million grant may be awarded to Texas Agrilife plant pathologist and lead researcher Dr. Joshua Yuan to transfer the technology into giant reed, a fast-growing grass species.
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New DOE Funding to Accelerate Research on Batteries and Energy Storage
The U.S. DOE announced a new Batteries and Energy Storage Hub for advanced research on batteries and energy storage with an investment of up to $120 million over five years. The hub, which will be funded at up to $20 million in fiscal year 2012, will focus on accelerating research and development of electrochemical energy storage for transportation and the electric grid.
According to the announcement, Energy Innovation Hubs are designed to bring together teams of scientists and engineers across intellectual disciplines to rapidly accelerate scientific discoveries and shorten the path from laboratory innovation to technological development and commercial deployment of critical energy technologies. The hubs are part of the Obama administration’s broad-based clean energy research strategy aimed at harnessing American innovation to achieve needed breakthroughs in important energy technologies to grow the clean energy economy and generate new clean energy jobs.
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