The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) has announced its third open funding opportunity, OPEN 2015. Offering up to $125 million, the funding will support innovative projects in energy research and development.
During ARPA-E’s first funding opportunity in 2009, MIT Professor and Ambri co-founder Donald Sadoway received over $6.5 million in grant money for his Electroville project that aimed to create a community-scale electricity storage device. This device showcases a more efficient liquid-metal cell design than typical batteries and uses inexpensive, domestically available materials. By enabling the storage of excess energy in a cheap and dependable manner, the battery aims to create a viable future for the widespread use of wind and solar energy. Ambri announced last month that it will be connecting the batteries to the grid for the first time in four pilot projects later this year.
Do you have the next idea for an innovative energy research project? To apply for OPEN 2015, applicants must enter initial information into ARPA-E eXCHANGE by February 20, 2015.
For more information on OPEN 2015, click here.
Also announced this month, ARPA-E, in collaboration with Local Motors, is calling on innovators to enter the LITECAR Challenge to literally reinvent the wheel – as well as the rest of the automobile.
With a total of $150,000 in cash prizes, including a $60,000 grand prize, ARPA-E hopes to lighten the load on vehicles to increase fuel economy and reduce US energy consumption.
In the last 40 years, the average fuel economy of light duty vehicles has nearly doubled from 13 miles per gallon (mpg) to 24 mpg, but the average weight of vehicles has remained the same at about 4000lbs.
For every 10% weight reduction, it’s estimated that a 5-8% fuel economy improvement is possible, and with that in mind, the LITECAR Challenge is putting innovators to the test, asking for applicants to design a purely conceptual, novel lightweight vehicle that maintains or exceeds current safety standards.
The LITECAR Challenge is accepting submissions from January 2 through March 6, 2015.
Want to know more? MITEI invites you to an information session on February 12 at 5pm in 4-145.
For more information on the LITECAR Challenge, click here.