Energy Grants Boost Research, from Fuels to Batteries

These ideas are a few of the dozens being funded by the Obama administration as part of a little-known program that encourages "high risk, high value" energy innovation that swings for the fences.

They were spotlighted in a recent, gee-whiz showcase, complete with high-powered lasers and microscopic transmitters, hosted near Washington, D.C., by the Department of Energy's ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy). The program is modeled after the Defense Department's larger, decades-old DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which says it invented the Internet.

Yet the third annual Energy Innovation Summit came amid debate about the federal government's role in funding clean technology. Critics, including many Republicans, cite the DOE's half-billion-dollar loan guarantee to bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra and its $10 million L Prize last August to Philips Lighting for developing an "affordable," efficient, made-in-America LED light bulb -- that costs $50.

"The government does not have a good track record of funding research for commercial development," says David Kreutzer, an energy economist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. He says it should fund only basic research and leave more commercial ideas to venture capitalists. If something is promising enough, such as advanced batteries, he says, the marketplace will take it.

Not necessarily so, ARPA-E's supporters say. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the program, established by a bipartisan 2007 law, gives small, two- to three-year grants so researchers can get over the development hump and attract private funding.

ARPA-E, which received $400 million in Recovery Act funds and $275 million in fiscal 2012, acts as a sort of matchmaker by introducing scientists to investors and manufacturers. It's separate from the loan guarantee program that funded Solyndra.

Citing the rise in gasoline prices, Chu says innovation is essential for weaning the USA off its dependence on fossil fuels. He says it's also vital for mitigating climate change.

"We're looking at America's sweet spot," Chu told reporters, citing the nation's strengths in innovation and manufacturing. He touted ARPA-E's innovations:

Lithium batteries. California-based Envia Systems, which received a $4 million grant in March 2010, announced last month that its lithium-ion battery has broken the world Relevant Products/Services's record for energy density at 400 watt-hours per kilogram -- more than double today's batteries.

Tobacco fuel. The DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory received in January a $4.9 million, three-year grant to re-engineer tobacco plants so they use energy from sunlight to produce fuel molecules in their leaves, which are then crushed so the fuel can be extracted.

"Just imagine, if they're successful, you'd have Big Oil and Big Tobacco coming together to save the world," ARPA-E's director Arun Majumdar quipped at the summit.