A broad portfolio of 37 risky concepts for the production of clean energy were selected on 26 October for funding by the Department of Energy’s new Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA–E). The following day, President Obama announced that DOE will hand out a total of $3.4 billion to 100 utilities and other energy companies to spur modernization of the US electricity grid.
In a speech at Google Inc’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said the $151 million in ARPA–E awards comprises “a portfolio of bold new research projects, any one of which could do for energy what Google did for the internet.” ARPA–E was authorized in 2007 legislation but was not funded until this year. Its role is to support long-shot carbon-free energy concepts that could produce breakthrough technologies if successful. All the awards went to projects headed by academic researchers or companies both large...
