I would like to give here another example of the current international competition in the making of tomorrow's green industry. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) a total of $8.6 million under the Recovery Act.
Four separate projects will be conducted at Berkeley Lab:
- development of materials able to absorb carbon dioxide emitted from power plants. As described by one of the project leader, this project 'would be the next generation of materials to use in carbon capture and storage (CCS). The current capture process uses huge amounts of energy - roughly 30 percent of the power generated by a power plant. We're hoping we can get it down to 10 percent';
- use of common soil bacterium to generate biofuels. The project aims to 'replace gasoline and other petroleum-derived fuels with transportation fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass. The goal ... is to genetically engineer new strains of a common soild bacterium, Ralstonia eutropha, now used in the production of bioplastics, so that it can be used in the production of advanced biofuels, including diesel and jet fuel';
- development of high-energy batteries for powering electric vehicles (two projects).
This financing is part of a broader announcement made by Vice President Biden and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in late April. 37 transformational energy research projects will be funded through DOE's Advanced Research projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), for a total of $106 million. These are, according to the DOE, 'ambitious research projects that could fundamentally change the way the country uses and produces energy.' The projects are located in 17 states and cover three research areas:
- electrofuels: biofuels from electricity;
- better batteries: batteries for electrical energy storage in transportation;
- zero-carbon coal: innovative materials & processes for advanced carbon capture technologies.
In terms of financing strategy, one should note the diversity of project leaders' type: educational institutions (57%), small businesses (24%), national labs (11%), large corporations (8%).
Also in terms of financing technique, this demonstrates once again that major research projects will first come online when supported by direct financing from public authorities. The same phenomenon appears anywhere in the world, either in the US or the European Union (e.g., State aids guidelines for environmental protection, structural funds, etc.). Once the technologies become commercially viable, other support mechanisms will be available.
References:
- Berkeley Lab News Center, press release, 3 May 2010;
- Vice President Biden Announces Recovery Act Funding for 37 Transformational Energy Research Projects, US Department of Energy, press release, 29 April 2010;
- The Recovery Act, website of the White House and Recovery.gov website dedicated to tracking where goes the money;
- Video of the ARPA-E Recovery Act featuring example of projects financed by the Recovery Act.
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