Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Envia Systems’ breakthrough battery is one step closer to commercialization after a public vote of confidence last week from the CEO of General Motors (GM), Dan Akerson. ITIF has previously blogged about the battery, which performed at an energy density of 378-418 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) in independent tests. In contrast,...[read more]

This was Arun Majumdar’s last week as director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His leadership will be missed, but he leaves the agency in great shape and also left clean energy stakeholders with some final thoughts via an insightful phone interview with The New York Times.Majumdar starts by counseling patience...[read more]

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the FY2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5325) this afternoon, which includes the budget of critical clean energy innovation programs within the Department of Energy (DOE).  The bill, passed by the House Appropriations Committee on April 25, cuts clean energy innovation...[read more]

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Last week saw the unfortunate news that Dr. Arun Majumdar will resign – effective June 9 – from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he has served as the head of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) since October 2009. His departure is a “big hit for energy innovation policy,” ITIF’s Matt Stepp commented (...[read more]

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill on Thursday, delineating funds for the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. Overall, the legislation enacts $33.36 billion in appropriations for FY2013, with $27.13...[read more]

Several different companies are now working on making lithium-air batteries, that can power an electric car for 500 miles on a single charge. In comparison, today’s conventional lithium-ion batteries can only take cars roughly 150 miles between plug-ins.[read more]

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It is clear that new innovation is needed to bring down the cost of energy storage and that the innovation must produce technologies and systems that are different than what we use today. But in looking for that innovation and trying to promote it, it is important to identify from where it is most likely to come. Innovation that matters, that truly impacts mature technologies such as automobiles and the electricity grid, will not occur in a vacuum (or in a laboratory alone). Innovation that matters can only be promoted by giving battery manufacturers, auto makers and utilities real world, practical experience with existing energy storage technology, insufficient as it may be, and letting them figure out how best to increase its power and decrease its cost.[read more]

Since the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, emerging next-generation electric vehicle battery company Envia has been gaining headlines because its technology holds the promise of much cheaper electric cars within a few years.[read more]

   The New York Times recently ran an excellent profile of Bell Labs by Jon Gertner entitled “True Innovation.” The pieces attributes much of the Labs’ success to onetime chairman of the board Mervin Kelly, who gave researchers time and substantial research autonomy – out of the recognition that true innovation is a product...[read more]

The recently concluded U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, of which EarthTechling was a media partner, brought together some of the best and brightest minds over the course of several days to discuss cleantech innovations. The summit is a result of the works of the Energy Department’s Advanced Research...[read more]

 Today marks the end of the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, wrapping up a 3-day collection of America’s best, brightest, and most innovative clean energy thinkers and companies.  The discussions varied, but the underlying theme was straightforward: how can the United States accelerate and spur clean energy innovation. During...[read more]

Bill Gates sees the transformative potential of low-cost energy. “Cheaper energy would be on the list of the three or four things you would want for the poorest people in the world,” he said Tuesday at the 2012 Energy Innovation Summit, sponsored by ARPA-E, the Department of Energy’s three-year-old advanced energy research agency....[read more]

The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit is a wonderful collection of thinkers, policymakers, and industry leaders all focused on accelerating and spurring clean energy innovation. At the very least, we’re all trying to fundamentally change the U.S. energy sector.[read more]

President Obama backed up his call to “double-down” on clean energy during the State of the Union address by proposing to boost key energy innovation investments in his FY2013 federal budget request. Compared to the FY2012 Omnibus Appropriations bill, the President’s FY2013 proposal would increase top-line investments in key DOE energy...[read more]

Today,  Steve Lacey at the Center for American Progress published 20 Ideas for Job Creation: Keep Focused on Clean Energy. To build on the many good (or even excellent) ideas in that list (repeated below the fold), here are ideas 21-30 of places to go for Clean Energy Jobs: Go to your mortgage broker:  Ed Mazria/Architecture...[read more]