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Department of Energy


GM awarded DOE money to research Shape Memory Alloy heat engines

General Motors has been awarded $2.7 million by the Department of Energy to create a working prototype engine using Shape Memory Alloys (SMA). The idea is for the prototype to use SMA tech to capture heat energy from engine exhaust gasses via an electric generator and transfer that energy to recharge batteries for hybrids or electric vehicles. SMA tech can also theoretically power electronic devices like power seats and windows in a standard gas- or diesel-powered car, perhaps even replacing the power-sapping alternator. The GM press ... Read more →

Auto X Prize announces 43 qualified teams still fighting for $10 million Sebastian Blanco

The white stars on the map above could be used as the guidelines for a really fun road trip, if you're interested in learning as much as you can about the future of clean vehicles. From established ...

Congress approves three-wheelers for DOE funds Jeremy Korzeniewski

Following months of debate, Congress has approved a bill that will pave the way for three-wheeled vehicle manufacturers like Aptera to qualify for funding from the Department of Energy. Next step: ...

Congress restores hydrogen funding with $187 million in appropriations bill Sebastian Blanco

Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu is not getting his way in Washington. Recently (and, at this point, still allegedly) he said that he "would put every cent into electric cars." The ...

REPORT: Energy Secretary Chu: "I would put every cent into electric cars" Sebastian Blanco

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has a penchant for making some straightforward statements about energy policy. He's said that electric vehicles are inevitable, for example, and that all American ...

Aptera's chances of getting DOE loan money improving? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Aptera is planning to build the 2e, a fully electric, extremely efficient, highway-speed vehicle that can seat two occupants, and the company would like to get some funding from the Department of Energy. For its part, the DOE is looking for qualifying companies to grant attractive loans in order ...

Fox News criticizes - and misleads viewers on - Tesla, Fisker DOE loans 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

Pop quiz: what country is Tesla Motors based in? England? Wrong. What about Fisker Automotive? Finland? Wrong again, but if you gave those two answers, you might be qualified to be on Fox News and criticize the Department of Energy for giving loans to these two companies, both of which are based ...

EcoCAR, Year Two starts in Boston; student engineers cleaning up the Saturn Vue 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

GM may have discarded the Saturn brand in the company's bankruptcy, but there are still at least 150 young engineers working hard to turn a Saturn Vue into the most efficient vehicle possible. The engineers are all students from 17 universities who are participating in the EcoCAR challenge, the ...

XP Vehicles refused DOE loan, invites you to take action! 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

When last we left the company behind the inflatable car concept, we were questioning whether or not they are full of hot air. Now, with the recent loan refusal from the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program (ATVMP), it appears we aren't alone in our ...

DOE launches $1 million Hydrogen Prize 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Steven Chu, head of the United Stated Department of Energy, doesn't want to spend huge sums of government money investing in hydrogen technology. That much is certain after Chu decided to slash DOE funding into hydrogen research, though a good deal was later restored in separate sessions by the ...

CalCars questions DOE grants; small, innovative companies left out? 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

While it would seem that the Obama administration's $2.4 billion investment of Recovery Act grant money into electric car and battery development would be seen as a positive step to most green car advocates, not everyone is pleased with how the money was dolled out. According to CalCars, a ...

After $2.4 billion for batteries, feds give out millions for smart grid, biofuels, more 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

Those who were worried that the U.S. government was picking winners by only spending $2.4 billion on batteries should be pleased with this: Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced $347 additional million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to an assorted array of projects that aim to ...

House now considering doubling $25 billion DOE ATVM program 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

The other day, Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said, "If they (the DOE) raise the appropriations from the $25 billion to the $50 billion, we qualify." At the time, we hadn't heard about any plans to increase funding for the Advanced ...

DOE announces $11 million in battery vehicle awards 6 months ago on Autoblog Green

The fate of eleven million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the "development of advanced batteries for electric drive vehicles" was announced today. The companies that will get some of the investment money include: A123Systems, Inc. (up to $1.1 million) "to develop a ...

Planar Energy Devices plans to recycle battery factory 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

It goes without saying that we're down with battery recycling, but what about battery factory recycling? Sounds like a pretty good idea to us and, more importantly, it sounds like a good idea to Planar Energy Devices who have plans to do just that. The Orlando-based company is hoping to grab a ...

DOE announces $786 million for third-generation biofuels 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a huge, $786.5 million program to speed development and commercialization of biofuels today. The money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is intended for the following specific projects: $480 Million Solicitation for ...

DOE announces $41.9 million investment into fuel cell technology 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

- The Feds aren't done with hydrogen just yet. In an effort to "[lay] the foundation for a green energy economy," the Department of Energy has just announced a $41.9 million dollar investment in fuel cell technology using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the ...

DOE asking for help finding hydrogen fuel cell market 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Does DOE stand for hydrogen fuel cell in some language I don't understand? I know that the Department of energy finds the funds for cellulosic biofuels and plug-ins, but it also spends more than one might expect on hydrogen fuel cell technology - e.g., $130 million here and $100 million there - ...

Platts Cellulosic Ethanol Conference - DOE and USDA discuss bioenergy 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and the USDA were present at the Platts Cellulosic Ethanol conference in Chicago last week and put the national government's biofuel efforts into perspective. Valri Lightner, of the Biomass Program at the DOE, and William Hagy III, deputy ...

U.S. DOE pays for half of Ford's $20m plug-in Escape hybrid program 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Ford - along with utilities Southern California Edison, the Electric Power Research Institute, DTE and battery-maker Johnson Controls/Saft - has been working on its plug-in hybrid Escape program for a long while. Yesterday, Ford announced the good news that the federal government has decided to ...

DOE Expands International Effort to Develop Fuel-Efficient Trucks 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

One of the big contributors to rising food prices over the past year has been the cost of getting food from the field to the grocer. Truck drivers across Europe and especially in the UK have been protesting increasing fuel costs for months. The U.S. Department of Energy is partnering with the ...

DOE offering up almost $34 Million in cellulosic ethanol funding 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

If you're doing research into enzymes for cellulosic ethanol production the US Department of Energy wants you. They have published a funding opportunity with up to $33.8 million available. The money is for work on commercializing enzymes for use in breaking down cellulosic feed-stocks into simple ...

United Solar Ovonic gets DOE contract to reduce solar power costs 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The Department of Energy has awarded a three deal to United Solar Ovonic to share costs and cooperate on low-cost photovoltaic solar systems that can be integrated into building construction. The biggest flaw of photovoltaics right now is cost vs efficiency ratio. Because of the cost of such ...

The first EPA certified ethanol converter 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

You have probably seen a few kits to convert your car to run on ethanol. They are not legal. In fact, there probably won't ever be a kit you can just buy to do the conversion yourself. There are kits that will be used by companies that do the conversion. These companies are seeking certification to ...

DOE funds Ricardo, Bosch and University of Michigan for next gen FFV 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The US Department of Energy will be providing funding to a partnership comprised of Ricardo, Bosch and the University of Michigan for research on an optimized flex-fuel engine (see related post). The team will start with an existing gasoline optimized engine that is turbocharged and direct injected. ...

DOE provides another $375 million in funding for biofuels research 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The Department of Energy is giving out another $375 million to three biofuel research facilities for work on cellulosic ethanol and other fuels. The three facilities in Madison Wisconsin; Berkeley, California and Oak Ridge, Tennessee are doing basic research using genomics to modify biological ...

Deputy Energy Secretary says corn is not the way to go for fuel 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Corn based bioethanol refineries have been popping up all over the United States over the past couple of years. This in turn has led to a spike in corn prices as more corn is being diverted from food and animal feed to fuel production which has led to criticism of the promotion of ethanol as a fuel. ...

DOE & USDA study proves biodiesel massively reduces dangerous emissions 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/environment/Biodiesel_drastically_reduces_LIFECYCLE_emissions_and_has_4x_net_energy'; The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have published the results of the Biodiesel Lifecycle Inventory Study which looked at energy resources consumed ...

DOE pours $385 million into cellulosic ethanol production 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The U.S. Department of Energy has dug into its coffers once again for alternative energy research, this time putting up to $385 million forward to fund six cellulosic ethanol over the next four years. DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman made the announcement, going on to say that when fully operational, ...

U.S. electric grid has capacity for a lot of plug-in hybrids 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

A new study for the Department of Energy has identified massive idle "off-peak" electricity production and transmission capacity in the existing electric power system. So much so in fact that it could power 84 percent of the 220 million vehicles in the U.S. if they were plug-in electric vehicles. ...

40-year-old discovery may hold key to cellulosic ethanol production 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

About 40 years ago, Iowa State Chemistry professor John Verkade based his doctoral dissertation on a chemical compound, and only realized a few years ago that it may very well hold the key to breaking down the cellulose that forms the structure of a plant's cell walls. The way the story goes is ...

DOE provides more funding to Oak Ridge National Lab for fuel cell development 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

It looks like national laboratories are expending a lot of effort on developing various aspects of new energy sources. After the Argonne lab announcement of a new material for fuel production facilities, the Department of Energy has given $4.5 million to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its ...

DOE grants California funds to set up E85 fueling stations 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

There are over 300,000 flex-fuel cars in California, yet just one E85 fueling station. Doesn't make much sense, does it? Moving to address the imbalance, the Department of Energy has granted funding to a group that includes CALSTART, GM, Pacific Ethanol and United Oil among others to begin the ...

DOE allots $100M in fuel cell funding through 2010 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

On Tuesday, while speaking to the Council on Competitiveness and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Energy Department Secretary Samuel Bodman announced that $100 million has been awarded to 25 fuel cell research and development projects. Bodman said, "We expect hydrogen to play an ...

HCCI sensor contract awarded to TIAX 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

News and developments on Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) technology doesn't seem to pop up very often, so you can imagine that our ears perk up every time we come across something new no matter how small. On Wednesday, technology development firm TIAX announced that it was awarded a ...

DOE proposes to delay energy bill's 2010 alternative fuel deadline 20 years 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Here's a lesson in legislation over-estimating reality. In 1992, Congress passed an aggressive energy bill requiring that 30 percent of the fuel powering U.S. cars come from sources other than gasoline. Sounds great, but the problem is that we're no where near meeting that deadline. Due to a recent ...

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