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Gasification is used to convert a solid feedstock?such as coal, petcoke or biomass?into a gaseous form, referred to as syngas, which is composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). With gasification-based technologies, pollutants can be easily captured and then disposed of or converted to useful products. In the Department of Energy?s vision for clean power using gasification, steam is added to syngas in a water-gas shift (WGS) reactor to convert the CO to carbon dioxide (CO2) and to produce additional hydrogen. The hydrogen and CO2 are separated?the hydrogen is combusted to make power and the CO2 is captured and sent to storage, converted to useful product, or used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The Gasification Systems Technology Area takes full advantage of the flexibility inherent in gasification. For instance, technologies designed to clean syngas to chemical production standards also clean syngas for power production (i.e., integrated gasification combined cycle [IGCC]), often with significantly lower contaminant levels than the Environmental Protection Agency?s (EPA) criteria for power plant emissions. Technologies that lower the cost of producing high-hydrogen syngas for fuels or chemical production will also reduce the carbon footprint of IGCC. Advanced technologies being developed under the Gasification Systems Technology Area will provide a more efficient and economical platform for the capture and utilization of CO2. In addition to efficiently producing electric power, a wide range of liquids and/or high-value chemicals and fuels (especially diesel and gasoline) can be produced from cleaned, high-hydrogen syngas, thereby providing flexibility capable of capitalizing on a ra

The purpose of this BD2K Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support the development, improvement and implementation of tools and approaches that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of digital curation processes used to characterize and describe the digital data used in or resulting from biomedical research.

The purpose of this BD2K Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support the development, improvement and implementation of tools and approaches that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of digital curation processes used to characterize and describe the digital data used in or resulting from biomedical research.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research that will contribute to an improved ability to understand and anticipate the public health and environmental impacts and behavioral drivers of significant changes in energy production and consumption in the United States, particularly those changes associated with advancing toward the deep decarbonization necessary to achieve national and international climate change mitigation objectives and avoid the most significant health, environmental, and economic impacts of climate change. The proposed research is intended to contribute to the development of new insights and predictive tools related to the multimedia, life-cycle impacts of the decarbonization of electricity generation; the electrification of end uses; the adoption of low-carbon emitting, renewable fuels; and the adoption of energy efficiency measures. The proposed research is also intended to contribute to an improved understanding of the drivers of individual, firm (i.e. business), and community decisions that affect energy consumption patterns, including decisions about the adoption of new technologies and energy efficiency measures.

The objective of the Air Force Reasearch Laboratory (AFRL) Alternative Energy funding for FY13 is to accelerate the transition of energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies to meet Air Force and the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) Office of Operational Energy Plans and Programs energy goals. The Air Force has received FY13 Research Development Test & Evaluation (RDT&E, 3600) funds for this purpose. The majority of this funding will be awarded to aviation fuel saving efforts at a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6, such that the technology would be mature enough for consideration in future major acquisition strategies after successful demonstration. A portion of this funding may go to ground based advanced power and alternative energy efforts that are at a TRL 6 or higher to show military utility and promote the need to transition into the USAF's inventory of ground vehicles, aerospace ground support equipment, Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources, and base infrastructure - with an emphasis on energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.

U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy Announcement of Teaming Partner List for Upcoming Funding Opportunity Announcement: Reliable Electricity Based on Electrochemical Systems (REBELS) The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled Reliable Electricity Based on Electrochemical Systems (REBELS) to solicit applications for financial assistance to fund new intermediate temperature fuel cell (ITFC) technologies that efficiently generate stationary power from fossil fuels in the near-term, while simultaneously building a bridge to a zero carbon future. Currently, ARPA-E anticipates that there will be three specific areas of interest indentified in the REBELS FOA as follows: (1) low-cost, efficient, reliable ITFCs for small distributed generation applications, (2) ITFCs that are capable of in-situ charge storage in an electrode to enable battery-like response to transients, and (3) electrochemical devices that produce liquid fuels from methane using excess renewable resources. Fuel cell systems based on existing Department of Energy R&D programs, such as low temperature polymer exchange membrane (LT-PEM) and high temperature solid oxide fuel cells (HT-SOFCs), will not be areas of interest for the anticipated REBELS FOA. 

The challenge to the teams competing in Solar Decathlon 2015 is to safely and effectively design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive in less than 24 months. The Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an educational workforce development program designed to educate university-level students. The Solar Decathlon is also a public outreach demonstration designed to foster greater adoption of clean energy technologies and energy efficiency. 

The purpose of the SCRI program is to address the critical needs of the specialty crop industry by awarding grants to support research and extension that address key challenges of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture, including conventional and organic food production systems. Projects must address at least one of five focus areas: Research in plant breeding, genetics, genomics, and other methods to improve crop characteristics; Efforts to identify and address threats from pests and diseases, including threats to specialty crop pollinators; Efforts to improve production efficiency, handling and processing, productivity, and profitability over the long term (including specialty crop policy and marketing); new innovations and technology, including improved mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening; and methods to prevent, detect, monitor, control, and respond to potential food safety hazards in the production efficiency, handling and processing of specialty crops.

The Exploiting Parallelism and Scalability (XPS) program aims to support groundbreaking research leading to a new era of parallel computing. Achieving the needed breakthroughs will require a collaborative effort among researchers representing all areas -- from services and applications down to the micro-architecture - and will be built on new concepts, theories, and foundational principles. New approaches to achieving scalable performance and usability need new abstract models and algorithms, new programming models and languages, and new hardware architectures, compilers, operating systems and run-time systems, and must exploit domain and application-specific knowledge. Research is also needed on energy efficiency, communication efficiency, and on enabling the division of effort between edge devices and clouds.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to seek information from developers and manufacturers of gasifier equipment, power generation equipment manufacturers, utilities, power plant architects and engineers, and other stakeholders that can be used as input to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) research and development (R&D) program for versatile gasification technology for modular or small-scale conversion/consumption of a wide range of feedstocks, including coal, biomass, municipal solid waste (MSW), energetic materials and munitions, and other opportunity feedstocks. Modular implementations of gasification imply unit sizes of approximately 1 to 5 MWe equivalent, while applications for the syngas produced could range from power generation to fuels synthesis and beyond. Modular gasification implementations or systems are expected to find a place in the market through high efficiency, thoughtful integration of system components, and reduction of costs. For example, combined heat and power (CHP) applications of modular gasification technology would enable higher overall efficiencies and diversity of product value.

TheElectronics, Photonics and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Programsupports innovative research on novel devices based on the principles of electronics, optics and photonics, optoelectronics, magnetics, opto- and electromechanics, electromagnetics, and related physical phenomena. EPMD’s goal is to advance the frontiers of micro-, nano- and quantum-based devices operating within the electromagnetic spectrum and contributing to a broad range of application domains including information and communications, imaging and sensing, healthcare, Internet of Things, energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing. The program encourages research based on emerging technologies for miniaturization, integration, and energy efficiency as well as novel material-based devices with new functionalities, improved efficiency, flexibility, tunability, wearability, and enhanced reliability.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announces a notice of availability of funds for financial assistance to address gaps in current research and development (R&D) which hinder better utilizing waste streams (e.g. lignin, CO2, and biosolids), improving organic and inorganic catalysts to increase conversion Efficiency and decrease costs, and creating high-value performance-advantaged bioproducts to allow for more profitable biorefineries.

The Catalysis program is part of the Chemical Process Systems cluster, which also includes: 1) the Electrochemical Systems program; 2) the Interfacial Engineering program; and 3) the Process Systems, Reaction Engineering, and Molecular Thermodynamics program. The goals of the Catalysis program are to increase fundamental understanding in catalytic engineering science and to advance the development of catalytic materials and reactions that are beneficial to society. Research in this program should focus on new concepts for catalytic materials and reactions, utilizing synthetic, theoretical, and experimental approaches. Target applications include fuels, specialty and bulk chemicals, environmental catalysis, biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals, conversion of greenhouse gases, and generation of solar hydrogen, as well as efficient routes to energy utilization. Heterogeneous catalysis represents the main thrust of the program. Proposals related to both gas-solid and liquid-solid heterogeneous catalysis are welcome, as are proposals that incorporate concepts from homogeneous catalysis. Topic areas that are of particular interest include: · Renewable energy-related catalysis with applications in electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and catalytic conversion of biomass-derived chemicals. Catalysis aimed at closing the carbon cycle (especially conversion of CO2, methane, and natural gas to fuels and chemical intermediates). · Catalytic alternatives to traditionally non-catalytic reaction processes, as well as new catalyst designs for established catalytic processes. · Environmental catalysis (including energy-efficient and green routes to fuels and chemicals). ·

The Combustion and Fire Systemsprogram is part of the Transport Phenomena cluster, which also includes 1) the Fluid Dynamics program; 2) the Particulate and Multiphase Processes program; and 3) the Thermal Transport Processes program. The goal of theCombustion and Fire Systemsprogram is to advance energy conversion efficiency, improve energy security, enable cleaner environments, and enhance public safety. The program endeavors to createfundamental scientific knowledge that is needed for useful combustion applications and for mitigating the effects of fire.The program aims to identify and understand the controlling basic principles and to use that knowledge to create predictive capabilities for designing and optimizing practical combustion devices. Important outcomesfor this program include: broad-based tools - experimental, theoretical, andcomputational - that can be applied to a variety of problems in combustionand fire systems; science and technology for clean and efficient generation of power; discoveries that enable clean environments (for example, by reduction in combustion-generated pollutants); and enhanced public safety through research on fire growth, inhibition, and suppression.

This program seeks to accelerate fundamental, broad-based research on wireless-specific machine learning (ML) techniques, towards a new wireless system and architecture design, which can dynamically access shared spectrum, efficiently operate with limited radio and network resources, and scale to address the diverse and stringent quality-of-service requirements of future wireless applications. In parallel, this program also targets research on reliable distributed ML by addressing the challenge of computation over wireless edge networks to enable ML for wireless and future applications. Model-based approaches for designing the wireless network stack have proven quite efficient in delivering the networks in wide use today; research enabled by this program is expected to identify realistic problems that can be best solved by ML and to address fundamental questions about expected improvements from using ML over model-based methods.

This FOA will support high-impact R&D for plastics by developing new plastics that are capable of efficient recyclability and improving recycling strategies that can break existing plastics into chemical building blocks that can be used to make higher-value products. DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) develops technologies that convert domestic biomass and waste resources into fuels, products, and power to enable affordable energy, economic growth, and innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production. DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) develops technologies that drive energy productivity improvements in the U.S. manufacturing sector, efficiently utilize abundant and available domestic energy resources, and support the manufacture of clean energy products with benefits extending across the economy. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support high-impact technology research and development (R&D) to enable the development of technologies that overcome the challenges associated with plastic waste. Topic Areas include: 1) Highly Recyclable or Biodegradable Plastics: develop new plastics that have improved performance attributes over a comparable existing plastic that can be cost-effectively recycled or biodegrade completely in the environment or in compost facilities. 2) Novel Methods for Deconstructing and Upcycling Existing Plastics: generate energy efficient recycling technologies (mechanical, chemical, or biological) that are capable of breaking plastic streams into intermediates which can be upgraded into higher value products. 3) BOTTLE Consortium Collaborations to Tackle Challenges in Plastic Waste: create collaborations with the Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE) Laboratory Consortium to further the long-term goals of the Consortium and the Plastics Innovation Challenge.

roposals are solicited that show a path for increased current density (at high-efficiency), die size, switching frequency, and blocking voltage (>10 kV) for both low- and high-duty-cycle switches. SiC is an emerging power semiconductor material that has electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties that allow it to far surpass the performance of conventional silicon (Si) power technology, and makes it the prime candidate for next-generation high-voltage switching devices for military, as well as commercial, applications. SiC power devices have been demonstrated to provide greater than twice the power density of Si power devices and at greater efficiency. This program, which endeavors to advance the United States' capability to provide SiC high-voltage high-power semiconductor switches and to identify limitations that must be overcome, builds on the success of previous high-voltage high-power SiC device programs supported by ARL, including HEPS and HVPT, which advanced the previous state-of-the-art and demonstrated performance and robustness at 10-kV and above. Technology limitations/gaps identified by this program may in turn be the focus of more sustained development efforts in the future. Solutions are sought for the development of SiC HV (> 10 kV) semiconductor power switches and diodes.

Energy cooperation is a central element of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership. Recognizing the need to address climate change, ensure mutual energy security, and build a clean energy economy that drives investment, job creation, and economic growth; India and the United States launched the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) on November 24, 2009 under the U.S.-India Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation on Energy Security, Energy Efficiency, Clean Energy and Climate Change. As a priority initiative under the PACE umbrella, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Government of India signed an agreement to establish the Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC) on November 4, 2010. The JCERDC is designed to promote clean energy innovation by teams of scientists and engineers from India and the United States.

Energy cooperation is a central element of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership. Recognizing the need to address climate change, ensure mutual energy security, and build a clean energy economy that drives investment, job creation, and economic growth; India and the United States launched the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) on November 24, 2009 under the U.S.-India Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation on Energy Security, Energy Efficiency, Clean Energy and Climate Change. As a priority initiative under the PACE umbrella, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Government of India signed an agreement to establish the Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC) on November 4, 2010. The JCERDC is designed to promote clean energy innovation by teams of scientists and engineers from India and the United States.

Nanomanufacturing is the production of useful nano-scale materials, structures, devices and systems in an economically viable manner. The NSF Nanomanufacturing Program supports fundamental research in novel methods and techniques for batch and continuous processes, top-down (addition/subtraction) and bottom-up (directed self-assembly) processes leading to the formation of complex heterogeneous nanosystems. The program supports basic research in nanostructure and process design principles, integration across length-scales, and system-level integration. The Program leverages advances in the understanding of nano-scale phenomena and processes (physical, chemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical and biological), nanomaterials discovery, novel nanostructure architectures, and new nanodevice and nanosystem concepts. It seeks to address quality, efficiency, scalability, reliability, safety and affordability issues that are relevant to manufacturing. To address these issues, the Program encourages research on processes and production systems based on computation, modeling and simulation, use of process metrology, sensing, monitoring, and control, and assessment of product (nanomaterial, nanostructure, nanodevice or nanosystem) quality and performance.

Nanomanufacturing is the production of useful nano-scale materials, structures, devices and systems in an economically viable manner. The NSF Nanomanufacturing Program supports fundamental research in novel methods and techniques for batch and continuous processes, top-down (addition/subtraction) and bottom-up (directed self-assembly) processes leading to the formation of complex heterogeneous nanosystems. The program supports basic research in nanostructure and process design principles, integration across length-scales, and system-level integration. The Program leverages advances in the understanding of nano-scale phenomena and processes (physical, chemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical and biological), nanomaterials discovery, novel nanostructure architectures, and new nanodevice and nanosystem concepts. It seeks to address quality, efficiency, scalability, reliability, safety and affordability issues that are relevant to manufacturing. To address these issues, the Program encourages research on processes and production systems based on computation, modeling and simulation, use of process metrology, sensing, monitoring, and control, and assessment of product (nanomaterial, nanostructure, nanodevice or nanosystem) quality and performance.

Critical infrastructures are the mainstay of our nation's economy, security and health. These infrastructures are interdependent. They are linked to individual preferences and community needs. For example, the electrical power system depends on the delivery of fuels to power generating stations through transportation services, the production of those fuels depends in turn on the use of electrical power, and those fuels are needed by the transportation services. Social networks, interactions, and policies can enable or hinder the successful creation of resilient complex adaptive systems. The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

Critical infrastructures are the mainstay of our nation's economy, security and health. These infrastructures are interdependent. They are linked to individual preferences and community needs. For example, the electrical power system depends on the delivery of fuels to power generating stations through transportation services, the production of those fuels depends in turn on the use of electrical power, and those fuels are needed by the transportation services. Social networks, interactions, and policies can enable or hinder the successful creation of resilient complex adaptive systems. The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

The goal of the Catalysis program is to advance research in catalytic engineering science and promote  fundamental understanding and the development of catalytic materials and reactions that are of benefit to society.  Research in this program should focus on new basic understanding of catalytic materials and reactions, utilizing synthetic, theoretical, and experimental approaches.  Target applications include fuels, specialty and bulk chemicals, environmental catalysis, biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals, conversion of greenhouse gases, and generation of solar hydrogen, as well as efficient routes to energy utilization.

The goal of the Catalysis program is to advance research in catalytic engineering science and promote  fundamental understanding and the development of catalytic materials and reactions that are of benefit to society.  Research in this program should focus on new basic understanding of catalytic materials and reactions, utilizing synthetic, theoretical, and experimental approaches.  Target applications include fuels, specialty and bulk chemicals, environmental catalysis, biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals, conversion of greenhouse gases, and generation of solar hydrogen, as well as efficient routes to energy utilization.