WASHINGTON — Using microbes to turn carbon dioxide into fuel may sound futuristic, but it’s exactly the kind of project – created by a team of South Carolina scientists — that the Department of Energy will continue to support in 2011 despite cutbacks in government-funded programs.
Microbiologist Harold May is part of a team that received more than $2.3 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, known as ARPA-E, in 2010.
“A year ago, we were just writing down ideas,” May said, but now he and the team from Clemson University and South Carolina University are using microbes and electricity to convert carbon dioxide into alcohol fuels. Thanks in part to the funding, May and the teams are making great progress in this relatively young field of electrofuels.
Eric Skalac/MNS
“In it’s first year, ARPA-E funded 121 energy projects from various groups.”caption
On Wednesday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar announced $130 million in new project investments, like the one May’s team received. Additionally, the agency will expand funding into new technology areas like rare earth alternatives and biofuel optimization, which will “reduce our country’s dependence on dependence on foreign oil,” Chu said.
In 2010, the agency awarded $363 million to a variety of new energy projects, submitted by universities, national laboratories, nonprofits and businesses large and small. The largest amount of funding, more than $140 million, went to university-led projects like May’s.
ARPA-E was created in 2007, part of the America Competes Act, to support the early stages of projects that may be too risky to survive in the private sector. It first awarded funds to energy projects, $363 million – in 2009. Six ARPA-E projects have attracted more than $100 million in private investment.
According to Chu, ARPA-E has bipartisan support so far, even as heavy cuts are in the works for other government programs. Though President Barack Obama’s proposed 2011 budget included $550 million for ARPA-E, some worried that the agency would go unfunded altogether for the remainder of this year. But Congress’ recent temporary federal funding measure allotted $180 million to ARPA-E. The agency’s fate in 2012 is yet to be decided.
Majumdar said Congress’ action means ARPA-E will be able to announce awards for new programs in the next six to eight months.