Science and basic research in the energy technologies of the future
$1.6 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Investments in building and renovating laboratories and research facilities to create jobs immediately and enable the research that will sustain American industry and provide new energy and climate solutions.

Rebuilding facilities for basic science is vital for maintaining America’s role as the world leader in innovation.  These construction projects will allow ongoing research into high energy and nuclear physics, basic chemical and materials science, nanotechnology, biological and environmental science, advanced computing, and other cutting-edge fields.  The key will be ensuring the discoveries made in Department of Energy labs find their way to the assembly line as more efficient production processes and into stores as new products offered by American companies.

• Learn more about the scientific research supported by the Department of Energy.

Battery research and advanced vehicle technologies
$2 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Loans and grants to support the development of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems to reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry, reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and transform the way automobiles are powered.

Battery research is critical for achieving a clean, secure, and prosperous energy future.  Electric vehicles are currently a niche market, largely because today’s batteries can’t safely store enough energy to power cars over long distances.  At the same time, electric utilities are only able to use a certain level of renewable energy sources like solar and wind because they lack a large-scale energy storage solution.  The invention of new battery technologies has the potential not only to reshape the U.S. auto industry but to enable the wide-spread use of renewable energy to power America.

• Learn more about advanced vehicle technologies at the Department of Energy
• Learn more about the Department of Energy’s loan program for vehicle technologies
• Learn more about battery and energy storage programs at the Department of Energy.

Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
$400 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Jump start advanced energy technologies by funding high-risk, high-payoff research in collaboration with industry.

Modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was founded at the beginning of the Cold War and developed the technologies that resulted in modern computer operating systems and the Internet, ARPA-E will support transformational energy technology research projects with the goal of enhancing the nation’s economic and energy security.  By fostering an atmosphere of innovation, ARPA-E will provide a place for research into cutting edge technologies that are still too risky for private industry, creating the opportunity for revolutionary breakthroughs in energy technology.

• Learn more about DARPA, the model for ARPA-E