DOE Selects National Alliance for Water Innovation to Lead $100 Million Energy-Water Desalination Hub

Secretary Rick Perry announced nearly $100 million for the National Alliance for Water Innovation to lead a DOE Energy-Water Desalination Hub that will address water security issues in the United States. Secretary Perry made the announcement on Monday at the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

Learn more.


DOE Announces Phase 1 Winners of Battery Recycling Prize

DOE announced the 15 winners of Phase 1 of the Battery Recycling Prize, a prize that aims to reclaim and recycle critical materials from lithium-based battery technology. For a total of $1 million in prizes, these projects focus on cost-effective recycling processes to recover as much economic value as possible from spent lithium-ion batteries.  The prize is sponsored by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office and the Advanced Manufacturing Office. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory serves as the administrator of the prize. To learn more about the Battery Recycling Prize, please visit AmericanMadeChallenges.org/BatteryRecycling.  


RFI: Notice of Request for Information on Water Security Grand Challenge Resource Recovery Prize

DOE invites public comment for information and feedback on the design of a potential prize competition. The goal of the prize competition is to increase resource recovery from municipal wastewater treatment plants across the United States, and in so doing, lower the ultimate cost of treatment by extracting additional value from the wastewater. Through this potential prize, DOE would seek novel, systems-based solutions from multidisciplinary teams to implement resource recovery at small-to-medium-sized wastewater treatment plants.

View the official request and submission instructions HERE. Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to WaterResourceRecoveryPrize@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, October 23, 2019. 


APPLY: DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program Seeks New Entrepreneurs

EERE's Advanced Manufacturing Office invites startup companies to apply to participate in the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP).  During the two-year program, participants will receive assistance in designing business strategies, engaging in market research and customer discovery, discovering commercial partnerships, and receiving guidance to achieve long-term startup financing. Interested parties can apply to one of three LEEP opportunities:

  • Innovations Crossroads at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Learn more.  
  • Chain Reaction Innovation at Argonne National Laboratory. Learn more.
  • Cyclotron Road at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will begin accepting applications for its next cohort starting October 1, 2019. Learn more.

EVENT: Celebrate U.S. Manufacturing in Your Community on Friday, October 4, 2019

Launched annually on the first Friday in October, and with events continuing throughout the month, Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) helps show the reality of modern manufacturing careers by encouraging thousands of companies and educational institutions around the nation to open their doors to students, parents, teachers and community leaders. Do you plan to participate? Learn more about MFG Day and how you can get involved. Visit https://mfgday.com.


WEBINAR: High Performance for Computing Manufacturing Day Webinar – October 4, 2019

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will host a webinar on Friday, October 4, 2019 to discuss DOE’s High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation Program, which pairs National Laboratory scientists with partners in industry to apply high performance computing technology and improve energy utilization in the manufacturing sector. Webinar topics will include an overview of the program and its impact on a wide array of industries, National Laboratories, and computational techniques and presentations by subject matter experts on specific projects. View the full agenda. Register here.


WEBINAR:  Join Our Water Security Webinar Series – October 8, 2019

The Water Security Grand Challenge is a White House initiated, U.S. DOE-led framework to advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and affordable water. The Challenge team will host a webinar series that will provide a platform to share knowledge and information among DOE, its partners, leading innovators, and the public.

The first webinar will be Tuesday, October 8, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Each of the five Challenge goals will be presented including the background and objectives, any recent funding opportunities and R&D investment, and the prize development.

For more information please sign up on the website.


EVENT: A Big Day in Nanotechnology is Coming – October 9, 2019

National Nanotechnology Day (#NationalNanoDay) is an annual celebration featuring a series of community-led events and activities on or around October 9 to help raise awareness of nanotechnology, how it is currently used in products that enrich our daily lives, and the challenges and opportunities it holds for the future. This date (10/9) pays homage to the nanometer scale, 10-9 meters. On this day, AMO plans to release new and updated information on its portfolio of “nanomanufacturing” research and development projects. For more information about National Nanotechnology Day, please visit https://nano.gov.


DOE Better Plants Partners Have Saved $6.7 Billion

DOE announced that Better Buildings, Better Plants partners have cumulatively saved $6.7 billion in energy costs and more than 1.3 quadrillion British thermal units (BTUs). More than 220 organizations now partner with DOE through Better Plants; DOE welcomed 22 new companies to the program this year. These partners have more than 3,200 facilities and represent roughly 12% of the U.S. manufacturing energy footprint. Read the full 2019 Better Plants Annual Progress Update to learn more about partner successes and how the Better Plants Program boosts competitiveness through improvements in energy efficiency.


Updates from 50001 Ready and Superior Energy Performance

Check out DOE’s 50001 Ready and SEP 50001 programs that help organizations effectively manage energy. Learn how utilities and efficiency program administrators are engaging their large commercial and industrial customers using DOE’s suite of energy management tools, and how Foremost Farms, a milk solids processing facility, earned the 50001 Ready designation. Learn more.