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What is it?

DOD AFOSR continues to expand the horizon of scientific knowledge through its leadership and management of the Air Force’s basic research program. Offers funding to invest in basic research efforts for the Air Force in relevant scientific areas.

DOD ARL is the Army’s corporate, or central, laboratory. ARL’s program consists of basic and applied research including mechanical sciences, electronics and network sciences.

ESTCP is DOD’s environmental technology demonstration and validation program. Offers funding to identify and demonstrate cost-effective technologies that address DOD’s highest priority environmental requirements.

DOD ONR coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Offers funding for innovative scientific and technological solutions to address current and future Navy and Marine Corps requirements.

SERDP is DOD’s environmental science and technology program. Offers funding in basic and applied research and advanced development.

DOE ARPA-E advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment. Offers funding focused on overcoming specific technical barriers around a specific energy area.

DOE EERE’s Exchange lists funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). EERE uses FOAs to solicit applications in specific program areas and selects projects based on a merit review process that includes industry and technology experts.

U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF is an independent federal agency created to promote the progress of science. Offers funding across multiple program areas including engineering and a subprogram on civil, mechanical, and manufacturing innovation.

The SBIR program encourages domestic small businesses to engage in federal research as well as research and development that has the potential for commercialization. Currently 11 federal agencies participate in the SBIR program, including DOE.

The STTR program expands funding opportunities in the federal innovation research and development arena. Central to the program is expansion of the public/private sector partnership to include joint venture opportunities for small businesses and nonprofit research institutions. Currently five agencies participate in the STTR program, including DOE.

Since its inception in 2011, GSA's GPG program has evaluated dozens of next-generation building technologies in real-world operational settings, recommending the most promising for deployment within GSA’s real estate portfolio. By discovering best-of-breed innovative technologies early in their development and placing them strategically within federal properties, we help ensure GSA’s leadership position within the commercial building industry and contribute to GSA’s sound investment decisions, which greatly benefit the American taxpayer.

Competitive funding to inspire and equip the next generation of clean energy entrepreneurs and innovators through business development and commercialization training as well as other educational opportunities.

The American-Made Challenges incentivize the nation's entrepreneurs to reassert American leadership in the energy marketplace. These new challenges seek to lower the barriers U.S.-based innovators face in reaching manufacturing scale by accelerating the cycles of learning from years to weeks, while helping to create partnerships that connect entrepreneurs to the private sector and the network of DOE's national laboratories across the nation.

Challenge.gov

Challenge.gov, maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration, is the official hub for prize competitions and challenges across all federal government. This website enables the U.S. government to engage citizen-solvers in prize competitions for top ideas and concepts as well as breakthrough software, scientific and technology solutions that help achieve their agency missions.

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What is it?

California’s primary state energy policy and planning agency. Funding opportunities ranging from building energy efficiency and natural gas to transportation. Also provides cost-share as needed.

MassCEC is a publicly funded agency dedicated to accelerating the success of clean energy technologies, companies and projects in the Commonwealth. Offers funding for research and prototyping, demonstration and acceleration, and commercialization and growth.

With $10M in funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), PowerBridge NY’s mission is to turn cleantech innovations from the academic research labs of our six partner institutions into strong, cleantech businesses in New York State. PowerBridge NY is two separate proof-of-concept centers (POCC), both funded by NYSERDA, collaborating as one entity. One POCC is led by Columbia University and includes Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cornell Tech, and Stony Brook University. The other POCC is led by the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University and includes the City University of New York.

The PowerBridge NY program will come to an end in September 2020 with its final cohort of Cycle 6 awardees issued in May 2019.

Powerhouse connects startups, corporations, and investors to create an energy system that is decarbonized, decentralized, democratized, and digitized. Every year, Powerhouse connects hundreds of clean technology startups to industry leaders and investors.

Powerhouse Ventures is a network-driven venture fund that backs entrepreneurs building the future of energy and mobility.

The collaborative co-working space grants mission-aligned entrepreneurs access to uptown Oakland, California real estate and introductions to some of best minds in the new energy industry.

DOE launched NIICE to increase coordination and collaboration among the incubators across the country and develop best practices to raise incubator performance standards. This effort enables incubators to provide more efficient and effective services to early-stage U.S. companies.

Through NIICE, EERE funds a national network of cleantech incubators and other supporting organizations, as well as three regional incubator projects in the Midwest, Southwest and California.

CEMI engages in partnerships to improve U.S. clean energy manufacturing competitiveness.

The CEMI Federal Resource Guide provides information on federal resources to help design, scale up, and commercialize technology.

MEP is a national network with hundreds of specialists who understand the needs of America's small manufacturers. The MEP nationwide network consists of manufacturing extension partnership centers located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. MEP provides companies with services and access to public and private resources to enhance growth, improve productivity, reduce costs, and expand capacity.

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CEE is the U.S. and Canadian consortium of gas and electric efficiency program administrators. CEE works together to accelerate the development and availability of energy-efficient products and services for lasting public benefit.

To help achieve the state’s ambitious energy savings goals, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, and the California Energy Commission created the ETCC with oversight from the California Public Utilities Commission. The ETCC Leadership Team has grown to include California’s largest municipal utilities, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

GTI's Emerging Technology Program (ETP) is a North American, membership-based utility collaborative. ETP works to accelerate the commercialization and adoption of energy-efficient technologies.

ETP works across numerous channels to deliver a pipeline of solutions, enabling utilities to meet energy-efficiency goals with less risk and more certainty. “Beyond development” technologies are targeted for residential, commercial and industrial markets, meaning they are newly commercialized or underutilized. The most promising products are identified and can be evaluated in pilot assessments and demonstrations.

ETP members drive the agenda to address their company and regional needs. Funding is collectively leveraged to address market barriers, evaluate product suitability for utility programs, and deliver guidelines for deployment.

Global Energy GameChanger -Shell + NREL

This is a multimillion-dollar multiyear program focused on discovering and advancing emerging clean energy technologies. Promising startups gain access to more than 40 clean-tech business incubators and up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding in the form of technical experts to develop and demonstrate new energy technologies. 

DOE’s LPS provides investors, and other parties looking to advance energy innovation, a single location to connect with leading DOE national laboratory technical experts to quickly answer innovation questions, as well as discover opportunities for building partnerships. Our goal is to increase access to the information needed to make informed decisions.

The Wells Fargo Incubation Innovator (IN²) is a program designed to facilitate early-stage technologies that provide scalable solutions to reduce the energy impact of commercial buildings. IN² is invitation-only, relying on referrals from 40-plus channel partners to commercial building technologies. Three selection committees evaluate applications based on technical merit and business opportunity, and the companies selected participate across three rounds.

The TTF at the ESIF focuses on energy management of the built environment. The TTF is a flexible multipurpose laboratory that enables detailed evaluation and development of building and thermal energy systems. Through analysis of efficient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) strategies, automated home energy management, and energy storage systems, scientists uncover solutions for cost-effectively reducing the nation’s electric demand and energy consumption. TTF researchers also study ways to improve the health and durability of buildings, effectively using available solar resources, and improving the performance of electric vehicle energy storage components and systems. The TTF is home to the following laboratories:

The Advanced HVAC Laboratory enables rapid, accurate and robust measurement of space conditioning equipment, from bath fan size up to 10-tons; the Automated Home Energy Management Laboratory provides flexible test bed for device, whole-house, and grid-level strategies;
the Hot Water Systems Laboratory provides gas, electric, and solar hot water evaluation;
the Energy Storage Laboratory is home to the world’s most accurate battery calorimeters of their kind, thermal imaging, battery testers, and environmental chambers, with controlled duty cycling at every step.

The NSF I-Corps program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and accelerates the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded, basic-research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization.

Through I-Corps, NSF grantees learn to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research, and gain skills in entrepreneurship through training in customer discovery and guidance from established entrepreneurs.

An interactive project map of ARPA-E funded projects including efficiency, electricity generation and delivery, and transportation projects.

The California Energy Commission‘s Interactive Project Map shows the location of projects funded by a range of programs, as well as the location of disadvantaged communities, low-income census tracts, and county boundaries. Additional data layers include Senate and Assembly districts. Data layers in the map can be turned on and off, and all information contained within the map is downloadable.

The Better Buildings Alliance is a DOE effort to promote energy efficiency in U.S. commercial buildings through collaboration with building owners, operators, and managers. Members of the Alliance commit to addressing energy-efficiency needs in their buildings by setting energy savings goals, developing innovative energy-efficiency resources, and adopting advanced cost-effective technologies and market practices.

Better Buildings Solution Center has hundreds of resources that have helped Better Buildings partners bolster their bottom lines, advance technology innovation, create jobs, and spur energy-efficiency investments.

The Building Performance Database contains information about energy-related characteristics of commercial and residential buildings.

DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions provides a visual patent search tool designed to provide a facilitated search of published U.S. patent applications and issued U.S. patents created using DOE funding.

The USPTO Inventor & Entrepreneur Resources has information on patents, trademarks, former patent examiner assistance, pro bono help, and more.