In a Recovery Act cabinet meeting yesterday, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Vice President Biden announced a large amount of research funding for three different types of advanced projects directly related to the future of transportation. The funding comes from the Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy (ARPA-E) stimulus funds and will go to 37 different institutions in 17 states.
The projects will attack three goals: using microbes and electricity to directly convert materials into biofuels (“electrofuels”), developing a new generation of low-cost, ultra-high energy density batteries, and creating revolutionary new carbon capture technologies to make coal power zero emissions.