ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Announcements

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides a continuing opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. IDEAS awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. IDEAS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that also do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology.

IDEAS awards are defined as single-phase efforts of durations 12 months or less with a total project cost of $500,000 or less and will be issued through Grants.

This FOA is a continuation of the IDEAS Program initially announced in September 2013 and continued for a second year in September 2014. ARPA-E continues to view the IDEAS program as a success and therefore plans to extend this FOA on an annual basis, based on the availability of funds.

***The Concept Paper deadline for DE-FOA-0001002 was on 9/28/2015. All Concept Papers submitted to this FOA prior to the deadline and all Full Applications submitted under this FOA will be reviewed, however ARPA-E expects a prolonged review period due to the large volume of applications received. If you wish to submit a new IDEAS Concept Paper to ARPA-E, you must submit through DE-FOA-0001428.***

The growing demand for datacenter services across a range of applications has resulted in significant and sustained growth in electrical energy consumption in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector. Currently, datacenters consume more than 2.5 % of US electricity and this percentage is projected to double in about 8 years. Efficiency improvements due to more efficient cooling, power delivery, and electronic processor chips via Moore’s law improve overall efficiency, but do not significantly slow the current growth trend; to do so requires a transformative improvement. The overall objective of the ENLITENED (ENergy-efficient Light-wave Integrated Technology Enabling Networks that Enhance Datacenters) program, therefore, is to provide a transformative change - to achieve an overall doubling in datacenter energy efficiency in 10 years through deployment of novel network topologies enabled by integrated photonics technologies. ARPA-E estimates that if the technical challenges posed by ENLITENED can be overcome, these alone would reduce projected US energy use by about 1% after 10 years and realize at least twice the number of datacenter transactions with the same amount of energy.  

Industry projections show that in order to achieve future datacenter performance requirements, metal interconnects must be increasingly replaced by photonic technologies, yet costs for deployment are often prohibitive and energy efficiency is not necessarily the highest priority in the commercial sector. Though a broad industrial consensus pushes toward further photonic integration in switches and other datacenter components, in some cases, large companies will build another 80 MW datacenter to meet demand, rather than increase efficiency with photonics, due to a combination of reliability risks, cost and limited component supply.

To overcome metal interconnect limitations on future datacenter energy-efficiency performance, ENLITENED will target the critical packaging and integration challenges needed to exploit the inherent performance advantages of dense photonic interconnects and switching technology at the chip-scale within datacenters. Specifically, ENLITENED will target packaging and integration of novel and efficient photonics-enabled hardware systems that can demonstrate at least a 2-fold increase in energy efficiency at the datacenter level. To validate hardware solutions, ENLITENED will also entail modeling and simulation of the new datacenter architectures and data traffic protocols under realistic workloads, to provide quantifiable measures to validate transformative design strategies for future datacenters and retrofits.

Overview and Purpose:

ARPA-E is focused on funding new, transformational energy technologies and facilitating awardees’ efforts to bring those technologies to market. Most successful ARPA-E performers will eventually need private capital to bring their inventions and innovations to market. Traditional “Venture Capital” funding has decreased by over 50% in the past 5 years for early-stage clean energy ventures^[1]. However, there is significant private capital in the U.S. economy that could be available to support this sector^[2].

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from the broader private sector community and other stakeholders on their actual experiences related to: 1) either investing or declining to invest private capital in an early-stage energy enterprise; 2) either succeeding or failing to obtain private capital as an early stage enterprise; and 3) how government grant based capital either assisted or hindered the process. ARPA-E intends to use information that is responsive to this RFI on a non-attribution basis 1) to guide planning and execution of an upcoming ARPA-E public workshop on private capital financing mechanisms (venture, corporate and other funding); 2) for potential dissemination to the broader energy enterprise and stakeholder community; and 3) to strengthen potential new ARPA-E initiatives that would facilitate more private investment in emerging energy technologies.

Interested persons are encouraged to submit comments. In particular, ARPA-E is interested in receiving responses from the following types of experienced experts: 1) for-profit investors and 2) energy technology firms seeking post-grant phase funding from for-profit investors. For-profit investors include “angels”, venture capital, corporations, family offices, multilaterals and developmental institutions that have made recent investments or are considering making investments in early stage energy technologies/companies. ARPA-E welcomes factual information/comments specified in the questions below.

ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI. This RFI is not seeking/accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives, and a response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the ideas discussed. No material submitted for review will be returned. ARPA-E intends to summarize, for public release, the information submitted to response to this RFI on a non-attribution basis. ARPA-E will not publish a public compendium of each response received. ARPA-E has no obligation to respond to those who submit comments, and/or give feedback on any decision made based on the responses received.

Background:

Over the past seven years, ARPA-E has awarded over $1.25 billion applied research investments aimed at transformational energy inventions and innovation. Private capital is needed to usher these technologies into the marketplace. While ARPA-E project teams have demonstrated success in moving their early-stage energy technologies beyond their ARPA-E funded outcomes^[3], the available private capital is trending negative (Figure 1). On the other hand, there are several new for-profit and nonprofit investment trends in both early and later stage energy investments that portend innovation in this capital sector.

Figure 1 – Cleantech investment funding by stage each quarter 2011-2014, PWC CleanTech[4] (see Document)

What is the opportunity?

ARPA-E believes that the stakeholders’ interest in participation has grown significantly since 2015 with new financial intermediaries, new hard technology venture capitalists, growing end user awareness and local governmental initiatives on energy resiliency. There is also interest in the role of public policy to encourage and sustain the continuous progress of innovative energy technologies throughout this cycle by reducing or eliminating pervasive obstacles to the flow of capital[5].

Figure 2 – Energy Innovation Cycle (see Document)

In an attempt to understand the implications of the up-trending curve, ARPA-E has initiated a strategic review of private capital financing mechanisms among the prevailing practices and experiences of vintage investors and energy technology firms to evaluate the risks and opportunities within the current system. Responses to the RFI will assist ARPA-E in specifying the problems its technically successful project teams face in the existing “valley of death”[6] in available investment capital, and from this developing options for ARPA-E to consider in its role as a critical enabler in the technology maturation value chain.

In January 2017, ARPA-E plans a public workshop of experts in financial engineering to address mechanisms (venture, corporate and other funding) that would facilitate more private investments in emerging energy technologies. The anonymized responses to this RFI will enable ARPA-E to characterize an investment framework to share with the participants in an open discussion of relevant mechanisms that represent all the stakeholder objectives. A goal of the workshop will be examination of framework mechanisms that are related to financial engineering mechanisms, investment criteria, infrastructure, public policies and other capacity related enablers. Additionally, components of a new investment framework will be developed and debated by the participants for potential dissemination to the broader Government and private sector community.

Invited participants will include a broad spectrum of stakeholders to participate at the workshop: 1) capital sources (coalition groups, single family offices, endowments and public pension funds, multilateral and development institutions); 2) financial intermediaries (tax experts, insurance, credit enhancement, investment bankers, etc.); and 3) commercialization ecosystem (entrepreneurs, corporate executives and accelerators/ incubators, etc.).

ARPA-E’s objective for this work is to strategically understand and act on opportunities for delivering the best value through its projects during a time of evolving structure in investments for clean energy technology. The first step in the process after the workshop will be to communicate the results of this RFI and the workshop at the ARPA-E Innovation Summit in Feb/March 2017. Subsequently, empirical evidence will be presented in the form of whitepapers or published articles that highlight what was learned about the new frameworks and/or mechanisms that could mobilize capital into early stage energy technology development and commercialization.

Guidelines:

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in Word format by e-mail only to ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time on January 13, 2017 February 24, 2017.

Categories of Interest:

ARPA-E is interested in receiving information on the two categories outlined below. Responses should present facts based on actual experiences. Opinions on relevant topics (improving funding mechanisms, best investment conditions, best valuation methods, etc.) will be addressed separately at the planned public workshop and other forums/means.

Category A: For-Profit Investment Considerations for Venture, Corporates, Institutional, Family Offices etc.

Category B: Considerations for For-Profit Energy Technology Entities that have received or sought Investments from For-Profit Investors:

[Grant] What factors lead to an early technology entity receiving a federal, state, or local grant or financial resources? Please address the following related issues using a specific example (or examples) from your experience:: What are the details of the federal, state, or local grants received including the amount, purpose, and government organization that provided funding?

How did the government grant process occur? What was the grant impact on your firm’ ability to innovate early stage CR/EE technologies? How did the early stage government grant assist in achieving later stage private capital? How did the process differ from the follow-on funding from for-profit investors?

[1] Venture Capital and Cleantech: The Wrong Model for Clean Energy Innovation, An MIT Energy Initiative Working Paper July 2016

[2] Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016, Frankfurt School-UNEP Centre/BNEF. 2016.

[3] https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=news-item/arpa-e-projects-receive-more-125-billion-private-follow-funding-transformational-energy

[4] PwC Cleantech Moneytree Report: Q4 2014. http://www.pwc.com/cleantech

[5] Jenkins, J. & Mansur, S. “Bridging the Clean Energy Valleys of Death”, Breakthrough Institute, November 2011.

[6] Hartley, P. R., & Medlock III, K. B. (2014). The Valley of Death for New Energy Technologies. University of Western Australia, Economics.

The objective of the FACES Program is to develop advanced information technologies which will dramatically reduce the need to travel for the purpose of communication, thereby reducing travel-related energy consumption and its associated greenhouse gas emissions, as well as increasing the efficiency of energy use and improving economic security.

Telecommunication technology has advanced significantly since the invention of the telegraph, yet we are still far from this ideal. Today’s telecommunication technologies still lack essential characteristics demanded by human interaction. ARPA-E believes that extraordinary technological shifts over the past two decades have created an opportunity to dramatically improve the utility of telecommunication technology.

This digital form of transportation has the potential to reduce communication-related travel energy consumption by several orders of magnitude because information networks consume substantially less energy than all traditional forms of transportation (such as planes, trains, and automobiles). Travel for the purpose of in-person communication is responsible for roughly 8% of the United States’ energy consumption, so the ultimate success of this Program could yield a reduction in energy consumption of several quadrillion BTUs per year in the US alone.

Of essential importance is that an individual would prefer to use the “digital transportation” Technologies developed under the FACES Program rather than the energy-, time-, and cost-intensive status quo of physical travel, thereby providing a substantial incentive for market adoption. If the FACES Program is successful, the United States will benefit from the positive externalities of decreased dependence on petroleum and therefore increased energy security, decreased energy-related emissions, and increased efficiency of communication-related energy expenditure.

To achieve these goals, the FACES Technologies must provide an experience that meets or exceeds the current benefits of in-person interactions. ARPA-E believes that technical advances in computer technology, sensors, displays, computer graphics, and information networks, all of which have changed the world in their own right, will allow this high-quality communication across any distance.

The FACES Program will focus on communication systems employing “Digital Humans”. A Digital Human (DH) is a bandwidth-efficient, three-dimensional digital representation of a person that is nearly indistinguishable from the communication partner in real life.

These DH communication systems must provide highly natural and immersive communication that is preferable to physically travelling, and have the potential to be very low cost in their implementation so that the average person can afford to communicate in this way. ARPA-E has identified three critical elements to developing DH communication systems as means of decreasing energy consumption (note: the following is a summary - the Technical Categories of Interest in Subsection E, and Performance Targets in Subsection F, below are controlling for application submissions):

1. ARPA-E seeks advances in real-time motion capture and digitization of the full human form, coupled with the real-time reconstruction and display of the resultant full human likeness at the other end of an information network, yielding an audiovisually-realistic DH-based digital transportation platform.

2. ARPA-E seeks innovative, complementary advances in the requisite Technology components of real-time capture, digitization, reconstruction, and other related hardware and software tools deemed necessary for or conducive to digital transportation.

3. ARPA-E seeks innovative studies of travel-replacement thresholds, new metrics for realism and immersion of telecommunications systems, and for systematic evaluation of DH technologies.

The United States has the world’s largest marine Exclusive Economic Zone, an area of ocean along the nation’s coast lines which is equivalent to the total land area of all 50 states. The nation has the potential to utilize this resource to build and grow a thriving marine biomass industry for the production of fuels, chemicals, feed, and food. Growing macroalgal biomass in the oceans offers a unique opportunity to sidestep many of the challenges associated with terrestrial biomass production systems, particularly the growing competition for land and freshwater resources, which are likely to result from the 50 to 100% increase in demand for food expected for 2050. The overall goal of this program is to develop the critical tools that will allow the nascent macroalgae industry in the United States to leverage this tremendous resource and grow into a world leader in the production of marine biomass. The program will focus on developing advanced cultivation technologies that enable the cost and energy efficient production of macroalgal biomass in the ocean at a scale suitable as feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals. The challenge is to dramatically reduce capital and operating cost of macroalgae cultivation, while significantly increasing the range of deployment by expanding into more exposed, off-shore environments. Specifically, this program is interested in new designs and approaches to macroalgae cultivation, with harvesting and transport being an integral part of such systems. These new systems may leverage new material and engineering solutions, and autonomous and robotic operations, as well as advanced sensing and monitoring capabilities. To further accelerate the development and deployment of such systems, the program will also focus on the development of computational modeling tools and ocean- deployable sensor platforms, as well as advanced macroalgal breeding tools. ARPA-E expects that the MARINER program will support development of technologies that will accelerate the deployment of advanced ocean farming systems capable of delivering renewable biomass feedstock at a cost competitive with terrestrial biomass feedstocks.

Development of advanced power electronics with unprecedented functionality, efficiency, reliability, and form factor will help provide the U.S. a critical technological advantage in an increasingly electrified world economy. The CIRCUITS (Creating Innovative and Reliable Circuits Using Inventive Topologies and Semiconductors) program seeks to accelerate the development and deployment of a new class of efficient, lightweight, and reliable power converters based on wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors through transformational system-level advances that enable effective operation at high switching frequency, high temperature, and low loss. Previous efforts by ARPA-E and others have primarily focused on WBG material and device development without focused consideration and redesign of the circuit topology. Such solutions do not fully exploit the potential performance improvements enabled by this new class of power semiconductor devices. Areas of particular interest for the CIRCUITS program include novel circuit topologies, advanced control and drive electronics, and innovative packaging. Such technological breakthroughs would catalyze the adoption of higher performance power converters in various critical applications (motor drives, automotive, power supplies, data centers, aerospace, ship propulsion, rail, distributed energy, and the grid) that offer significant direct and indirect energy savings and emissions reductions across electricity generation, transmission and distribution, and load-side consumption. Coupling novel and advanced circuit topologies with leading edge materials such as WBG semiconductor devices has the capacity to catalyze disruptive improvements for power electronics and subsequently for the U.S. economy.

Development of advanced power electronics with unprecedented functionality, efficiency, reliability, and form factor will help provide the U.S. a critical technological advantage in an increasingly electrified world economy. The CIRCUITS (Creating Innovative and Reliable Circuits Using Inventive Topologies and Semiconductors) program seeks to accelerate the development and deployment of a new class of efficient, lightweight, and reliable power converters based on wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors through transformational system-level advances that enable effective operation at high switching frequency, high temperature, and low loss. Previous efforts by ARPA-E and others have primarily focused on WBG material and device development without focused consideration and redesign of the circuit topology. Such solutions do not fully exploit the potential performance improvements enabled by this new class of power semiconductor devices. Areas of particular interest for the CIRCUITS program include novel circuit topologies, advanced control and drive electronics, and innovative packaging. Such technological breakthroughs would catalyze the adoption of higher performance power converters in various critical applications (motor drives, automotive, power supplies, data centers, aerospace, ship propulsion, rail, distributed energy, and the grid) that offer significant direct and indirect energy savings and emissions reductions across electricity generation, transmission and distribution, and load-side consumption. Coupling novel and advanced circuit topologies with leading edge materials such as WBG semiconductor devices has the capacity to catalyze disruptive improvements for power electronics and subsequently for the U.S. economy.

This program aims to dramatically reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling residential buildings (by 30%) via user-transparent sensor systems that accurately sense human presence (not merely motion). This program also aims to reduce energy usage in commercial buildings (also by 30%) by enabling ventilation control based on sensor systems that can accurately count the number of humans in a pre-determined zone. If these sensing technologies can be widely deployed with disruptively low price targets and failure rates, a significantly lower usage of energy will result without impact to comfort of the occupants of the space. Heating, cooling, and ventilation (HVAC) reduction is only one way energy can be saved; such human presence sensing and people counting will enable drastic improvements in the way buildings communicate with and respond to their occupants.

The accuracy, reliability, and cost requirements to deliver such substantial energy savings are far beyond the limits of sensor systems available today. However, ARPA-E believes that by building on recent trends in improved performance and reduced cost in low-power consumer electronics and wireless communication technologies, it is possible to achieve the required performance levels through a focused push in the SENSOR program. Supporting systems currently exist (i.e., thermostats/controls, variable air volume systems, etc.) that could utilize data from such sensor systems to achieve the program’s energy reduction targets today, with only slight modifications. In order to ensure impact for the new sensor systems, significant adoption barriers must be identified and clearly understood, technical paths to overcome these barriers must be defined, and real-world performance of these technical solutions validated.

This program aims to dramatically reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling residential buildings (by 30%) via user-transparent sensor systems that accurately sense human presence (not merely motion). This program also aims to reduce energy usage in commercial buildings (also by 30%) by enabling ventilation control based on sensor systems that can accurately count the number of humans in a pre-determined zone. If these sensing technologies can be widely deployed with disruptively low price targets and failure rates, a significantly lower usage of energy will result without impact to comfort of the occupants of the space. Heating, cooling, and ventilation (HVAC) reduction is only one way energy can be saved; such human presence sensing and people counting will enable drastic improvements in the way buildings communicate with and respond to their occupants.

The accuracy, reliability, and cost requirements to deliver such substantial energy savings are far beyond the limits of sensor systems available today. However, ARPA-E believes that by building on recent trends in improved performance and reduced cost in low-power consumer electronics and wireless communication technologies, it is possible to achieve the required performance levels through a focused push in the SENSOR program. Supporting systems currently exist (i.e., thermostats/controls, variable air volume systems, etc.) that could utilize data from such sensor systems to achieve the program’s energy reduction targets today, with only slight modifications. In order to ensure impact for the new sensor systems, significant adoption barriers must be identified and clearly understood, technical paths to overcome these barriers must be defined, and real-world performance of these technical solutions validated.

This program aims to dramatically reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling residential buildings (by 30%) via user-transparent sensor systems that accurately sense human presence (not merely motion). This program also aims to reduce energy usage in commercial buildings (also by 30%) by enabling ventilation control based on sensor systems that can accurately count the number of humans in a pre-determined zone. If these sensing technologies can be widely deployed with disruptively low price targets and failure rates, a significantly lower usage of energy will result without impact to comfort of the occupants of the space. Heating, cooling, and ventilation (HVAC) reduction is only one way energy can be saved; such human presence sensing and people counting will enable drastic improvements in the way buildings communicate with and respond to their occupants.

The accuracy, reliability, and cost requirements to deliver such substantial energy savings are far beyond the limits of sensor systems available today. However, ARPA-E believes that by building on recent trends in improved performance and reduced cost in low-power consumer electronics and wireless communication technologies, it is possible to achieve the required performance levels through a focused push in the SENSOR program. Supporting systems currently exist (i.e., thermostats/controls, variable air volume systems, etc.) that could utilize data from such sensor systems to achieve the program’s energy reduction targets today, with only slight modifications. In order to ensure impact for the new sensor systems, significant adoption barriers must be identified and clearly understood, technical paths to overcome these barriers must be defined, and real-world performance of these technical solutions validated.

On November 29, ARPA-E hosted a webinar on this RFI. To view a recording of the webinar and the slides presented, please visit https://vimeo.com/193881420 (password: arpae)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) intends to issue anew Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in November, 2016, for the development of advanced cultivation technologies that enable profitable and energy efficient production of macroalgal-biomass (seaweeds) in the ocean. These technologies are expected to be deployed and support cultivation of macroalgal-biomass feedstocks at a scale relevant for the production of commodity fuels and chemicals. The primary challenge is to dramatically reduce capital and operating cost of macroalgae cultivation, while significantly increasing the range of deployment by expanding into more exposed, off-shore environments.

Specifically, ARPA-E is interested in new designs and approaches to macroalgae cultivation and production with integrated harvesting solutions. These systems may leverage new material and engineering solutions, autonomous and/or robotic operations, as well as advanced sensing and monitoring capabilities. In addition to “field-type” cultivation, ARPA-E is also interested in unconventional approaches, for example “ranching” where free floating macroalgae are harvested at locations predicted/determined by satellite imaging and current/drift modeling. Given the enormous size and geographic diversity of the U.S. marine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), we expect that there will be different system solutions based on the intended area of deployment, macroalgal species to be cultivated, and downstream processing. To support and accelerate the development of these advanced cultivation systems, ARPA-E is also interested in hydrodynamic and ocean current models that can predict the mechanical stresses on a cultivation system as well as the flow and distribution of nutrients through a macroalgae “field”. Furthermore, to validate the performance of macroalgae cultivation systems, appropriate sensors to measure in situ biomass production and composition as well as nutrient concentrations will be required. Finally, to complement the new system design approaches, ARPA-E is also looking for advanced breeding tools that can help in the development of new, highly productive macroalgae cultivars. ARPA-E has determined that, at this time, biomass conversion is not a limiting factor for profitable and wide-spread production of fuels and chemicals from macroalgae, and consequently will not support work in that area at this time. However, an understanding of macroalgae conversion processes are expected to inform and guide the development of cultivation and harvest strategies, or other tools described below.

Overall, this program will address marine system design/engineering and integration with biomass production, hydrodynamic and ocean modeling, marine spatial planning, sensor technology development, macroalgae breeding tools, and field testing of cultivation systems and sensor technologies. The program will also address emerging markets necessary as “stepping stones” to a thriving marine macroalgae-to-fuels and chemicals industry.

ARPA–E held a workshop on this topic in February 2016; information on this workshop and other supporting material including a summary of the workshop output can be found at the webpage (http://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=workshop/macroalgae-workshop).

ARPA–E anticipates that this program will have four areas of interest.

In order to realize the goals of this program, expertise in the following areas may be useful:

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (http://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in September 2016. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Expertise, and Background. For larger organizations, multiple entries for subgroups with distinct areas of expertise and capabilities are acceptable. Under the category, “Background”, please list verbatim any and all areas of expertise listed above (if “other,” please provide additional detail).

ARPA-E recognizes the significant international efforts currently underway in macroalgae cultivation. However, there are limitations and stipulations regarding the amount of work that can be performed outside of the United States. Please keep this in mind during this team building period.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA–E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List.ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in November 2016, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), tentatively entitled: Digital Transportation. The final FOA is expected to be issued in November 2016. When the FOA is issued, ARPA-E anticipates that the deadline for submission of Concept will occur 30 days after issuance. The overall goal of the Digital Transportation program will be to develop communication technologies that are preferable to physical travel, consistent with ARPA-E’s statutory goals including development of energy technologies that improve energy efficiency, reduce energy-related emissions, and reduce energy imports from foreign sources. To achieve the Digital Transportation program goals, technologies are needed that enable the real-time capture and digitization of extremely detailed communicative information, which, after having been transmitted over a digital information network, can then be reconstructed and displayed in a highly natural and immersive way to a remote observer. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the upcoming FOA. The forthcoming Digital Transportation FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, selection criteria, and other terms and requirements. For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA:

The technical goals of the anticipated FOA will primarily focus on real-time capture and digitization of extremely detailed communicative information, which can then be reconstructed and displayed in a highly natural and immersive way to a remote observer. All communicative information must be captured, including, but not limited to, shared gaze, facial expressions and microexpressions, all body language, and spatialized audio. This digital reconstruction must be able to be ported across many display modalities, have lighting conditions and viewing angles changed in real time, and enable the comfortable meeting of many individuals at the same time in a split screen or digital environment. The motion capture must be done conveniently, at low cost, and must have the potential to be display-integrated. The digitization and encoding must be done in real time to foster simultaneous live communication, with capture-to-display latencies below 150 ms (including network latencies across the United States). The encoded information is expected to be highly bandwidth efficient, allowing beyond-human-perception levels of resolution and refresh-rate on the display side, both aurally and visually, for less than 1 Mbps of transmitted information per conversation member. The anticipated FOA will also enable the development of complementary technologies that the community justifies as being necessary for the realization of digital transportation. Finally, the anticipated FOA will include a call for studies that aim to definitively and quantitatively establish the set of requirements for digital transportation technologies to be preferable to physical travel, and methods to test and validate progress of these technologies towards travel-reduction. It is envisioned that accomplishing these objectives will allow users to leverage information networks for their communication-based travel needs instead of physically travelling, saving at least one order of magnitude of energy in the process, and potentially saving the United States several percent of the nation’s yearly energy consumption.

ARPA-E anticipates that the FOA will target research in: (1) real-time capture, digitization, and reconstruction of extremely detailed communicative information, of a fidelity commensurate with travel-replacement, with cross-platform display compatibility; (2) complementary technologies proposed as necessary for travel reduction, including but not limited to server-side communication environments, novel display modalities, and stationary capture and digitization tools; and (3) third party testing and validation of digital transportation technologies which will yield clear and quantitative results regarding system performance necessary to replace physical travel and save energy.

In order to realize the goals of the Digital Transportation program, ARPA‐E aims to bring together diverse engineering and scientific communities including, but not limited to, computer-generated imagery and image processing, modular software architectures, machine perception and motion capture technologies, visual display technologies, human movement physiology, real-time communication server-side management, parallel processing and GPU-based visual rendering, user interface and user experience, telecommunication companies, internet companies, scholarly validation of travel-replacement criteria, and business management and other related researchers that can develop and test the new digital transportation technologies such that they are successful in the marketplace in ultimately replacing travel and saving energy.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in November 2016. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx.  Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in November 2016, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) tentatively entitled: Creating Innovative and Reliable Circuits Using Inventive Topologies and Semiconductors (CIRCUITS) to fund the development of disruptive advanced circuit topologies using fundamentally higher performing wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices that lead to more efficient, more reliable, smaller, lighter, and lower cost electric power conversion systems. The overall goal of the CIRCUITS program will be to improve the efficiency of electric power conversion across a wide range of applications by overcoming the limitations of conventional silicon-based circuits through the holistic development of circuit topologies, controls, packaging, and application specific architectures that take full advantage of the inherent energy efficiency of WBG devices.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the upcoming CIRCUITS FOA. The anticipated FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, selection criteria, and other terms and requirements. The anticipated FOA terms will be controlling. ARPA-E anticipates that the deadline for submission of Concept Papers will occur 30 days after issuance of the anticipated FOA. For purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the anticipated FOA:

The technical goals of the anticipated FOA will be centered on the development of electric power converters with advanced circuit topology, control & drive electronics, and packaging that take full advantage of WBG devices to demonstrate transformational improvements over state-of-the-art in relative loss, size, weight, reliability, and cost while maintaining EMI compliance. Additionally, application specific architectures that take advantage of transformational electric power converters to improve the energy efficiency in wide range of applications areas including, but not limited to: solar & wind, high/medium voltage DC distribution, hybrid/electric vehicles, EV chargers, data centers and power supplies, motor drives and HVAC, solid state lighting, aerospace, and rail & ship propulsion are of interest in the FOA. It is envisioned that the desired efficiency improvement may be achieved directly, through inherently more efficient and cost-effective electric power conversion circuit designs, and indirectly, by enabling the accelerated adoption of higher efficiency sources and loads.

Currently, ARPA-E anticipates that the FOA will target research in: (1) innovative circuit topologies, (2) advanced gate drive and control electronics, (3) 3D or other novel packaging, (4) advanced thermal design with passive/active cooling, (5) application specific system architectures, and (6) electromagnetic modeling.

In order to realize the goals of the CIRCUITS program, ARPA‐E aims to bring together diverse engineering and scientific communities, including but not limited to circuit designers, power electronics engineers, application engineers, RF engineers, IC designers, software and firmware engineers, system architects, system installers, grid power electronics, pulsed power scientists and engineers, thermal management and mechanical engineers, packaging and module engineers, electromagnetic interference-compliance engineers, physicists, test engineers, product engineers, WBG device engineers, and facilities and operations engineers.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting November 16, 2016. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in December 2016, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) tentatively entitled Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition (SENSOR) to fund the development of novel occupancy and people counting sensors. Such hardware can lead to significant energy savings for heating and cooling in both residential and commercial scenarios, with additional energy savings possible via enabling demand controlled ventilation in the commercial scenarios. In addition, methods and facilities to accurately validate the sensor performance and resulting energy savings in quasi- and real- world scenarios is included.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the upcoming SENSOR FOA. The anticipated FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, selection criteria, and other terms and requirements. The anticipated FOA terms will be controlling. ARPA-E anticipates that the deadline for submission of Concept Papers will occur 30 days after issuance of the anticipated FOA. For purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the anticipated FOA:

The technical goals of the anticipated FOA will be centered on the development of novel sensor systems that can be validated to return occupancy and people counting data with certainty (i.e. high-accuracy and low-failure rates) at cost suitable for market adoption. “Sensor” as used here means the actual hardware sensor component(s), any on-board algorithms or hardware needed to turn the sensing signals into an accurate binary (for residential) or occupant count (for commercial, as described below); an industry accepted open-source method for communicating that information outside of the sensor system including encryption (wi-fi, BLE, or the like); a power source; and any additional nodes (in the case of a wireless sensor networks) needed to compile and transmit the information to building controls, such as a thermostat or a building automation system (BAS).

Two use cases have been identified. For the residential case, a whole home binary occupation signal is required, with this requirement the system must distinguish between humans and their pets. This occupancy signal will be used to change the temperature setbacks to “away” mode, and then automatically back to “occupied” mode when the home is again occupied. The user will not need to ever interact with the thermostat’s scheduling function as the occupancy controlled auto-scheduling will be “correct” almost all of the time, in accordance with the technical program metrics. In the commercial case where buildings are ventilated, there is an additional opportunity; energy used for ventilation is as least as significant as that used for heating and cooling, and the required ventilation level for a commercial space can be vary depending on how many people are occupying a specific HVAC (“heating, cooling, and ventilation”) zone, according to building standards. If the number of people are known for each zone, the ventilation can be tailored to be adequate without massively over-ventilating the space. In order to enhance user adoption, the development of similarly low cost, stable, and easy-to-deploy CO₂ sensors is in scope of this work to address concerns regarding indoor air quality (IAQ), even if they cannot be used to accurately measure occupancy directly.

In order to realize the goals of the SENSOR program, ARPA‐E aims to bring together diverse engineering and scientific communities, including but not limited to sensor materials development, sensor device development, ultra-low power electronics platforms, distributed sensing systems, distributed wireless networks, advanced algorithm development, automated buildings, smart buildings, energy efficient buildings, indoor air quality (“IAQ”), HVAC control systems, and others. This includes input from the end-users of such technologies in the HVAC space, such as HVAC system fabricators, building managers, energy utilities, and the like. In addition, communities regarding the real-world testing and validation of such sensors, including validating the energy saved, are sought.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

This Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting November 2016. This list will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in January 2017, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.