FOA Number:
DE-FOA-0002626 Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) (SBIR/STTR) To obtain a copy of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.
To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register
with and submit application materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx).
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Agency Overview:
The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L.
110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L.
111-358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L.
116-260) to:
“(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that— (i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources; (ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases; (iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors; (iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and (v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and (B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.” ARPA-E issues this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C.
§ 1653 8. The FOA and any awards made under this FOA are subject to 2 C.F.R.
Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R.
Part 91 0. ARPA-E funds research on and the development of transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department.
The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology.
For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see:
http://arpa-e.energy.gov/.
ARPA-E funds transformational research.
Existing energy technologies generally progress on established “learning curves” where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive down the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion.
This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE.
By contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves.
ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology.
Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly lower than that of the incumbent technology.
ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace.
The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration.
Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive – that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets.
ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies.
Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale.
ARPA-E funds applied research and development.
The Office of Management and Budget defines “applied research” as an “original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge…directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective” and defines “experimental development” as “creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes (http://science.energy.gov/).
Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees.
These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere.
Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including:
the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy (http://fossil.energy.gov/), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (http://energy.gov/oe/office-electricity-delivery-and-energy-reliability).
Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts”) should contact the DOE’s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/).
Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees.
These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere.
Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including:
the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy (http://fossil.energy.gov/), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (http://energy.gov/oe/office-electricity-delivery-and-energy-reliability).
Program Overview:
The goal of the HESTIA program is to support the development of technologies that nullify embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (see Section I.B above), while simultaneously transforming buildings into net carbon storage structures.
Specifically, projects funded under the HESTIA Program will develop and demonstrate building materials and whole-building designs that are net carbon negative (see Section I.B above) on a life cycle basis by utilizing atmospheric CO2 or CH4 (see Section I.B above) from a wide range of potential feedstocks (e.g., forestry and purpose-grown products, agricultural residues, marine derived, direct carbon utilization) in the production process.
HESTIA metrics are:
•storage of more carbon in the chemical structure of the finished product than emitted during manufacture, construction, and use, •relevant performance testing (e.g., flammability, strength) as required per applicable building code and incumbent specifications, •market advantage (e.g., improved material performance in at least one area, lower cost, easier installation) over the best-in-class incumbent building element(s) (i.e.
structural and/or enclosure) selected for replacement, and •sufficient retention of carbon storage over service lifetime and minimized end-of-life emissions where possible by designing for reuse, repurposing, and/or recycling.
This FOA supports the development of viable technologies to achieve these metrics in a cost-effective manner to meet building construction industry demand for low-cost.
Technical categories of interest are identified in Section I.E of the FOA.
Performance targets for the technical categories of interest are provided in Section I.F of the FOA.
Section I.G of the FOA provides information on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) requirements.
To ensure that the technologies developed through this Program are evaluated consistently and transparently, a separate solicitation will be used to develop and perform Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in conjunction with and to support Applicants of this FOA.
The HESTIA Program offers a unique opportunity to address the growing need for market-ready negative emission technologies to implement carbon removal strategies by changing the paradigm for building construction through the use of carbon negativity as a design parameter.
Projects will create novel designs that maximize the energy benefits of carbon storage in addition to manufacturing methods and performance of the materials themselves.
To read this FOA in its entirety, please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.