Early-Stage Energy Projects Receive Boost from California Energy Commission
The California Energy Commission has awarded grants to 18 entrepreneurs working on early-stage clean energy concepts.
Grants were awarded through the California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development (CalSEED) Initiative funded by the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program. EPIC supports clean energy research.
The CalSEED initiative helps recipients advance their projects from idea to the marketplace. It provides up to $150,000 in initial funding to each recipient with up to $450,000 available in follow-on funding. The grant recipients that were approved at the September 21 business meeting were:
• Crossno & Kaye, LLC – The Santa Barbara-based company is developing a software-based refrigeration control that cools temperature-controlled spaces based on customer needs and peak hours.
• California State University at Fullerton – The recipient is designing “solar shrubs” that use thin-film solar panels in bio-mimicking leaf designs to create easy-to-install solar product for homes.
• DTE Materials Inc. – The San Luis Obispo-based company will improve building insulation materials using natural fiber additives instead of fiberglass.
• Empow Lighting – The Sacramento-based company is creating thin, flexible light-emitting diode (LED) lighting sheets that can snap into existing fluorescent light fixtures to replace fluorescent tubes.
• ETC Solar – The Pasadena-based company is developing technology to improve the output of solar cells by using new front contacts that are transparent and allow more light to generate electricity.
• FerroPower Technologies – The Berkeley-based company is developing a system to help reduce the amount of energy lost while operating compressed air energy storage technologies.
• GenH – The San Jose-based company is developing a rapidly-deployable retrofit device so irrigation canals and non-powered dams can produce electricity.
• InPipe Energy– The Manhattan Beach-based company will demonstrate technology that captures energy lost by pressure reduction valves in industrial water systems.
• Ocean Motion Technologies – The San Diego-based company is developing a mechanical buoy system that uses ocean wave energy to create compressed air and produce electricity.
• Palo Alto Research Center – The Palo Alto-based company is developing a new class of printed electronics for electric vehicle batteries to limit heating that occurs during short circuits.
• Perigo Welding Works – The Strathmore-based company is designing a filtration hardware component that can reduce energy consumption for agricultural drip irrigation systems by 25 to 50 percent.
• Pick My Solar – The Los Angeles-based company is developing technology to lower the transaction cost and increase reliability, speed and accuracy for community solar members buying and selling electricity.
• Pronoia, Inc. – The Los Angeles-based company is developing energy storage that uses quantum dipole technology to increase energy capacity instead of lithium-ion batteries.
• SkyCool Systems – The Burlingame-based company is developing a data center cooling system that uses new radiative cooling techniques which use much less energy and no loss of water.
• Smartville Energy – The Carlsbad-based company will develop a prototype system to independently control and monitor the health of batteries using different chemistries.
• Stasis Group – The Modesto-based company is developing technology that can eliminate up to 25 percent of the peak heating and cooling load of space conditioning systems.
• University of California at Riverside – The recipient will demonstrate a low-cost way to double renewable fuel production during anaerobic digestion using carbon dioxide microbubbles with an innovative delivery mechanism.
• UC Riverside – The recipient will demonstrate innovative manufacturing techniques that will enable new battery chemistries that increase the total energy capacity of commercial lithium-ion batteries.
Photos courtesy of of ETC Solar, Ocean Motion Technologies, and Pick My Solar.
