In Washington, DC, the Department of Energy has announced $39 million in R&D grants to 18 projects aimed at turning buildings into carbon storage.
Led by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, selectees for the Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere program will prioritize overcoming barriers associated with carbon-storing buildings, including scarce, expensive and geographically limited building materials.
“There’s huge, untapped potential in reimagining building materials and construction techniques as carbon sinks that support a cleaner atmosphere and advance President Biden’s national climate goals,” says U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a press statement. “This is a unique opportunity for researchers to advance clean energy materials to tackle one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors that is responsible for roughly 10% of total annual emissions in the United States.”
Winners include National Renewable Energy Lab in Fairbanks, AK, which is developing biobased insulation using cellulose and mycelium; Purdue University, which is looking to develop a transformational “living” wood with the strength of steel, self-healing capability, and combined carbon-sequestering benefits from wood and microbes; and SkyNano LLC (Knoxville, TN), which is developing a composite panel that contains bio-derived natural fibers.