The real estate industry is the largest contributor to humanity’s most significant challenge, the global climate crisis. With buildings accounting for 40% of global energy, greenhouse gases and raw materials, real estate’s adoption of innovative technologies and Net Zero solutions will be a major catalyst to avoiding a climate disaster. The Net Zero Lab is focused on tackling the climate crisis by facilitating the successful collaboration between large, successful real estate owners, operators, vendors, and innovative startups driven to deliver energy efficient and Net Zero focused technology solutions. Upward Enterprise Partners are looking for advanced technologies that are focused on Net Zero and alternative, sustainable energy solutions that will minimize energy consumption and significantly reduce carbon footprint in the built environment under the following categories: heating & cooling, energy generation & storage, building automation, building envelope, energy efficient equipment, software & reporting.

U.S. DOT’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program awards contracts to small businesses to pursue research on and develop innovative solutions to our nation’s transportation challenges.  For the U.S. DOT SBIR Program, Phase I offers can be funded up to $200,000 unless otherwise noted in Section VIII. The period of performance of the resulting contract shall be six months. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is looking for proposed research the would explore the creation of a tool or application that can help transit agencies select the right battery electric bus for their unique systems—taking into consideration terrain, climate, length of route, etc.—and to create models to predict the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission impacts of this change in transportation type. Click above to view the full list of research topics.

KickStart Venture Services, a department in Innovate Carolina’s Office of Technology Commercialization at UNC-Chapel Hill, supports research-based startup formation and growth by providing education, early-stage funding, and on-campus accelerator space.

In addition, KickStart has quarterly Commercialization Grant Awards, ranging from $5,000 – $50,000.

Selected start-ups will receive coaching and guidance from SeaAhead staff, a designated stand and presentation time at the 2022 IPF, dedicated promotions, and a deeply discounted registration cost at the IPF conference.

The AlgaePrize, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office and supported by The Algae Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), challenges students to become the next generation of bioeconomy professionals by expanding novel solutions to production, processing, and new product development on the way to gigaton-scale algae commercialization for fuel, food, products, and carbon dioxide utilization/sequestration.

The 2022–2023 AlgaePrize competition is open to teams of two or more students currently enrolled in a U.S.-based high school, community or technical college, college, university, or graduate program.

 Apply to the 2022 Cleantech Open accelerator to gain access to a full business development program, that includes expert mentors, investor introductions, industry connections, and a chance to compete regionally and nationally for cash prizes and in-kind services to launch your venture. Compete for $60,000 in cash prizes in the Northeast, and a $50,000 National Grand Prize. The early bird deadline is February 28, and the final deadline is April 17.

A majority of Cleantech Open alumni have survived the merciless technology startup “valley of death” and gone on to raise $1.2 billion and create over 3,000 clean economy jobs.

ARPA-E has announced the third round of funding under the SEED Exploratory Topic. Successful SEED projects should create new paradigms in energy technology and have the potential to achieve significant reductions in U.S. energy consumption, energy-related imports, or energy-related emissions. SEED awards will support research projects that establish potential new areas for technology development and provide ARPA-E with information that could lead to new ARPA-E focused funding programs.

Awards may support exploratory research to establish viability, proof-of-concept demonstration for new energy technology, and/or modeling and simulation efforts to guide development for new energy technologies.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to empower regions to harness the benefits of a clean energy future. This FOA supports multiple avenues for localities to improve their energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and bolster their local workforce through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) projects for renewable-fueled energy systems and technical assistance to support manufacturers in adopting innovative, smart technologies to help better manage their energy use.

Under this FOA, DOE will provide up to $7.5 million to support activities that drive innovation, deployment, and technical assistance activities for clean energy technologies that are critical for climate protection under two topics:

Topic Area 1: Advanced Technology Demonstration in a Renewably Supplied District Energy System

Topic Area 2: Regional Initiative to Integrate Smart Manufacturing and Energy Management Systems

The Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize will provide a total of $2.5 million in funding to up to 10 teams to advance ideas for a just and equitable transition. The winners of Phase One will receive cash awards of $200,000 each. Phase One winners will be eligible to participate in a Phase Two of the prize 12 months later, during which time it is anticipated that a total of $500,000 will be awarded to up to three teams. 

The Department of Energy has released the FY22 Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Phase 1 Release 2. SBIR/STTR known as “America’s Seed Fund,” provides nondilutive grants to small businesses to help them develop and commercialize technology innovations. The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced topics for the next round of grants. This year’s solicitation is particularly focused on recruiting applicants from underrepresented demographics and also includes a cross-cutting funding opportunity on community partnerships to enable a just and equitable energy transition.