The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy will invest $70 million to fund two of the department’s newest programs that designed to power transportation and store carbon in soil.The Energy Department said Thursday the Renewable Energy to Fuels Through Utilization of Energy-Dense Liquids covers 16 programs that will look to utilize air molecules, electricity from renewable sources and water to produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels.
ARPA-E’s Rhizosphere Observations Optimizing Terrestrial Sequestration includes 10 projects that aim to address a soil “carbon debt” issue through new root and soil measurement strategies and sensing technologies that will aid farmers on the selection of crop varieties that can capture and store carbon molecules from the atmosphere.
“REFUEL’s way of creating fuels from commonly available molecules could drastically change how we power our cars and trucks, while ROOTS projects will help us find crops that trap carbon into the soil,” said Ellen Williams, director of ARPA-E.
