Funding Opportunities

The Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize (E-SCRAP) is a $3.95M challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). The prize aims to stimulate innovative approaches that reduce the costs and environmental impact of critical material recovery from electronic scrap (e-scrap).

E-scrap—which includes mobile phones, home appliances, medical or office equipment, and anything else powered by electricity—represents the fastest growing waste stream globally, with e-scrap generation expected to double between 2014 and 2030. Only 17.4% of e-scrap was collected and recycled globally in 2019, discarding 83% of e-waste and $57B in raw material value. However, e-scrap recovery faces numerous roadblocks, including a fragmented recycling value chain, a complex and dynamic feedstock, and a rapidly evolving end-use market. In response, E-SCRAP is challenging American entrepreneurs to revolutionize critical material recovery and reshape the future of sustainable manufacturing.

E-SCRAP is not just a competition; it’s a catalyst for change. By addressing challenges in the e-scrap recycling value chain, competitor teams can each win up to $800,000 in cash prizes and $150,000 in national laboratory analysis support over the course of the three-phase competition.

The prize is open to competitors looking to:
Build partnerships across the recycling value chain to optimize and integrate critical material separation and recovery technologies.
Develop and demonstrate innovations along the recycling value chain to enhance the recovery of critical materials from e-scrap.
Select at least one challenge (technical, supply chain, or related logistics hurdle) that needs further development and establish high impact opportunities (co-recovery, feedstock flexibility, information share, material benchmarking…) that will increase the domestic supply of critical materials from e-scrap.
Create or enhance supply chains to increase material circularity (e.g., accelerating connectivity between collection, sorting, pre-treatment, processing, refining, validation, and material qualification)

Please see the full FOA in EERE Exchange. The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. Specifically, this FOA will fund innovative solar photovoltaics (PV) R&D that reduces the cost of PV modules, reduces carbon and energy intensity of PV manufacturing processes, and optimizes PV technology for new, specialized markets. SETO’s PVRD program works to accelerate the deployment of solar energy technologies by funding innovative R&D in PV cell and module technologies, balance-of-system components, reliability tracing and tracking, metrology, and other key research questions in PV. To accelerate toward these deployment targets and augment SETO’s ongoing PV research portfolio,12 this FOA will fund R&D on innovative cell- and minimodule-level technologies focused on three major goals: •Enable cost reduction on an LCOE basis through development of durable, high-efficiency cell and module PV technology •Identify pathways to reduce the carbon intensity and energy intensity of industrial processes required to fabricate PV cells and modules •Increase technical viability of PV cells and modules tailored for emerging integrated PV sectors, such as building-integrated PV (BIPV) and vehicle-integrated PV. This FOA will fund innovative R&D projects that aim to advance the state of the art in various cell and module technologies to accomplish these goals of cost reduction, lower carbon intensity, and viability of dual-use markets. This FOA is separated into two topic areas: •Photovoltaic Advances in Cell Efficiency, Reliability, and Supply Chain (PACERS): Applications in four PV supply chain, cell, and module technology spaces are of particular interest: low-carbon synthesis of metallurgical-grade silicon (MGS, here defined as silicon that is 98% pure as defined by the 5/5/3 standard)13 production, crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV, III-V PV, and organic PV (OPV). However, proposals for any industrial process, cell, or minimodule-level research that enables the goals of this FOA will be considered, excluding areas specified as not of interest in Section I.C., such as perovskite technology, which is addressed in other funding programs, and CdTe technology, which is addressed in Topic Area 2. •Building Academic Capabilities in Cadmium Telluride: Applications describing advanced R&D projects requiring the procurement or upgrade of CdTe equipment are of interest. Proposals should detail work that will enhance fabrication, characterization, or analytical capabilities while also benefiting the larger CdTe PV research community.

CFF’s Rapid Response Fund was created to shift philanthropic practices by distributing responsive resources in a timely way that prioritizes the humanity of black and brown people, the frontline organizations they may lead, and the grassroots organizations that may be accountable to them. To realize this vision, the CFF Rapid Response Fund will provide rapid response funding to support organizations’ or coalitions’ needs to position themselves or others to respond to infrastructure crises, movement moments, and time sensitive federal funding notices or rulemaking that require rapid mobilization.

The Rapid Response Fund has a national scope with specific priority given to geographies that have historically received disproportionate public investment, including the Midwest and the South. Applications will be reviewed on a monthly basis and awards will be determined by the CFF team.

The Rapid Response Fund is limited to $1,500,000. Grants will be distributed on a rolling basis until the fund is spent down. Awards will range between $10,000 - $100,000 depending on scope and scale of the work funded.

ILCER aims to support island economies to develop and implement United States and international priorities to strengthen climate adaptation, green growth, and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The DWS Grant Program has been established to help individuals with low to moderate incomes finance the costs of household water wells and individually owned decentralized wastewater systems that they own or will own. Grant funds must be used to establish and maintain a revolving fund to provide loans and sub-grants to eligible individuals for individually owned water well systems and/or individually owned wastewater systems. Individual households may use the loan and/or sub-grant funds to construct, refurbish, rehabilitate, or replace decentralized water systems up to the point of entry to a home. Point of entry for the well system is the junction where water enters into a home water delivery system after being pumped from a well. For septic systems, in lieu of the point of entry, the point of exit is substituted. The point of exit is the junction where wastewater exits out of the home wastewater collection system into the septic tank and drain field. Grant funds may be used to pay administrative expenses associated with providing DWS loans and/or sub-grants.

Amendment 000001 - DOE is amending this FOA to extend the Full Application Submission deadline, update the Replies to Reviewer Comments deadline, update the Expected Date for DOE Selection Notifications, and update the Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations. Inflation Reduction Act Funding for Advanced Biofuels Bioenergy Technologies Office’s 2024 Systems Development and Integration (SDI) FOA is funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. IRA Section 60108(b) authorized $10 million to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for new grants to industry in advanced biofuels. EPA and DOE entered an Interagency Agreement to transfer the funds to DOE and allow DOE to manage a FOA with substantial involvement from EPA. The FOA’s topic areas are of mutual interest for both the EPA’s priority in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program and DOE BETO’s priority in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge as well as SDI’s priority in supporting four demonstration-scale integrated biorefineries by 2030. For both topic areas, the application must discuss how the proposed technology would meet the RFS definition of advanced biofuel, which means using allowable feedstocks, producing allowable fuel types, and with lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reductions of at least 50% compared to petroleum base baseline.

Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (CIFIA) Program: Future Growth Grants The carbon dioxide transportation infrastructure finance and innovation (CIFIA) program was appropriated $2.1 billion to provide federal government financing to large-scale common-carrier carbon dioxide (“CO2”) transportation infrastructure projects. (42 U.S.C.A. § 16378). Requirements for Future Growth Grants (this FOA) are established in 42 U.S.C.A. § 16374 (a), which authorizes the secretary to provide grants to pay a portion of the cost differential, with respect to any projected future increase in demand for carbon dioxide transportation by an infrastructure project between--(1) the cost of constructing the infrastructure asset with the capacity to transport an increased flow rate of carbon dioxide, as made practicable under the project; and (2) the cost of constructing the infrastructure asset with the capacity to transport carbon dioxide at the flow rate initially required, based on commitments for the use of the asset.

CHANGEMAKER FELLOWSHIP PURPOSE & INTENT
The NDN Changemaker Fellowship is a two-year fellowship designed to invest ($150,000 USD) in the visions, leadership, and personal and professional development of 21 Indigenous Changemakers working in their communities.

We believe that our people have the creativity, innovation, and determination to build healthy, resilient futures; defending our homelands and rights, developing model regenerative Nations, and decolonizing and healing our communities and families.

The NDN Changemaker Fellowship was designed specifically to support individuals. Please see other NDN Collective grant programs and opportunities for organizations and communities.

A critical complement to improving how Federal agencies conduct PPCE activities is the development of methods to evaluate the extent to which the efforts they adopt and implement are effective. Also, as agencies pilot, implement, or experiment with approaches to their PPCE activities, they need support in measuring and evaluating whether and how those changes are an improvement relative to the status quo. Currently, Federal agencies do not have a shared set of valid quantitative or qualitative metrics or well-developed evaluation plans that would enable them to rigorously measure the effectiveness of different approaches to PPCE.

This Challenge aims to develop a PPCE evaluation toolkit, informed by rigorous research and validated approaches for social science measurement, that Federal agencies can use to build evidence to improve their PPCE activities in furtherance of reaching a wide and diverse audience and augmenting public trust. OMB and GSA are interested in Solvers developing evaluation tools to help generate evidence regarding the effectiveness of various PPCE approaches, such as:

What approaches increase awareness of PPCE opportunities among members of affected communities?
How do motivators and barriers to PPCE vary across demographic factors and lived experiences? What features of PPCE activities serve to build on those motivators and/or mitigate barriers to participation?
How does participation in PPCE opportunities affect perceptions of related Federal program or policy decisions and the leaders or agencies who make and implement them? and
What measures, data sources, and analytic methods provide actionable information about the relative effectiveness of PPCE approaches in terms of their contributions to increasing reach, improving diversity and inclusivity, eliciting substantive involvement and nuanced input from participants, and promoting trust in Federal decision-making?

This Challenge includes a two-phase process to propose and develop an evaluation toolkit that provides Federal agencies with guidance, methods, and metrics to effectively plan, collect, and measure key aspects of their PPCE activities. Specifically, this Challenge is expected to address Federal agency needs for generating and applying credible evidence to their adoption of appropriate and effective PPCE activities. Solvers will be eligible for up to $195,000 of prize funds from GSA. Additionally, the top-scoring Solver may have the opportunity to collaborate with a Federal agency in a pilot implementation of the Solver’s evaluation toolkit as part of a PPCE activity, to the extent allowable (more information further below).

[1] For example, see Holley, K. (2016). The Principles for Equitable and Inclusive Civic Engagement: A Guide to Transformative Change. Columbus, OH: The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University (highlighting six principles of equitable and inclusive civic engagement: 1) embracing the gifts of diversity; 2) realizing the role of race, power and injustice; 3) radical hospitality: invitation and listening; 4) trust-building and commitment; 5) honoring dissent and embracing protest; and 6) adaptability to community change). Examples across the Federal Government include White House, “Fifth Open Government National Action Plan to Advance a More Inclusive, Responsive, and Accountable Government.” 28 Dec. 2022; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Public Participation Guide: Internet Resources on Public Participation.” 31 Jan. 2024; and U.S. Dep’t of Transp., “Promising Practices for Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making.” Nov. 2023.

DOE's ETIPP works alongside coastal, remote, and island communities seeking to transform their energy systems and increase energy resilience. These communities have unique physical features that fundamentally shape what energy options are available. For many of these communities, access to resilient, affordable, sustainable, and clean energy resources is a priority. ETIPP helps communities to assess and advance the solutions that best meet their needs.

In addition to supporting communities in their energy system transformation, ETIPP is also committed to the Justice40 Initiative. This government-wide initiative has a goal of delivering 40% of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments in climate and energy to disadvantaged communities, and it tracks performance toward that goal. Applications that demonstrate their project will directly benefit a disadvantaged community are strongly encouraged.