The US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) will fund a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to accelerate wood heater innovation, reduce wood heater pollutants, and develop the next generation of efficient and clean wood heaters. Up to US$2 million will be available for Phase 2 of this competitively selected CRADA call, administered by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).
Approximately 11 million homes in the United States use wood pellets or cordwood/firewood/fuelwood for space heating.
Although these wood heaters are considered a renewable energy source, they produce harmful pollutants and contribute to about 7 percent of the nation’s total annual particulate matter (PM) 2.5 emissions.
Applicants will work with DOE national laboratories LBNL and BNL to develop a scope of work and budget and leverage their unique expertise to develop and validate the performance of innovative wood heater technologies.
Applicants’ scope of work should include their technology advancement goals, the laboratory’s capabilities being leveraged (e.g., real-time emissions measurements, domain expertise), SMART milestones, and a Go/No-Go decision point.
Research projects may include:
- Improving the performance of commercial wood heaters through design optimization/modifications.
- Developing and validating the performance of wood heater retrofit devices.
- Developing and validating the performance of post-combustion wood heater technologies (e.g., catalysts, electro-static precipitators – ESPs).
- Supporting field testing to better quantify heater performance, including advising on data collection of best practices and equipment, interpreting data collected, and understanding how collected data could be used to improve heater performance.
Up to four projects will be selected, each with a project duration of 12–24 months, and applicants are expected to provide a 20 percent cost share of the requested funding.
The deadline to submit a concept paper is September 13, 2024, and final proposals are due November 25, 2024.
