[Stoves] DOE request for SBIR/STTR

[Andrew C. Parker]

I pulled the applicable text (to the best of my knowledge) from the pdf  
document.  I hope that it helps.


U.S. Department of Energy
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and
Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs
Participating DOE Research Programs:
 Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation  Office of Environmental  
Management
 Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability  Office of Fossil  
Energy
 Office Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy  Office of Nuclear Energy

Topics
FY 2012
Phase I
(Release 2)
Ver. 1
November 1, 2011

Please Note: the Following Important Dates Pertaining to these Topics
and the FY 2012 SBIR/STTR Phase I (Release 2) Funding Opportunity
Announcement (FOA). All dates are preliminary and subject to change.

· Topics Released: November 1, 2011
· FOA Issued: November 28, 2011
· Letter of Intent Due Date: December 20, 2011, 11:59 PM EST
· Application Due Date: January 31, 2012, 11:59 PM EST
· Award Notification Date: May 2012
· Start of Grant Budget Period: June 2012

(p. 28)
10. SELECTED RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

The U.S. Department of Energy is seeking the development of innovative  
technologies for: (a) Low emission, high-efficiency biomass cook stoves;  
(b) Process intensification of biochemical and thermochemical conversion  
pathways for fuels and chemicals from biomass; (c) Innovative technologies  
(not conventional Rankine or Binary cycle) for electricity generation from  
geothermal heat and fluid resources; (d) Manufacturing tools for  
reliability testing in PV module manufacturing environments; (e) PV module  
and system manufacturing metrology, diagnostics, and process control; (f)  
Mooring Technologies for Floating Offshore Wind systems; and (g) Advanced  
electrical grid interfaces for Marine Devices.

Grant applications submitted in response to this topic must: (1) include a  
review of the state-of-the art of the technology and application being  
targeted; (2) provide a detailed evaluation of the proposed technology and  
place it in the context of the current state-of-the-art in terms of  
performance, lifecycle cost, reliability, and/or other key attributes; (3)  
analyze the proposed technology development process, the pathway to  
commercialization, the large potential markets it will serve, and the  
attendant potential public benefits that would accrue; and (4) address the  
ease of implementation of the new technology.

Phase I should complete (1) a preliminary design, (2) a characterization  
of laboratory devices using the best measurements available, including a  
description of the measurement methods, and (3) the preparation of a road  
map with major milestones, that would lead to a production model of a  
system that would be built in Phase II. In Phase II, devices suitable for  
near-commercial applications must be built and tested, and issues  
associated with manufacturing the units in large volumes at a competitive  
price must be addressed.

Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:

a. Clean Biomass Cook Stove Technologies

An estimated 2.5 billion people, or about one-third of the world’s  
population, rely on biomass fuel for cooking. Improved cook stoves can  
increase access to clean energy, enhance indoor air quality, personal  
health, livelihoods, and the environment. Progress has been made in  
designing and disseminating cook stoves with reduced emissions and  
increased efficiency, but further reductions in emissions are needed to  
meet WHO guidelines for indoor air quality (IAQ),1 to achieve significant  
health benefits, and to limit GHG emissions like black carbon.

As part of the U.S. government’s commitment through the Global Alliance  
for Clean Cook stoves, DOE is interested in supporting research to develop  
low-emission, high-efficiency biomass cook stoves. The Alliance has set a  
goal of disseminating 100 million clean cook stoves by 2020 that provide  
significant health, energy, and climate benefits. To achieve this goal,  
these stoves must have significantly reduced emissions and higher  
efficiencies, they must address user preferences and needs, and they must  
be widely available and affordable.2 To verify stove performance in the  
field, lower-cost, more user-friendly, and long-lasting data logging  
instruments with wireless capability have been identified as an important  
need.3 Improved field performance data can also provide feedback for the  
stove development process. Small businesses developing cook stove  
technologies can drive innovation in the U.S. for international markets as  
well as domestic markets where the technologies are applicable.

Grant applications are sought for the development of innovative affordable  
biomass cook stoves that reduce emissions by at least 90% and reduce fuel  
use by at least 50% compared to traditional biomass-fueled cook stoves.  
Controls, sensors, or fans that lead to significant performance  
improvements and/or cost reductions also fall under this area.3 Proposed  
technologies should address local conditions and use locally available  
biomass fuels. All stages of research and product design should be  
integrated with laboratory and field validation of stove performance,4, 5  
user acceptance, and ease of maintenance. By the end of Phase I, projects  
should benchmark the performance of existing technologies, establish user  
preferences and needs, and demonstrate that prototype designs can reduce  
emissions by at least 90% and fuel use by at least 50% from existing  
technologies in laboratory studies. During Phase II, projects should  
conduct field studies that demonstrate at least 90% emissions reductions  
and 50% fuel use reductions in conjunction with laboratory studies,  
improve stove design to increase performance and usability in the field,  
and reduce costs to a level that is affordable by households in the  
geographic region.

Grant applications are also sought for instruments to improve field  
testing and monitoring of stove
performance and usage. Instruments should be affordable, reliable,  
durable, and user-friendly, while providing real-time measurements of  
stove use, efficiency, emissions, and/or exposures. By the end of Phase I,  
projects should have evaluated the feasibility of the monitoring  
technology. During Phase II, projects should evaluate the reliability and  
accuracy of the monitoring technology and develop analysis methods and  
software to facilitate the widespread use of the technology. Questions –  
contact: Travis Tempel, <Travis.Tempel at ee.doe.gov>

(p. 32)
References

Subtopic a:

1. World Health Organization (2010). “WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air  
Quality: Selected Pollutants.” ISBN: 9879289002134
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/128169/e94535.pdf

2. Ruiz-Mercado, I., Masera, O., Zamora, H., Smith, K.R. (2011). “Adoption  
and sustained use of  improved cookstoves.” Energy Policy, in press.
http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/publications/2011/ruiz_adoption.pdf

3. Department of Energy (2011) “Biomass Cookstoves Technical Meeting:  
Summary Report.”
http://cleancookstoves.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/DOE-cookstove-meetingsummary.pdf

4. Roden, C.A., Bond, T.C., Conway, S., Pinel, A.B.O., MacCarty, N.,  
Still, D. (2009). “Laboratory and field investigations of particulate and  
carbon monoxide emissions from traditional and improved cookstoves” Anibal  
Benjamin Osorto Pinel Atmospheric Environment, 43(6): 1170-1181.
http://www.cocinasmejoradasperu.org.pe/documentacion/laboratory%20and%20field%20investigations-of-emissions.pdf

5. Johnson M, Edwards R, Berrueta V, Masera O. (2010). “New approaches to  
performance testing of improved cookstoves.” Environ Sci Technol.,  
44(1):368-374.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es9013294