New York Times Energy Prize Article

Here's a roundup of some energy and environment prize news I've come across:

Using Prizes to Drive Energy Innovation - New York Times

The New York Times article mentions several different prizes. I've put together some links and updates on some of the prizes mentioned in the article.

The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE - I've posted on this many times, so you're probably familiar with this competition to encourage marketable highly fuel efficient vehicles. You can see the latest news on this X PRIZE here:

Meet the Qualified Teams at SEMA Next Week - Progressive Automotive X PRIZE blog - Actually the week in question ended on November 6; I'm a bit late with this link.

SEMA 2009: Progressive Automotive X-Prize Contenders - AutoBlog

@progautoxp twitter account also has numerous updates from SEMA.

$5.5 Million in Funding from U.S. DOE to Further Goals of Competition - X PRIZE Foundation press release - The X PRIZE Foundation, a world leader in conducting incentivized competitions to stimulate innovation, today announced it will receive up to $5.5 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). ... The DOE funding will provide for technical expertise that ensures each vehicle design is reviewed correctly and consistently. Funding will also support expanded outreach and education efforts that will focus on promoting public awareness of the science and engineering behind energy efficient vehicle designs.

Virgin Earth Challenge - The Virgin Earth Challenge is a prize of $25m for whoever can demonstrate to the judges' satisfaction a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth's climate.

I haven't seen a lot of activity on the Virgin Earth Challenge site over the years, but there's a post in the News and Press releases section on "846 ideas and counting" (actually over 900 according to the text) and geoengineering in general.

H-Prize - The H-Prize, enacted by Congress, authorized the Secretary of Energy to create a program to competitively award cash prizes that will advance the commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies by dramatizing and incentivizing accelerated research. ... There are several H-Prize categories, including production, storage, distribution, utilization, and prototypes and transformational technologies. The 2009-11 prize will be awarded in the area of storage materials in mobile systems for light-duty vehicles.

L Prize - Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the L Prize is the first government-sponsored technology competition designed to spur lighting manufacturers to develop high-quality, high-efficiency solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb.

Philips Submits First L Prize Entry - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition has received its first entrant, a product from Philips Electronics. Philips has developed, manufactured and will bring to market an LED replacement for the common 60-Watt incandescent light bulb. Philips developed this product in response to DOE's industry-wide challenge, and was today recognized by DOE as the first company to submit an entry.