(FOA)-Systems
for Monitoring and Analytics for Renewable Transportation Fuels from
Agricultural Resources and Management (SMARTFARM) (DE-FOA-0002250); February 19,
2020
Agency
Advanced
Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E)
Description
The
objective of the Systems for Monitoring and Analytics for Renewable
Transportation Fuels from Agricultural Resources and Management (SMARTFARM)
program is to bridge the data gap in the biofuel supply chain by funding the
development of technologies that can replace national averages and emissions
factors for feedstock-related emissions with field-level estimates. The value of
such technologies will be evaluated by their ability to reliably, accurately
(i.e. low uncertainty), and cost-effectively quantify feedstock production
lifecycle emissions (in g CO2e/acre) at the field level (i.e. scalable to >80
acres). If successful, the technologies funded by this phase of the
SMARTFARM program will catalyze new market incentives for efficiency in
feedstock production and carbon management, reducing annual U.S. emissions by
~1%, and with substantially greater potential emissions reductions implications
if expanded to other agricultural products beyond
biofuels.
The
SMARTFARM portfolio is structured in two initial phases: Phase 1 of the program,
which is described in Topic H: Establishing validation sites for field-level
emissions quantification of agricultural bioenergy feedstock production, of
DE-FOA-0001953, aims to support the
establishment of high-resolution datasets that will be available to the public,
without restriction, to support testing and validation of emerging monitoring
technologies. These Phase 1 production sites will be outfitted with
state-of-the-art equipment and monitored on a per-acre basis. The low profit
margins of feedstock production and
high cost of monitoring technologies make it cost-prohibitive to monitor
impacts on a larger scale at such high resolution, which is why this second
phase of the portfolio intends to fund technologies capable of delivering the
same estimates, at or below specified uncertainty levels, at a cost capable of
delivering a positive return on investment when field-level carbon emissions
reductions are connected to associated biofuel carbon
markets.
Instead,
historically-high fertilizer rates that are driven by the primary focus on yield
produce unnecessary emissions, impact water quality, and have uncertain returns
(e.g. an estimated $267–702 million of fertilizer value is lost each year15).
While these impacts are understood on a regional or national scale, field-level
contributions remain unknown because of the variability mentioned previously,
and the data are notoriously difficult to measure, both in terms of
instrumentation and operational (e.g. sample collection, preparation and
analysis) costs. Therefore, systems for reliably and cost-effectively
measuring seasonal N2O emissions and annual soil carbon flux at the field level
will be the focus of this phase of the SMARTFARM portfolio. The highly
reliable measurements from such instrumentation will provide sufficient
confidence to carbon markets, allowing for producers to be properly compensated
for the better carbon management practices they implement, instead of the
“national average.”
Announcement
Number:
DE-FOA-0002250
Closing
Date:
Concept
Papers: February 19, 2020
Link
to Full Announcement
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=323151
Contact
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