The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council aren’t names imbued with rockstar status – unless you like rockstars with a working knowledge of microprocessor innards and the periodic table – but with the money they’re bandying around today, they might as well be asking their underlings for a pound of Smarties with all the blue ones taken out. Which is a shame, as they’re one of the superior flavours.

Yes, this week the Technology Strategy Board and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (shall we call them the TSB and the EPSRC for short? Greenbang won’t tell if you won’t) are going to spend £10m each on 16 research projects looking into materials technologies that can tackle energy issues.

According to the egg-headed twosome the projects are looking into:

• Energy efficient bio-based natural fibre insulation
• New materials and methods for energy efficient tidal turbines
• A new manufacturing process to produce a novel cellular vacuum insulation panel for retrofit into buildings, to reduce heat loss and energy
• Sustainable power cable materials technologies with improved whole life performance

Here’s a sample of a couple of projects that got the nod:

Title: High rate, high energy batteries utilising structured electrode materials
Summary: The project aims to scale up structured cathode processes that will produce high rate, high energy batteries for use in hybrid diesel/gas/bio fuel powered electrical generation equipment.
Partners: QinetiQ Ltd (lead), ABSL Power Solutions Limited, The Boeing Company.

Title: Polymer Photovoltaic Architectural Glass
Summary: The objective is the development of low cost, translucent photovoltaic architectural glass based on conjugated organic polymers (OPV) for applications in building windows and curtain walling.
Partners: Polysolar Limited (lead), Linde Electronics, Imperial College, Sagentia Ltd, Pilkington Technology Management Limited.

If you’re a bit of a completist, you can get the whole list from this PDF, here.

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