CEC ETDG Program Awards $1,500,000 to QBI

On October 20th, 2011, the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program released a Program Opportunity Notice (PON-11-501) entitled “2011 Emerging Technology Demonstration Grant Program (ETDG II).” The purpose of the solicitation was to fund emerging technologies in the industrial, agricultural and water sectors that will significantly reduce California’s energy and water use. Proposers competed in the following project categories: 1) Water and Wastewater; 2) Data Centers; 3) Customer-Side Electricity Storage; and 4) Industrial Energy Efficiency Projects.

Quantitative BioSciences received a grant of $1,500,000 to build a full-scale wastewater treatment system on the Van Ommering Dairy Farm in Lakeside, CA.  Work is currently underway on the construction on the system, which will handle 40,000 gallons of waste per day and include two 200-foot, 60,000 gallon high rate algae ponds.

USDA Awards QBI a $75,000 Conservation Innovation Grant

Quantitative BioSciences is one of seven private companies and conservation and agricultural organizations that have been awarded 

Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) in California, totaling $497,625. These are in addition to the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) national awards for organizations in the state for over $1.5 million. The ultimate goal of the grants is to help the Agency and California farmers and ranchers with technical tools to protect natural resources.

NRCS California State Conservationist Lincoln E. Burton announced the awarding of the grants that range from $47,625 up to $75,000 ($75,000 is the maximum allowed for state awards). All contain at least a 50 percent match from non-federal sources, as required by the program.

Quantitative BioSciences was awarded $75,000 to develop a pilot scale version of an efficient and renewable agricultural waste treatment and bio energy production system.  They are working in partnership with the Van Ommering Dairy Farm, a third generation family operation in Lakeside, CA

“The conservation landscape constantly changes and challenges us to be nimble in our ability to address these issues. Some of our best ideas for developing and adapting our technical tools to address modern challenges come from private groups and individuals,” said Burton. “The current set of awardees will bring us new insights into conservation technical solutions for water resources, grazing lands, energy, air quality and more.”

Nationwide through CIG, the USDA-NRCS is investing nearly $22.5 million in innovative conservation technologies and approaches that address a broad array of existing and emerging natural resource issues.  The CIG grants were established in the 2008 Farm Bill as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Additional information is available online at http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/.

Gates Foundation Awards QBI $100,000 Grand Challenges Grant

Quantitative BioSciences Receives $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant for Ground-Breaking Research in Global Health and Development 

San Diego, CA – Quantitative BioSciences announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Quantitative BioScienceswill pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled “Algae for the Effective and Economical Treatment of Waste.”

Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds scientists and researchers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Quantitative BioSciences’s project is one of over 85 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 grants announced today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“GCE winners are expanding the pipeline of ideas for serious global health and development challenges where creative thinking is most urgently needed.  These grants are meant to spur on new discoveries that could ultimately save millions of lives,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

To receive funding, Quantitative BioSciences and other Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas: polio eradication, HIV, sanitation and family health technologies, and mobile health.

Quantitative BioSciences in San Diego is developing an algae-based waste treatment system targeted for third-world applications.  Cyanobacteria will treat a community’s waste and produce two forms of renewable energy: nutrient-rich fertilizer to enhance agriculture and biomethane to power the facility and neighboring community.

Grand Challenges Explorations is a US$100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Launched in 2008, Grand Challenge Explorations grants have already been awarded to nearly 500 researchers from over 40 countries.  The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline and from any organization.  The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page online applications and no preliminary data required.  Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.