Picture this: You’ve just demonstrated that your brilliant clean-tech project works, albeit on a very small scale, and that, if scaled up, it could help with the energy transition.

But now you need a lot more money to build it. You may have already raised funds from VCs, but not enough to finance an infrastructure-sized project. So you go to the banks…and every single one says, “Nope, too risky.”

Now what? Enter the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, in charge of more than $40 billion in funds, equivalent to the total, record-setting VC investments in climate tech last year.

The LPO, which was created through the Energy Policy Act of 2005, works with entrepreneurs to take emerging energy tech from demonstration to deployment. Using the expertise across the DOE, the office assesses these energy projects—and once the LPO issues a loan, the banks are much more comfortable following suit.

• During Barack Obama’s presidency, in 2010, the LPO provided a $465 million loan to Tesla, which grew into one of the most valuable automakers in the world.
• But the year before, it loaned $535 million to solar company Solyndra, which went bankrupt shortly afterward, drawing criticism.

The office was mostly dormant under President Donald Trump, but in March 2021, the Biden administration appointed Jigar Shah, who co-founded renewable-energy company SunEdison and clean-tech infrastructure investor Generate Capital, as executive director.

Now...Shah is looking to make up for lost time. In December, the office announced its first loan in years—more than $1 billion to finance the expansion of production facilities in Nebraska for clean-hydrogen company Monolith.

• Just last week, it announced a $107 million loan for Tesla graphite supplier Syrah Technologies to increase its production of battery anode materials in Louisiana.

“We have $40+ billion of authority that we got during the 2009-era stimulus. That money has been sitting around. We’ve got to put it out the door,” Shah told us.

Read our interview with Shah, one of the most important people in US climate tech.—GD

Lidar tends to be associated with autonomous vehicles, given that it’s widely considered to be an essential tool in helping AVs “see.”

But, but, but...Lidar—which stands for “light detection and ranging”—can put in work beyond AVs, helping to adjudicate Fat Bear Week, assist archeological digs, and—via a recent partnership—allow trains to detect obstacles at railway crossings.

South Korea-based Seoul Robotics is behind the latter application, partnering with Herzog Technologies in late March to develop the Critical Asset Monitoring (CAM) system, an obstacle-detection service for railway crossings. Herzog operates its own train collision avoidance systems in over 4,500 trains throughout the United States.

• Since its founding in 2017, Seoul Robotics has sold its lidar-perception software to industries including robotics and autonomous vehicles, and cities looking to implement smart-city solutions, and raised $18.1 million in funding.

No CAM(era)

Spawned out of an idea to use lidar to test the perceptive range of a single sensor, the CAM system uses lidar sensors to observe and pinpoint when cars, trucks, buses, and people encroach into a railway intersection, alerting train operators in real time to slow down and avoid major, potentially fatal accidents.

• According to the US Department of Transportation, there have been 19,342 railway collisions, resulting in 2,260 fatalities, since 2013.

“As long as you have a physical shape, as long as you’re not a ghost, the system is able to detect whether something is there or not,” HanBin Lee, CEO of Seoul Robotics, told Emerging Tech Brew. “First example: cameras. You have to train those…to identify certain objects, or the object has to move in order for the camera system to understand. For us, as long as it has a physical shape, we’ll process it.”

Zoom out: So far the CAM system is in its early stages—Lee said it’s finished testing and is being deployed to “multiple sites” with private train operators in South Korea, Texas, and California. Seoul and Herzog have collaborated with Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail operator between Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, to use the technology.

Read the full story here.—JM

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

My work focuses on bridging the gap between quantum technology hardware and business applications of quantum computing. Two years ago, we were working to educate businesses, organizations, and technologists about the promise and power of Quantum Information Science (QIS). Today, we’re working with organizations like Argonne National Lab to implement quantum technology.

What’s your favorite emerging-tech project you’ve worked on?

Using quantum technology to solve more humanitarian-focused problems. One example is using quantum technology to produce more sustainable fertilizer—and doing so more efficiently. Fertilizer production emits an enormous amount of greenhouse gas, and it also takes a lot of time and money to do so. Quantum technology can be used to solve certain molecular and chemical processes that will ultimately positively impact our daily lives.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about?

Merging quantum computers with quantum sensors. While the two technologies exist today, they’re isolated from each other. There’s a huge opportunity ahead in connecting quantum sensing (with applications like more robust GPS) with quantum computing (using quantum physics to create new ways of computing).

What’s the best piece of tech-related media you’ve read/watched/listened to?

Kara Swisher’s podcast Sway and Axios for its coverage of the VC world and emerging tech news.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

I am a professionally trained pizza chef. I studied in Naples, Italy, under Enzo Coccia, who is arguably the most well-known pizza chef in the world.

Stat: Exxon predicts that carbon capture—i.e. stopping CO2 from fossil fuel-based cars or industrial operations from entering the atmosphere—will be a $4 trillion industry by 2050.

Quote: “None of this is magic...The language model in GPT-3 is well beyond my capabilities to explain, but when you use it, you can kind of see how it works.”—Alex Petros, one of the creators of the r/AreYoutheAsshole AI tool, to Emerging Tech Brew

Read: Direct lithium extraction could help alleviate the lithium pinch. But will it work at scale?

And the cash-back crown goes to: this card. It’s kinda no contest, considering it offers up to 5% cash back, no annual fee, and a 0% intro APR for over a year. Yep, it’s a certified cash-back king. Learn more here.*

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In this week’s edition: lab-grown meat, RJ Scaringe, and satellite broadband for planes.

Click here to play.

For a carbon-removal convo: Tomorrow, we’re talking to Michelle You, co-founder and CEO of Supercritical, a startup that helps tech companies measure their carbon footprint and then purchase high-quality carbon-removal credits. Click here to set a reminder for the convo, which will happen on Twitter Spaces.

For tech gossip: Internal Tech Emails collects and posts…internal tech emails. If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to get an email from Sergey Brin or Bill Gates, well, take a look here.

For a more discreet smart home: MIT researchers designed a system that uses CO2 and infrared sensors to monitor human behavior, rather than video or audio recording.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Vertical farms have the vision, but do they have the energy?
• Batteries beyond EVs—everything you need to know about stationary storage
• Fan of r/AmItheAsshole? Now, a Reddit-trained AI can give you the answer