America's Next Top Innovator Announces First Winner

The first winner of the US Department of Energy’s ‘America’s Next Top Energy Innovator Challenge’ was recently announced and awarded the inaugural prize by US Vice President, Joe Biden.

A Colorado start-up called e-Chromic LLC will be entitled to benefits that include reduced costs and paperwork requirements to get an option agreement to license their patents. Typically a long an costly process that can rack up anywhere between $10,000-$50,000 in fees, e-Chromic will be able to move forward on their patents for only $1,000 as well as receiving marketing support and having access to loans.

e-Chormic uses a special technology to create a thin film window material that will help to improve a buildings energy efficiency and reduce cooling costs by reflecting sunlight on demand. The technology means that users can control the tint of the windows depending on the times of day and have the potential to reduce air conditioning costs by 25-30% in hotter months.

The Innovator Challenge is open to start-ups innovating in the fields of biomass, vehicle technology and grid energy storage and who can assist in the Federal government’s mandate to reduce US oil imports by one-third by 2025. The application time runs though Dec. 15, 2011 and so far 400 companies have shown interest.