Challenges & Prizes for Climate Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3100 To direct the Secretary of Energy to provide for prize competitions relating to climate and energy, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 5, 2019 Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. CRIST, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. DEUTCH, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N of Puerto Rico, Mrs. MURPHY, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, and Mr. KILMER) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To direct the Secretary of Energy to provide for prize com- petitions relating to climate and energy, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Challenges & Prizes 4 for Climate Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. CLIMATE SOLUTIONS CHALLENGES. 6 (a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3100 IH shall establish a program to be known as ‘‘Climate Solu- 1 tions Challenges’’ for carrying out prize competitions de- 2 scribed under subsection (d) pursuant to section 24 of the 3 Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 4 U.S.C. 3719) relating to the climate and energy. 5 (b) PRIZE COMMITTEES.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall assem- 7 ble a prize committee with respect to each prize 8 competition that shall define the scope and detail of, 9 and provide the requirements for, the prize competi- 10 tions under this section. Such committee shall be 11 composed of— 12 (A) members from the Federal agency, de- 13 partment, or office that most appropriately cor- 14 responds with the topic of the prize competi- 15 tion, including— 16 (i) with respect to a prize competition 17 under subsection (c)(4), the Administrator 18 of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- 19 ministration and the Director of the Na- 20 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 21 tration; and 22 (ii) with respect to a prize competition 23 under subsection (c)(5), the Director of the 24 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3100 IH istration and the Director of the National 1 Technical Information Service; and 2 (B) representatives of any other entities, 3 as determined appropriate by the Secretary, in- 4 cluding State and local governments and the 5 private sector. 6 (2) DEFINING TOPIC AREAS.—The prize com- 7 mittee may modify and define the scope of the prize 8 areas described under subsection (c), so long as such 9 modification is in accordance with descriptions in 10 such subsection. 11 (3) INCENTIVE FOR PRIZE COMPETITION.—The 12 prize committee for each prize competition shall de- 13 termine the incentive for the prize competition. In 14 determining the incentive, the committee shall con- 15 sider— 16 (A) a cash prize; 17 (B) access to Government facilities, such 18 as through a lab-embedded entrepreneurship 19 program of the Department of Energy, a coop- 20 erative research and development agreement, or 21 other method; 22 (C) advance market commitments for tech- 23 nologies of use or promise to the Federal Gov- 24 ernment; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3100 IH (D) any other incentive provided for by 1 law. 2 (4) JUDGING CRITERIA.—The prize committee 3 for each prize competition shall establish judging cri- 4 teria for the competition that shall include, at a min- 5 imum— 6 (A) potential for the solution to become a 7 commercial product or service or advance 8 knowledge to further the public good; 9 (B) consideration of how likely the solution 10 is to lead to subsequent research, development, 11 or manufacturing in the United States; 12 (C) the degree to which the solution will 13 lower the climate footprint of the United States; 14 and 15 (D) the degree to which the solution will 16 lower the global climate footprint. 17 (5) CONSIDERATION.—In carrying out this sec- 18 tion, the committee shall take into consideration the 19 best practices provided for in the challenges and 20 prizes toolkit made publicly available on December 21 15, 2016, by the General Services Administration. 22 (6) DEFINITION OF ADVANCE MARKET COMMIT- 23 MENT.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘advance mar- 24 ket commitment’’ means a commitment by the Fed- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3100 IH eral Government to purchase a set number of units 1 of a product from a private sector entity at an 2 agreed-upon price, assuming pre-specified criteria 3 are met. 4 (c) PRIZE COMPETITIONS.—In carrying out the pro- 5 gram, the Secretary shall provide for prize competitions, 6 including at least one prize competition on each of the fol- 7 lowing: 8 (1) CARBON CAPTURE AND BENEFICIAL USE.— 9 Solutions to capture carbon directly from the atmos- 10 phere or from sources that would otherwise be emit- 11 ted to the atmosphere, and convert it to a beneficial 12 use that does not result in near-term re-release into 13 the atmosphere, unless such re-release offsets the 14 emission of additional carbon into the atmosphere, 15 such that the net effect of the solution is to reduce 16 the overall amount of carbon being emitted to the 17 atmosphere. 18 (2) ENERGY EFFICIENCY.—Solutions to achieve 19 transformative increases in energy efficiency, defined 20 as an increase in energy efficiency of 2 times or 21 more over commonly-available technology without a 22 proportional increase in cost. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3100 IH (3) ENERGY STORAGE.—Solutions to achieve 1 implementation or grid integration of advanced en- 2 ergy storage technology. 3 (4) CLIMATE RESILIENCY.—Solutions to pro- 4 vide new or improved approaches to mitigating or 5 adapting to the effects of climate change (such as 6 floods, drought, excessive heat and cold, and severe 7 weather) in rural or urban areas. 8 (5) DATA ANALYTICS.—Solutions to— 9 (A) provide new or improved tools that use 10 data to better model Earth’s climate at a glob- 11 al, regional, or local scale; 12 (B) forecast climate-related phenomena 13 (such as weather, seasonal trends, oceanic and 14 atmospheric circulation); or 15 (C) provide actionable information on the 16 climate and related phenomena to government, 17 industry, and members of the public. 18 (d) ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS.—In addition to such 19 sums as may be appropriated or otherwise made available 20 to the Secretary to award prizes under this section, the 21 Secretary may accept funds from other Federal agencies, 22 private sector entities, and State and local governments 23 to award prizes under this section. The Secretary may not 24 give any special consideration relating to the selection of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3100 IH awards under the prize competition to any private sector 1 entity or individual in return for a donation to the Sec- 2 retary or prize committee. 3 (e) ELIGIBILITY.—Notwithstanding section 24(g)(3) 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 5 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719(g)(3)), a group may be eligible for 6 an award under this section if one or more members of 7 such group is a citizen or permanent resident of the 8 United States. 9 (f) COMPLETION OF PRIZE COMPETITIONS.—The 10 prize competitions carried out under this section shall be 11 completed not later than the date that is 5 years after 12 the program is established under subsection (a). 13 (g) GAO REPORT.—Not later than the date of com- 14 pletion under subsection (f), the Comptroller General of 15 the United States shall submit to Congress a report on 16 the impact and the effectiveness of the program carried 17 out under this section. 18 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 19 authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 to carry out 20 this Act, to remain available until expended. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3100.IH H3100 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS