$1.3 million in grants target green technology development

Babington Technology in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, recently was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to develop improved cookstove combustion technologies as part of $1.3 million in funding for 13 small businesses to counter environmental issues.

Babington will use its grant to work on ways to make cookstove combustion consume less electrical power, emit less carbon and run on lower costs.

The company is among 13 to receive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contracts for the development of green technology. Each of the companies will have the opportunity to apply for further funding of $300,0000 through a Phase II contract, which would allow them to further develop and commercialize the technologies they will work on through their Phase I contracts. Other technologies being developed include improved resin technologies, improved nutrient extraction technology for improving water quality and a bio-based green ceiling tile.

“The 13 businesses we are funding today are producing innovative and creative solutions for our country’s environmental problems,” EPA Science Advisor Thomas Burke, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Research and Development, said. “Small businesses play an integral role in creating technologies that will help ensure a sustainable future for our country.”