I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5031 

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 

FEBRUARY 15, 2018 

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. FASO, Mr. CRIST, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, 

Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) introduced 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 competitions relating to climate and energy, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Challenges & Prizes 

5 for Climate Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLIMATE SOLUTIONS CHALLENGES. 

7 (a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 180 days after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy 

9 shall establish a program to be known as ‘‘Climate SoluVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Feb 20, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5031.IH H5031

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1 tions Challenges’’ for carrying out prize competitions de2 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 assem7 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 competi10 tions under this section. Such committee shall be 

11 composed of— 

12 (A) members from the Federal agency, de13 partment, or office that most appropriately cor14 responds with the topic of the prize competi15 tion, including— 

16 (i) with respect to a prize competition 

17 under subsection (c)(4), the Administrator 

18 of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad19 ministration and the Director of the Na20 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis21 tration; and 

22 (ii) with respect to a prize competition 

23 under subsection (c)(5), the Director of the 

24 National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdminVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Feb 20, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5031.IH H5031

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1 istration and the Director of the National 

2 Technical Information Service; and 

3 (B) representatives of any other entities, 

4 as determined appropriate by the Secretary, in5 cluding State and local governments and the 

6 private sector. 

7 (2) DEFINING TOPIC AREAS.—The prize com8 mittee may modify and define the scope of the prize 

9 areas described under subsection (c), so long as such 

10 modification is in accordance with descriptions in 

11 such subsection. 

12 (3) INCENTIVE FOR PRIZE COMPETITION.—The 

13 prize committee for each prize competition shall de14 termine the incentive for the prize competition. In 

15 determining the incentive, the committee shall con16 sider— 

17 (A) a cash prize; 

18 (B) access to Government facilities, such 

19 as through a lab-embedded entrepreneurship 

20 program of the Department of Energy, a coop21 erative research and development agreement, or 

22 other method; 

23 (C) advance market commitments for tech24 nologies of use or promise to the Federal Gov25 ernment; and 


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1 (D) any other incentive provided for by 

2 law. 

3 (4) JUDGING CRITERIA.—The prize committee 

4 for each prize competition shall establish judging cri5 teria for the competition that shall include, at a min6 imum— 

7 (A) potential for the solution to become a 

8 commercial product or service or advance 

9 knowledge to further the public good; 

10 (B) consideration of how likely the solution 

11 is to lead to subsequent research, development, 

12 or manufacturing in the United States; 

13 (C) the degree to which the solution will 

14 lower the climate footprint of the United States; 

15 and 

16 (D) the degree to which the solution will 

17 lower the global climate footprint. 

18 (5) CONSIDERATION.—In carrying out this sec19 tion, the committee shall take into consideration the 

20 best practices provided for in the challenges and 

21 prizes toolkit made publicly available on December 

22 15, 2016, by the General Services Administration. 

23 (6) DEFINITION OF ADVANCE MARKET COMMIT24 MENT.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘advance mar25 ket commitment’’ means a commitment by the FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Feb 20, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5031.IH H5031

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1 eral Government to purchase a set number of units 

2 of a product from a private sector entity at an 

3 agreed-upon price, assuming pre-specified criteria 

4 are met. 

5 (c) PRIZE COMPETITIONS.—In carrying out the pro6 gram, the Secretary shall provide for prize competitions, 

7 including at least one prize competition on each of the fol8 lowing: 

9 (1) CARBON CAPTURE AND BENEFICIAL USE.— 

10 Solutions to capture carbon directly from the atmos11 phere or from sources that would otherwise be emit12 ted to the atmosphere, and convert it to a beneficial 

13 use that does not result in near-term re-release into 

14 the atmosphere, unless such re-release offsets the 

15 emission of additional carbon into the atmosphere, 

16 such that the net effect of the solution is to reduce 

17 the overall amount of carbon being emitted to the 

18 atmosphere. 

19 (2) ENERGY EFFICIENCY.—Solutions to achieve 

20 transformative increases in energy efficiency, defined 

21 as an increase in energy efficiency of 2 times or 

22 more over commonly-available technology without a 

23 proportional increase in cost. 


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1 (3) ENERGY STORAGE.—Solutions to achieve 

2 implementation or grid integration of advanced en3 ergy storage technology. 

4 (4) CLIMATE RESILIENCY.—Solutions to pro5 vide new or improved approaches to mitigating or 

6 adapting to the effects of climate change (such as 

7 floods, drought, excessive heat and cold, and severe 

8 weather) in rural or urban areas. 

9 (5) DATA ANALYTICS.—Solutions to— 

10 (A) provide new or improved tools that use 

11 data to better model Earth’s climate at a glob12 al, regional, or local scale; 

13 (B) forecast climate-related phenomena 

14 (such as weather, seasonal trends, oceanic and 

15 atmospheric circulation); or 

16 (C) provide actionable information on the 

17 climate and related phenomena to government, 

18 industry, and members of the public. 

19 (d) ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS.—In addition to such 

20 sums as may be appropriated or otherwise made available 

21 to the Secretary to award prizes under this section, the 

22 Secretary may accept funds from other Federal agencies, 

23 private sector entities, and State and local governments 

24 to award prizes under this section. The Secretary may not 

25 give any special consideration relating to the selection of 


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1 awards under the prize competition to any private sector 

2 entity or individual in return for a donation to the Sec3 retary or prize committee. 

4 (e) ELIGIBILITY.—Notwithstanding section 24(g)(3) 

5 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 

6 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719(g)(3)), for a group to be eligible 

7 for an award under this section, at least one member of 

8 such group shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the 

9 United States. 

10 (f) COMPLETION OF PRIZE COMPETITIONS.—The 

11 prize competitions carried out under this section shall be 

12 completed not later than the date that is 5 years after 

13 the program is established under subsection (a). 

14 (g) GAO REPORT.—Not later than the date of com15 pletion under subsection (f), the Comptroller General of 

16 the United States shall submit to Congress a report on 

17 the impact and the effectiveness of the program carried 

18 out under this section. 

19 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

20 authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out 

21 this Act, to remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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