Who funds energy efficiency research?

We count 326 funded energy efficiency projects, active between 2020 and 2032, from 5 funders. The most came from EU · MSCA (69 projects), EU · Climate, Energy and Mobility (54 projects) and EU · Digital, Industry and Space (44 projects). The median award is $2.1M, across the 322 of 326 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

326

Funders

5

Median award

$2.1M

Open calls now

4

Top funders of energy efficiency research

Projects whose title or summary mentions energy efficiency. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open energy efficiency funding calls

4 open calls mention energy efficiency today.

• Energy efficiency and sustainability of AI data processing in Data Centres (IA)
  European Commission · Horizon Europe€9,000,000 – €10,000,000Deadline: March 18, 2027 ·
• Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Energy Efficiencies and Data Technologies
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program
  Rural Business-Cooperative Service $1,500 – $500,000Deadline: Not listed

Funded energy efficiency projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• CAREER: Analog Memory Leaks: Mitigating Remanence Side-Channels in Analog Compute-in-Memory Hardware
  NSF · CISE · $743,069 · ends 2031
• Farm-to-school (f2s) programs are vital for improving child nutrition and supporting regional agricultural economies
  USDA · $6,218,999 · ends 2031
• CAREER: ProTrain: Enabling Efficient Large Language Model Training via Performance, Energy, and Reliability Co-optimizations
  NSF · CISE · $533,628 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Leveraging Toes for Energy-Efficient and Agile Humanoid Robot Locomotion
  NSF · ENG · $750,000 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Atomistic-Scale Investigation of How Chemical and Physical Heterogeneities Govern Ion-Selective Transport in Metal-Organic Framework Membranes
  NSF · ENG · $548,900 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Opportunistic and Adaptive Multi-Modal In-Sensor Computing for Artificial Intelligence of Things
  NSF · CISE · $693,772 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Programmable Symmetry and Disorder in Mixed-Dimensional Materials for Probing the Emergence of Correlated Phases
  NSF · MPS · $672,573 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Energy-Efficient and Compact Foundation Model for Universal Virtual Sensing in Dynamic Energy Systems
  NSF · ENG · $587,981 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Nonlinear Algebra for Quantum Materials
  NSF · MPS · $450,000 · ends 2031
• CAREER: CORTEX: Next-Generation COmputing with Brain-Inspired Resilient, Transformative, and EXplainable Intelligence
  NSF · SBE · $655,286 · ends 2031

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “energy efficiency”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.