The Department of Energy is investing $171 million for 49 projects across 21 states targeting greenhouse gas emissions reductions and the acceleration of new decarbonization technologies for industry and manufacturing in the United States.
Another $83 million in funding is up for grabs with applications open to decrease emissions from hard-to-decarbonize industries. Those industries account for roughly 30% of all U.S. carbon emissions.
The funding opportunities are part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda and supports the DOE’s Industrial Heat Shot and Clean Fuels and Products Shot, which aim to develop cost-competitive industrial heat decarbonization technologies with at least 85% lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and decarbonize the fuel and chemical industry through alternative sources of carbon, respectively. The Biden administration has an overall goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.
“Today’s announcement will help advance the innovative technologies we need to lower costs and improve energy efficiency in America’s factories and industrial centers,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement. “Ensuring America's industrial sector and its robust workforce remain strong and competitive is key to maintaining our nation’s edge as a global economic powerhouse and accelerating President Biden’s vision of a strong, made-in-America clean energy future.”
The projects selected for the funding will be managed by the DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office and will support pilot-scale research and development to reduce energy usage and GHG emissions from industrial subsectors. One target area is the chemical industry, which produces about 40% of all industrial energy use in the United States.
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Of the 49 selected, 16 will be led by private industry, 22 by academic institutions, three by non-profit organizations, and eight by DOE National Laboratories.
The projects will focus:
Applications for the next round of funding for decarbonization in the highest-emitting sectors are open until March 19, 2024.
