WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will fund new pilot projects for the American manufacturing sector to reduce carbon emissions, a key step toward meeting President Biden’s goal of a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. According to the DOE, America’s industrial sector contributed 23 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2019.
“The DOE is helping reestablish U.S. manufacturing leadership, while scaling up the technologies needed to reduce our collective carbon footprint and address climate change,” says Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
The DOE is providing $42.3 million in funding to support manufacturing innovations for high-performance clean energy technologies to drive economy wide reductions in carbon emissions. These include next-generation manufacturing processes that improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of energy-intensive industries; developing novel materials that improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes and resulting products; and improving the systems and processes for how energy is stored, converted, and used, including manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries to support electric vehicles.
The agency has selected five private-sector partners to each receive nearly $300,000 worth of technical assistance to test clean, efficient technologies in real-world industrial environments. For these Industrial Technology Validation projects, DOE will fund experts led by U.S. National Laboratories. Their duties include designing measurement and verification plans, conducting on-site testing, and drafting field validation reports.
These reports will be made publicly available to inform future energy-saving innovations. The selected testbeds will evaluate energy and water-treatment technologies in facilities operated by the following DOE Better Plants partners:
>Ahlstrom-Munksjo (Mosinee, WI): A leading company for sustainable and innovative fiber-based solutions for products like tea bags, coffee filters, food packaging, and face masks.
>Cleveland Cliffs (Cleveland, OH): The largest flat-rolled steel company and largest iron ore pellet producer in North America.
>Nissan North America (Canton, MS): Vehicle production plant with annual production capacity of 450,000 vehicles.
>Schneider Electric (Seneca, SC): Plant makes motor control centers used in applications ranging from production lines to wastewater treatment plants.
>Toyota North America (Blue Spring, MS): Vehicle production plant that produces the Toyota Corolla.
The projects will be led by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, part of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which invests in manufacturers, not-for-profit entities, research organizations, and institutions of higher education.
