David Keith

"Investment Snapshot: Advancing Energy Innovation Across America". The 2024 EERE Investment Snapshot highlights the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) advancements in clean energy technologies, fostering economic growth, environmental protection, and energy accessibility. Economic and Environmental Impact 1. Budget and Growth: • EERE manages an annual budget of $3 billion with over 2,000 active projects. • Clean energy jobs reached 3.5 million in 2023, with 142,000 jobs added that year, accounting for 5% of U.S. new jobs. • Investments in clean energy grew from $78 billion in 2018 to $240 billion in 2023, with venture capital firms contributing $140 billion between 2021–2023. 2. Cost Savings: • Energy efficiency has saved Americans $800 billion since 1980 and reduced household energy use by 20% since 2005. • EV battery prices dropped 79% in the past decade; solar installation costs fell 73%, and wind energy costs declined 41%. 3. Environmental Benefits: • Clean energy efforts have prevented 155 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 14 billion gallons of gasoline consumption. • Air pollution reductions could save 300,000 lives annually and $77 billion in health costs. Clean Energy Deployment 1. Solar Energy: • Utility-scale solar capacity grew 8.1x from 2013–2023, powering 25 million homes. • Community solar projects expanded to 7.2 GW, serving 1.7 million households with annual savings of $187.4 million. 2. Wind Energy: • Land-based wind energy increased 2.5x to 150 GW in 2023, powering 5 million homes. • Offshore wind’s potential capacity exceeds 80 GW, with $4 billion planned in new manufacturing investments. 3. Electric Vehicles (EVs): • EV sales surged 14.8x from 2013 to 2023, reaching 1.4 million vehicles in 2023, or 16% of new light-duty vehicle sales. • Lithium extraction advancements could supply batteries for 5 million EVs per decade. 4. Geothermal Energy: • Innovations reduced geothermal drilling costs by 50%, making enhanced geothermal systems viable to power 65 million homes. • The Salton Sea holds 3,400 kilotons of lithium, enough for nationwide EV deployment. Equity, Accessibility, and Innovation 1. Energy Access: • Programs like the National Community Solar Partnership target 53.2 million underserved households. • EERE-backed tools like SolarAPP+ reduced solar permit processing times by 31%, accelerating adoption in over 183 jurisdictions. 2. Technology Cost and Performance Improvements: Key innovations include a 500% efficiency improvement in thin triple-pane windows and significant advances in EV batteries and renewable energy storage technologies. 3. Public-Private Partnerships: Since 2019, EERE has leveraged $1.4 billion in federal funds to secure $1.1 billion in private investment, enhancing manufacturing, R&D, and workforce training programs.

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My hot take today is about a little noticed announcement the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released quietly today. It has reopened an opportunity to fund carbon dioxide transportation networks. This is a positive and a much-needed development because Cipher reporting earlier this year revealed that many of the carbon storage projects are not just dependent on securing permits but also on delivering the captured CO2. Aware of the paucity of transport networks, DOE itself noted, the U.S. will need to capture and permanently store approximately 400–1,800 million metric tons of CO2 annually by 2050 to meet its commitments. https://lnkd.in/ef7JPEgr In other top reads by my colleagues, Cat Clifford highlighted a Bloomberg article that spotlights how Holtec International, a company involved in making nuclear waste storage casks, is now looking to revitalize a nuclear plant headed for decommissioning. And Bill Spindle reported about an upcoming gathering of corporate heads of fossil fuel and tech companies. We try to stay on top of breaking news about the global developments in the cleantech and climate space and share them with you so continue reading our Top Reads and Hot Takes at Cipher News. Cheers!

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This new #MRSEnergyJournal article from the #Energy #Earthshots special issue discusses problems of #electrolyzers and presents the Center for Ionomer-based Water Electrolysis's approach to researching these issues. https://rdcu.be/dN0pl

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In our recent report on #Azerbaijan as #COP29 host one of the recommendations was: "The Caspian Sea, which Azerbaijan shares with #Russia, #Iran, #Kazakhstan and #Turkmenistan, is shrinking, highly polluted, and contaminated from oil drilling, shipping and military conflict. A concerted effort to clean up this shared asset and restore its ecology would be a major success, with dividends for all littoral countries. Again, this would help with confidence-building." https://lnkd.in/e8m5yCMi Sadly #geopolitics seems to be scuppering cooperation that would be in each of these countries' interests. The insightful article by Sanam Mahoozi below explains why.

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Get your IRA financial incentives while you can.

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While many argue that carbon capture, utilization, and storage (#CCUS) projects help move society toward climate goals, IEEFA's Grant Hauber suggests why this #technology, in its current form, will not play a major role: ▪️Carbon capture projects rarely meet their stated goals. IEEFA's analysis of 13 key CCUS projects, published in 2022, found that most failed to reach their targets. A 2023 IEEFA analysis demonstrated that most plants capture rates average about 50%, far below stated goals of 90% or above. ▪️Using data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Hauber and colleagues calculate that by 2030, CCUS will provide just 2.4 percent of all emissions reductions. That contribution is likely to be minor relative to more affordable and proven #renewableenergy, energy efficiency and electrification solutions which could account for nearly 70% of carbon dioxide reductions over the same time period. ▪️In many cases, the captured carbon dioxide is used to extract more fossil fuels in a process known as enhanced oil recovery, which only adds to emissions. Other existing solutions, such as renewable energy, offer deeper, quicker, and permanent carbon dioxide emissions cuts. https://lnkd.in/ggBh-HU9 #energy #climatechange #energytransition #climatefinance

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Great work by Synapse Energy Economics, Berkeley Lab and E4TheFuture in codifying Distributional Equity Analysis for distributed energy, and elevating it as and equal companion to Benefit-Cost Analysis. I'm hearing growing equity concerns about DERs - e.g., rising rates for renters/households/business who can't quickly weatherize/electrify/buy solar/storage/EVs; those "left behind" on natural gas. What if a project/program/investment passes BCA but worsens equity? Awesome to see these questions go mainstream - and a rigorous approach! I am looking forward to working on DER equity analysis! DOE page links to a long and short guide, and registration for a June 25th webinar: https://lnkd.in/gsC2WhKy #energyequity #distributedenergy #energyjustice

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Earlier today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published "An Action Plan for Rail Energy and Emissions Innovation." Congratulations to Natalie Popovich and everyone else who worked hard to get this written and released. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to several sections of this report and I'm very glad to see it published! It's truly exciting to see a serious discussion about railroad electrification returning to the United States. I am hopeful that in the coming decades, we can catch up to the rest of the world and put some catenary poles in the ground. The operational and environmental benefits are immense. I'm also glad that I was able to get the North Carolina Railroad Company and the S-line included as priority corridors for electrification. The South deserves electrified rail as well and the NCRR is an incredible corridor with high freight and passenger traffic. (And if any Georgia folks are interested in talking with me about electrifying our state-owned corridor from Atlanta to Chattanooga, my inbox is always open.) If you're interested in reading the report you can find it linked here: https://lnkd.in/etFuhidf Other sector reports are here: https://lnkd.in/ex6As4Bm And if you haven't read my white paper on the US rail system, published in July, give it a look, it includes a section on electrification and international comparisons: https://lnkd.in/e2FzTR_9 #rail #decarbonization #freight #electrification

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✨ #HighlyCitedPaper: Modeling Annual Electricity Production and Levelized Cost of Energy from the US East Coast Offshore Wind Energy Lease Areas 🖋️ by Rebecca J. Barthelmie, Gunner C. Larsen and Sara C. Pryor 👉 https://brnw.ch/21wPGTp Cornell University Danish Technical University #offshore #windenergy #microscalemodeling #windturbine #windturbinewakes #energiesmdpi #openaccess

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🚨 New Resource Released: State Toolkit for Industrial Decarbonization 🚨 The Industrial Innovation Initiative (I3) just released its State Toolkit for Industrial Decarbonization. The toolkit provides: ✅ Resources and targeted education on industry's role in the energy transition ✅ Actionable steps states can take to accelerate emissions reductions ✅ Connecting stakeholders to key technical partners and peer projects. Reaching midcentury climate goals will require states and manufacturers to lead in tackling industrial emissions. This toolkit by I3, an initiative of Great Plains Institute and World Resources Institute, is designed to help them do just that. Explore the toolkit on I3's website: https://lnkd.in/gx4aAnP6 #IndustrialInnovationInitiative #IndustrialDecarbonization Anna Schutt | Jessica Bennett | Madelyn Wiseman | Jordan Flanagan | Cassie Lopina | Haley Armstrong

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Making perovskite solar PV circular from the start: U.S researchers at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory used a circular economy framework to determine how to scale, deploy, and design metal halide perovskite solar panels to be easily recyclable in the future. #Renewables #Energy #Technology

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"Utilities have for decades “been using the same playbooks to build centralized generation and associated transmission and distribution to meet long-term demand needs. And it’s largely worked,” Shah said. “But with demand growth accelerating from data centers, new manufacturing, a surge of electric vehicles and electrified appliances ... an old grid operations paradigm needs to be updated.” After roughly two decades of stagnant electricity demand, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. now forecasts an approximately 15% to 20% increase in electricity consumption over the next decade, DOE noted in its brief. And by 2050, demand could double to meet net-zero emissions targets. Importantly, this demand growth is not unprecedented, according to Louise White, a senior consultant with the DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions and Loan Programs Office. Before 2005, the U.S. experienced periods of 10-year load growth of up to 30%, she said." https://lnkd.in/eZXGKWHf

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🔬 This week's research spotlight: Value-Added Conversion of CO2 🗒️ Project Overview: Led by FES PI Dr. Jingli Luo, this project delves into the value-added conversion of CO2, addressing the pressing issue of carbon emissions amid potential coal-fired power plant resurgences. The project explores electrochemical CO2 conversion (ECC) as an alternative approach to mitigate environmental impact, focusing on direct conversion into formate, alcohol, or hydrocarbon fuels using electricity. 💡 Key Objectives: ✨ Develop efficient and selective ECC catalysts for CO2 conversion ✨ Explore photoelectrochemical CO2 conversion to enhance electrical and photochemical efficiencies ✨ Establish a cell for converting CO2 into liquid fuels and valuable products Learn more about this project here 👉: https://lnkd.in/g4fg89PR #RenewableEnergy #CarbonEmissions #FutureEnergySystems

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On May 8, 2024, the Grid Deployment Office released a preliminary list of potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors. The preliminary list initiates Phase 2 of the process that DOE plans to follow to designate NIETCs. NIETC designation unlocks valuable federal financing and permitting tools to spur construction of transmission projects within a NIETC to alleviate the consumer harms. The preliminary list identifies which potential NIETCs DOE is continuing to consider; provides maps with rough approximation of boundaries; provides high-level explanation of the basis for potential NIETCs; and opens a 45-day public comment period on potential NIETCs.    https://lnkd.in/eUwr_Nk8

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Interesting paper on heat pumps, IRA, and industrial policy. h/t Tyler McMahon Key section: "We find several concerning trends in the market for heat pumps that industrial policy implementation should take into consideration. First, heat pump manufacturers continue to pour enormous amounts of their financial resources into investor compensation in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, rather than making larger investments in expanding capacity. Second, acquisition activity among these manufacturers appears to be speeding up in the wake of the IRA’s passage, with a few multibillion-dollar deals already announced or recently consummated. Third, there are concerning signs that consolidation at the local level of installation and distribution may lead to price increases down the line, with manufacturers acquiring regional distributors and private equity firms acquiring HVAC installers at a concerning rate. With the price of heat pumps continuing to rise, the risk is that the increased demand from IRA subsidies may simply be captured by consolidating interests in the heat pump supply chain, meaning that final consumers and buyers will not benefit directly from the IRA’s subsidies. This indicates that the Biden administration’s industrial policy and competition priorities should be more integrated with one another." https://lnkd.in/ezFNtJd4 Lee Harris

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How can utilities advance affordable and equitable decarbonization? NREL researchers explore how innovative and #inclusive utility program designs can help disadvantaged communities benefit from #CleanEnergy transitions. From reducing energy costs to improving health and resilience, this new report identifies 13 characteristics of utility #ProgramDesign to make decarbonization work for everyone. Check out the report to learn more ➡️ https://bit.ly/3TLlL8G

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