Funding the Future: The Impact of Federal Clean Energy Investments

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing highlighting the impacts of the latest Department of Energy (DOE) research and innovations in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation. In particular, the briefing focused on Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) program successes, as well as plans for future investments. 

The briefing highlighted key proposed investments in the Biden-Harris Administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget request and partnerships between EERE and the private sector that improve and deploy clean energy. Panelists discussed how investments in advanced technologies supported by the Department of Energy can drive decarbonization while building a clean energy workforce, advancing environmental justice, and keeping energy affordable.
 

Highlights

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is the federal government's largest investor in applied clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment.  EERE’s investments in nascent sectors like sustainable aviation fuels and in technologies like geothermal power help to attract private investors by de-risking these industries. EERE plays an important role in bridging National Laboratories to industry, and research and development to deployment. A key aspect of this work is building partnerships across academia, national labs, federal agencies, communities, and industry.

 

Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Department of Energy (DOE)

• EERE is the federal government's largest investor in applied clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment. EERE supports the development of new clean energy technologies and advancements to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of existing technologies like wind and solar, in partnership with the National Labs.
• EERE priorities include transitioning the electrical grid to 100% clean electricity by 2035 and decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like agriculture, transportation, buildings, and industry. EERE’s three pillars—sustainable transportation fuels, renewable energy, and buildings and industry—each support a variety of projects intended to achieve these goals.
• DOE has agency-wide comprehensive plans to decarbonize buildings and transportation by 2050.
• Partnerships with nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and private companies are essential to advancing EERE’s work. State, local, and tribal government partnerships are also critical to ensure that EERE reaches all U.S. communities in an equitable way.

 

Q&A

 

How has funding from EERE enabled your company to achieve something that would not have been possible without it?

 

Tom Michels, Director, Government Affairs, United Airlines

• United Airlines is an active and engaged partner with EERE and the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge, but United does not receive direct funding from EERE.
• United used about four billion gallons of jet fuel in 2023. Jet fuel combustion accounts for 98% of United’s greenhouse gas emissions. United’s staff, facilities, ground vehicles, and other sources of emissions all together produce only 2% of the company’s emissions.
• Electric aircraft are a potentially viable solution for short flights of 200 miles or less.
• There are no deployable alternatives to jet fuel for long flights, but jet fuel can be derived from more sustainable sources that are chemically-indistinguishable from fossil fuel-based jet fuel but with lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.
• United utilizes used cooking oil, waste fats and greases from animal processing, and crop oils as feedstocks for jet fuels, which are all considered SAFs.
• In response to DOE’s SAF Grand Challenge, United set a goal to have 10% of its total fuel use be made up of SAF by 2030, which would be a large increase from its current use. In 2023, United was the largest consumer of SAF in the world, using seven million gallons of fuel (but only about 0.175% of its total usage).
• Through investments and the SAF Grand Challenge, EERE is creating an ecosystem for commercially-viable SAF production, which is still a new industry.
• Wall Street has not invested in SAFs yet and is waiting to see more proof on their return. United’s corporate venture fund identifies promising SAF technologies and invests directly in the companies that are developing them.
• EERE has also provided grants to many of United’s fuel partners. One partner is Alder Renewables, which uses technology developed by the national labs to chemically convert wood chips into high grade, low-carbon jet fuel using pressure, high heat, and an oxygen-free environment.
• DOE also funds LanzaJet, a company that converts low-carbon ethanol into energy-dense jet fuel using a biological process.
• The SAF industry relies on partnerships between the private and public sectors and federal policies that support emerging technologies, research, and development.

 

Alexandra Bailey Smith, Strategy Lead, Fervo Energy

• Geothermal power uses heat from the Earth to produce steam for electricity generation. In order to produce geothermal power, an area needs to have hot rock, fluid, and fissures in the rock for the fluid to flow through, but natural occurrences of these three elements together are limited to very specific locations. Developers are able to pump water into existing fissures to eliminate the need for natural fluid, but this process is still limited to areas with existing fissures. Furthermore, natural fissures can be unpredictable and difficult to work with.
• Fervo Energy has developed a process, based on oil and gas hydrofracturing techniques, to create controlled rock fissures for geothermal power generation. This technique makes it possible to produce geothermal power in more areas, opening up an estimated 300 gigawatts of potential geothermal power in the United States with existing drilling techniques.
• Indirect federal funding has played a major role in Fervo’s progress. The DOE-funded laboratory, Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE), provides extensive data about drilling techniques and materials, allowing companies to learn what is most effective. Utah FORGE has also studied the availability and extent of geothermal resources in its surrounding area, allowing companies to skip the risky and expensive exploration phase of siting facilities.

 

Kiran Manchiraju, Vice President of Research, Southwire

• Southwire is a cable manufacturing company and has a goal to have net-zero operations at its plants in the next four to five years.
• DOE’s national laboratories have made significant advancements in material innovations.
• Southwire uses about one billion pounds of copper per year and more than 500 million pounds of aluminum per year. Its manufacturing processes are very energy intensive.
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed methods to eliminate certain harmful chemicals used in manufacturing aluminum rods. Southwire used this approach to eliminate 80% of titanium borides from the aluminum rod manufacturing process. This also reduced carbon emissions by 2,000 metric tons.
• Southwire used concepts developed by national laboratories and translated them into manufacturing better cable products.

 

How has EERE helped workers be part of the clean energy transition, and what are some areas where future partnerships can further support the workforce?

 

Smith

• The geothermal industry gives oil and gas workers the opportunity to transition into renewable energy with very little retraining. Programs like the DOE’s Geothermal Energy from Oil and Gas Demonstrated Engineering (GEODE) initiative have demonstrated the value of oil and gas experience to geothermal development.
• The entire geothermal industry is supporting workers in the energy transition, so additional funding to develop new projects will support a strong renewable energy workforce.

 

Manchiraju

• The existing grid is very energy intensive, with many transmission lines running extremely long distances. The energy transition is expected to lead to more distributed energy, with transmission occurring on a more local scale.
• Renewable energy development will have a major impact on cable companies like Southwire as the needs of the grid change. These companies will need to develop their products differently. These shifts will create a need for a new generation of workers with different skills.
• Partnerships with academic institutions and government agencies are essential to help private companies understand changes in the industry and provide support for the new skills needed.

 

Michels

• Ground-service equipment contributes significantly to air pollution in and around airports. United is working to electrify ground-service vehicles to reduce this pollution, which requires infrastructure changes and maintenance technicians trained to service them.
• United has started a new three-year apprenticeship program called Calibrate, which trains maintenance technicians, including aircraft mechanics. This kind of training can otherwise require two years in school at a cost of between $50,000 and $70,000. The program was established in conjunction with the Department of Labor, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and partners with Industrial Assessment Centers funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (P.L. 117-58). These kinds of programs break down barriers to highly skilled, high-paying jobs while developing a stronger workforce.

 

What is EERE investing in today that will become important in the next few years?

 

Manchiraju

• Electricity demand will increase as more appliances become connected to the grid. Grid infrastructure today transmits electricity over huge distances. Loss of electricity during transmission is directly proportional to transmission distance, which results in high electricity losses from transmission lines.
• As companies and organizations look towards renewable energy, there must be a reduction in line losses. Laboratories and academia are researching ways to increase the amount of power that existing power lines can transport.

 

Michels

• SAF projects take longer to develop, but past investments are yielding fruit.
• There will not be a SAF solution coming out in the next two to five years that will change the world, but sustained investments from key government partners are crucial.
• Investments from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) (P.L. 117-169) and IIJA that are behind some of EERE’s initiatives will have significant returns. These public investments have attracted private investors by de-risking these industries.

 

Smith

• Fervo is still early in its development and is facing high costs (a 400-megawatt project it launched last year is expected to cost billions of dollars). Fervo is taking on that burden itself, by raising funds from venture capital, through company equity.
• There is a need for flexible investment from EERE to support research, development, and specifically deployment.

 

Marootian

• The global clean energy market will be worth an estimated $23 trillion by 2030.
• Public investments, especially from IIJA and IRA, have been fruitful and private industry has matched and surpassed public investments. These investments are supporting job creation and the opening of new manufacturing facilities.
• There is great work being done with federal resources and support to bring costs down for energy technologies so they can be commercialized and scaled.

 

What is one takeaway about the relationship between EERE and your industry you want Congressional staff to leave with?

 

Michels

• Industry needs public support in goal setting, developing knowledge partners, and funding.
• Emerging energy technologies lack project finance, though there is venture funding. DOE is crucial in funding energy demonstration projects and laboratory research and development, which strengthens U.S. competitiveness in the international energy market.

 

Smith

• EERE plays an important role in bridging national laboratories to industry, and research and development to deployment.

 

Manchiraju

• EERE helps Southwire by providing support for strategic partnerships between industry and academia. These partnerships support the transition between research and development.

 

Marootian

• DOE’s success is dependent on its partnerships with other federal agencies, the White House, and communities across the country.
• EERE seeks collaboration and wants to support clean energy technologies at all stages, from laboratory research to full scale deployments.

 

Compiled by Emily Phillips and Meghan Tinnea and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.