Climate-Tech Commercialization

An example in the chemical industry shows why DOE should prioritize transformative technologies over incremental ones to achieve far greater carbon-reduction impact and trigger a cascade of industrial technology adoption.

Activity in the hydrogen sector continues to ramp up, as more governments jostle to offer subsidies and incentives. In the U.S., the deadline for concept paper submission to DOE for the H2Hubs program has passed and many credible hubs are emerging.

The building sector is being left out in the cold when it comes to clean energy innovation. It’s long past time for Congress and the administration to rectify this by taking bold action to accelerate energy innovation for buildings.

As the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations seeks to accelerate the deployment of low-carbon technologies, it’s vital that process technology innovation be a significant portion of the portfolio.

The emerging hydrogen hubs are scrambling to meet the tight deadlines imposed by DOE for H2Hubs applications with the white paper due Nov 7. Meanwhile, some strong new hub contenders have emerged, and the potential impact of IRA hydrogen production subsidies also came into focus.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will play the most significant role in meeting President Biden’s goal of a zero-carbon aviation sector by 2050, but significant progress must be made to scale up production and bring down costs.

Watch the webinar where we shared new work from ITIF, George Mason’s Center for Energy Science and Policy, and the Center for Houston’s Future that investigates these pathways and explores policy options to decarbonize chemical production.

Hydrogen hubs are among the biggest commercially oriented programs that DOE has ever run. They are a test of the notion of a demonstration program at this scale and of the new Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.

The next Congress will have to wrestle with competing energy and climate innovation policy priorities. But despite their differences, the two parties will have potential opportunities for bipartisan collaboration.

A recent first-of-its-kind study of the value chain for polyvinyl chloride production in the United States provides valuable insights into the types and sequencing of policies that will be required to decarbonize chemical production.