Advancing clean power

DOE Reports Top Achievements in 2021

The Department of Energy touted its top accomplishments in 2021, saying it had a standout year as it moved at “lightning speed” towards its environmental objectives. The year was spent pioneering “game-changing” scientific research, advancing important nuclear security and continuing cleanup missions, the DOE said Thursday.

In a statement, the DOE called itself America’s “Solutions Department,” vowing to realize President Joe Biden’s goals of cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030, reaching 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and getting to net-zero by 2050.

The department’s top achievements in 2021 were top-billed by the funding of climate solutions. The DOE said it has invested over $2.5 billion in research, development, demonstration and deployment of clean technologies across the power, buildings, transportation and industrial sectors since Biden took office in January 2021.

Also in 2021, the Department said it has accelerated clean energy breakthroughs. The DOE launched the Energy Earthshots Initiative to dramatically cut costs for lynchpin clean energy technologies over the next decade to accelerate progress towards clean power and net-zero emissions.

Moreover, the agency took the lead in implementing a nationwide infrastructure development project. The DOE said that it is receiving $62 billion total from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the largest infusion of funding since the Department’s founding. The recently-passed law seeks to rebuild America’s roads, bridges and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure everyone has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in less-serviced communities.

The department also spent the year building a Clean Energy Workforce. It established a new Office of Energy Jobs to deepen engagement with labor leaders and ensure that the clean energy industry creates well-paying union jobs.