Energy Department Posts RFI for Industrial Sector Decarbonization Opportunities

The Department of Energy is seeking information about opportunities and challenges regarding U.S. industrial sector decarbonization.

According to a request for information, the DOE wants to know about technologies and practices that would allow American manufacturers to reduce emissions while increasing competitiveness globally. The key technology pathways for decarbonization are energy efficiency; electrification; low-carbon fuels and feedstock; and carbon capture, utilization and storage, DOE said.

The DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office is specifically looking for emerging industrial decarbonization technologies, demonstration-scale projects for clean energy, obstacles in the United States’ efforts to decarbonize the manufacturing industry, resources that would accelerate zero-emissions manufacturing and strategies that would benefit the industrial workforce and communities. It is also seeking information on other technology areas.

DOE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Kelly Speakes-Backman said the industrial sector accounts for 28 percent of the United States’ energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. She noted that while reducing emissions from the sector will not be easy, it is an important step to allow the U.S. to achieve a decarbonized economy.

The deadline for responses to the RFI is Feb. 28.

The Biden administration identified industrial decarbonization as an important step in battling the climate crisis and achieving an equitable clean energy future. President Joe Biden set a target of reducing greenhouse gas pollution across the U.S. by at least 50 percent from 2005 levels in 2030 and reach net-zero emissions across the whole country’s economy by 2050.