Biden’s DOE Announces $6 Billion to Reduce Industrial Carbon Footprint of Steel, Concrete and Foods Like Cheese

The United States Steel Corp. Clairton Coke Works along the banks of the Monongahela River in Clairton, Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2023. Thomas O’Neill / NurPhoto via Getty Images

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The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $6 billion in funding to decarbonize the country’s heavy industry facilities, including those that produce concrete, steel, iron and foods like cheese.

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda, DOE has planned 33 projects in more than 20 states with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, revitalizing industrial communities and bolstering U.S. manufacturing, a press release from DOE said.

“Spurring on the next generation of decarbonization technologies in key industries like steel, paper, concrete, and glass will keep America the most competitive nation on Earth,” said Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy, in the press release. “DOE is making the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in the history of the United States. These investments will slash emissions from these difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and ensure American businesses and American workers remain at the forefront of the global economy.”

The projects — funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — will create tens of thousands of jobs, as well as speed up the demonstration of commercial-scale emerging industrial decarbonization technologies that are essential to meeting domestic manufacturing and climate targets.

The focus will be on industries with the highest emissions where decarbonization technologies will make the most difference. Altogether, the projects are predicted to lead to an annual carbon emissions reduction in excess of 15.4 million tons — equivalent to that of three million gas-powered automobiles.

The new technologies will “set a new gold standard for clean manufacturing in the United States and around the world,” Granholm said, as The Guardian reported.

Many of the new projects will employ technologies that can be adopted throughout the sector and multiply the amount of emissions reductions, bolstering clean energy worldwide, the press release said.

Food manufacturer Kraft Heinz would receive as much as $170.9 million for the installation of heat pumps and electric heaters for operations like drying macaroni at 10 of their facilities across the U.S., reported The New York Times.

“It’s different from the electricity sector, where widely available alternatives to fossil fuels like wind, solar and batteries have come down dramatically in cost,” Morgan Bazilian, a Colorado School of Mines public policy professor, said recently in an interview, as The New York Times reported. “With industry, we haven’t yet seen clear winners emerge at the price needed.”

Almost 80 percent of the new projects are in disadvantaged communities, as defined by the Justice40 Initiative, providing a chance for investment in areas that have been subjected to divestment for years, according to DOE.

Nearly a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from the industrial sector. Projects supported by the new funding would reduce carbon emissions by 77 percent on average.

“The industrial sector’s unique and complex decarbonization challenges require equally unique and innovative decarbonization solutions that leverage multiple pathways including energy efficiency, electrification, and alternative fuels and feedstocks such as clean hydrogen,” the press release said.

The 33 projects chosen for award negotiations include seven having to do with chemicals and refining, six iron and steel, six cement and concrete, three food and beverage, three glass projects and involving one paper and pulp.

Mike Ireland, president and CEO of nonprofit Portland Cement Association, said U.S.-scaled concrete and cement technologies could be adopted by Global South developing nations and used to build more sustainable buildings and highways, reported The Guardian.

“I think the United States can be a leader here,” Ireland said.

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