2021: DOE is moving at lightning speed towards clean energy goals
The Department of Energy (DOE) had an exceptional year 2021. We have pioneered game-changing scientific research, have continued to advance our important nuclear security and cleanup missions, and have made tremendous strides in tackling the climate crisis. As the United States’ âSolutions Departmentâ, the DOE is moving at lightning speed to meet President Biden’s ambitious goals of halving our carbon emissions by 2030, achieving 100% clean electricity. by 2035 and reach net zero by 2050.
Here are our top clean energy accomplishments for 2021:
- Finance climate solutions: Since President Biden took office, the DOE has invested more than $ 2.5 billion in research, development, demonstration and deployment of clean technologies in the energy, buildings, transportation sectors. and industry. We have announced a target of halving solar energy costs by 2030 and announced a joint target with the Home Office to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030. We have also achieved a milestone of providing a million home energy upgrades to save families money. on their energy bills.
- Accelerate progress in clean energy: The DOE launched the Energy Earthshots initiative to dramatically reduce the costs of essential clean energy technologies over the next decade to accelerate our progress towards 100% clean energy and net zero emissions. We announced our first three Energy Earthshots on clean hydrogen, long-term storage and carbon removal.
- Implementation of the bipartite law on infrastructure: The DOE receives a total of $ 62 billion from the presidential bipartite infrastructure law (BIL), the largest injection of funding since the department’s inception. We have created the Office of Energy and Transportation, a joint office between the DOE and the Department of Transportation that will oversee the implementation of BIL’s national electric vehicle charging network. We also launched the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which will oversee more than $ 21 billion in new funding for demonstration projects of emerging technologies such as clean hydrogen, advanced nuclear, geothermal and more.
- Investing in the Teslas of tomorrow: Our Loan Programs Office (LPO) is back, with a loan authorization of $ 40 billion to fund large-scale clean energy deployment projects. Under the Obama-Biden administration, LPO funded Tesla and set it up to become the world’s leading electric vehicle company. Under the Biden-Harris administration, LPO has more than ever allowed businesses to ask for loan guarantees, increasing the application rate by more than 50, and announced its first conditional commitment for a loan under the Biden-Harris administration .
- Building a Clean Energy Workforce: The DOE has launched a new Office of Energy Jobs to deepen our engagement with union leaders and ensure that the clean energy industry creates well-paying union jobs and employs a workforce that resembles America. We released the U.S. Energy and Jobs Report and announced a new policy requiring innovations developed with DOE dollars to be made largely in the United States. , manufacture of electric vehicles and interagency work.
- Create an inclusive clean energy economy: The DOE has launched a new Office of Energy Justice to ensure that underprivileged communities are the first to benefit from DOE’s investments in clean energy. We announced several awards and programs to invest in under-represented communities, including $ 12 million to tribal nations for clean energy and energy efficiency projects, the Communities LEAP initiative to support clean energy plans locally driven and inclusive innovation award to invest in Color energy entrepreneurs. We also created an Energy Justice (BETA) dashboard to allow the agency to see where every DOE dollar is spent in communities across the country. DOE is consulting tribal nations for the first time through our Office of Indian Energy, and engages with a wide variety of environmental justice actors to ensure our programs serve the communities that have the most. need.
- Empower energy communities: DOE helped launch the Interagency Coal and Power Plant Communities Task Force, which identified 25 priority communities for new investment and job creation, identified nearly $ 38 billion in existing federal resources to which these communities have access, and freed of them reports. This year, the DOE has invested in energy projects that may provide job opportunities that match skills for fossil fuel workers, including geothermal, advanced nuclear, and carbon capture.
- Supercharging solar energy: We launched the âSummer of Solarâ campaign to celebrate Americans from different walks of life who benefit from solar energy and the communities who make the switch-to-solar easier. As part of the campaign, we announced SolarAPP +, a tool to streamline solar permits for local governments, and we exceeded our target of registering 125 communities in SolarAPP + by the end of September. We have also set ourselves a goal of supplying 5 million homes with community solar energy by 2025.
Apply to join the DOE Clean Energy Action Team at: www.energy.gov/careers