Innovation technologies to reach a net-zero carbon economy

The U.S. environmental commitment to a net-zero carbon economy has prompted several efforts by the Department of Energy.

By: María Fernanda

The U.S. Department of Energy, through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, announced a $52 million funding opportunity (FOA) to accelerate domestic manufacturing research, development, and demonstration (RD&D). It also seeks to strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness and move toward a net zero carbon economy by 2050.

The Office of Advanced Materials and Technologies, led by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, oversees the FOA. The funding seeks to spur innovation to develop next-generation materials and manufacturing technologies. In sum, the FOA will help fulfill the commitment to address the climate crisis, secure domestic supply chains, and position the country as a global clean energy economy leader.

In addition to having a green commitment, the U.S. government has a social responsibility. Manufacturing is the backbone of the U.S. economy. It provides millions of high-paying jobs for workers across the country.

Likewise, the manufacturing segment is the key to America's clean energy future. But meeting climate goals will require significant investments in R&D and innovation in nextgeneration manufacturing technologies. This will be necessary to build competitive, sustainable, resilient manufacturing systems and domestic supply chains.

The industry, construction, transportation, energy, and agriculture sectors will count on carbon footprint reduction. All this through technologies that will be supported by funding to advance the decarbonization of the entire economy.

The FOA includes the following thematic areas: Next Generation Materials and Manufacturing: This thematic area also has support from part of the Office of Electricity. The topic will focus on cost-effective manufacturing processes and developing new materials with improved properties, such as high strength, conductivity, or high performance under extreme conditions.

Specific subtopics include metallic material systems with enhanced conductivity, materials for harsh environments, and AI/auto-learning for aerostructures.

Safe and Sustainable Materials: Focuses on materials R&D to support establishing a circular economy, emphasizing materials and product design, development of recycling technologies, and reverse supply chain logistics. A specific area of focus is pilot-scale regional demonstrations of circular supply chains that include technological advances such as innovative materials recovery, end-of-life processing, and recycling.

Energy Technology Manufacturing: This is a thematic area co-funded by the Building Technologies Office. It focuses on innovation and manufacturing clean energy technologies to improve performance and address technical barriers. Specific sub-themes are the scale-up of building dehumidification and the development, scale-up, and demonstration of processing technologies to manufacture next-generation cathode active materials (CAMs) to manufacture domestic electric vehicle batteries.

Finally, the awards will be cooperative agreements with two to three years of implementation. The deadline for submission of concept papers is February 3, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET.

AMMTO has a fundamental social-ecological commitment to advancing energy-related materials and manufacturing technologies to increase national competitiveness and build a clean, decarbonized economy.