President Joe Biden's administration is taking steps to distribute billions of dollars from last year's $1 trillion infrastructure law to support hydrogen production and reduce carbon emissions related to heavy industry.
The US Energy Department today launched a public input process to guide how it should spend up to $9.5bn the 2021 infrastructure law set aside for funding "clean" hydrogen projects over the next five fiscal years. The US Transportation Department is separately working on an effort to encourage federal transportation projects to make use of low-carbon concrete, asphalt and other construction materials.
The injection of billions of dollars in funding will encourage the innovations needed to cut emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like steel production and cement, administration officials say. US industry is the third largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions with 23pc of emissions in 2019, according to federal data.
"As you look at things like steel and cement and aluminum, the real opportunity to decarbonize those sectors comes from harnessing technologies that really have not been available in this sector in the past," a senior administration official said.
The White House has increasingly focused on climate-related funds in the bipartisan infrastructure law, as regulatory initiatives get blogged down in court and Democrats show no signs of being close to passing a sprawling budget bill with an estimated $555bn in funding for clean energy and climate change. Democrats have made no visible progress on that bill since US senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) announced his opposition to that package in December.
The hydrogen funding in the infrastructure law consists of $8bn to support the building of regional hubs for hydrogen, $1bn for cost-efficiency improvements in making hydrogen with electricity and $500mn for manufacturing and reuse of hydrogen equipment components. The infrastructure law seeks to support "clean" hydrogen, such as hydrogen produced from renewable power or that can capture carbon emissions. The Energy Department today released requests for information that it will use to guide its funding.
The low-carbon construction effort is managed by the Transportation Department, which is starting a pilot project to use low-carbon materials in federal transportation projects. The General Services Administration today is also seeking information on low-carbon concrete and asphalt that it will use for port projects funded under the infrastructure law.
The administration said today agencies were working to implement the more than $12bn in funding for carbon capture and sequestration projects included under the infrastructure law. The US Interior Department is writing regulations for carbon storage below the seafloor in federal waters, the administration said, while the White House today will release new guidance on carbon capture projects.
