US Presidents Come And Go, But Energy Efficiency Is Forever

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Regardless of the sudden U-turn in federal energy policy, the Department of Energy continues to pursue advanced energy efficiency and storage technologies that will help cement the renewable energy transition into place. The latest example is a new, $155 million cohort of 16 competitiveness-focused projects among the Energy Department’s network of national laboratories, aiming for impacts that will ripple over the nation’s energy profile for years to come. After all, US presidents come and go, but everybody always likes to save money on their energy bills.

$155 Million For New, Energy Efficient Industrial Systems

The new $155 million funding program focuses on reducing the carbon footprint of energy-intensive domestic industries that have stubbornly refused decarbonization, including iron and steel, cement, and chemicals. The program also targets forest products and the food and beverage industry for an energy efficiency makeover.

As may be expected, the Energy Department did not emphasize the decarbonization angle when it announced the new program on January 22, choosing instead to obscure the idea under the news-burying title “ITO FY25 – FY27 Lab Call Selections.”

Nevertheless, the new lab call funds are earmarked for developing technologies that “improve the efficiency and competitiveness of American industry.”

“These expanded lab capabilities will drive process and technological innovation, reduce costs, and increase prosperity for American workers and consumers,” the Energy Department emphasized, which is a wordy way of saying energy efficiency without actually saying it.

Nowadays a $155 million federal program is a drop in a bucket. It’s vanishingly small compared to the taxpayer resources dedicated by the Energy Department in a vain attempt to prop up the nation’s coal industry, for example. However, a little can go a long way when early stage research, access to new or upgraded testing facilities, and multi-stakeholder collaboration are involved.

The Future Is Electrochemistry

Among the lab call projects of particular interest is the new SCCALE (Solutions Center for Commercial Advancement of Large-Scale Electrochemistry) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The SSCALE project is getting one of the biggest slices of the funding pot, at $12.5 million, with the aim of “reducing capital costs and safety risks by avoiding extreme temperatures and pressures” in electrochemical processes.

In other words, by using less energy. While electricity-based processes can involve less energy than heat-based processes, the electricity still has to come from somewhere.

The Electrochemical Society is among those suggesting that energy efficiency improvements in their field will have a knock-on effect throughout the global economy:

“Electrochemistry plays a critical role in the future of our planet and the health of those who live on it. Our members are making key discoveries that address global sustainability challenges such as renewable energy, food safety, water sanitation, and medical diagnosis and care.”

Energy Efficiency, Electrochemistry, And Sustainability

The SSCALE award announcement is rather brief, so stay tuned for more details from Lawrence Livermore. In the meantime, let’s guess that utility-scale BESS (battery energy storage systems) could be one area of focus. Fuel cells are another example of electrochemistry at work. Based on previous Energy Department assessments, it’s also likely that the focus will be on metals and chemicals manufacturing, as well as water purification.

In 2022, for example, the Energy Department’s Advanced Manufacturing Office summarized the results of its “Electrochemistry for Manufacturing” workshop series, in which AMO reminded everyone that it “aims to improve the efficiency, productivity, environmental impact, and competitiveness of the manufacturing sector.”

“The use of electrochemistry in manufacturing could help AMO achieve these goals with its potential to have significant impact on sustainability, energy and carbon efficiency, and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness,” AMO elaborated.

Membranes And Energy Efficiency

Another lab call project in the same dollar range is a $12 million award to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The lab is tasked with setting up a national center for membrane technology under the somewhat awkward title “Membrane Engineering for Manufacturing, Benchmarking, Research, Analysis, and Next-gen Evaluation center,” or MEMBRANE center for short.

As with electrochemistry, membranes provide an opportunity to avoid heat-based processes, and ORNL aims to level them up even farther.

“Membrane technology has the potential to help reduce energy use and costs in industrial processes by reducing or eliminating the need for energy-intensive thermal separations (distillation, evaporation), recovering useful materials from waste streams, and optimizing heating and cooling by eliminating unnecessary components from air,” the Energy Department explains.

In other words, energy efficiency. Membranes are commonly used in water purification systems. They also come into play in flow batteries and other energy storage technologies, and in the electrolysis systems used to produce green hydrogen.

Energy Efficiency And Food Systems

Improving energy efficiency in food systems is another focus of the new lab call funding pot. With a grant of $2.5 million, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is tasked with setting up the new FOOD (Food & Beverage Operational Optimization and Deployment) Center.

Part of the focus is on developing improvements in legacy food systems, including post-harvest handling and processing. The FOOD Center also lists controlled environment agriculture, alternative proteins, fermentation-enabled products, and smart packaging among the emerging areas to be addressed.

The collaborative effort is designed to scale up alongside additional public and private investments, driving “long-term energy and cost reductions across both legacy and emerging segments of the food and beverage supply chain.”

More & Better Energy Storage

New thermal energy storage systems are poised to play a key role in the renewable energy transition (here’s another example). Accordingly, the new lab call program devotes $15 million to help industrial users select the most cost-effective storage system for their needs.

The funds will go to Sandia National Laboratory, to help it improve and expand its existing TES (thermal energy storage) testbed.

“With increasingly large and varying loads at industrial sites, as well as an increasing number of energy sources from the grid and onsite resources, TES is emerging as a significant technology to ensure cost-competitive and secure industrial energy supply for thermal or electric outputs at industrial sites,” the Energy Department emphasizes.

As if on cue, on January 23, the US thermal energy storage startup Electrified Thermal Solutions announced the commissioning of its first commercial-scale “Joule Hive” thermal battery at the Southwest Research Institute in Texas.

The new battery is designed to soak up low-cost renewable electricity from the grid and store it at peak temperatures of 1,800°C (3,275°F), then discharge it as a gas capable of running industrial furnaces, boilers, or kilns.

“By leveraging low-cost renewable electricity, the thermal battery unlocks a cost-competitive heating alternative to natural gas and other fossil fuels,” ETS emphasizes.

What goes around, comes around. ETS spun the new battery out of research at MIT and developed the technology for commercial applications with a series of financial assists from the Energy Department, beginning with initial funding from the agency’s ARPA-E high-risk, high-reward funding office.

The company has its sights set on decarbonizing the same industries targeted by the new Energy Department lab call, including chemicals, metals, and food and beverages, among others. Hold onto your hats….

Image: Energy efficiency is the main focus of a new $155 million Energy Department funding pot aimed at improving the competitiveness of key US industrial sectors (screenshot via US Department of Energy).