Biden Administration Picks ASU For New $70 Million Clean Energy Facility

Biden Administration Picks ASU For New $70 Million Clean Energy Facility

by | Jun 14, 2023 | Education, News

By Corinne Murdock |

Arizona State University (ASU) will house the next clean energy facility, established by $70 million in federal funding from the Department of Energy (DOE).

The facility will be the seventh established Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute, housed within ASU’s Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon (EPIXC) in the Ira Fulton Schools of Engineering.

In a press release issued last month, DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alejandro Moreno said the goal of EPIXC is to result in zero industrial emissions through total replacement of traditional energy sources, namely fossil fuels, with electrical energy. The $70 million will extend over the next five years.

“Achieving the nation’s climate goals will require an all-hands-on-deck, multidimensional approach to eliminating industrial emissions,” said Moreno. “Our newest institute, EPIXC, will focus on one of the key pillars of industrial decarbonization—electrification—to dramatically slash emissions while helping to strengthen and secure America’s leadership in the global clean energy economy.”

In a separate press release, ASU shared that they partnered with University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Tuskegee University, North Carolina State University, Navajo Technical University, Idaho National Laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Strategic guidance for the proposal came from KB Science.

The senior associate of KB Science, Scott Boyce, hails from the same company, Dow Chemical Company, that helped launch the Obama-created organization associated with this DOE initiative: Manufacturing USA. Boyce helped oversee the organization and is characterized as “instrumental in supporting the Dow partnership with the DOE.” 

The senior consultant of KB Science, JoAnn Milliken, worked as the program manager, office director, and senior executive for the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for over 21 years. 

A significant portion of benefits derived from this clean energy initiative won’t be returned to the general public, but rather be repurposed for equity-oriented causes. Justification for this flow of taxpayer dollars comes from Biden’s executive order issued on the day of his inauguration, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” 

This $70 million in funding coincides with the DOE’s “Decarbonization Roadmap” released last year. EPIXC will comply with President Joe Biden’s Justice40 initiative (issued a week after his inauguration) to prioritize equity in all clean energy initiatives. The initiative directs 40 percent of benefits derived from federal investments into clean energy — as well as clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and development of clean water infrastructure – will go to disadvantaged communities (DACs).

DACs include any communities the government classifies as “marginalized, underserved, or overburdened by pollution.” The Biden administration clarified that racial demographics don’t factor into DAC classifications. However, they also noted that “communities of color suffer disproportionately from some of these burdens.” 

BIDEN ADMIN’S CLIMATE AND JUSTICE SCREENING TOOL

Leading EPIXC is ASU professor Stacy Esposito and University of Texas in Austin professor Bruce Eldridge. 

All seven of the DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes are part of the Manufacturing USA initiative. The organization was established in 2014 under the Obama administration, formerly named the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, for the purposes of spurring domestic manufacturing. Initial planning for the network began in 2011 when Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended the formation of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP). Leading the AMP were former Dow Chemical Company President, Chairman, and CEO Andrew Liveris and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Susan Hockfield.

The other Manufacturing USA organizations are Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts; American Institute for Manufacturing (AIM) Photonics in Albany, New York; America Makes in Youngstown, Ohio; Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; BioFabUSA in Manchester, New Hampshire; Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem (BioMADE) in St. Paul, Minnesota; CESMII in Los Angeles, California; the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) in San Antonio, Texas; Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) in Knoxville, Tennessee; LIFT in Detroit, Michigan; Manufacturing times Digital (MxD) in Chicago, Illinois; NextFlex in San Jose, California; National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) in Newark, Delaware; Power America in Raleigh, North Carolina; Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment Institute in New York, New York; and Reducing EMbodied-energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) in Rochester, New York.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Unveils ‘Clean’ Energy Plan

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Unveils ‘Clean’ Energy Plan

by | Jun 26, 2022 | News

By Corinne Murdock |

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs published her plan for reimagining Arizona energy if she’s elected governor this November. Some of the major changes desired by Hobbs included total elimination of fossil fuels, creating a new bureaucratic body to oversee water and “clean” energy, tree planting in all neighborhoods, and rebate clean energy programs for those 150 percent below the poverty line.

Overhauling the state’s energy and water infrastructure to combat climate change will cost the state and Arizonans more than it would to maintain the status quo. Hobbs’ plan comes as Arizona voters feel increasing pressure from inflation. At present, Arizonans pay an average of over $5.35 per gallon for gas, with Maricopa County residents feeling the gas hike more acutely at $5.65 a gallon. They’re also paying an average increase of over $700 a month on household goods. That latter figure amounts to an average of nearly $8,800 more a year, according to the latest congressional research.

As AZ Free News reported earlier this month, the cost of electric vehicles alone haven’t proved feasible for most Arizonans, let alone Americans — a reality becoming more apparent with inflation. In March, less than 15 percent of Americans were estimated to afford an electric vehicle.

Hobbs’ plan didn’t include an estimated total cost. However, Hobbs did give dollar amounts for certain initiatives, amounting up to $295 million if she serves one term, and up to $575 million if she serves two terms:

  • up to $5 million a year to remove toxic chemicals from water
  • a one-time allocation of $15 million to build wells for rural Arizonans, Latinos, and indigenous communities
  • $15 million a year to restore forests and watersheds
  • $25 million a year in grants for communities and private landowners affected by wildfires
  • up to $25 million a year for preserving cultural and historical heritage spaces

Associated with some of these planned funding initiatives were disclosures that preference would be given to those aligning with certain social justice aims, such as combatting the urban heat island effect.

“Katie Hobbs’ Plan for a Resilient Arizona” proposed three overarching priorities: securing and modernizing the state’s water infrastructure, addressing wildfires and sustaining natural resources, and building a “clean energy economy.”

The Republican National Committee (RNC) research team issued a lengthy rebuttal of Hobbs’ plan. In a statement, spokesman Ben Petersen criticized the timing of a plan that would raise energy prices in the context of inflation increasing prices on everything, most noticeably gas and groceries. 

“Democrat Katie Hobbs will struggle to explain her ‘Green New Deal’-esque scheme to voters paying record-high gas prices under Biden,” asserted Petersen. “Arizonans want more energy production and relief from the Biden Gas Hike, not Katie Hobbs’ far-left scheme to raise gas prices and energy bills.”

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero endorsed Hobbs’ plan. Last year, the city undertook a number of efforts to expand “clean” energy usage, which included requiring new homes to have electric vehicle charging ports. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.