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Welcome to The Production Line, a monthly snapshot of industrial innovation news delivered straight to your inbox. Estimated read time: 7 minutes.
Reach out to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) at iedo@ee.doe.gov with any industrial inquiries or suggestions.
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Upcoming Deadlines
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Recent News & Funding Opportunities
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Highlights
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Submit your concept paper for DOE’s Connected Communities 2.0 funding opportunity, which will offer up to $65 million to drive innovation that can manage growing building, transportation, and industrial electric loads on the grid. This funding opportunity announcement seeks to validate grid-edge technology innovations in real-world situations and provide new tools for grid operators, utilities, planners, and the communities they serve. Connected Communities 2.0 builds on successes and lessons learned from the first cohort of Connected Communities, launched in 2020, and DOE’s original smart neighborhoods in Georgia and Alabama. Required concept papers are due by Aug. 20, 2024, at 5 p.m. E.T, and full applications are due by Oct. 10, 2024, at 5 p.m. E.T.
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On July 19, 2024, IEDO announced a plan to create the Cement and Concrete Center of Excellence to accelerate the development and adoption of novel low-carbon cement and concrete technologies. This new center will support collaboration across academia, national labs, government agencies, and corporations to develop and validate low-carbon cement and concrete technologies, increase the industry’s economic competitiveness, and help the United States reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. U.S. national laboratories can receive up to $9 million through this upcoming competitive lab call to develop and lead the center.
COMING SOON: New Industrial Energy Storage System Prize
Look out for IEDO’s upcoming Industrial Energy Storage System Prize to help accelerate market adoption for cost-effective energy storage concepts and technologies for industrial applications and data centers. The prize will include the following categories:
- Industrial cooling energy storage
- High-temperature industrial energy storage
- Industrial thermal storage for hybrid cooling, heating, and power.
Aligning with the pillars of DOE’s Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, the prize will support the goals of the Industrial Heat Shot™ by seeking energy storage concepts that enhance energy efficiency and industrial decarbonization and are applicable across industrial sectors.
Submit your applications to the Critical Facility Energy Resilience Funding Opportunity Announcement, which will support large-scale demonstration and deployment of storage technologies that are critical to ensuring reliability at electric power system facilities. Projects selected will show a compelling need for a dependable supply of energy as back up generation during a grid outage or other emergency event. This opportunity is in coordination with DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations’ notice of intent to fund $100 million for long-duration energy storage pilot projects, focusing on nonlithium technologies, 10+ hour discharge energy systems, and stationary storage applications. These opportunities complement IEDO’s upcoming Industrial Energy Storage System Prize.
Sherwin-Williams sought to improve efficiency and eliminate waste in its operations by building a project pipeline to meet its sustainability goals. However, identifying new opportunities to reduce energy and waste proved to be challenging. Instead of developing something new, Sherwin-Williams focused on internal changes and leveraged lean continuous improvement tools to develop sustainability-focused waste value stream maps, which are visual representations of the end-to-end supply chain process. The initial five pilot sites utilizing the maps identified 39 opportunities to add to the overall project pipeline, with one identified solution saving 3,700 megawatt-hours annually across all the company’s U.S. sites.
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On July 25, 2024, DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office announced the projects selected for the $33 million Solar-Thermal Fuels and Thermal Energy Storage Via Concentrated Solar-Thermal Energy funding program. Projects funded by this program will accelerate the development of solar-thermal energy storage via fuels, as well as on site energy storage for industrial applications and power production. This investment supports the goals of four DOE Energy Earthshots™: Industrial Heat Shot™, Long Duration Storage Shot™, Hydrogen Shot™, and Clean Fuels and Products Shot™, all of which aim to rapidly advance solutions to achieve DOE’s decarbonization goals.
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In Case You Missed It |
Our latest Q&A interview in the Industrious profile series features Chenn Zhou, the director of the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation and the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium, which partners with DOE to develop next-generation energy efficiency and industrial decarbonization technologies for steel manufacturers.
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The center is part of a larger objective to stimulate technology innovation, improve the energy productivity of American manufacturing, and enable the manufacturing of cutting-edge products in the United States. Zhou has not only been leading this multipartner project but also teaching and mentoring the next generation of engineers along the way.
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CELEBRATE: DOE’s Forrestal Building 50001 Ready Recognition
DOE’s own James V. Forrestal Building has become the first federal headquarters facility in Washington, D.C., to achieve 50001 Ready recognition after months of partnership between the Office of Management, the Federal Energy Management Program, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory team members.
In mid-July 2024, the White House convened leaders from the industrial sector alongside union and climate representatives to advance the nation’s goal to make U.S. manufacturing the cleanest and most competitive in the world. IEDO Director Avi Shultz was one of the leaders participating in this event, which launched new efforts to accelerate innovation for U.S. concrete manufacturing and reduce emissions in the sector, including IEDO’s upcoming lab call for the development of a new Cement and Concrete Center of Excellence.
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Job & Fellowship Openings
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Check out these open opportunities:
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Hear from past fellows in this YouTube video about their experiences!
IEDO is seeking talented and passionate fellows interested in supporting technical, programmatic, strategic, and policy efforts aimed at decarbonizing the industrial sector. Fellows will collaborate closely with IEDO staff—including several former fellows—and will develop a broad understanding of the potential of new technologies and current barriers to technology deployment across IEDO’s subprograms. IEDO is looking for fellows in the following areas:
- Cross-sector technologies
- Energy- and emissions-intensive industries
- Social and behavioral science
- Strategic communications
- Technical assistance and workforce development.
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Upcoming Events
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Join the energy storage community for DOE’s 4th Annual Energy Storage Grand Challenge Summit to explore pathways for grid-scale energy storage that can meet the needs of our nation now and in the future. Gain insights into groundbreaking solutions, stay informed about the latest technologies, and establish valuable connections. The event will take place at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington, bringing together industry leaders, researchers, policymakers, and innovators from around the nation in the energy storage field.
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Register for an in-person event at the University of California Livermore Collaboration Center at Livermore National Laboratory to discuss future developments in DOE’s high-performance computing program and solicit feedback. This workshop will explore the opportunity space for utilizing high-performance computing resources to address challenges faced within the U.S. manufacturing sector, encouraging dialogue and networking between government programs, manufacturing companies, national laboratories, and the broader research community.
Aug. 26–27, 2024: Two Events on Industrial Decarbonization and Diversity, Equity, and Environmental Justice
Historically, low-income communities and communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution simply because of their physical proximity to industrial facilities. IEDO’s commitment to building a clean, decarbonized industrial sector puts American communities at the forefront of our work, ensuring that we build an equitable, healthier future for all Americans. To discuss how IEDO can make sure solutions to industrial emissions put manufacturing workers and historically disadvantaged communities first so that no American is left behind in our new clean energy economy, join us on:
Join Better Plants in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for their Decarbonization Bootcamp, which will focus on establishing milestones for decarbonizing industrial systems and manufacturing processes. Participants can apply what they learn about reducing greenhouse gas emissions at their own manufacturing facilities. This decarbonization training course is relevant for any manufacturer, specifically individuals who are new to greenhouse gas emissions and are working on pathways to a zero-carbon future. The last day to register is Aug. 26, 2024.
DOE’s Better Plants Program is returning to AEE World this year in Nashville, Tennessee, with the 2024 theme being Energy Solutions for Global Challenges. This year, DOE is soliciting partners for the Better Plants track, Lessons From Leaders in Industrial Decarbonization. DOE will also have a luncheon to recognize Better Plants and Better Climate Challenge partners who have reached their goals. Stay tuned for more information on this event and stop by the Better Plants booth, #424!
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