The Department of Energy’s latest initiative, “Energy Earthshots,” aims to accelerate breakthroughs of affordable and reliable clean energy solutions within the next decade. These breakthroughs are what’s needed to tackle both worsening climate change and the goal to reach net-zero carbon goals by 2050. The DOE hopes to drive integrated program development across the U.S. and challenge the R&D community with these goals.
The DOE plans to continue announcing more Earthshot programs this year. The first three Energy Shots include the Hydrogen Shot, the Long Duration Shot and the Carbon Negative Shot.
Hydrogen Shot sets an ambitious yet exciting goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen (hydrogen derived from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels) by 80%. The overarching goal is to reduce the cost of hydrogen to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade or “1,1,1” as the department has coined. The lowered cost would help many industries including manufacturing, energy storage and transportation in the effort to reduce their collective carbon footprint.
Long Duration Storage Shot aims to increase the ability to store energy from renewable energy sources (i.e. wind & solar) and to increase the length of time the excess energy generated from these sources can be stored. By increasing the length of storage time for these energies, the United States can reduce its dependence on fossil fuel-powered generators and increase grid flexibility in times of high energy use.
Carbon Negative Shot is a call for innovative technology that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is critical in reducing greenhouse gases and a potentially powerful tool in helping to achieve the net-zero emissions by 2050 goal. In sticking with “1,1,1”, CDR designs are being called on to capture and store CO2 at an affordable rate. The captured CO2 would be stored in either geological formations, biobased reservoirs, ocean reservoirs, or carbon-rich products.
Interested in hearing more about reducing your carbon footprint through renewable energy? Walden’s environmental professionals are experienced in providing site-specific and customized engineering and consulting services for the development and implementation of renewable energy projects. If you are looking to learn more about the benefits of cleaner energy, please contact Walden Environmental Engineering at 518-490-4821.