In The News — EFI Foundation experts are in-demand sources of knowledge on the energy transition for major media outlets.

Why some of the ‘clean’ hydrogen hubs in the U.S. plan to use natural gas, a fossil fuel

This CNBC article quotes EFI Foundation Senior Vice President of Research Alex Kizer multiple times, first on the need for hydrogen hubs to demonstrate their feasibility across different stages of development to receive funding awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy: “At each phase, you’re going to need to meet certain technical, economic, and community benefits requirements in order to receive that funding,” he said.

Kizer also underscored the value of the hubs for testing various options for producing clean hydrogen: “It’s so important that hubs be available to evaluate and demonstrate all of these different options,” he said. “[Not] all pathways are created equal, but having the hubs with these regional components with these different technologies, exploring these various configurations is so important for us to move up the learning curve on what our clean hydrogen future is.”

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Biden administration announces $7 billion for hydrogen hubs

EFI Foundation Senior Vice President of Research Alex Kizer addressed the opportunities and challenges that hydrogen presents, following the U.S. Department of Energy’s hydrogen hub funding awards announcement. Kizer said “there are no greenhouse gas emissions released” when hydrogen is used, and “the challenge is how to produce hydrogen in low-carbon ways.”

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Biden admin picks 7 ​“clean hydrogen hubs” for $7 billion federal boost

The U.S. Department of Energy named seven regions to receive up to $7 billion in funding to create clean hydrogen hubs across the nation. EFI Foundation Senior Vice President of Research Alex Kizer explained some of the issues around the demand and infrastructure challenges to developing a hydrogen market in the United States, saying that regional hubs are “a huge opportunity to sort through some of the demand-side challenges.” The article also quotes the Energy Futures Initiative’s Hydrogen Demand Action Plan, which states that the hydrogen hub program is “one of the only active programs targeting demand-side market activators.”

Biden Administration Awards $7 Billion for 7 Hydrogen Hubs Across the U.S.

This article quotes EFI Foundation Senior Vice President of Research Alex Kizer regarding the U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement of seven regions selected to receive up to $7billion in grants for hydrogen hub development projects. “Think of these hubs as laboratories of sorts to experiment with potential business models for hydrogen and to try to figure out some of the technological and infrastructure hurdles,” said Kizer.

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GM concession bolsters EV proponents amid auto strike

EFI Foundation Distinguished Associate David Foster led research that found that worker protections could create up to 50,000 manufacturing jobs in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, while forgoing those protections could cost workers their jobs during the electric vehicle transition. Foster told The Hill that, “[those findings] show very clearly that having the right kind of industrial policy to support energy transition is a very effective way of rebuilding the manufacturing base in the United States.” 

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Infrastructure is the “pacing item” for decarbonization: Former US energy secretary Moniz

In an interview on Channel NewsAsia at ADIPEC 2023, EFI Foundation CEO Ernest Moniz explained some of the challenges and complications of decarbonization. Moniz said carbon capture and storage technology will be necessary to meet climate goals, and the pacing of energy infrastructure in the United States needs to increase. He also said extreme weather will likely be the tipping point to accelerate decarbonization.

Harnessing power of hydrogen critical to state’s energy transition

The EFI Foundation’s Van Romero wrote an opinion piece in the Albuquerque Journal explaining how the expansion of clean hydrogen production with a focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in New Mexico can progress the state’s efforts toward a diversified energy economy and create high-quality jobs.

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DOE launches $1B plan to drive demand for clean hydrogen

The article references the finding in the EFI Foundation’s Hydrogen Demand Action Plan that Inflation Reduction Act subsidies and the hydrogen hubs program will be helpful in reducing the price of clean hydrogen but may not sufficiently de-risk the switch to clean hydrogen for many companies. EFI Foundation Senior Vice President of Research Alex Kizer said the largest challenge facing a clean hydrogen industry is the lack of demand.

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Biden commits $1 billion to clean hydrogen customers

This article references EFI’s Hydrogen Demand Action Plan about the cost gap between what industrial users (including refineries and petrochemical plants) pay for hydrogen now and what they would pay for clean hydrogen. EFI Foundation Senior Vice President of Research Alex Kizer said “A demand signal doesn’t exist in the United States right now and that’s what everyone is working through.”

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Thanks to federal tax credits, it’s boom time in the Midwest for carbon dioxide pipelines

The article quotes EFI Foundation Executive Vice President Joseph Hezir saying at our “Taking Root” report release that expanded tax credits provide a “large economic opportunity” to refurbish or build new ethanol facilities with carbon capture in the Midwest and that the economics look promising for ethanol plants to add carbon capture. The article also references a finding from our 2023 report, Turning CCS Projects in Heavy Industry and Power into Blue Chip Financial Investments, about the cost to ethanol producers of sequestration ranging from $36 to $41 per metric ton.

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