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

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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Responsible mining: Minnesota’s next big contribution

EFI Foundation Distinguished Associate David Foster co-wrote an opinion piece in MinnPost with Former Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie about the importance of responsible mining in the clean energy transition. They explained how the development by Talon Metals of a nickel mine in Tamarack, Minnesota, could be a national model for responsibly mining critical minerals.

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Customers for clean hydrogen remain hazy, even as Biden spends billions

The article references a finding in the Hydrogen Demand Action Plan about the cost gap between what most users pay in the current hydrogen market and what they will pay for clean hydrogen. The Foundation senior vice president Alex Kizer said the switch to clean hydrogen will be difficult because there is no demand from current hydrogen customers.

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Carbon removal features filters, fans — and ivory towers

The article quotes EFI Foundation Principal Joseph Hezir about including academic institutions in the buildout of direct air capture (DAC) hubs. Hezir said the evolving DAC field is a landscape that universities can play an active role in innovation.

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Tech Billionaires Bet on Fusion as Holy Grail for Business

Nuclear fusion is receiving major investments from tech founders. “There’s a reasonable probability at least one, maybe two companies will demonstrate fusion conditions in this decade,” said Ernest Moniz, EFI Foundation CEO. Moniz said the improvements in large-scale machine learning helped achieve conditions for fusion reactions.

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“We’re Facing Many Nuclear Weapons Challenges”: Fmr Secretary Moniz

The EFI Foundation President and CEO Ernest Moniz underscored the need for the United States to prioritize energy security amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising geopolitical tensions with China and Iran, and global supply chain shocks. He said that if oil prices dropped, we should add more oil to the strategic petroleum reserve to help us deal with future crises. 

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Is cheap, clean hydrogen possible? The ​‘green hydrogen’ battle, continued

This three-part series explores how the federal government should design the hydrogen tax credit rules under the Inflation Reduction Act. Part two references EFI Foundation’s Hydrogen Demand Action Plan, which recommends that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service develop a phased approach to issuing guidance on the 45V tax credit.

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DOE maps plan to supercharge hydrogen, nuclear, storage

The article discusses the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) newly released guidelines about how to introduce advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen, and long-duration storage into the country’s energy mainstream. It references EFI Foundation’s Hydrogen Demand Action Plan about the ongoing challenges related to clean hydrogen development.