House Select Committee On Climate Crisis Publishes Report On Action Plan For A Clean Energy Economy

This June, the House Select Committee on Climate Crisis released a report titled “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America.” Providing a road map for Congress to follow, the action plan has three main goals:

• Reaching 100 percent clean, net zero emissions economy-wide in the U.S. by 2050;

• Establishing ambitious interim targets to assess progress and reduce pollution in environmental justice communities; and

• Achieving net-negative emissions during the second half of the century.

The action plan consists of a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for Congressional action aggressively to reduce carbon pollution as quickly as possible while making communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change and building a clean energy economy. Successfully implemented, the Select Committee’s action plan would at minimum:

• Reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions before 2050;

• Reduce net U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 37 percent below 2010 levels in 2030 and 88 percent below 2010 levels in 2050;

• Avoid 62,000 premature deaths annually by 2050; and

• Provide almost $8 trillion in cumulative climate and health benefits through 2050.

The Climate Crisis Action Plan calls on Congress not only to grow the U.S. economy and put Americans to work in clean energy jobs, but also to protect family health, protect U.S. land and waters for the next generation, and ensure that communities and farmers can withstand climate change impacts. The full report is available here.

ORNL Issues NOO For Small Businesses

On July 1, 2020, DOE’s EERE announced that the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) issued a Notice of Opportunity (NOO) providing small businesses and other industry partners with more affordable access to ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC). The NOO allows small businesses to undertake collaborative, short-term R&D projects that accelerate the development of new energy-efficient building technologies. Funded by DOE’s Building Technologies Office (BTO), selected participants will have access to ORNL’s experienced staff, equipment, and research capabilities. This NOO is particularly designed to significantly reduce the time, cost, and risk of bringing a novel product to market and to accelerate and streamline partnering processes. Each project cost share will be reduced from 50 percent to 20 percent to encourage innovation despite economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ORNL is requesting proposals from industry to assess whether their technological approaches could contribute to BTO’s goal of 30 percent reduction in building energy usage by 2030 relative to the 2010 baseline. Technology areas of interest include:

• Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), water heating, and appliances;

• Windows and building envelope;

• Solid-state lighting;

• Building energy modeling;

• Sensors and controls;

• Grid-interactive efficient buildings; and

• Residential and commercial building integration.

BIO Announces Start-Up Competition Prize Winners

On June 26, 2020, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG^®) member, announced the winners of its 2020 Start-Up Stadium competition. The competition had 30 finalists that were evaluated during BIO Digital in June, by expert judges with backgrounds in investment, entrepreneurship, start-ups, economic development, capital formation, and academia. Five winners were chosen based on their commercially viable cutting-edge technologies and therapeutic solutions. Competition winners will receive:

• A one-year membership in BIO;

• Four hours of complimentary legal services;

• One-hour advisory discussion with two venture capital firms; and

• A “fast-track” accelerator application and nomination into the final selection phase for up to a $10,000 sequencing grant.