I have participated
in some Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) webinars and read parts of their
reports and publications. This is a summary and review of their annual report
which details their whole project portfolio. Led by former Obama Energy
Secretary Ernest Moniz, EFI is involved with energy policy and science. I plan
to summarize and review some of their individual publications in the future. I analyzed
their work in 2023 around financing clean energy solutions and the costs were a bit
staggering.
“The EFI Foundation (EFIF) is a Washington, D.C.-based
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on ways to harness
the power of technology and policy innovation to accelerate pathways to a
low-carbon future.”
Certainly, clean
energy is moving to the back burner now that a pro-fossil fuel government is in
power.
The annual report
starts with a letter from the CEO, Ernest Moniz, titled Political Change and
Climate Challenges. He notes that since the founding of EFI in 2017 they
have been focused on:
“…pragmatic approaches and broad coalitions, convening
diverse sets of stakeholders who may not have the same political views, but who
share a passion for actionable solutions.”
EFIF has been a major
player in the development of a U.S. clean hydrogen economy, publishing an ‘action
plan’ in 2023. In May 2024 EFIF initiated a dialogue to study the role of
natural gas for both energy security and supply chain decarbonization, which
included prominent Senators from both parties in the U.S. and energy politicians
from the E.U. The letter also recounts EFIF's presence at COP29, some personnel
changes, managing the new power demand growth coming from AI data centers,
and the necessity of permit reform. On permit reform, he noted the following:
“The Manchin-Barrasso bill was the product of over a year
of hearings and bipartisan negotiations aimed at a more rapid buildout of
high-voltage, interregional transmission projects. The bill included provisions
to benefit both fossil fuel and clean energy projects. And yet, this good faith
compromise effort failed to win enough support to pass in a lame-duck
congressional period.”
“Those who opposed the Manchin-Barrasso bill may well
consider how it will stack up against a future permitting bill crafted by a
Republican Party that controls the White House, Senate, and House of
Representatives.”
He gives a core
message of EFIF:
“As ever, our core message is this: Climate action,
energy security, national security, the financeability of clean energy projects,
and energy equity are all inextricably linked. We must regard these issues as
one conversation—not as a group of competing, siloed priorities. Attempting to
address each of these issues individually overlooks the complex realities that
make climate change the key scientific and political challenge of our time. We
cannot let political divisions slow our progress—or, even worse, move us
backward. That tends to be the outcome when reasoned discourse and compromise
are not employed as instruments of progress.”
I think that I disagree
that climate change is ‘the key scientific and political challenge of our time.’
Perhaps it is long-term and in a broad sense, but there are short-term challenges
such as energy access, poverty reduction, and solving more immediate and local
problems, that I think are more important to address first.
EFIF is a key
player in the development of hydrogen hubs which include CCUS for both power generators
and industry. They also released a report about hydrogen safety and possible environmental
justice concerns.
They released two
power grid reports in 2024, one on modernizing the power grid and the other on
managing new power demand. I may review those in the future. EFIF continues to
focus on the challenges of financing clean energy projects that will involve public
and private investment. With expected attempts to ‘claw back’ parts of the IRA
and other legislation, those challenges could increase.
“Load growth is spiking after 15 years of flatlined
demand. Over the next decade, we’re going to need to install more electrical generation
than is produced by all of Texas. Producing that level of generation is going
to require a massive expansion of the grid. We’re not talking about the narrow
issue of getting a few generators to market, we’re talking about keeping the
lights on and keeping the U.S. economy vibrant.” — Jeffrey Brown, Managing
Director, Energy Futures Finance Forum.
They also
published a report in April 2024, The Future of Natural Gas in a Low-Carbon
World, which I also plan to review. Natural gas is vital in several ways
including enhancing energy security, keeping heat and electricity affordable, decarbonizing
the power and industrial sectors here and abroad, and increasing power sector
reliability and resiliency.
On nuclear
energy, Moniz’s expertise, they note the importance of scaling up nuclear energy
with new financing strategies and partnerships including focusing on Making
Small Modular Reactors Bankable Investments, the title of another report.
Another focus has
been on the development of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. In November
2024 they published Innovation at the Horizon: Accelerating Innovation of
Emerging Hybrid Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies. Some milestones of
their CDR efforts are shown below.
In September 2024
they published a roadmap for decarbonizing the U.S. ethanol industry. Ethanol
production has an advantage for carbon capture due to the ability to capture
higher percentages of CO2 compared to combustion sources like power plants
where there are many impurities in the combustion stream.
The considerable
science and policy work of EFIF is shown below.
References:
EFI
Foundation 2024 Annual Report. March 2025. Annual-Report_FINAL-digital.pdf
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