Highlights

Energy Abundance: LDES is critical to maintaining U.S. energy abundance as the nation faces a period of significant growth in electricity demand, projected to rise by 15 to 20 percent over the next decade.

Domestic Manufacturing & Jobs: LDES encompasses a wide range of technologies, many of which leverage existing domestic supply chains from adjacent industries—reducing U.S. dependence on imported batteries. If the United States can scale LDES manufacturing and deployment to 3 GW annually by 2030, the sector could generate up to 2.1 million direct job-years.

Energy Reliability: LDES can provide sustained backup power during prolonged periods of high electricity demand or grid stress events, helping to prevent blackouts, safeguard lives, and reduce economic disruption.

Innovation Unlocks Value: Continued federal investment in innovation is essential to unlocking the full potential of LDES and other emerging technologies. Sustained funding for research, development, and demonstration not only accelerates the creation of new LDES approaches with added value but also enhances existing approaches by making them more cost-effective and scalable.

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While ECR is essential for mitigating the impacts of climate change, it also provides a range of economic and broader environmental co-benefits.

Highlights

Beyond Carbon Cuts: Engineered carbon removal (ECR) technologies like DAC, BiCRS, ERW, and mCDR not only mitigate climate change but also deliver co-benefits including job creation, wildfire risk reduction, soil health improvements, and ocean ecosystem resilience.

Jobs and Stability: By the time the highly durable CDR sector (including ECR) scales to storing 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, it could create 95,000-130,000 US jobs. These jobs provide stable operations and maintenance roles that deliver significant benefits to legacy energy communities and industrial workforces nationwide.

Global Edge: ECR enhances U.S. competitiveness by producing lower-emission products, like sustainable aviation fuels, to meet international standards. This strengthens energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries and positions the U.S. to capitalize on the rapidly expanding global carbon removal credit market.

Innovation Unlocks Value: Continued federal investment in innovation is essential to unlocking the full potential of ECR and other emerging technologies. Sustained funding for research, development, and demonstration not only accelerates the creation of new ECR approaches with added value but also enhances existing approaches by making them more cost-effective, energy-efficient, and scalable.

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Policy Recommendations from the Discussion

Accelerate the development of the nuclear energy supply chain in Kentucky

To demonstrate the opportunity for Kentucky to manufacture parts for the existing U.S. nuclear fleet, the Kentucky General Assembly should fund a study to identify what certifications (if any) are required for workers, which parts could be manufactured, and the standards that must be put in place to produce nuclear power plant equipment in Kentucky. Moreover, this would include determining if a new manufacturing line within an existing facility is required (or if they can be produced on existing production lines or if an entirely new facility would be required) to fabricate the equipment.

Promote the global competitiveness of Kentucky-made products

To support Kentucky’s global competitiveness in sustainable product/material manufacturing, the Kentucky General Assembly should dedicate resources to establish an interstate regional coalition across the southeast Ohio River Valley and Appalachia focused on transportation, manufacturing, and energy supply.

Build, expand, and retool infrastructure to support access to the new energy economy

To address the need for greater coordination between state, local, and federal government entities on energy infrastructure buildout, Congress should pass legislation to direct the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to establish a federal Office of Community Prosperity for Underserved Communities, with coordinating offices in all 50 states, as conduits for state, local, federal, and industry to access federal funds.

The Kentucky General Assembly should pass enabling legislation to support the development of a corresponding office at the state level.

Promote workforce development for advanced energy manufacturing in Kentucky

To increase access to and utilization of workforce development opportunities, the Kentucky General Assembly should fund the creation of a comprehensive online database of workforce development resources and opportunities for area development districts, local governments, and local communities across the state.

Develop the innovation ecosystem for advanced energy in Kentucky

To equitably and transparently strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Kentucky, and across the country, Congress should establish a public/private partnership supporting a national Innovation & Entrepreneurship program that drives a graduated K-12 experiential learning program.

Conclusion

As recent momentum has demonstrated significant opportunities for Kentucky to leverage its infrastructure and human capital in the emerging advanced energy economy, further state and federal investment is necessary to continue to attract investment and preserve or even expand the global competitiveness of Kentucky-made products. Roundtable participants were optimistic about the opportunity for the state, but noted that significant investment in workforce and community development are necessary to ensure communities are able to support these emerging industries and enjoy the benefits they bring to the Commonwealth.

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To mitigate climate impacts, major greenhouse gas emission reductions will be required across the United States economy. Rapid decarbonization will necessitate the development and deployment of new clean technologies, as well as low- and zero-carbon fuels as substitutes in emissions-intensive sectors. In particular, the petroleum refining, chemical, aviation, maritime, and heavy-duty long-haul trucking industries are limited in their ability to directly substitute emissions-intensive fuels and feedstocks with clean electricity. Many of these activities could benefit from the use of clean hydrogen as a versatile, low-carbon energy carrier which can be used as a primary input in the production of lower-carbon fuels and chemicals, store energy, combusted for industrial process heat, or passed through a fuel cell to create electricity. However, virtually all of the hydrogen used in the United States today is generated through an emissions-intensive processes that, while relatively inexpensive, emits significant volumes of greenhouse gases. Achieving emission reductions with clean hydrogen will require converting current hydrogen users to clean hydrogen and expanding demand in new sectors to replace polluting practices. To address this challenge, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) formed a technology working group that convenes stakeholders from across the hydrogen ecosystem to examine the key technical, market, and policy solutions required to expand clean hydrogen demand. This brief offers a shortlist of five policy recommendations following the working group’s inaugural year.

Summary of Policy Priorities

The column labelled “lead” indicates whether the policy falls under legislative (L) and/or administrative (A) purview.

Conclusion

The U.S. federal government has demonstrated a commitment to accelerating decarbonization using clean hydrogen as a versatile, low-carbon energy carrier and feedstock. Existing federal programs and incentives such as the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program, the Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program, the Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling Initiatives, and the 45V Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen are significant but policy must target sustained demand to meet the goals of the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap. Established users of emissions-intensive hydrogen have no financial incentive to procure clean hydrogen at current prices. Ineffective price signals that fail to account for climate impacts, nascent transportation and storage infrastructure, and a lack of large-scale technology demonstrations slow the maturation of prospective use cases in heavy-emitting sectors.

The following policy recommendations, developed through discussions with stakeholders across the clean hydrogen ecosystem, offer a potential path forward to addressing demand-side barriers to scaling clean hydrogen: (1) Provide further funding for demonstration and commercial-scale projects under OCED; (2) Grant FERC authority to regulate interstate hydrogen infrastructure and commerce; (3) Update the RFS; (4) Enact a Federal CFS; and (5) Enact federal economy-wide carbon pricing. Federal policy is essential to drive private sector demand for this critical-path technology. Strengthening existing programs and introducing new, market-focused initiatives will inject stability as the domestic clean hydrogen industry grows.

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