On Monday, the Biden administration announced over $6 billion in grants to industrial decarbonization projects in sectors ranging from steel to concrete to chemicals to, uh, macaroni. I talk about the grants and what they mean with Rebecca Dell of ClimateWorks and Evan Gillespie of Industrious Labs.
Both good knowledgeable guests. One quibble I recalled, and it's in the transcript where Evan sez that aluminum production was powered by "cheap, dirty power..." Actually a lot of it was "clean" hydro, right in the Pac NW, and some in TVA territory starting in the 40s. For various reasons the power mix and prices in both places changed, more smelters closed every decade, starting in the 90s I think, despite plenty of political rhetoric that America should not import so much of a "strategic" material.
According to one historical article on the web, at one point 3000 MW of baseload hydro was allocated to aluminum in the NW. So we'll see how it goes with getting a smelter's worth of new "clean" electricity in Kentucky.
Fantastic podcast! It’d be interesting to compare this with what the EU’s Innovation Fund (that’s funded by its carbon price) is supporting. A $4.3 billion call for proposals is closing in the next week, and US-based companies are of course eligible for support.
Both good knowledgeable guests. One quibble I recalled, and it's in the transcript where Evan sez that aluminum production was powered by "cheap, dirty power..." Actually a lot of it was "clean" hydro, right in the Pac NW, and some in TVA territory starting in the 40s. For various reasons the power mix and prices in both places changed, more smelters closed every decade, starting in the 90s I think, despite plenty of political rhetoric that America should not import so much of a "strategic" material.
According to one historical article on the web, at one point 3000 MW of baseload hydro was allocated to aluminum in the NW. So we'll see how it goes with getting a smelter's worth of new "clean" electricity in Kentucky.
What oversight and accountability is built into these billions of free taxpayer dollars (grants) going to large for-profit corporations?
Biden loves throwing big money around, most often without accountability and oversight
Great podcast guys!
I was trying to find where that funding came from. Was it part of the IRA?
Fantastic podcast! It’d be interesting to compare this with what the EU’s Innovation Fund (that’s funded by its carbon price) is supporting. A $4.3 billion call for proposals is closing in the next week, and US-based companies are of course eligible for support.