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Upcoming Events |
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Highlights |
AMMTO Releases “Transitioning to a Sustainable, Circular Economy for Plastics Workshop” Report with DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office
Our office, in partnership with the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and The Climate Pledge coalition, recently released a report detailing a 2023 DOE workshop centered on Transitioning to a Sustainable, Circular Economy for Plastics. Held last June in Seattle, the event convened stakeholders to address the current challenges and opportunities in transitioning to a sustainable, circular economy for plastics in the United States. Key focuses included policy harmonization, innovative recycling technologies, and expanding plastic feedstock quality. The workshop advances DOE's Strategy for Plastics Innovation, emphasizing energy-efficient plastic reuse and recycling. Access the full report for detailed insights.
ICYMI: What do Microelectronics Have to do with Emissions Reductions?
DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Buildings and Industry, Dr. Carolyn Snyder, recently penned a blog post that highlights the success and momentum of AMMTO’s Energy Efficiency Scaling for Two Decades (EES2) program to reduce emissions in the semiconductor industry. Now in its second year, EES2 aims to increase semiconductor energy efficiency by 1000-fold in the next 20 years. Garnering support from over 60 signatories across industry and academia, this initiative is pivotal for sustainable technology. Discover more and learn how to contribute by clicking through for additional information.
Just Released: Manufacturing USA’s Education and Workforce Development Roadmap
The United States has committed unprecedented investments to expanding the U.S. manufacturing sector. While promising, this success cannot be achieved without first addressing key barriers to the growth of American manufacturing, such as maintaining a robust and diverse manufacturing workforce across the nation. The Manufacturing USA network has crafted a national education and workforce development roadmap to help the sector respond to existing workforce challenges and maximize the U.S. manufacturing resurgence. Learn more and download the full roadmap here.
Scaling the U.S. Solar Manufacturing Workforce
In April of last year, DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) requested recommendations for how to effectively scale America’s solar manufacturing workforce, focusing on photovoltaic production. Feedback from 31 stakeholders revealed challenges in filling diverse roles due to misconceptions about job attractiveness and skill shortages, especially in rural areas. Key needs identified include enhanced training, increased awareness of solar job opportunities, and better workforce diversity strategies. SETO will use this feedback to inform future programming and industry support strategies. These insights are vital to AMMTO’s manufacturing workforce strategies and supporting domestic manufacturing that is critical to achieving a clean, decarbonized economy.
Using Supercomputers to Help Companies Advance Clean Energy Technologies
AMMTO’s High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) program, managed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has given Argonne National Laboratory the opportunity to form new industry partnerships to leverage its supercomputing resources and expertise. Partners for these projects include Ford Motor Company, which is focusing on speeding up solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, Capstone Green Energy, which is focusing on redesigning microturbine systems to run on hydrogen fuel, Lakril Technologies, which is creating environmentally friendly paints, and Power Systems Manufacturing (PSM), which is focusing on optimizing gas turbines for hydrogen. The range of these ongoing projects at Argonne demonstrate how DOE’s supercomputing resources can support companies of all sizes to manufacture products for the clean energy economy while also reducing carbon emissions.
DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office Launches Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP)
DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) recently announced the launch of its Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP) to develop pioneering technologies that will generate new, precommercial materials for wave energy conversion. This prize will challenge innovators from within and beyond wave energy to design and develop novel materials for marine energy applications that will lay the foundation for generating electricity at the grid scale.
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Events Calendar |
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Jan 17, 2024 - Re-X Before Recycling Prize Informational Webinar Join prize administrators from AMMTO and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to learn everything you need to know about the $5.6 million Re-X Before Recycling Prize, including more information on the prize’s timeline, goals, and deliverables.
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Feb 5-8, 2024 – Department of Energy Energy Transition Summit DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative and Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) will be hosting this in-person event in Arlington, Virginia, to convene discussions on clean energy cybersecurity and the multitude of ways DOE is working to modernize America’s future power grid. Registration is now open.
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Apr 10-11, 2024 - REMADE Circular Economy Technology Summit & Conference Registration is now open for the 2024 REMADE Institute’s Circular Economy Conference in Washington, DC. The Institute’s inaugural 2023 event attracted more than 300 attendees from academia and industry across the country and around the world. The event also featured presentations on nearly 60 peer-reviewed research papers.
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News Spotlight |
DOE’s New ‘Critical Materials Collaborative’ Seeks to Boost Domestic Supplies
DOE recently launched the Critical Materials Collaborative (CMC), an initiative aimed at boosting domestic supply chains for critical materials essential for economic and military strategic advantage. Helena Khazdozian, Senior Technology Manager for AMMTO, shared insights with the Federal News Network on the initiative, discussing challenges posed by the concentration of these materials in countries like China and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Helena described how the CMC aligns various departmental efforts with shared goals, filling a gap between applied R&D and deployment seeking to reduce costs, improve environmental and health impacts, and increase efficiency and circularity of materials.
How to Slash Emissions Across the U.S. Economy
A first-of-its kind agreement struck at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) has nations around the world committing to halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But, the United States, one of the world’s top emitters, is lagging in this goal, according to PBS News Hour. To get the U.S. back on track, experts say it is crucial the country targets its five top-polluting sectors: transitioning electricity generation to renewable sources; electrifying the transportation sector; adopting circular economy principles across industry; enhancing energy efficiency in buildings; and improving soil and livestock management across agriculture. Read more in the PBS News Hour story.
If you are passionate about improving energy and material efficiency, and American manufacturing competitiveness, consider applying to join us.
We are currently hiring for the following positions:
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We’ll be back next month with more manufacturing moments. Until then, you can forward this newsletter to a friend and don’t forget to tell them to subscribe here!
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