Recent federal policy has led to the establishment and reinvigoration of many agencies and programs devoted to spurring the development and commercialization of clean energy technologies. Examples include the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, tax credits provided through the U.S. Treasury, the Loan Programs Office, and the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy. This grant funds a project led by Jonas Meckling at the University of California, Berkeley and Laura Diaz Anadon at the University of Cambridge to comprehensively identify these programs, document the strategies they employ, and study their impact on energy technology commercialization outcomes. Various methodological approaches will be brought to bear on these questions. First, the research team, will collect qualitative data about the institutional characteristics and functions of these programs, drawing on document reviews, interviews with key stakeholders, and other sources of information. They will then use this initial analysis to identify different institutional design features that warrant further quantitative study. In the second phase, the team will analyze energy technology commercialization by examining two databases that track patenting, investments, and other outcomes. Finally, the team will produce an analysis of a select subset of institutions through comparative, in-depth case studies that detail how these public sector organizations operate and function. The team’s political economy lens will allow the research to go beyond mere funding levels to assess a fuller range of the market-shaping impacts these institutions have in the clean energy ecosystem, such as helping to prioritize clean energy technology development goals, de-risk future investment, and facilitate learning within and across industries.

Decarbonizing chemical manufacturing is one of the key steps needed to reduce emissions from the industrial sector, as chemical manufacturing accounts for 30% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The Decarbonizing Chemical Manufacturing Using Sustainable Electrification (DC-MUSE) is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary research network headquartered at New York University that involves a range of faculty from across 14 different research institutions studying different aspects of decarbonizing chemical manufacturing, including such as how to replace high heat industrial processes with renewable-powered alternatives, how to coordinate power demand from the chemical industry with other grid needs, and how to design backup power options through the use of batteries and other technologies. The DC-MUSE network is in involved in the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, an effort backed by the National Science Foundation to strengthen connections between academia and industry, and DC-MUSE is working towards becoming an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC). DC-MUSE is led by Director André Taylor, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at New York University (NYU) and Deputy Director Elizabeth Biddinger, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the City University of New York. Building on previous Sloan Foundation support for DC-MUSE, this grant provides funding for three critical center functions that will help the network to grow and evolve. First, funds will support the role of a Managing Director, who is tasked with ensuring effective center management, outreach, and fundraising. Second, funds will provide support for a post-doctoral fellow who will assist in research coordination and management, working with faculty across the DC-MUSE network. Third, funds will support the organization of a New Research Directions small grants see fund that will enable DC-MUSE leadership to make 3-4 grants of around $25,000 each. The goal of this seed fund is to launch new collaborative research efforts related to decarbonizing chemical manufacturing, both among faculty already affiliated with DC-MUSE and as a way to engage collaborators from outside of the network.