WASHINGTON – The US government is injecting US$1.5 billion (S$2.1 billion) into a string of 13 national laboratories to boost innovative research in clean technologies.
The funds will “build and upgrade scientific facilities, modernise infrastructure and address deferred maintenance projects”, the White House said on Friday.
Also announced is a “Net-Zero Game Changers Initiative”, which will jump-start five initial priorities that will help enable the United States to meet the goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 50 per cent to 52 per cent in 2030 and get to net-zero emissions by no later than 2050, the White House added.
Among the priority areas are efficient building heating and cooling, net-zero aviation and net-zero power grid and electrification.
The next two are industrial products and fuels for a net-zero, circular economy and fusion energy at scale.
Some US$60 million of the US$1.5 billion will help the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Lemont, Illinois, finish “Aurora” – one of the nation’s first “exascale” computers, offering 1,000 times more speed and power than today’s most advanced supercomputers.
Aurora is slated to go online next year, ANL director Paul Kearns said at a ceremony at the facility on Friday with senior US administration officials.
“This machine will certainly be one of the world’s fastest computers with unprecedented capabilities,” he added.
“Imagine predicting the effects of climate change with uncanny accuracy, discovering the right materials that significantly extend the range of battery-powered cars and trucks, or pinpointing the defect in the human brain that causes Parkinson’s.”
The funding stems from the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden in August, which is the US’ most ambitious initiative yet on transitioning to a clean energy economy, while also sharpening its innovation edge, creating jobs and training the future workforce.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said at the same event: “Two decades ago, we invested, as a nation, over five times as much as China in research and development… and now we are just barely ahead of China.
“America is determined to stop ceding ground, and win the race for the global economy of the future.”
The move also burnishes the credentials of the US ahead of the Nov 6-18 United Nations Climate Conference – the 27th Conference of the Parties – in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Mr Biden is scheduled to join the conference on Nov 11.
Regardless, the US, and the West in general, will face increasing demands for assistance from poorer countries hard hit by the effects of global warming.
While the US has returned to full diplomatic engagement on climate, its worsening relationship with China – currently responsible for some 30 per cent of carbon emissions – worries analysts.
Late on Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement: “China-US climate cooperation cannot be separated from the broad climate of bilateral ties. The United States side must take responsibility for this.”