The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced USD 38M to begin decarbonizing four of DOE’s 17 National Laboratories to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050. The Net Zero Labs (NZL) Pilot Initiative will lay the foundation for one of the first-ever models for addressing hard-to-decarbonize industries and is expected to be a foundation of net-zero solutions that can be replicated at facilities across DOE, the federal government, and state and local governments. The four DOE National Laboratories included in this initial pilot are taking proactive steps to harness and produce technology at their facilities to drive down their carbon emissions.
DOE’s National Labs have demand and resilience requirements far exceeding those of a standard facility. Through the Net-Zero Labs Pilot Initiative, DOE is demonstrating that clean energy can power these critical components.
The four National Laboratories (Idaho National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) participating in the pilot initiative reflect different geographic and climate regions that each face unique energy challenges.