The US Department of Energy said Nov. 8 it will earmark up to $45 million in funding to develop technologies to transform buildings into net carbon storage structures.
“As it has done in so many other sectors of our economy, @ENERGY's ARPA-E is going to try to change the game yet again to support the development of technologies that can transform buildings into net carbon storage structure," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm posted to Twitter the same day the financial commitment was announced.
The initiative comes as part of the Biden Administration’s goal of reaching zero net emissions in 2050.
Carbon storing building materials are often hard to find, costly and limited to certain areas, energy officials said in a release. These new technologies would start to eliminate barriers to their use and also eliminate emissions in the process.
“Building materials and construction techniques offer huge promise as carbon sinks," Granholm said. "As it has done in so many other sectors of our economy, DOE’s ARPA-E is going to try to change the game yet again.”
The emissions involved with manufacturing materials are significant and it has become a focal point of government agencies to try and reduce these emissions.
Greenhouse gases are commonly a byproduct from the production of materials related to "manufacturing and construction, renovation and disposal of buildings at the end of their service life," energy officials said, which is 10% of yearly emissions within the United States.
