By John Boling
The Department of Energy (DOE) undertook a reorganization last month to implement the clean energy provisions included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Energy Act of 2020.
IIBEC is a supporter of the DOE Better Building Initiative, a collaborative program seeking to make the nation’s homes, commercial buildings, and industrial plants more energy-efficient by accelerating investment and sharing successful best practices. In May, IIBEC staff will be attending the Better Buildings Summit, where they will discover emerging technologies and learn about strategies in energy efficiency, decarbonization, and water and waste reduction. In addition, IIBEC expects to discern new avenues to educate building owners and facility managers about the role IIBEC consultant members can serve to help them reach their goals.
According to a statement released by the department, “the new organizational structure establishes two under secretaries: one focused on fundamental science and clean energy innovation and the other focused on deploying clean infrastructure.” The statement describes the new positions as follows: The Under Secretary for Infrastructure
The under secretary for infrastructure (formerly under secretary for energy) will focus on deploying clean energy solutions. To create skilled teams around infrastructure financing, project development, project management, and other key areas, the new under secretary will centralize existing offices focused on major demonstration and deployment with new offices. The existing offices moving to the new under secretary include DOE’’s Loan Programs Office, Office of Indian Energy, Office of Clean Energy Demonstration, Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), and the Federal Energy Management Program.
The Under Secretary for Science and Innovation
The offices in the under secretary for science and innovation (formerly the under secretary for science and energy) will continue their world leadership in driving research and development of energy technologies, with connected demonstration and deployment activities. Through the realignment the Office of Science, DOE’s applied energy offices, and DOE’s 17 National Labs will continue their core discovery science and innovation missions—including leveraging $12 billion in base appropriations as of fiscal year 2021 and $3.8 billion in funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Energy Act of 2020.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Energy Act of 2020, according to the statement, provides over $60 billion primarily for new, major clean energy demonstration and deployment programs and more than triples DOE’s annual funding for energy programs, including significantly expanded research and entirely new demonstration and deployment missions.
The new organizational chart can be found here.
Why should you advertise with IIBEC?
