President Biden of the United States is planning to invoke the Defense Production Act or DPA. This act was originally put in place during the Korean war to increase titanium and aluminum production for the war effort. What this act does is it allows a sitting president to ramp up or increase the domestic production of certain supplies. These can be anything from minerals, to food to most recently Covid relief supplies. The White House currently plans this time they will implement the order with collaboration from the Energy and Interior departments. Bidens current plan is increasing the production of minerals such as Lithium, Cobalt, Graphite, Nickle and Manganese. These are all key materials in electric vehicles and other electronic devices. The bill also has the potential to offer mining companies up to $750 Million under the DPA’s Title 3 fund to encourage and supplement funding to ensure the mining is successful.
What the Energy Department is planning
The Energy department has just released that it will be implementing new energy standards for Federal Buildings that is set to take effect in 2023. This law put in place will ensure that all federal buildings will be in compliance of the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code or the IECC which is set to be fully implemented Next April. This new bill also covers updated for residential pool heaters and air conditioners. With the combination of these proposed updates it is expected that these changes alone will save $15 Billion over the next 3 decades and eliminate the equivalent of 14,400,000 homes carbon emissions. Not only this but the state level implementations of the IECC regulations could save up to $3.24 Billion in energy costs according to the latest departmental analysis.
Some Good News
The Biden administration is planning on issuing over 100 appliance and equipment standards by the end of the year, which is estimated to save over $100 per American household per year. This might not sound like a lot but for some families an extra $100 can go a long way. These new rules are also expected to cut emissions to the equivalent of removing 7,900,000 cars off the road in the next 30 Years.
If you wish to read the full article please click HERE- Energy & Environment — Biden to order ramped-up EV battery production (msn.com)
Energy Worries
With the current issues with the Russian and Ukrainian war many are worried about the spikes in gas prices as it is creating instability in the market. Russia provides about 1/3 of the EU’s gas and also ships that gas to other places as well. To deal with this issue Biden is releasing a record amount of gas from the U.S reserves as well as ramping up U.S gas production. However, his cabinet still wishes to convert to renewables as soon as possible and are continuing to pour Billions and Billions of dollars into the renewable energy sector to encourage renewable energy innovations. This is because, if this war and pandemic have shown us anything it is that there is great instabilities which come with fossil fuels as they are a finite resource that are dangerously inconsistent in uncertain times. However, renewables in the long run are a much more stable option as they are not finite. They are simply tapping into the energy systems which have already been put in place by nature. From Wind, Solar, Hydroelectric to Tidal power all these sources can be implemented anywhere and produce not only sustainable but consistent power for any country. And these hard times and political instabilities are helping to speed up this need and will hopefully help encourage the countries of the world to do what we have always needed to do anyway. And it will ensure that we have the best chance to move to a more sustainable, clean and bright future.
Written by Cruz Collin
A really interesting article. Sorting out the immediate gas supply issue is important but it is excellent to see there are plans for environmentally sound energy supplies for the future.