Clean energy is not dead in the Trump era. But today it looks different. Since returning to the White House, President Trump has dismantled federal efforts to combat climate change and promised to block the construction of new wind turbines. His administration has canceled billions of dollars in funding for technologies that could one day help reduce emissions that cause global warming, instead promoting the expansion of domestic oil and gas drilling.
These decisions have had a devastating impact on the emerging American clean energy sector, including the cancellation of offshore wind farms, the closure of electric car factories, and layoffs in climate tech start-ups. However, many clean energy leaders say they are finding ways to adapt, and some promising technologies that could help slow global warming are moving forward.
Some sectors, such as geothermal or nuclear energy, continue to receive support from the Trump administration. Start-ups that could help reduce industrial emissions are trying to figure out how to survive without federal backing. Others, like battery manufacturers, aim to position themselves as solutions for the artificial intelligence and data center boom.
Over 300 start-ups participated this week in a major annual energy sector summit, known as S&P Global’s CERAWeek, presenting innovative ideas to investors and policymakers such as advanced batteries capable of storing energy for several days and low-emission jet fuels.
HOW INVESTMENTS IN RENEWABLES ARE CHANGING IN AMERICA
A significant change concerns how the sector seeks new investments for ideas that could bring major climate benefits. Many leaders said they no longer rely on government subsidies or the goodwill of environmentally conscious politicians to support their business.
When Brimstone was founded in 2019, the company aimed to produce cement with carbon dioxide emissions halved compared to traditional cement, using carbon-free silicate rocks instead of limestone. The Biden administration granted the company $189 million under its program to reduce carbon emissions from heavy industry. However, the Trump administration abruptly revoked the funding last year. The company recently announced it has refined its process to extract the same silicate rocks to produce both cement and other valuable industrial materials like alumina, a precursor to aluminum that the U.S. typically imports. The bet is that by producing multiple products simultaneously, Brimstone can become economically competitive with traditional cement producers.
NOT “CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES,” BUT “ELECTRIFICATION”
Other companies are making similar bets, convinced they can replace fossil fuels even without government subsidies. Another start-up, AtmosZero, is developing giant heat pumps that can be used instead of gas boilers to generate steam for industrial plants. The company is already testing its technology in a brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, trying to demonstrate that electrification can be economically advantageous for businesses as well as more ecological. “Ten years ago, you might have called us a clean tech or climate tech company, but we actually focus on the value of electrification,” said Addison Stark, CEO of the startup. “We want our technology to be economically viable regardless of policy developments.”
A RESPONSE TO THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BOOM
Other companies in the clean energy sector are increasingly positioning themselves as solutions to the artificial intelligence boom.
Electricity demand is rising for the first time in decades due to tech giants building hundreds of energy-intensive data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence. Although many of these are powered by new natural gas plants, large tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon say they remain committed to reducing their overall carbon emissions. This has boosted wind and solar companies, which otherwise would have faced significant obstacles from the Trump administration.
A GOOD TIME FOR BATTERIES
Batteries are also benefiting. Crusoe, a company developing data centers, announced major collaborations this week with Form Energy, which has developed a new type of iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours—much longer than traditional batteries—and with Redwood Materials, which recycles old electric car batteries to supply power to the grid.
The Trump administration largely snubbed wind and solar energy, trying to promote fossil fuels like natural gas and coal as the most important short-term solutions to meet growing electricity demand. However, officials also provided support and funding to low-emission energy sources such as next-generation nuclear power and next-generation geothermal energy.
THE TIME FOR GEOTHERMAL
Geothermal energy, in particular, is establishing itself as one of the main renewable energy sources of the current era. Traditionally, geothermal production was limited to a few locations, such as Iceland or California, where companies could easily tap into underground hot water reservoirs near the surface.
In recent years, however, some start-ups, notably Fervo Energy, have sought to adapt modern drilling techniques from the oil and gas industry to harness underground heat in a greater number of places. This has fueled hope that geothermal energy can offer a new and vast zero-emission energy source that, unlike wind and solar, can operate at all hours. The sector has also received significant investments from oil and gas companies experienced in large-scale drilling.
THE VICTIMS: INTERMITTENT RENEWABLES AND GREEN HYDROGEN
However, Trump’s return to the White House has also caused serious damage to the renewable energy sector. Last month, Sublime Systems, a Boston-based clean tech start-up, announced the layoff of two-thirds of its employees. The company had developed an innovative process to produce zero-carbon cement using electricity and had signed an agreement to produce over 600,000 tons of cement for Microsoft. Thanks to $87 million in funding from the Biden administration, it was building its first plant in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The Trump administration revoked that funding last year as part of billions of dollars in cuts to funds allocated during the Biden era. In a statement, Sublime said the cancellation created “exacerbating challenges” for financing and that work on the Holyoke plant has been halted. The company says it still hopes to build its first plant, in North America or Europe, and continues to engage with the Department of Energy to restore funding.
Another technology that has suffered a setback is “green hydrogen,” i.e., producing low-emission hydrogen fuel using wind or solar energy. Many companies have abandoned these projects, partly due to funding cuts by the Trump administration and partly because the process requires huge amounts of cheap electricity, electricity now being diverted to data centers.
CO2 CAPTURE
During the Biden presidency, there was also increased interest—and over $3 billion in federal funding—for companies experimenting with techniques to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in an attempt to slow climate change. Many of these companies, however, are now downsizing as global warming has lost importance as a national political priority and federal funding is on hold. Climeworks, a Swiss carbon removal start-up, laid off a fifth of its staff last May. The company cited “shifting political priorities, leading to reduced momentum for climate technologies in some areas” and uncertainty surrounding a government-backed project in Louisiana.
Some clean tech start-ups facing an unfavorable political environment in the United States may end up seeking opportunities abroad, Ms. Wolfson added. She cited, for example, companies in Azolla’s portfolio that produce floating offshore wind turbines or are trying to capture carbon dioxide from ship exhaust gases.
AND CHINA?
In its latest five-year plan, China committed to massive investments in emerging clean energy technologies, including green hydrogen and nuclear fusion. Some analysts wonder whether China, which already dominates sectors like solar panels and electric vehicles, might soon surpass the United States in these areas as well.
(Excerpt from eprcomunicazione press review)
