Finding ways to have comprehensive conversations about the large challenges in the industrial decarbonization space can be extremely challenging. Hence, why we were very excited to see the Department of Energy release a Commercial Pathways to Liftoff Report focused on this topic (report linked here) and dive in to their analyses. Katheryn Scott, Engineer for Market Analysis, at the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions played a major role in authoring the report and was kind enough to visit with us and the Gener8 family to discuss the report and broad industrial decarbonization.
Katheryn set the stage by providing insights into the vast scale and hurdles of industrial decarbonization. Diving into the report’s examination of eight key sectors (chemicals, refining, iron and steel, food and beverage, cement, paper and pulp, and glass), Katheryn shed light on how each sector compares to each other as well as the rationale behind their selection. We then turned to how industrials perceive the problems around industrial decarbonization and how that affects their thinking, planning, and goals, before learning about the Office of Technology Transitions and Katheryn’s role in authoring the report. The report’s methodology as well as final recommendations focused a lot on the affordability of such a transition and we discussed how that focus on cost drove almost the entire process and what recommendations that led to. Before concluding, we asked Katheryn about how low cost and high temperature heat could impact the overall challenges herein before Katheryn left us with some thoughts about where these analyses may be headed next.
We appreciate Katheryn’s perspective on this nuanced conversation about broad industrial decarbonization and hope that you find the conversation as thought-provoking and fascinating as we did.