White House launches clean energy effort, $100 million in technology funding

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Biden administration onThursday announced the U.S. Department of Energy will offer $100million in funding to support low-carbon energy technologies andcreate a working group to aid their development and sale.

National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy revealed the news atthe White House's first meeting of the National Climate TaskForce, which included cabinet leaders from 21 federal agencies.The task force was created in President Joe Biden’s Jan. 27executive order on tackling climate change.

McCarthy reiterated the Biden administration believes anaggressive shift to a clean energy economy can reinvigorate theU.S. economy and create jobs.

"We are positioning America to create good-paying, unionjobs in a just and equitable way in communities across thenation that will be at the forefront of new manufacturing forclean energy and new technology, tools, and infrastructure thatwill help us adapt to a changing climate,” McCarthy said.

The White House also said the new Climate Innovation WorkingGroup will focus on commercializing technologies like direct aircapture and battery storage, and "emphasize research to bolsterand build critical clean energy supply chains in the UnitedStates."

The Department of Energy's Advanced Research ProjectsAgency-Energy, or ARPA-E, funds high risk but potentiallytransformational energy projects such as next generationbatteries for electric cars and storing energy from wind andsolar power.

The previous Trump administration had sought to terminateARPA-E and loan programs by the department but the program hadbipartisan support in Congress and lawmakers continued to fundit.(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Aurora Ellis)