The EFI Foundation (EFIF) recently launched the Energy Innovation Project to help sharpen America’s energy innovation tools and provide recommendations to accelerate project deployment.
The United States is losing its competitive edge due to recent workforce cuts, outdated agency structures, and an inability to transparently measure progress at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Energy Innovation Project features a comprehensive database that tracks federal funding flows, project deployment, and staff numbers to deliver a clear picture of how the agency’s decisions impact American energy innovation.
Visit our website to explore the data and stay up to date with the latest project developments. Amid recent DOE announcements to use milestone-based Other Transaction Agreements to implement nuclear awards, we published an analysis which unpacks the department’s historic use of Other Transactions and recommends strategies for future award structures.
Spotlight
INNOVATION
Providing Data to Power America's Competitive Edge
The Energy Innovation Project brings together data-driven insights to strengthen the United States’ technological edge. It draws on government reports and federal appropriations to show how federal spending, project selection, and agency staffing shape the pace and scale of innovation. The project was featured in Politico Pro’s Morning Energy newsletter.
EFIF Founder and CEO Ernest J. Moniz was a key negotiator for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. He joined MS NOW to dispel common misconceptions about the deal and compare the talks to present-day negotiations.
EFIF and Team Pennsylvania, a statewide nonprofit, launched the High-Performance Concrete Initiative, an effort to accelerate the large-scale deployment of lower-emission concrete across Pennsylvania. An EFIF report finds that public and private procurement policies can create a market for cost-competitive low-carbon concrete.
NUCLEAR
NSI Webinar Dives into the Nuclear Energy Supply Chain
The Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI) held a webinar to discuss the coordinated strategies needed from government, industry, and finance to overcome supply chain bottlenecks and scale nuclear energy in the United States. The webinar was based on a report prepared by NSI and Solestiss.
INNOVATION
EFIF Webinar Explores American Energy Innovation
EFIF launched the Energy Innovation Project with a webinar discussion featuring Ernest J. Moniz; Tom Fanning, chairman of the executive committee of the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure; and Anne Simpson, vice chair of the Official Monetary Financial Institutions Forum.
INNOVATION
The Case for Demand-Side Policy Tools
Alex Kizer, executive vice president at EFIF, contributed a piece for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Financing the Missing Middle essay collection. He argues that the United States needs demand-side policy tools to compete in emerging energy technology markets.
CARBON MANAGEMENT
Carbon Accounting Case Studies: Steel Production
EFIF released two case studies showing how a comprehensive, ledger-based carbon accounting system can track emissions for two illustrative steel production processes, BF-BOF and H2-DRI-EAF.
INNOVATION
The Untapped Benefits of Other Transactions
EFIF’s new analysis explores how DOE’s Other Transaction Authority can enable faster and more flexible funding agreements to move new technologies to market.
Leading Conversations
“The United States has historically been the best at inventing new technologies. But where we are absolutely losing our edge is in scaling new technologies and developing a domestic market for them so that we can export them.”
On May 12, Sarah Frances Smith, deputy director for energy innovation at EFIF, will speak at a Carbon Accounting Standards Initiative workshop in Munich, Germany.
Previous Engagements
EFIF co-sponsored the opening reception of the second annual DC Climate Week, a community-organized event to discover solutions to climate challenges.
EFIF Chief Operating Officer April Salas moderated a panel on deploying clean energy and utility-scale storage to manage unprecedented load growth during the American Association of Blacks in Energy’s 49th national conference.
Stephen D. Comello, EFIF executive vice president and executive director of NSI, spoke on a financing panel at Economist Impact’s Nuclear Summit in London. He emphasized the importance of orderbooks and risk-sharing mechanisms for nuclear energy scaling.
Moniz discussed energy security concerns surrounding the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and reiterated the importance of one energy conversation during a keynote for the United States Association for Energy Economics National Capital Area Chapter’s annual energy policy conference.
Comello and Maddy Cohen, project manager at EFIF, spoke at the Energy Communities Alliance’s fifth annual New Nuclear Forum on panels covering the nuclear energy supply chain and the impact of federal policy on private sector participation.
Moniz spoke to The Wall Street Journal about the commercial viability of nuclear fusion and TAE Technologies’ merger with Trump Media.
Salas spoke on a panel at Cornell Tech in New York City about using AI to tackle sustainability challenges.
Tatiana Bruce da Silva, deputy director of energy systems at EFIF, presented a paper at the 67th International Meeting of the Transportation Research Forum evaluating the economic case for producing sustainable aviation fuel following changes to the U.S. Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit.
Moniz joined the Stanford Sustainability Forum to discuss how energy systems can keep pace as AI drives surging energy demand.
Moniz participated in a fireside chat on interdisciplinary approaches to the energy transition at the Stanford Energy Fellowship’s annual symposium.
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At the EFI Foundation, we advance innovative, evidence-based solutions to complex energy challenges—combining rigorous analysis with a pragmatic approach to bridge the gap toward a low-carbon future.
