Biden invokes emergency wartime powers to boost heat pump production with $169M in federal funds in administration’s latest push to replace gas appliances
President Joe Biden will use special wartime powers to boost U.S. heat pump production, funding nine manufacturing projects with $169 million from last year’s climate law, the Energy Department said Friday.
The awards were made under the emergency authority of the Cold War-era Defense Production Act (DPA), which Biden invoked on climate change grounds to boost spending on clean energy technology.
“The President is using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to boost America’s production of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security,” Biden’s national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said in a statement.
Heat pumps can heat and cool homes and businesses more efficiently through thermal transfer, which moves heat from one area to another, rather than generating new heat.
The announcement was the latest in a series of steps to push the U.S. toward more efficient home appliances, and was met with anger by the American Gas Association, a lobbying group for the natural gas industry.
President Joe Biden will use special wartime powers to boost US heat pump production, funding nine manufacturing projects with $169 million
Heat pumps can heat and cool homes and businesses more efficiently through thermal transfer, which moves heat from one area to another, rather than generating new heat (file photo)
“We are deeply disappointed to see the Defense Production Act, which is intended to be an essential tool for advancing national security against serious outside threats, being used as a tool to advance a policy agenda that conflicts with our country’s strong energy position,” AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert said in a statement.
Harbert called natural gas an “essential tool for emissions reductions and energy system resilience” and said the industry “should not be unfairly undermined by abuses of the Defense Production Act.”
Natural gas consists mainly of methane. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, about 60 percent of American homes use it for space and water heating.
The Energy Department estimates that heating and cooling buildings in the U.S. is responsible for more than 35 percent of the country’s energy use.
Compared to gas boilers, heat pumps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 50 percent, according to the agency.
The new funding is the latest step the Biden administration has taken to encourage more efficient home appliances, after proposing stricter standards for water heaters and dishwashers.
“By bringing more American-made electric heat pumps to the market, families and businesses can save money with efficient heating and cooling technology,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
The funding will go to nine manufacturers with locations in the US, as seen above
This Armstrong International plant in Michigan is one of nine plants that will receive federal funds to boost production
John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for clean energy innovation and implementation, said the DPA funds for heat pumps “demonstrate that President Biden is treating climate change like the crisis that it is.”
“These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs and increase American competitiveness in the industries of the future,” he said in a statement.
The funding will go to manufacturers including Armstrong International in Michigan, Honeywell International in Louisiana and Ice Air in South Carolina.
In at least two cases, the funds will support the construction of new factories: a US Mitsubishi Electric factory in Kentucky and a Gradient factory in Michigan.
The government says the funds will help create an estimated 1,700 new jobs.
The Energy Department said it expects to unveil a new round of DPA investments in early 2024.
Biden has invoked his wartime powers under the DPA several times during his presidency.
In March, he called on the DPA to spend $50 million on domestic and Canadian production of printed circuit boards, citing the technology’s importance to national defense.
He also used the DPA’s powers in a recent executive order requiring developers of artificial intelligence systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of security testing with the U.S. government .