In December 2021, President Biden signed an executive order that will reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities. The President’s order directs the federal government to use its power to achieve the following  goals:

1. 100% Carbon Free Electricity (CFE) by 2030;
2. 100% zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV) by 2035; 
3. Net zero emissions from federal procurement by 2050; 
4. Net zero emissions building portfolio by 2045; and
5. Net zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050. 

The philosophy behind this order is that by transforming how the federal government builds, buys, and manages its assets and operations, the federal government will support the growth of America’s clean energy and clean technology industries, while accelerating America’s progress toward achieving a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035.

Sounds great, right? But how will this get accomplished, and more importantly, what impact will this idealistic plan have on the economy? Under this order, the government will spend its annual buying power of $650 billion to upgrade the emissions and carbon footprint at its 300,000 buildings and replace its fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks with electric vehicles.

On January 24, 2022, the Associated Press reported that the Biden Administration issued its first clean energy loan guarantee.  The Department of Energy said it would guarantee up to $1 billion in loans to help Monolith, a Nebraska company, scale up production of “clean” hydrogen to convert natural gas into commercial products used in manufacturing and agriculture. 

This loan guarantee revives a program launched by the Obama Administration that helped launch the country’s first utility-scale wind and solar farms a decade ago. President Obama’s program boosted Tesla’s efforts to become an enormous organization in the electric cars industry. The program stumbled after the California solar company Solyndra failed soon after receiving federal aid. This resulted in a cost to the taxpayers of more than $500 million. Jigar Shah, who took over as director of the loan program office last year, said the loan guarantee program "is not intended to be a subsidy. It’s intended to be market-rate debt.'' 

The Biden administration will continue to wage war against America’s oil and gas producers. As such, oil and gas prices will increase which will open the door to alternative energy and clean energy sources which, at the moment, are more expensive than fossil fuels.

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