Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called on the Senate to provide full funding for the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)-led REMADE Institute. Rochester’s Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute is one of the nation’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI) institutes, which were created by the U.S. Department of Energy with public and private investment. The REMADE Institute works with leading universities and companies to research and develop initiatives that can make the U.S. manufacturing industry more energy efficient, competitive, and environmentally friendly.
As the Senate begins to consider priorities for next year’s federal budget, Schumer and Gillibrand urged Senate appropriators to provide $56 million in federal funding for three of the current CEMI institutes, including the REMADE Institute. The funding is being matched by non-federal funding from REMADE’s member entities. The REMADE Institute supports high-tech jobs in Rochester, invests in clean manufacturing research and innovation, and helps boost the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness.
“RIT, via the REMADE Manufacturing Institute, has brought a wealth of resources to Upstate New York and been a game-changer spurring clean-energy innovation needed to energize American manufacturing, create new jobs and grow middle-class incomes,” said Senator Schumer. “I’ll continue to fight tooth and nail to secure full funding for the RIT REMADE Manufacturing Institute, to ensure that the world-class operation can continue making groundbreaking advances in the field of clean-energy manufacturing.”
“The REMADE Institute is leading our nation’s efforts to modernize the manufacturing industry and create a green, sustainable economy – all while also creating good, high-tech jobs in Rochester,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The Institute connects New York’s entrepreneurs with clean energy experts from all over the country, serves as a major source of talent in the region, and is at the forefront of our nation’s clean-energy technology research. I am proud to lead the fight in Congress every year to ensure that REMADE has the resources it needs to succeed, and I urge my colleagues to provide full funding for the institute in this year’s appropriations bill.”
The REMADE Institute is an RIT-led consortium that won a national Department of Energy (DOE) competition in 2017 to receive $70 million in DOE funding over five years, which would be matched with $70 million in non-federal funding. The REMADE Institute was formed in May 2017 and is one of the nation’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation (CEMI) institutes created with the goal of enhancing U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and advancing the nation’s clean energy goals. Last year, Schumer and Gillibrand announced their successful push to include $56 million for CEMI institutes for Fiscal Year 2019, including $14 million designated specifically for the REMADE Institute. The Senators’ push for funding this year would fulfill the $70 million, five-year funding agreement for three of the current CEMI institutes, including the REMADE Institute. It would also support a new cybersecurity in clean energy manufacturing institute, which would be created at one the national CEMI institutes in the months ahead.
The REMADE Institute is a national coalition of 25 universities, 39 companies, 5 national labs, 13 industry trade associations and foundations, and three states that collaborate and develop new cutting edge technologies to manufacture more efficiently, use fewer resources and less costly raw materials in order to save billions of dollars to increase efficiency, deliver competitive advantages focused on increasing U.S. manufacturing sales, and create or retain thousands of U.S. jobs. The REMADE Institute’s member companies include some of the country’s largest manufacturers.
The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s letter is here and below:
April 5, 2019
Senator Lamar Alexander
Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development
184 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development
188 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Feinstein:
I write to ask for your support of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI) institutes program as you develop the fiscal year (FY) 2020 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill. Specifically, I request that you include $56 million in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) for the CEMI program.
CEMI is part of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation, now known as Manufacturing USA. Focused on improving competitiveness and job creation in the U.S. manufacturing sector, CEMI is a network of hundreds of the nation’s leading universities, companies, national laboratories, and associations. The overall goal of these R&D consortia is to advance clean-energy solutions that will help reduce pollution, greenhouse-gas emissions, and dependence on oil while launching new businesses and creating high-wage, highly-skilled clean-energy jobs. CEMI’s efforts to improve the efficiency, sustainability, and cost effectiveness of transportation and to improve energy efficiency in industry, buildings, and manufacturing are helping the U.S. to maintain a position of global leadership in clean-energy technology.
Through Manufacturing USA, each CEMI institute is authorized to receive $70 million from DOE over five years, and they are required to secure from their partners a dollar for dollar match for all federal funds received. There are currently three CEMI institutes that have not received their full funding: the Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute led by the Rochester Institute of Technology, the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) led by UCLA, and the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) led by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. DOE is also preparing to issue a funding opportunity announcement for a new institute that will concentrate on cybersecurity in clean energy manufacturing.
I believe the CEMI institutes support transformative innovation in American manufacturing and strongly encourage you to maintain the federal government’s role in these important private-public partnerships. I thank you for your past support and respectfully request that you include $56 million for the CEMI program in FY 2020 to ensure all CEMI institutes receive their full funding.
Sincerely,
Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator