WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will fund new pilot projects for the American manufacturing sector to reduce carbon emissions, a key step toward meeting President Biden’s goal of a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.

BUCKEYE, AZ—Kore Power Inc. is building a $500 million assembly plant here to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle charging stations, microgrids, utilities and other applications.

The components in the pneumatic systems of production lines are subject to wear that can lead to leakage. When leaks go undetected, they can affect machine performance, increase energy use, raise operating costs and expand carbon footprints. Integrating a smart pneumatics package can prevent these rising costs and emissions. One critical part of this package is a smart sensor. The Emerson AVENTICS Series AF2 Flow Sensor helps engineers identify leaks in real time and address them quickly, which optimizes airflow, reduces costs and improves overall equipment effectiveness.

NÖRDLINGEN, Germany—VARTA AG has opened a new lithium-ion-cell factory here with 15,000 square meters of production space on two floors. New customer orders are already being processed.

MONZA, Italy—Polyolefin manufacturer Borealis has announced that it is installing a solar photovoltaic rooftop array at its plant here to generate electricity for production purposes. Interestingly, the array's modules use Borealis' Quentys encapsulant film technology.

TORSLANDA, Sweden—Volvo’s assembly plant here has attained fully climate-neutral status.