Energy.gov

A pilot project that will generate electricity from Maine’s ocean tides could be a game-changer for America’s tidal energy industry at-large.

Biofuels produced here in the U.S. increase our energy security, but there is still a need for next-generation renewable fuels that can be integrated into the nation's current fuel refining and distribution infrastructure. If successful, electrofuels projects sponsored by ARPA-E could help fill this void.

In the most rigorous analyses undertaken to date, two recently released resource assessments show that waves and tidal currents off the nation's coasts contain enough energy to provide a significant portion our nation’s total annual electricity usage.

For most people, the notion that the green gunk coating various pond and river bottoms is a potential fuel source sounds like science fiction. But the fact is, several projects sponsored by the Energy Department are actively developing various ways to turn that “green gunk”, called algae, into a renewable and sustainable transportation fuel that will help reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Researchers at the Office of Science’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have tapped an unlikely source to help create a renewable alternative to diesel fuel.

Researchers at the Energy Department's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered the first strains of the bacteria to digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into all three types of transportation fuels -- gasoline, diesel and jet fuels.

Can you imagine a world in which the pace and scale of innovation of the last 100 years is replicated and compressed into the next 10 to 20 years?

Serving approximately 9,000 homes with clean renewable energy, the Paloma and Cotton Center solar plants highlight the rapidly rising solar corridor in Gila Bend, Arizona. | Photo courtesy of the town of Gila Bend, Arizona.

The SunShot initiative announces a $60 million funding opportunity (FOA) to advance concentrating solar power in the United States.

For many, a barrel of oil is almost synonymous with its most prominent product, gasoline. While almost 40% of a barrel of oil is used to produce gasoline, the rest is used to produce a host of products including jet fuel and plastics and many industrial chemicals. As the United States works to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, we must recognize the complexity of that dependence and work to replace the whole barrel.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is participating in its first Solar Decathlon 2011 competition, featuring its home, “Living Light.” Named for its very brightly sunlit double facade glass system, the home’s blueprint was inspired by the cantilever barns of Southern Appalachia, which feature giant eves to provide shade and a two-core design.



Entrepreneurs from Durham-based solar startup Semprius teamed with Governor Bev Purdue to announce the company’s plan to build a new high-tech manufacturing facility in Henderson. The factory is expected to create more than 250 full-time jobs over the next five years, which is a particular boon for Henderson, where the county unemployment rate reached 13.3% in May.