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You can now go solar even if you don't have a suitable roof. Community solar programs — which allow multiple people to invest in solar together and benefit directly from the cost savings and stable energy bills that solar energy provides — exploded in popularity in 2016 and analysts anticipate another big year in 2017.

Investment from both the public and private sectors has established a strong foundation for plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging and that support must and will continue. With this in mind, EERE has established a set of PEV charging infrastructure principles to guide its efforts and decisions.

Manufacturing has a significant economic multiplier, spurring jobs and investments elsewhere in the economy, and the United States is among the countries best poised to reap the benefits.

Americans today have more options and access to different travel options than ever before. As technology breakthroughs continue — such as fully-automated, self-driving vehicles — it's important to look at how the future of mobility could impact our nation's energy consumption.

In 2016, despite another year of unusually low gasoline prices averaging $2.24 per gallon, there are now more than half a million plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) quietly zipping around U.S. streets. While PEVs are on the rise nationally, the Energy Department’s Workplace Charging Challenge made big strides in 2016 as well.

With the help of the SunShot Initiative, Sustainable CUNY began work on the Smart Distributed Generation (DG) Hub-Resilient Solar Project, a roadmap to enabling a DG system that’s capable of providing critical energy services during power outages and helping the grid when it is constrained.

During his time in college 20 years ago, David Friedman joined the FutureCar Challenge team to broaden his perspective of hybrid and battery-electric vehicles. In a sit down interview, EERE's Acting Assistant Secretary explains how he had no idea back then how much that experience would shape his future career.

Our Geothermal Technologies Office continues to push the envelope of what's possible in conventional drilling operations. The latest success is a technology that can drill at extremely high temperatures (~300°C) and for extended periods of time (270 hours).

A common criticism of electric vehicles is that they take too long to charge. But a brand new technology called Extreme Fast Charging could charge your car in as little as 15 minutes.

Winter is here and many parts of the country have already seen snow. Although at first blush it may seem that solar power is ideal for the summer, solar panels actually produce useful power throughout all four seasons — including when they're covered in snow.

Algae absorb nutrients and produce oxygen—ecosystem services that are vital to the health of impaired water bodies like the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Energy Department-funded researchers are investigating how to mimic these natural services, while at the same time, sustainably produce biomass for conversion to renewable biofuels and bioproducts. It’s a double win for the environment!

Lighting makes up nearly 10% of the energy costs in our homes. But how many of us actually flip off that switch when leaving the room? Tien Nguyen recently retired from the Energy Department's Fuel Cell Technologies Office after 30 years of federal service. Over the last 16 years, he has saved $200,000 in taxpayer money by simply turning off the lights each night after work.

One of America’s coldest states on average is dramatically cutting its #energy costs in public buildings with funding support from the Energy Department’s State Energy Program.

When the R&D 100 Awards – also known as the “Oscars of Innovation” – were handed out, seven EERE-supported technologies invented by our national laboratories won awards in the fields of fuel cell technologies, vehicle technologies, and building technologies.

SunShot funding is enabling researchers from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a solution for customers, PV companies, and investors: international standards that consistently identify sources of high quality solar panels.

Time flies when you’re having fun—and when you’re in the midst of a clean energy revolution. As 2016 comes to a close, let’s take a look at the most popular clean energy blog posts over the past year.

Within the next 15 years, the United States has the potential to sustainably produce at least 1 billion tons of biomass annually, according to the 2016 Billion-Ton Report. This is about three times more than we currently use, and would be enough to power 7 million homes and produce 25% of U.S. transportation fuels, including aviation fuels.

More accurate solar forecasting — day-ahead predictions of solar energy generation levels — could save American ratepayers millions of dollars. But it’s hard to predict the future, so new SunShot Initiative funding and research is working to fix that.

Miscellaneous electric loads (MELs) represent appliances, equipment, and devices that use electricity but don't contribute to a building’s core functions such as heating, air conditioning, lighting, or water heating. The Energy Department is increasing attention to decrease MELs’ growing energy impact, which could help reduce extra home energy costs that come from many popular holiday electronic gifts.

A common obstacle to accelerating American investment in home energy efficiency is the up-front cost of home energy upgrades and other sustainable improvements. To overcome this barrier in Florida—where a hot, humid climate can send utility bills soaring when temperatures rise—St. Lucie County used $2.9 million in seed funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Neighborhood Program (BBNP) to create the Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF).

Connected thermostats allow people to remotely monitor and control their home’s heating and cooling equipment, changing how many Americans manage their home energy use. The Energy Department is researching how connected thermostats might be used in other ways to advance residential energy efficiency, so more Americans can save energy and money

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office reported completion last week of seismic data acquisition at two key geothermal sites in northern Nevada.

The mini Nintendo Classic has everyone partying like it’s 1985 again. Yes, technology has certainly come a long way in 30 years. Take clean energy for example. We’re currently in the midst of a revolution that has seen costs for wind and solar technologies, electric vehicles (EVs), and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) drop by as much as 94% since 2008.

When the wind turbine industry needs to test out new designs, it turns to the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

​In 1975, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) decided to harness the power of the sun, launching the Solar Energy Research Institute, which later became the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Over the subsequent 40 years, DOE, its Solar Energy Technologies Office, and the national laboratories have engaged with innovators, businesses, and entrepreneurs to channel one of our planet’s greatest resources into sustainable, clean, and cost-effective energy.