There's a lot of good data to be found in public reports from national labs and other government research papers, but it's not always easy to find or easy to parse. For years, federal Department of Energy collected and published that information—but it has eliminated that effort under the Trump Administration. So the Natural Resources... Energy Dept stops tracking green energy, electric-car progress; NRDC picks up slack
There's a lot of good data to be found in public reports from national labs and other government research papers, but it's not always easy to find or easy to parse. For years, federal Department of Energy collected and published that information—but it has eliminated that effort under the Trump Administration. So the Natural Resources... 
For much of last year, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry pursued a plan that, in essence, would prop up the financially challenged U.S. coal and nuclear industries. His proposal, submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last fall, provided financial subsidies to electric-generation plants that kept 90 days of fuel onsite. Natural-gas... 
By now, many people would likely produce the correct answer when asked, Where in the U.S. are electric cars most popular? That would be California, which last year had almost seven battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars registered per 1,000 people. But five other states have more than two plug-in vehicles per 1,000 residents—and we're... ![Estimated U.S. energy consumption in 2016 [graphic: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/estimated-u-s-energy-consumption-in-2016-graphic-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory_100634001_t.gif)
One of the interesting side effects of plug-in electric cars turns out to be a greater awareness of energy sources and uses. A 2012 California study, for instance, showed roughly four out of 10 electric-car drivers either had or were considering solar panels to provide electricity to their home. And because electric cars everywhere in the U.S... 
The United States Department of Energy has announced a new funding initiative to accelerate the development of what it calls "Extreme Fast Charging" (XFC) systems. In total, the DoE will award $15 million for the development of electric-car charging systems as well as batteries capable of very fast charging. Each area of interest has specific... ![Containers holding spent nucleat fuel [Nuclear Regulatory Commission photo]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/containers-holding-spent-nucleat-fuel-nuclear-regulatory-commission-photo_100501742_t.gif)
Pity Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the man now running the cabinet department he couldn't remember that he wanted to eliminate altogether during a notorious 2011 presidential debate. He has pulled off an unusual feat, by uniting lobbyists for fossil-fuel interests with their counterparts advocating for renewable energy. Given the ascendance of... ![The White House, Washington, D.C. [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/white-house_100170583_t.gif)
The Trump administration has reneged on one aspect of a promise widely discussed throughout the 2016 presidential campaign: reviving the coal industry. President Donald Trump declared the United States coal industry would thrive under his watch, but the Trump administration and the Energy Department have just delivered a blow to the... 
The Senate Committee on Appropriations recently exhibited a quality somewhat rare in U.S. politics these days: bipartisanship. The committee released a lengthy report on the 2018 fiscal year budget for the Department of Energy that walks away from the Trump Administration's efforts to defund clean energy. In fact, the committee voted on a... 
It is widely accepted in the energy industry that U.S. coal production will fall as a percentage of the total electric grid mix. That has little to do with its high carbon footprint per kilowatt-hour generated; it is largely due to far greater supplies of much cheaper fracked natural gas. It is also widely accepted that renewable energy sources...