DOE

Pressures on Fuel Ethanol Production Capacity

November 18, 2009 -- Capacity to produce fuel ethanol from corn nearly tripled between January 2006 and January 2009. However, over the past 18 months, a combination of surplus production capacity, the decline of gasoline prices from their mid-2008 peak level, and high corn prices that boosted producers’ input costs have resulted in a sharp decline in ethanol margins. The combination of economic pressures on capacity led some producers to idle plants, and in some cases, file for bankruptcy.    » read more »

November 17, 2009 -- Washington, DC – Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that DOE is awarding nearly $40 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to Florida and Maine to support clean energy projects. Under DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, these states will implement programs that lower energy use, reduce carbon pollution, and create green jobs locally.    » read more »

Federally-funded project part of long-range lab modernization plan

ARGONNE, IL (November 17, 2009) – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is providing $8 million to Argonne National Laboratory for detailed design work for a new, world-class energy research facility. This is the first step in beginning work on what is expected to be a $95 million construction project.

The Energy Sciences Building (ESB) will provide an environment that will accelerate the pace of discovery by bringing together interdisciplinary teams of researchers in a space that can be adjusted to accommodate an evolving energy-related science agenda. Construction is scheduled to begin during fiscal year 2011.    » read more »

November 17, 2009 -- Beijing, China - Today, President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao announced a far-reaching package of measures to strengthen cooperation between the United States and China on clean energy. Please see the attached fact sheets for additional details on each of the U.S-China clean energy announcements.    » read more »

Six-core upgrade has 70 percent more computational muscle than last year’s quad-core

November 16, 2009 -- Washington, DC —An upgrade to a Cray XT5 high-performance computing system deployed by the Department of Energy has made the “Jaguar” supercomputer the world’s fastest. Located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jaguar is the scientific research community’s most powerful computational tool for exploring solutions to some of today’s most difficult problems.

The upgrade, funded with $19.9 million under the Recovery Act, will enable scientific simulations for exploring solutions to climate change and the development of new energy technologies.    » read more »

Heads for disposal facility in New Mexico

ARGONNE, Ill. (Nov. 16, 2009) – The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has been removing transuranic (TRU) waste from its site for three years, but the Oct. 15 shipment of radioactive material to a disposal facility near Carlsbad, New Mexico marked the first time the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) picked up the tab.

The cleanup work is paid for by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The influx of ARRA funds will allow the laboratory to ship out more than four times as much TRU waste (including both remote- and contact-handled) in the next 24 months as it has since the project was conceived three years ago.    » read more »

November 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Congressman Charlie Melancon (La.-03) today congratulated Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, on being awarded a $1,903,000 contract from the Department of Energy to research clean energy. The contract will support Nicholls’ work over the next three years as part of the Clean Power and Energy Research Consortium in Louisiana.

“We fought to secure these funds for Louisiana’s cutting-edge research universities so that we can ensure that our state, long an energy leader for the nation, continues to be a leader by developing the innovative alternative fuels of tomorrow, “ said Sen. Landrieu.    » read more »

Says Recovery Act Will Create Local Jobs

November 16, 2009 -- Washington, DC – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today applauded the Department of Energy’s newly announced award of more than $5 million in federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants to the City of Tucson. The grant, one of thousands given to communities around the country, is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.    » read more »

Technology Enables Energy Efficient, Reduced Cost and Enhanced Quality Lighting Source

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 16, 2009 – DuPont announced that it has been awarded a $2.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a two-year project to develop a solid-state lighting source using low-cost organic light emitting diode (OLED) solution-processing manufacturing techniques.    » read more »

Washington, November 12, 2009 - The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy today announced projects selected for more than $24 million in grants to research and develop technologies to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million announced today, DOE plans to invest up to $4.9 million with USDA contributing up to $19.5 million. Advanced biofuels produced through this funding are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared to today's biofuels.    » read more »

By applying just the right compression to thin films of bismuth ferrite, Berkeley Lab researchers have produced a lead-free alternative to the current crop of piezoelectric materials.

November 13, 2009 -- BERKELEY, CA - There is good news for the global effort to reduce the amount of lead in the environment and for the growing array of technologies that rely upon the piezoelectric effect. A lead-free alternative to the current crop of piezoelectric materials has been identified by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC), Berkeley.    » read more »

Saudi Aramco Announces New U.S. Pricing Formula

November 12, 2009 -- The U.S. imported slightly more than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Saudi Arabia during the first 8 months of 2009. Despite a decline of more than 33 percent compared to the same period in 2008, Saudi Arabia was still the third largest source of U.S. crude oil imports during the first 8 months of this year, according to EIA import data.    » read more »

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 13, 2009 – PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) was selected to receive a $741,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to support the development of materials and automation processes for wind blade manufacturing. In partnership with MAG Industrial Automation Systems, PPG aims to optimize materials technologies and develop fiber glass prepreg placement techniques to improve wind blade reliability while reducing the cost of wind blade production.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Rob Andrews announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded South Jersey nearly $3.3 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to implement energy efficiency projects. Awarded under the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, these funds will support local efforts to lower energy use, reduce carbon pollution, and create green jobs.    » read more »

November 13, 2009 -- (Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen announced today that the City of Manchester has been awarded a $1,049,400 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

"Investing in energy efficiency and conservation will create jobs, bring down energy costs for consumers, and help communities take control of their energy use," said Shaheen. "This money will help Manchester become more energy efficient and create jobs, both of which are essential for economic recovery."    » read more »