DOE

August 13, 2008 -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.

The inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8 percent efficiency was measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. One sun is about the amount of light that typically hits Earth on a sunny day. The new cell is a natural candidate for the space satellite market and for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto the solar cells.    » read more »

Declines in U.S. Petroleum Consumption Expected to Continue

If you feel like you’ve been economizing by driving less and adjusting your thermostat more, you’re not alone. Total U.S. petroleum consumption reported in today’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) is once again lower than the same week last year.

Average monthly total petroleum consumption has now declined for 12 consecutive months when compared with the same month the year before. Within the last 25 years, we’ve identified 6 other 12-month periods during which there was a sustained drop in total petroleum consumption from the previous year.    » read more »

Twelve Industry Teams Partner with DOE to Advance Integration of Solar Energy Systems into Electrical Grid

August 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy John Mizroch announced today that DOE will invest up to $24 million in Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond—subject to the availability of funds—to develop solar energy products to significantly accelerate penetration of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States.    » read more »

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Announces Support for Clean Tech Open

August, 2008 -- PALO ALTO, Calif. - U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency David Rodgers today announced the launch of DOE’s Zero-Net Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI) with establishment of the National Laboratory Collaborative on Building Technologies Collaborative (NLCBT).    » read more »

TEAM Energy-Savings Projects to Have Energy Improvements Pay for Themselves

August, 2008 -- PHOENIX, Ariz. – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency David Rodgers today announced the first four Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to help the federal government save approximately $13 million on energy and energy-related costs per year.    » read more »

Hazardous fuel behavior another setback for troubled energy department program, has implications for other reactors

August, 2008 -- Citing the recent failure of an experimental plutonium fuel assembly test at a South Carolina nuclear plant, two watchdog groups today called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend a risky, multibillion dollar program that would use 37 tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium for U.S. nuclear reactor fuel.    » read more »

August, 2008 -- The Department of Energy's (DOE) plan to turn 34 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium into "mixed oxide" (MOX) fuel for irradiation in nuclear power reactors has stumbled into yet another serious roadblock. Duke Energy has prematurely terminated a multiyear test of four experimental MOX fuel assemblies in its Catawba 1 reactor in South Carolina because of a potentially serious defect in the fuel design.    » read more »