DNA may be history’s most successful matchmaker. And recently, researchers at the Energy Department’s Brookhaven National Laboratory coupled the complementary chemistry of DNA with some serious science savvy to create a new method for pairing up particles; a technique that may lead to the creation of new materials with great potential. DNA consists of four… Keep reading →
At first glance, the two modular homes on the south end of the Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) campus in Richland, Washington, look like traditional family homes. But on closer inspection, visitors can see they are part of a project to change how Americans use and save energy at home. Called the PNNL Lab… Keep reading →
This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the “Top Things You Didn’t Know About…” Be sure to check back for more entries soon. Click here for an interactive version of the map above. 10. Concentrating solar power (CSP) technology involves using mirrors, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands, to reflect sunlight and collect solar… Keep reading →
See a photo gallery of the Secretary’s visit to Kemper. Liberty, Mississippi, a small town in the eastern county of Kemper, is quietly making energy history. Liberty is the home of the largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant in the country. The plant, commonly called the Kemper County Project, will use state-of-the-art emission controls to produce… Keep reading →
If you’re trying to decide whether to invest in a more energy-efficient appliance or you’d like to determine your electricity loads, you may want to estimate appliance energy consumption. FORMULA FOR ESTIMATING ENERGY CONSUMPTION Use this formula to estimate an appliance’s energy use: (Wattage × Hours Used Per Day) ÷ 1000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh)… Keep reading →
This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the “Top Things You Didn’t Know About…” Be sure to check back for more entries soon. 10. Modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — the agency that brought us the GPS, the stealth fighter and computer networking — the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funds… Keep reading →
In homes and commercial buildings, about one-third of electricity consumption is attributed to miscellaneous and electronic loads (MELs) — appliances like toasters, printers, fans and clocks. Many devices fall into this category; however, because of the variety of devices and the expense of the technology used to test them, their energy use is not understood… Keep reading →
With fall in full swing, iconic images associated with the changing seasons are coming into view — leaves changing colors, pumpkin patches and apple picking. Windows allow us a view of these wonderful seasonal changes, but they also pose a real challenge for commercial and home energy performance — accounting for up to 50 percent… Keep reading →
Today, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz kicked off the latest round of the Rooftop Solar Challenge— an initiative that empowers local governments across the Nation to make it easier, cheaper, and faster for more Americans to go solar. The Rooftop Solar Challenge is spearheaded by the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative — a national collaborative effort to make solar energy… Keep reading →
