DOE

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...

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...

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...

The Trump administration hasn't been coy about trying to champion traditional fossil fuels while downplaying the importance and falling costs of renewable energy. Earlier this year, Department of Energy secretary Rick Perry, previously governor of fossil-fuel producer Texas, called for a 60-day...

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...

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...

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $1 million prize to a little-known team for what you might call a new garage appliance. The SimpleFuel team—actually a collaboration of three separate companies—won the prize, first offered in November 2014, for its hydrogen...

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry is President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Energy.

At least in North America, ethanol is a contentious fuel. A decade ago, it was seen as a homegrown and carbon-neutral way to use less gasoline—and federal legislation mandated that increasing volumes be blended into U.S. fuel supplies. Much debate followed over using "food for fuel," its...

The Department of Energy loan program that funded Solyndra is now turning a profit.

It's baaaaaaaaack. The U.S. Department of Energy's $25 billion low-interest loan program may be about to start awarding new loans. The DoE's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program endured intense political criticism for funding not only electric-car maker Tesla Motors but also...

It's baaaaaaaaaaaack. U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced yesterday that the DoE had revised and updated its Advanced-Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program, which offers low-interest loans to carmakers and their suppliers. Any new loans, according to a Detroit News...

The assets of bankrupt Fisker Automotive were sold to Wanxiang America at the close of an auction in Delaware bankruptcy court that lasted more than two days and lasted 19 rounds. Bloomberg reports that the Chinese company paid a total of $149.2 million for the company, or six times the price of...

The DOE has made its Alternative Fueling Station Locator into an app.

Troubled electric-car charging company Ecotality's Blink network will be bought by the Car Charging Group

That sound you heard yesterday was the other shoe dropping. The U.S. Department of Energy is offering its loan to Fisker Automotive for sale to the highest bidder, with a remaining face value of $164 million. The DoE did the same a few weeks ago with a much smaller loan--$45 million--to Vehicle...

Less than a year ago, Vehicle Production Group seemed a success: The startup maker had built 2,500 MV-1 handicapped vans in a year, about one-quarter of them powered by natural gas. But this past April, VPG shut down due to a cash crunch that meant it couldn't make payroll. Now, its $50 million...

Ah, politics. Yesterday, Tesla paid off the balance of its U.S. government loan, using proceeds from its $1 billion-plus offering of stock and warrants last week, as CEO Elon Musk had said Monday it would in a tweet. The amount settled yesterday was $451.8 million, following installments paid by...

Making a battery for an electric car is more like assembling microelectronics than the kind of auto-plant scenes we think of, involving huge steel stamping presses and battalions of automated welding robots. Last month, in addition to driving a 2013 Nissan Leaf through the Tennessee countryside, we...

Investors in startup electric-car maker Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] have had quite the wild ride lately. Following its first-ever profitable quarter, with its share price soaring above $80, Tesla announced last Wednesday that it would issue new stock and warrants. Now, Tesla has quietly increased its...