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Energy Sources

Learn more about Solar, Water, Biomass, Geothermal, and Wind Energy.

Learn more about how we use Nuclear Energy.

Learn more about how we use Electricity as an energy source.

Learn more about our Fossil Energy sources: Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas.

On the Frontiers of a New Energy Source
Building on this initial, small-scale test, the Department is launching a new research effort to conduct a long-term production test in the Arctic.

Secretary Chu announces that the Department of Energy has completed a successful and unprecedented test of technology in the North Slope of Alaska that was able to safely extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates

Innovation at Los Alamos Unlocking a New Source of Domestic Oil... From Algae!
Lipid droplets before (left) and after (right) ultrasonic lysis | Photo courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory

We now have an excellent idea of just huge the potential is for algae as a biofuel.

Our Dependence on Foreign Oil Is Declining
Image courtesy of whitehouse.gov

America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year since President Obama took office. In 2010, we imported less than 50 percent of the oil our nation consumed—the first time that’s happened in 13 years—and the trend continued in 2011.

Turning Sun and Water Into Hydrogen Fuel
Tiny silicon pillars, used to absorb light. When dotted with a catalyst of molybdenum sulfide and exposed to sunlight, these pillars generate hydrogen gas from the hydrogen ions liberated by splitting water. Each pillar is approximately two micrometers in diameter. | Photo courtesy of Christian D. Damsgaard, Thomas Pedersen and Ole Hansen, Technical University of Denmark

In a key step towards advancing a clean energy economy, scientists have engineered a cheap, abundant way to make hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water.