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Department of Energy (DOE)

By Kimberly Amadeo, About.com

What the Department of Energy Is: The Department of Energy (DOE) has been in existence for 25 years, and is primarily a national security agency. It’s purpose is to ensure energy security and maintain the safety of the nuclear weapons stockpile. It manages the clean-up of environmental damage left from 50 years of nuclear defense activities that impacted two million acres in communities across the country.
DOE operates 24 preeminent research labs which employs 30,000 scientists and engineers, including the Lawrence Livermore Lab, the Argonne National Lab and three accelerator labs. It has four power marketing administrations market electricity, some of which are from hydro-electric dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
What the Department of Energy Does: The Department of Energy creates the national energy policy. It helps to develop and execute the President’s Management Agenda. It has eight program offices, which:
  • Dispose of radioactive waste,
  • Clean up land, buildings and material contaminated by nuclear weapons research and production facilities, and maintain the closed facilities
  • support safe use of nuclear energy,
  • Monitor and ensure the reliability of the nation’s electric grid,
  • Promote use of renewable energy sources,
  • Monitor the nation’s petroleum usage and supplies,
  • Fund research in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and fusion energy sciences.
How the DOE Affects the US Economy: The DOE’s Energy Information Agency affects the economy directly by providing their estimates of the supply and demand of oil. These weekly figures are used by oil commodities traders to base the prices of oil futures. The price of oil is a key determinant in inflation as felt by the average consumer, and therefore in consumer confidence.

By providing funds for energy and science research, DOE helps increase U.S. competitiveness in technology and innovation.

How the DOE Affects You: Since the DOE is primarily concerned with national energy security, it affects you by making sure energy is providing cheaply and reliably. However, it may not be the most environmentally responsible, and it may not be the best energy solution for your grand-children.

Here are two specific initiatives signed into law in 2006 that exemplify how the Department of Energy affects you and your family.

Advance Energy Initiative - Includes $31 million in research funding for advanced battery research, $148 million for solar research, $44 million for wind research. It also includes further energy development of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, the Outer Continental Shelf, and the Alaska Gas Pipeline. (Source: Advance Energy Initiative )

American Competitiveness Initiative - Continue the tax credits to private sector energy research funding, which is expected to total $86.4 billion over the next 10 years. Some of the results include research into bio-fuels, such as turning switch-grass into ethanol-based gasoline. (Source: American Competitiveness Initiative)

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