The Energy Department today announced $13 million in funding to help communities across the country reduce market and policy barriers to solar deployment and recognize communities for taking the initiative to go solar. This investment will make it faster, cheaper, and easier for Americans to install affordable solar energy systems and spur solar deployment nationwide by decreasing costs and supporting communities' efforts to transform solar energy markets. The Solar Powering America by Recognizing Communities (SPARC) funding opportunity will establish a national recognition and technical assistance program for local governments—driving greater solar deployment and making it possible for even more American homes and businesses to access affordable and renewable solar energy to meet their electricity needs. Funding recipients will establish and administer a national recognition program and also provide technical assistance and share best practices with communities seeking national recognition for cutting red tape and improving local solar market conditions.  Once the...

February 6, 2015 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report Higher inventories, milder weather, and falling crude oil and natural gas prices have resulted in a Midwest propane market that so far this winter has not experienced the challenges faced last winter, when the combination of depleted inventories and high winter demand pushed propane prices to record highs . This winter, lower demand as a result of a less-severe winter (Midwest heating degree days so far this winter are 8.5% below the comparable year-ago period) has kept Midwest propane markets well-supplied. Inventories in the region are 11.8 million barrels above the same time last year and 6.3 million barrels more than the five-year average as of January 30. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Thomson Reuters Propane is produced from both natural gas and crude oil—in 2013, about 60% of propane was from natural gas processing,...

EERE offers webinars to the public on a range of subjects, from adopting the latest energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, to training for the clean energy workforce. Webinars are free; however, advanced registration is typically required. You can also watch archived webinars and browse previously aired videos, slides, and transcripts. Upcoming Webinars February 12: High Performance Enclosure Strategies, Part I: Unvented Roof Systems and Innovative Advanced Framing Strategies Webinar Sponsor: Building America The Energy Department will present a live webinar titled "High Performance Enclosure Strategies, Part I: Unvented Roof Systems and Innovative Advanced Framing Strategies" on Thursday, February 12, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This webinar is part of the Energy Department's Building America program's monthly webinar series, covering residential building technologies and practices. This month's webinar will focus on methods to design and build roof and wall systems for high performance homes that optimize energy...

February 5, 2015 Energy used by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) fell to 0.75 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in fiscal year (FY) 2013, the lowest recorded level since at least FY 1975, the earliest available data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). DoD accounts for most of the energy consumed by the federal government. The share of federal government energy use attributed to DoD fell from 87% in FY 1975 to 78% in FY 2013—the lowest share on record. Energy usage within DoD is divided into two areas: installation energy and operational energy. Installation energy is the energy required to run and operate military installations, which is mainly energy used in buildings but also energy used by vehicles not on combat missions. Operational energy, which accounts for 70% of total DoD energy use, is the energy required for transporting, training, and sustaining personnel and...

February 4, 2015 The U.S. federal government, with thousands of facilities and vehicles in locations across the United States and abroad, is one of the largest energy consumers in the world, but that consumption is declining. The U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) shows total delivered-to-site energy use by the federal government fell to 0.96 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in fiscal year (FY) 2013, the lowest recorded since 1975, the earliest year for which data are available. In FY 2013, vehicles and equipment energy usage accounted for 62% of all federal energy consumed , with the remainder consumed by federal facilities. The U.S. Department of Defense and the United States Postal Service together accounted for 94% of vehicles and equipment energy usage, which declined 19% from FY 2011 to FY 2013. Much of the decline since 2011 can be attributed to lower consumption of jet fuel, a...

One of the rooms in my house is cold. Really, really cold. This isn't actually surprising, because it's above the garage and nestled in between two unheated attic spaces. It borders unheated space or the outside on three walls and the floor. So when winter came around, we expected that it would be a little chilly. Then we had our first -5 degree day. It was awful. This room was several degrees colder than the rest of the house. It was cold enough that your hands would cramp with cold when every other room was perfectly habitable. The only way to keep it warm was to overheat the rest of the house or use space heaters—and both of those options were really expensive. Worse yet, this was our office! We spent more time in that room than we did anywhere else! We had to do something. So we started looking for...

February 3, 2015 EIA conducts a survey of gasoline prices each Monday, and yesterday's survey showed the U.S. average regular retail gasoline price increasing for the first time in 18 weeks. The national price averaged $2.07/gallon on Monday, up 2.4 cents from a week earlier. The steady decline in prices over the previous 17 weeks was the longest consecutive decrease in EIA's weekly survey since prices fell 14 cents per gallon over a 24-week period in 1995. The decline is the largest percentage decline since a 58% drop in gasoline prices over 15 weeks in late 2008. With oil prices at around $45 per barrel (bbl), petroleum refinery outages in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions in January pushed wholesale spot gasoline prices, and ultimately retail gasoline prices, up at the end of January. Those increases were large enough to raise the national average gasoline price in yesterday's EIA survey ....

February 2, 2015 On December 29, 2014, Entergy shut down its Vermont Yankee nuclear facility after 42 years in service. Vermont Yankee had a capacity of 604 megawatts (MW), generating nearly five million megawatthours (MWh) of electricity per year since 2010. As the fifth-largest source of generation in New England, Vermont Yankee accounted for 4% of New England's total electric generation and more than 70% of generation in Vermont. Grid operators in New England have multiple options to replace or offset the loss of generation from Vermont Yankee's closure, and they will most likely use several of them in combination. One option is to operate some of the existing generators in New England at higher rates. The four nuclear units now active in New England—Millstone units 2 and 3 in Connecticut, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, and Seabrook in New Hampshire, with combined summer nameplate capacity of 4,026 MW—already operated...

January 30, 2015 Source: Ephesus Lighting Inc., used with permission Before the start of the 2014 NFL regular season, University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, home to Super Bowl XLIX, retrofitted 312 high-performance light-emitting diode (LED) stadium light fixtures. The LED fixtures replaced more than 780 metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures and will illuminate the field during the Super Bowl on February 1. University of Phoenix Stadium was the first stadium in the NFL to light its playing field using only LEDs. The new lights draw approximately 310 kilowatts of energy compared with the 1,240 kilowatts required by the old system, a savings of about 75%. Assuming an electricity cost of 15 cents per kilowatthour, that means the new LED lighting costs about $47 per hour to light the field, compared to $186 per hour using the HID lighting system. Lighting maintenance costs for LEDs are also expected...

New Better Buildings Challenge Partners Commit 70 Million Square Feet, $1.7 Billion WASHINGTON – Building on President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department announced today that more than 20 new partners have committed to improving energy efficiency across their respective building portfolios by 20 percent over the next ten years. These new partners, including the 6 multifamily partners announced by the White House earlier today, bring with them fresh perspective and leadership in newly represented sectors, spanning over 70 million square feet of fast-food, restaurant, manufacturing, university, and government facilities. As leaders in energy efficiency, partners will work with the Department to share their successful efficiency strategies and help pave the way for other organizations to follow. “The Better Buildings Challenge partners announced today are demonstrating leadership in a variety of industries, bringing greater energy efficiency to American restaurants, data centers, multifamily housing developments and cities across the country,” said...