U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

U.S. Gas Prices Expected To Remain Low For Summer

Bill Chappell — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:43:00 +0000

Drivers will find this summer's gas prices are lower than last year's, the result of a spike in crude oil production. Government forecasters say a gallon of regular gasoline will cost about $3.50 this summer — a slide of more than 10 cents from last year.

Energy Department analysts say "the regular gasoline price will average $3.53 per gallon over the summer," citing lower crude oil prices.

House Panel Examines Government Loan To Fisker Automotive

Sonari Glinton — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:51:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Auto executives got a grilling on Capitol Hill yesterday. Not the usual suspects from Detroit's Big Three. Think much, much smaller. Executives from the hybrid carmaker Fisker testified about hundreds of millions of dollars in loans Fisker got from the government. Today, the company is on the verge of collapse.

NPR's Sonari Glinton reports.

SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Fisker, the car company, isn't dead yet. But Congress has already begun the autopsy.

REPRESENTATIVE JIM JORDAN: Today's hearing is about getting to the bottom of the U.S.

Could Tapping Undersea Methane Lead To A New Gas Boom?

Christopher Joyce — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:53:00 +0000

The new boom in natural gas from shale has changed the energy economy of the United States. But there's another giant reservoir of natural gas that lies under the ocean floor that, theoretically, could dwarf the shale boom.

No one had tapped this gas from the seabed until this week, when Japanese engineers pulled some up through a well from under the Pacific. The gas at issue here is called methane hydrate. Methane is natural gas; hydrate means there's water in it.

Scientists Are The New Kings (Or At Least Secretaries) At Energy Department

Frank James — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:28:00 +0000

With President Obama nominating Ernest Moniz to be the nation's next energy secretary, he continued a relatively recent trend of putting scientists atop a part of the federal bureaucracy once overseen by political types.

If confirmed by the Senate, Moniz, an MIT physicist, will follow Nobel laureate Steven Chu, a University of California physicist who served as Obama's first-term energy secretary.

And Chu came after President George W. Bush appointee Samuel Bodman, who was no slacker in the field of science, either.

Obama's Second Term Cabinet Nears Completion With New Nominations

Mara Liasson — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:43:00 +0000

President Obama named a new Department of Energy secretary, a new budget director and a new head for the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday. All three will require confirmation by the Senate.