Department of Energy

I

Introduction

Department of Energy (DOE), executive department of the U.S. government, created by Congress in 1977. The DOE is administered by a secretary who is appointed by the president, with the approval of the Senate, and who is a member of the cabinet.

II

Purpose

The Department of Energy was established by Congress to deal with what were felt to be urgent national problems of dwindling supplies of coal, oil, and natural gas and the increasing dependence of the U.S. economy on foreign sources of fuel, particularly petroleum. It is responsible for managing emergency contingency planning and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and for fostering more efficient technologies for the utilization of energy resources. The DOE is involved with the marketing of federal power, regulation of energy production and use, pricing and allocation, promoting more efficient uses of energy, and the nuclear weapons program.

III

Organization

The Department of Energy has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and eight operations offices throughout the U.S. It has assumed control of the facilities and personnel of five regional administrations for the transmission and marketing of electric power and of strategic reserves of oil, shale, and uranium. Many research laboratories, including Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the nuclear research facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are also part of the DOE.

The Department of Energy Organization Act, which created the DOE, stipulated that it work closely with other departments of the government to reduce energy waste in federal programs. The DOE is also required to work with such other federal agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Mines, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which have direct authority over the establishment of air and water pollution standards and standards for safe design of nuclear power plants.

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The DOE is required to prepare and submit to Congress biennially a National Energy Policy Plan, outlining objectives for energy use in light of other aims, such as full employment, price stability, national security, economic growth, environmental quality and protection, control of dangerous nuclear materials, and efficient utilization of publicly and privately owned energy resources.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent regulatory agency within the DOE. The FERC has many of the responsibilities of the former Federal Power Commission, including power to establish and monitor rates charged for electricity and for the transportation of oil and gas by pipeline. The chairman and the four commissioners of the FERC are appointed by the president with the concurrence of Congress.

Another department, the Energy Information Administration, collects, analyzes, and publishes data on energy reserves, production, consumption, and other matters. Extensive fieldwork is carried on to ensure the accuracy of these data.

IV

Research and Development

The Department of Energy has responsibility for energy research. These programs, now distributed among a number of departments within the DOE, are concerned mainly with scientific and engineering research. They aim to develop better and cleaner methods for extracting and burning traditional fuels, such as coal and oil, and also to develop new sources of energy, such as solar power, liquid fuels from biomass, and nuclear fusion.

Demonstration plants have been funded for technologies such as coal liquefaction and coal gasification, fluidized-bed combustion of coal, and improvement of methods for extracting oil from shale. Other concepts being explored are the conversion of solid waste into methane gas, the extraction of natural gas from coal seams, the use of fuel cells, magnetohydrodynamics, wind energy, and ocean thermal energy.

Solar power research is being pursued in connection with efforts to design residential and commercial buildings that will use energy more efficiently. Some of the most promising devices are solar collectors (which employ water heated by the sun), solar mirrors, and photovoltaic cells capable of directly converting the energy of sunlight into electricity. In addition, the department supports research into solar electrical power generators, several of which are now operating in California.

The DOE is responsible for research on laser-fusion and isotope-separation technology. The department also promotes peacetime uses of nuclear energy and is attempting to solve the difficult problems involved in disposing of nuclear waste materials. Projects to develop new and safer types of reactors are being actively developed.

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