U.S. Department of Energy
The EERE mission is to strengthen America's energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality in public-private partnerships that:
- Enhance energy efficiency and productivity;
- Bring clean, reliable and affordable energy technologies to the marketplace; and
- Make a difference in the everyday lives of Americans by enhancing their energy choices and their quality of life.
Why is the Department of Energy (DOE) supporting Green Community?
Our country’s future depends on our ability to use our energy resources in ways that strengthen our economy, protect our environment, and enhance our national security. This future is being built neighborhood by neighborhood. As individual communities plan their transportation systems, energy and natural resource use, and build economic vitality, their local decisions can have an impact well beyond the community itself. That is why the DOE invests in a broad portfolio of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, and in efforts to accelerate their widespread market acceptance. Advanced efficient and renewable energy technologies and strategies can transform the way Americans live, work, play, learn, and travel in today’s – and tomorrow’s -- communities.
DOE envisions a bright future for our nation’s communities, one built on sustainable energy policies and technologies, including:
- Affordable net-zero energy buildings -- highly efficient homes and commercial buildings using onsite renewable energy systems to produce at least as much energy as they consume, some even sending electricity back to the power grid. The vision of a community of net-zero energy homes comes to life on the National Mall every two years at DOE’s Solar Decathlon where twenty engineering/architecture schools compete to construct the most efficient solar-powered homes.
- Reliable renewable energy systems – clean energy generation using solar, geothermal, hydropower, fuel cells, and wind power – provide clean, sustainable options in a mix of centralized and distributed applications. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory supports the design and rebuilding of Greensburg, Kansas, which is using a mix of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies. As a national model of sustainability, Greensburg will give other communities devastated by natural disasters a pathway to reclaiming their future.
- Cleaner transportation systems, further reducing our communities’ dependence on petroleum and enhancing air quality. DOE supports research on plug-in hybrid vehicles – an important element of cleaner transportation, especially when powered by electricity from renewable systems.
Through these models and many others – and sharing innovative ideas in influential forums like the National Building Museum – our nation is gaining the practical tools to make green communities the standard rather than the exception.
