It says this new name reflects the \u201claboratory\u2019s expanding mission\u201d under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe energy crisis we face today is unlike the crisis that gave rise to NREL,\u201d said Audrey Robertson, assistant secretary of energy responsible for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. \u201cWe are no longer picking and choosing energy sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur highest priority is to invest in the scientific capabilities that will restore American manufacturing, drive down costs, and help this country meet its soaring energy demand. The National Lab of the Rockies will play a vital role in those efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NREL was created in response to the 1973 oil crisis and was the first time that the US took aim at tackling energy issues through a centre of innovation to create and market new renewable energy policies.<\/p>\n
Formerly known as the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) before its name was changed to the more well-known NREL in the early 1990s, the Laboratory has gone on to play a vital role in developing and integrating a broad array of energy technologies not only in the United States, but around the globe.<\/p>\n
But any government-run operation with a focus on renewable energy was always going to be a target of the Trump administration and its anti-renewable, pro-fossil fuel agenda.<\/p>\n
So far this year the Trump administration has cancelled previously approved renewable energy projects around the country, cut and eliminated funding and grants for clean energy and electric vehicles research and development, and forced the firing of over 100 employees at one of NREL\u2019s campuses.<\/p>\n
Other government agencies are facing similar attacks, such as the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has seen the termination of hundreds of employees and dozens of federal contracts as well as the roll-back of critical responsibilities, including those of the National Weather Service and the National Centers for Environmental Information.<\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly and publicly lambasted renewable energy projects and the technologies behind them, and in turn called for more drilling of oil and gas and the revitalisation of the country\u2019s coal industry.<\/p>\n
The \u201cenergy crisis\u201d that led to the creation of what would become the NREL was financial in nature and affected the ability of Americans to affordably purchase fuel for their cars.<\/p>\n
Conversely, the only \u201cenergy crisis\u201d that the Trump administration currently recognises is one that similarly affects only the United States and a limited depiction of what life in America should look like \u2013 gas guzzling cars, gas stoves, and a coal-powered electricity grid.<\/p>\n
Any suggestion that there might be a global environmental crisis that the United States of America is partly responsible for is a suggestion that Donald Trump and his cronies have no time for, and a financially-motivated incentive to ignore.<\/p>\n
If you would like to join more than 28,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy<\/a> and The Driven<\/a> since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a move that is only surprising for the length of time it took them to make it,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-322495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n