The energy crisis of the 1970s demonstrated the need for unified energy planning within the federal government. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE [3]) Organization Act (Public Law 95-91) was signed into law, centralizing the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission and other energy-related government programs into a single presidential cabinet-level department.
The DOE began operations on October 1, 1977. The new Department was responsible for long-term, high-risk research and development of energy technology, federal power marketing, energy conservation, energy regulatory programs, a central energy data collection and analysis program, and nuclear weapons research, development and production.
The Energy Department’s mission is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. DOE plays an important and unique role in the U.S. science and technology community by bringing together scientists and engineers from national laboratories [4], academia and the private sector to form multidisciplinary teams. It strives to find solutions to the most complex and pressing challenges, and plays a leadership role in transforming the energy economy through investments in research, in developing new technologies and deploying innovative approaches. DOE is the nation’s primary sponsor of research in the physical sciences, and is home to cutting-edge, one-of-a-kind user facilities used by thousands of researchers annually.
The Department of Energy is committed to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of sponsored R&D results that are the outcomes of R&D projects or other funded activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide, as well as grantees at universities and other institutions. The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) [5] is the office that develops and maintains efficient, state-of-the-art tools for access [6] and delivery of research results from the entire Department of Energy.
Happy anniversary, DOE, and many more.