Hybrid vehicle maker Bright Automotive has announced plans to close, blasting the Department of Energy for failing to finalize a loan that the firm says would have kept it afloat. In a letter dated Tuesday to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Bright CEO Reuben Munger and COO Mike Donoughe said they were withdrawing their application for a $314 million loan and winding down their operations. The executives claimed they had been strung along for the past few years as the government insisted on increasingly stringent loan requirements. "The actions -- or better said 'lack of action' -- by your team means hundreds of great manufacturing and technical jobs ... and thousands of indirect jobs in Indiana and Michigan will not see the light of day," the letter said. The Indiana-based company was founded in 2008 and had developed a prototype for a plug-in hybrid van, but had not yet begun manufacturing. Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera said the two sides could not come to an
Fisker Automotive, the electric car company that received $528 million in Energy Department loan guarantees, announced layoffs at its Delaware production facility on Monday.
President Barack Obama made a pitch for continued federal support of energy research during Tuesday night's State of the Union address.
Lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill Friday pledged to press ahead with their investigation into bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra, despite silence from company executives who invoked the fifth amendment.
At least three other government-backed solar firms face the same challenging market conditions that brought down Solyndra, the now bankrupt solar panel maker that could cost taxpayers over $500 million.
Top Solyndra executives are not going to testify before Congress about the federal government's backing of the failed solar power company.
The controversial Energy Department loan program that backed a now-bankrupt solar panel maker could nearly double in size by the month's end.
Until recently, few outside the solar power industry had even heard of Solyndra Inc.
There are 65,000 tons of radioactive waste sitting at nuclear power plants close to major cities around the country.
The U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday it will release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to alleviate Libyan supply disruptions -- driving already sinking prices lower.
An Energy Department official Wednesday defended the Obama administration's decision to pull the plug on a long-planned Nevada repository for nuclear waste in the face of questions from Congress about whether the move was legal.
The U.S. Energy Department announced Friday the shipment of 50 kilograms -- or 111 pounds -- of highly enriched uranium from Ukraine to Russia.
CNN's Ali Velshi talks to the CEO of a company who won an award for creating a car that gets 100 miles to the gallon.
A 109,305-acre fire, mostly on the grounds of a U.S. Energy Department facility containing a nuclear fuel development complex, has been fully contained, according to the government's InciWeb fire incident information website.
Firefighters Thursday continued to battle a wind-driven brush fire that has consumed about 170 square miles at the Idaho National Laboratory's desert site, authorities said.
It was supposed to be fast and easy: Pay a bunch of out-of-work contractors to outfit old homes with new furnaces or insulation. It would put people back to work right away, and at the same time cut energy use and save people money.
Some 18 million smart meters are set to make their way into American homes as part of the economic stimulus plan focusing on energy efficiency, Energy Department officials said Tuesday.
America should attack global warming by ... painting rooftops and road surfaces white.
CNNMoney: Oil settles below $34updated: Fri Dec 19 2008 15:16:00
Oil prices fell sharply Friday, on the last day of the January contract, as the global economic slowdown continues to clamp down on demand.
Crude oil prices fell Tuesday after a report showed a decline in consumers' gasoline use last week, fanning fears of a drop in demand.
Oil prices fell Wednesday amid concerns that global economic weakness will continue to crimp demand for energy.
Gas prices fell for the first time in nine days after two powerful hurricanes entered the Gulf of Mexico and smashed through the heart of the nation's oil infrastructure, but questions lingered about when production would be restored.
Oil prices fell below $99 a barrel on Sunday in a special early-start session as traders bet that Hurricane Ike did not cause significant damage to refineries.
Gas prices are poised to shoot back toward record highs after Hurricane Ike's direct hit to the heart of the nation's oil refineries, analysts said.
Nearly a quarter of U.S. fuel production was shut down in the wake of Hurricane Ike, according to a government assessment released Saturday after the storm slammed into the heart of the Texas coast's refinery base.
CNNMoney: Oil prices edge lowerupdated: Wed Sep 03 2008 15:45:00
Oil prices extended their decline Wednesday, to a nearly 5-month low, as the dollar strengthened against major currencies and traders waited for Gustav damage reports.
As oil companies sent crews back to their rigs to perform in-depth safety checks some operations see production beginning to come online as early as Wednesday.
Gasoline prices continued to fall , according to a nationwide survey of gas station credit card swipes, even after Hurricane Gustav caused the shutdown of more than a dozen Louisiana refineries in the past several days.
Oil production remained shut down in the Gulf region Tuesday, as oil companies inspected their rigs and refineries for damage, but some operations could restart as early as Wednesday.
Hurricane Gustav slammed into the Gulf coast Monday morning, but oil prices fell as the world market expected that the storm's impact on the energy infrastructure would not be as serious as previously believed.f
In a special Sunday afternoon trading session, oil prices spiked more than $3 before pulling back as the world oil market signaled its preliminary response to the looming threat of Hurricane Gustav.
I was stranded in the Arizona desert in my broken-down truck wondering if I had made a big mistake: Our CNN.com biofuel road trip seemed doomed to fail.
A summer with budget-busting gasoline prices seems like the worst time to launch a cross-country road trip from California to Georgia, but this one is different: We're road-testing alternative fuel that might help reduce pollution and break the nation's reliance on foreign oil.
Rising oil and gas prices have lawmakers and consumers scrambling for solutions, but it is unclear whether anything can be done to lower energy costs in the short term, experts say.
Correspondents in London and Islamabad report on how consumers there are responding to rising fuel prices.
Oil prices dropped below $129 a barrel Tuesday, falling sharply on a growing sense that soaring gas and oil prices have cut demand for fuel during the normally busy summer driving season
CNN's Charles Hodson speaks with two currency experts about the fall of the dollar.
With all the worry over fuel prices, you'd think drivers would do whatever they can not to waste gas. But look around and you'll see lots of them tooling around as if they owned their own tanker fleet. One of them might be you.
The government said Friday that it would halt deliveries to the strategic oil reserves, and in quick response, oil prices retreated from a record high near $128 a barrel.
These days, you can't read a product label or menu without coming across the latest eco-friendly buzzword. Find out which ones impart real information and which should be lost in translation.
Coal is almost the perfect fuel. It's cheap and absurdly abundant -- especially in the United States, which has the world's larges reserves. There's just that tiny problem of massive climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions. Or is there?
Market turmoil
updated: Thu Nov 08 2007 10:06:00
Paul Donovan of UBS joins CNN to discuss the state of the world's financial markets.
Dalat Nuclear Research Institute stands on a mountaintop in Vietnam's southern highlands. The nuclear reactor is not what most Vietnamese think of when they think of Dalat. The town, nestled in pine woods, is Vietnam's favorite honeymoon spot.
U.S. and Russian experts remove nuclear fuel in Vietnam and show Jill Dougherty how easily terrorists could hide it.
Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July are the most popular days to cook outside on the grill says the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Asssociation. Americans grill with a passion, the group notes, with eight out of 10 U.S. households owning a grill or smoker and half use it more than four times a month.
More flexible-fueled cars are coming out. Is one the answer to your soaring gas bills? Let the numbers be your guide.
Americans taking to the road now that the weather's getting warmer can expect to pay about 25 cents more for a gallon of gasoline this summer, the government said Tuesday.
Oil drilling companies are upset that the Bush administration has proposed killing funding for oil and natural gas exploration research and development programs at the Department of Energy, an industry lobbyist said Monday.
Three energy-industry groups issued a warning to U.S. consumers Thursday, saying they foresee higher fuel prices and home heating bills ahead this winter.
FSB: Turning Pointupdated: Tue Feb 01 2005 00:01:00
Tony Rogers is a member of the rosebud Sioux tribe who lives on the tribe's South Dakota reservation. He doesn't have an engineering degree, hasn't worked for a power station, and has never investe...
Nearly 30 years have passed since the first oil crisis gave Americans an indelible lesson in energy deprivation.
The federal government said Thursday it plans to loan out a limited amount of crude oil from the nation's strategic reserve in a bid to offset shortages caused by Hurricane Ivan.
An investigation of security violations is under way at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, including the latest reports of employees sending classified information over a non-secure e-mail system, a lab spokesman said Monday.
The United States removed nearly two tons of radiological and nuclear materials from Iraq last month, the Energy Department said.
Another survey out Wednesday confirms that $2 a gallon is now prevalent in the United States.
Don't look now, but $2 a gallon gas is here.
United States gasoline prices hit a record high for the third week in a row, rising 0.6 cents over the last week to $1.786 a gallon, the government said Monday.
Before most people put away their shorts for the season, the ad blitz will begin. You'll hear radio commercials like: "Switch from oil to gas and save a bundle!" and "Oil heat: Trust us. It's just ...
Law enforcement agencies will have greater access to cutting-edge military technology as the Defense Department, other agencies, and various government contractors turn over some of their previousl...
Money Magazine: SMART MOVES updated: Thu Nov 01 1990 00:01:00
-- Make a solid offense part of your defensive investment strategy by planning for the markets' eventual upswing. For stocks, seek high-yielding utilities and high-quality blue chips with P/Es belo...
If reactor phobia faded, only one serious roadblock would bar a new round of nuclear expansion: the lack of a burial site for the 1,700 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel that accumulates annual...
Fortune: NOW HEAR THISupdated: Mon Mar 28 1988 00:01:00
-- BRUCE E. LAZIER, 39, financial analyst for Prescott Ball & Turben, after Texaco's settlement of $1.25 billion in Energy Department claims: ''Every time you turn over a rock there, another $1 bil...
Fortune: Nuclear bankruptcyupdated: Mon Jan 18 1988 00:01:00
Not since Central States Electric of Richmond, Virginia, went into receivership in 1942 has a major U.S. utility gone bankrupt. Several power companies are vying for the honor of being next. The Gr...
Fortune: Signalsupdated: Mon Jan 05 1987 00:01:00
A group of 26 newspapers in 17 cities -- including New York's Daily News and the Boston Herald -- will slash rates for some national advertisers an average of 35% in an 18-month test arranged by Yo...
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