The federal government research organization that has been devoted for half a century to renewable energy development has had the word “renewable” stripped from its name.
The Trump administration, which broadly opposes renewable energy projects, changed the name of the Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory to “National Laboratory of the Rockies.”
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the name change on Monday, effective immediately.
“The energy crisis we face today is unlike the crisis that gave rise to NREL,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said in a statement. “We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources. Our 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 Laboratory of the Rockies will play a vital role in those efforts.”
NREL has a prominent presence in Alaska. The agency in 2020 joined into a partnership with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The UAF facility is one of four NREL centers; two campuses are in Colorado and there is an office in Washington, D.C.
Jud Virden, the laboratory’s director, said the new name “embraces a broader applied energy mission entrusted to us by the Department of Energy to deliver a more affordable and secure energy future for all,” according to the statement.



And another country with the same plans to drive down costs and invest in science by actively rejecting cheap energy and science…
I wish all those morons burning down our planet and damaging societies with the sole goal of enriching themselves and their budies would have more than that one page of always the same playbook for once. It gets really boring after a while…