Trump administration: Golden-based NREL is “renewable” lab no longer — at least in name

The longtime name of Colorado’s federal clean energy lab is, as of immediately, no longer usable or renewable. At least until a new presidential administration in 2029. 

The U.S. Department of Energy announced late Monday that Golden’s storied, half-century-old National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, is no longer to be referred to as such. The new name: National Laboratory of the Rockies, with a complete “energy” outage.

“The energy crisis we face today is unlike the crisis that gave rise to NREL,” assistant secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said, referring to the 1973 oil crisis in a release posted on the website that at least through Monday night still was using the “nrel.gov” web address. “We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources,” she wrote.

Work at the lab is diverse, from advanced manufacturing to perfecting efficiency in solar panels and wind turbines, searching for ways to generate, transmit and store energy more efficiently, and looking for new sources for rare earth metals and better ways to recycle.

The Trump administration’s department changes have severely cut clean energy grants and attempted to reopen markets for coal mining and burning, as well as increased drilling for oil and gas.

“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 Lab of the Rockies will play a vital role in those efforts,” Robertson wrote. 

The release says the immediate name change for the lab founded in 1973 “reflects the Trump Administration’s broader vision for the lab’s applied energy research, which historically emphasized alternative and renewable sources of generation, and honors the natural splendor of the lab’s surroundings in Golden, Colorado.”