Energy Department
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New supercomputing technology under development at the Energy Department carries a price tag of $425 million. An explosion in data and in computing power requirements are among the challenges. Secretary Ernest Moniz says the two projects, Coral and FastForward 2, will foster what he calls "transformational advancements in basic science, national defense, environmental and energy research." Barbara Helland is facilities division director for Advanced Scientific Computing Research program at Energy. She just returned from a Supercomputing Conference in New Orleans and joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive.
November 25, 2014 -
An energy inspector general investigation has found several problems with the way Sandia National Laboratories awarded billions of dollars in maintenance and operations contracts to Lockheed Martin. The IG found a lack of competition and violation of at least one important statute. In this week's legal loop, attorney Joe Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Driveto explain what this investigation means for Sandia Martin.
November 20, 2014 -
A new report from the Government Accountability Office says that some agencies, including the Departments of Energy, Transportation and Health and Human Services, experienced stalled grants and contract activity during the government shutdown of 2013.
November 17, 2014 -
The Energy Department developed a new tool to ensure outdated software doesn't remain on its network to create cyber vulnerabilities. Rick Lauderdale, Energy's chief architect, said business and mission leaders receive a dashboard view of potential problems.
October 24, 2014 -
The Energy Department has a new tool to help ensure an agency updates outdated software before it becomes a security risk. It's a good outcome from a bad event. Last year's cyber breach exposed data of more than 50,000 employees. Rick Lauderdale, Energy's chief architect, tells Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about a new approach to give business leaders the data to make better risk-based cyber decisions.
October 23, 2014 -
By the end of next year, the Army will install advanced electric meters at most of its large buildings, giving the service much more detailed data on how it uses energy than it's ever seen before.
October 23, 2014 -
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management planned to bring on Susan Taylor, the Veterans Health Administration's deputy chief procurement officer, but now has changed its mind. Taylor is accused by the VA inspector general of committing procurement fraud, lying to investigators and having a conflict of interest by promoting FedBid.
October 02, 2014 -
The Army needs big solutions if it wants to generate as much energy as it consumes by 2020. It's using the Fort Carson Army base in Colorado Springs as a testing ground for the Net-Zero Energy Initiative. The General Services Administration identifies four ideas that could help Fort Carson reach big energy breakthroughs. It's also partnering with the Army and Energy Department to measure Fort Carson's progress so far. Ken Sandler is the sustainability and green building advisor within the Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings at GSA. He told In Depth with Francis Rose what Fort Carson has done so far.
September 24, 2014 -
The Energy Department is spending $67 million in research grants it hopes will lead to the nuclear technology of tomorrow. Research projects have been selected based on potential for big breakthroughs. Pete Lyons, assistant secretary for Nuclear Energy at the Energy Department, broke down the numbers with Tom Temin on the Federal Drive.
September 02, 2014 -
Following a White House directive, the Energy Department is putting the research it funds on a fast track to the public. It has launched a web portal it calls the Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science (PAGES). It will provide free public access to accepted peer reviewed manuscripts or published scientific journal articles within 12 months of publication. Brian Hitson, acting director of the Energy Department's Office of Scientific and Technical Information, joined Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive. He explained why DoE launched the portal.
August 13, 2014 -
John Cymbalsky reached out to industry, environmental groups and consumers to quickly reach a consensus on new energy conservation standards for commercial equipment and residential appliances.
July 29, 2014 -
An Energy Department program designed to help consumers save money and the environment wasn't doing so well. It was hampered by lawsuits and a tug-of war between manufacturers and environmental groups. Then John Cymbalsky became program manager in 2010. Since then, the Energy Department has spit out energy-efficiency standards at double the pace. Now, he's nominated for a 2014 Sammies award. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss what he did differently to fix the program. View a photo gallery of all Sammies finalists. Read a Q&A and related story.
July 21, 2014 -
The government is in the biggest drive to promote STEM since the Sputnik era. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. The country needs more students to become interested in these vital fields. Now the Education Department and NASA have teamed up in a novel approach attract students to STEM. Camsie McAdams is the deputy director of the STEM office at Education. She spoke with Tom and Emily on the Federal Drive.
June 03, 2014 -
Bob Brese, chief information officer at the Department of Energy, joins Federal News Radio's Jason Miller for an online chat.
May 13, 2014 -
Energy Department CIO Bob Brese said the launch of the OneNNSA network provides seamless identity management and collaboration services in the cloud.
May 09, 2014