Energy.gov

America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year since President Obama took office. In 2010, we imported less than 50 percent of the oil our nation consumed—the first time that’s happened in 13 years—and the trend continued in 2011.

There is a lot of discussion lately about domestic energy production and American energy security. For the Obama Administration, moving towards the goal of energy independence has been a clear priority since day one.

Ever wonder what drives the cost of crude oil? Find out here.

Researchers at the Energy Department’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) set out to find the proper mix of fluids needed to cap the powerful flow of oil that can occur during a spill, an objective that was principally driven by the failure of the top-kill method during last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. You'll be surprised what starchy substance made the grade.

For many, a barrel of oil is almost synonymous with its most prominent product, gasoline. While almost 40% of a barrel of oil is used to produce gasoline, the rest is used to produce a host of products including jet fuel and plastics and many industrial chemicals. As the United States works to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, we must recognize the complexity of that dependence and work to replace the whole barrel.

A new study from Pacific Northwest National Lab concludes that 17% of U.S. oil imports for transportation could be replaced by domestically-produced algae biofuels.