This Year @ Energy | Department of Energy

We love our jobs at Energy.gov. But at the end of the day, we do it all for you. Take a look at what you clicked, liked, loved and shared in 2016.

1. Our podcast -- Direct Current -- launched to pretty great reviews.

In May of this year we launched Direct Current, a podcast about the energy that lights our homes, powers our lives and shapes our world. We released our eighth episode a few weeks ago and have a few more in the works. If you haven’t yet, why not give it a listen on your way home for the holidays?

2. We toured a wind turbine.

At Energy.gov, we’re always looking for new ways to give you an inside or behind-the-scenes look at the Department of Energy -- sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. Earlier this week, we took you on a tour of the inside of a wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center in Colorado.

3. Things got...stranger.

When the Netflix show “Stranger Things” launched this summer, you might have noticed the Department of Energy played a prominent -- if somewhat sinister -- part. We played along with this tongue-in-cheek fact check of how the show portrayed us. (And we had the Halloween costumes to match.)

4. Offshore wind arrived in America -- and on our Instagram.

The first offshore wind farm in the U.S. opened this summer off the coast of Rhode Island, and that’s just the beginning. We also partnered with the Department of Interior on a strategy to tap into the massive potential for wind along our shores.

5. We took you to the White House Science Fair (and met Myth Buster Adam Savage).

President Obama hosted his last White House Science Fair, and Energy.gov’s Pat Adams and Allison Lantero brought you there with Facebook Live. We even got the chance to ask Adam Savage, of Myth Buster fame, about his favorite thing about science.

6. We celebrated some awesome #WomeninSTEM with beautiful illustrations.

We celebrated Women’s History Month with printable illustrations of four pioneering women of color -- Mae Jemison, Annie Easley, Chien-Shiung Wu and Ellen Ochoa -- who are too often forgotten when discussing advancements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

7. Los Alamos National Lab turned windows into solar panels.

A joint research team at Los Alamos National Lab and the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy are working with tiny nanoparticles -- called quantum dots -- that can harness solar energy. This new technology is transforming everyday windows into solar power generating devices.

8. Oak Ridge National Lab produced the world’s largest 3D-printed object.

And you don’t have to take our word for it: The Guinness book of World Records certified that the 3D-printed “trim-and-drill” tool -- which is about the size of an SUV -- made for Boeing is the world’s largest solid 3D-printed object to date. Official news published at https://www.energy.gov/articles/year-energy