January 9, 2014 11:33AM # Downsize the Department of Energy By [Caleb O. Brown](https://www.cato.org/people/caleb-o-brown) --- SHARE The [Department of Energy](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/energy) spends $29 billion per year on various schemes with a disastrous track record, often with bipartisan support. From regulations that destabilize markets, decrease domestic output and harm consumers, to subsidies that pick and choose winners and losers, this department is a perfect example of a white elephant – an expensive project of little to no useful purpose. [Solyndra](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/solyndra-political-energy-company) is the best example of such waste. The solar panel company [received a $535 million loan before filing for bankruptcy in 2011](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/solyndra-another-energy-boondoggle). The federal government will likely recover just $27 million from that loan. The department can be abolished by relegating security and clean-up-related tasks to the EPA or the Department of Defense and by returning research functions to the private sector. In all, abolishing the Department of Energy would save taxpayers about $7 billion a year. To that end [we’ve created a short video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i4u3FHBxbE&feature=share&list=UUyl7zwI6giPG6zC3uC8GGVg) which makes these and other points, which you can watch below. ##### Related Tags [Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Department of Energy](https://www.cato.org/department-energy), [Downsizing Government](https://www.cato.org/downsizing-government) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).