Domains and URLs

All EERE program and partnership Web sites must comply with the Department of Energy (DOE), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the EERE domain policies. This page summarizes the DOE, OMB, and EERE policies and explains when it is appropriate to apply for each type of domain.

For questions regarding these policies, or questions about using EERE domains or URLs for your programs, partnerships, or applications, please contact Sarah Kirchen, the EERE Web Site Manager, at (202) 586-1893.

EERE Web Site URLs

EERE program and partnership Web sites must choose one of the following approved domains for their page. All domains must be approved by Sarah Kirchen before any other steps are taken. For examples of approved URLs, see a complete list of EERE's unique URLs (MS Word 49 KB).

Eere.energy.gov: The majority of all EERE Web sites should be hosted on eere.energy.gov. This is the standard domain for projects associated with EERE. It is expected that most sites will use both the EERE.energy.gov domain and the EERE site template.

Example URL: www.eere.energy.gov/consumer
Energy.gov: To aid with the marketing and promotion of EERE program activities and initiatives, EERE has provided energy.gov domains for all top-level EERE programs. These shortened URLS encourage the programs to publicize their high priority initiatives on their home pages, reducing the need for multiple URL registrations and management. These are alias URLs which redirect to http://www.eere.energy.gov/ domains. The EERE Web Manager and the DOE domain manager oversee the technical implementation of all energy.gov URLs.

Example URL: www.biofuels.energy.gov
Top Level .GOV: Top level .GOV sites are reserved for federal agencies. At EERE, they are approved only for S-1 level initiatives as an alias for marketing and publicity purposes. This URL must be approved by the program director, the EERE Web manager, and the DOE domain manager. The EERE Web Manager and the DOE domain manager oversee the technical implementation of all .gov URLs.

Example URL: www.energysmartschools.gov
.ORG: Non-government domains are available only for sites that are not part of a federal agency, are not funded by the DOE, or are developed through significant partnership arrangements. Special approval is required for these sites. Provide the EERE Web Manager with a description of the site so a justification can be prepared and submitted to DOE's federal domain name manager for approval.

Example URL: www.solardecathlon.org

If you would like more information about acquiring domains for your EERE Web site, please consult the Department of Energy for Energy.gov, .GOV, and .ORG URLs. Consult the OMB policies listed on Webcontent.gov for additional information about unique .GOV addresses.

Partnership Site URLs

We recognize that some EERE sites are the result of partnerships with other organizations. Here are the options for partnership subsites:

Use www.eere.energy.gov as part of your domain name, and go into the EERE template. Generally, when EERE funding represents 51% or more of the partnership budget, it is expected that the site will use the EERE template and be registered as an EERE Web site.
Use a unique URL (i.e. www.energystar.gov). If you choose to use a unique URL, we would prefer that you do NOT incorporate any part of EERE's blue and green graphical look into your design. This will help us help us maintain the integrity of the EERE corporate brand.

With approval from the EERE Web Manager, partnership sites should reside on the main EERE server. Please work with Sarah Kirchen, the EERE Web Site Manager, to determine whether your partnership site belongs in the EERE template.

Database and Application URLs

We are currently designing a new system of standards for the URLs of all EERE-associated databases and applications. More information will be available soon.