The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Product Governance Team (PGT) reviews and approves all publications, exhibits, logos, infographics and templates for all EERE communications products from staff, laboratories, and contractors. 

The new suite of templates that do not need to pass through PGT are available on DOE's intranet.

For the review and approval process for EERE's websites, see Web Project Process and Approvals.

Before you contact the PGT, decide your project's scope and goals. Answer some key questions:

• Should EERE or a partnering organization develop this communications product?
• Under what brand should this be produced: EERE, an approved sub brand, or a lab? If a new brand is required, first consider whether the existing identifiers, logos, and templates meet your needs. If not, get approval for the new brand before you develop your product.
• Who is the audience? What is the most effective way to reach that audience? For example, is a fact sheet appropriate to share a success story with industry? Are other communication methods more fitting, such as a digital newsletter, presentation, webpage, or web card?

SPRING 2024 NOTE: All new logo, brand, and identifier requests will be denied until after the DOE brand redesign is launched. If you need an exception to this guidance, have the federal project lead contact Liz Penniman directly.

The approval process typically follows the following steps, in which:

1. Communication leads or support staff should submit products for PGT approval to the PGT liaison, Joelynn Schroeder, and cc the EERE Communications mailbox. Please provide any necessary background information and your deadline. 
2. Joelynn will review and provide approval within 48 hours or let you know if a meeting is needed to discuss your product.
3. If a meeting is required, be prepared to define your product's audience, purpose, format, and reason for needing a new deliverable. 
4. If you are unsatisfied with your PGT outcome, you can ask your federal communications lead to reach out directly to Liz Penniman for further review.

Before developing a new logo or graphic, you must get the PGT's approval. This ensures that the logo will align with DOE branding and policies and will adhere to trademark rules and regulations. After receiving approval to proceed with the development of a logo, you may begin design work.  

Approved Graphics and Requests for Use

If you require any EERE graphics, including logos, icons, and identifiers, to support work for EERE, you may request them from Joelynn Schroeder. If you work for EERE or one of its contractors, you can download approved graphics from the EERE i2 intranet.

Which Products Does the Product Governance Team Review?

If the product warrants discussion, then the PGT liaison will schedule a meeting with you. (We no longer require a Phase I and Phase II process; only one approval step is needed.)

The PGT liaison will readily approve:

• Regularly published products, such as annual reports, recurring fact sheets with minor updates, merit reviews, and newsletters.
• Technical reports that:
  • Do not cover a topic that is highly visible with stakeholders.
  • Are not politically sensitive.
  • Are not high impact.

The products that typically require a more thorough review include:

• EERE office, subprogram, and specialty identities, logos, and icons.
• New templates.
• Outreach publications, including fact sheets, brochures, booklets, ebooks, and products that use nonstandard branding, custom design, or introduce a new series.
• Exhibits.
• Technical reports with EERE branding that cover a topic that:
  • Will be highly visible with stakeholders.
  • Is politically sensitive.
  • Has high impact.
• Products paid for by EERE to support EERE offices, activities, and partnerships that have partner logos or branding.
• Infographics.

The products that typically do not need approval are:

• PowerPoint presentations.
• Logos that have previously been approved.
• Newsletters using standard GovDelivery templates. (If the branding varies, it should go to the Web Governance Team for a review.) 

As a government agency, EERE is required to use a Government Printing Office-approved printing office. Typically, this means using either DOE Headquarters Print Services or a printing office at a national laboratory. Follow the guidance on the following pages:

• Preparing Files for Publication at DOE Headquarters Print Services.
• Publication Numbers and Government Printing Office Requirements.

If you have any questions about obtaining publication numbers or preparing files for printers at DOE headquarters, contact Ken Sobczak.

Submitting Documents to OSTI via E-Link

Effective Oct. 1, 2023, the EERE Publications Library has been retired.

All publications with any level of scientific or technical information (STI)—including fact sheets, pamphlets, technical reports, and third-party validation—must be submitted directly to the Office of Science and Technical Information (OSTI) through its E-Link portal. Adding publications to E-Link is not optional—it is a requirement by Congress.

EERE-branded publications must still go through PGT approval prior to uploading to OSTI via E-Link. OSTI will notify both the STI manager, Joe Lucas, and the PGT lead of every EERE document uploaded to OSTI.

Requirements and Best Practices

When submitting content to OSTI, you should gather necessary information before beginning a submission, including:

• DOE contract/award number (if applicable).
• DOI for the accepted publication.
• Publicly accessible link or digital copy of the final accepted peer-reviewed publication.
• DOE publication number.
  • Request a number from Ken Sobczak if you are uploading a document that has no DOE, lab, or other GPO-approved number. Even if it does not appear on the publication, the publication number should be entered in E-Link.
• Attribution to the sponsoring program, per the DOE Order 241.1B requirement that DOE-funded STI include attribution to the sponsoring program with specific wording for the U.S. Department of Energy, the DOE program office (EERE), and the program office's subprogram(s) funding the research (Wind Energy Technologies Office, Water Power Technologies Office, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, etc.).

You will find instructions specific to each type of STI product linked at the top of each announcement notice. Clicking the question mark following the title of a specific field will direct you to instructions relevant to that field.

It is the responsibility of submitting organizations and their respective releasing officials to ensure that no Protected Personally Identifiable Information is contained in STI reports and products submitted to OSTI.

A full video walkthrough of the OST E-Link submission process is also viewable on YouTube:

Answers to commonly asked questions are available via the E-Link FAQ page.

For additional E-Link technical assistance, please contact the E-Link product manager, Kim Buckner.