The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado is getting a name change. The groundbreaking research institute will no longer have the word “renewable” in its title, the U.S. Department of Energy announced earlier this month, and will instead be called the “National Laboratory of the Rockies.”

The announcement does not specify how, or whether, the name change will significantly shift the facility’s work, but says it “reflects the Trump administration’s broader vision for the lab’s applied energy research, which historically emphasized alternative and renewable sources of generation.” Since starting his second term in January, President Donald Trump has invested heavily in bolstering fossil fuel production while curbing investments in renewables.

“We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources,” assistant secretary of energy Audrey Robertson said.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, emerged from the oil shocks of the early 1970s and has played a key role in developing many of the solar and wind innovations we rely on today. It has earned hundreds of patents over the years, and dozens of honors for the creation of products like advanced wind turbines for use in cold environments, improved solar cell efficiency, super-thin solar films, and efficient catalytic converters — all of which have made renewable energy more cost competitive. 

Wind and solar energy are still listed as research priorities on the lab’s website, and NREL spokesperson David Glickson told E&E News there are no planned shifts “at this time.” But Trump has proposed cutting the lab’s budget by 70 percent for the 2026 fiscal year. The final number will be determined by the Senate appropriations bill, but if approved, it would add to previous cuts for the research facility. The laboratory laid off 114 employees earlier this year due to “new federal directions and budgetary shifts,” according to E&E. The Department of Energy did not respond to Grist’s request for comment.

The move follows an ongoing trend of renaming various places and institutions in alignment with the priorities of the Trump administration: The Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Denali to Mount McKinley, The Department of Defense to the Department of War, and the U.S. Institute of Peace to the Donald Trump Institute of Peace. The newly-dubbed National Laboratory of the Rockies is, however, the first scientific group to undergo this process of rebranding. 

The renaming of the energy lab seems to be “part of an effort to marginalize any future role for renewable energy in the United States,” said Barry Rabe, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies climate policy. “I would see this as largely symbolic, but yet linked to a larger set of shifts and changes in the Energy Department space.” Rabe also questioned whether the name change might lead states and municipalities to back away from their partnerships with NREL. 

Steve Clemmer, director of energy research at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the rebranding a “huge mistake that will increase energy costs, stifle innovation and economic growth, and make the grid less reliable.”

“At a time when the rest of the world is transitioning to clean energy to address the climate crisis, NREL’s focus on renewable energy is vitally important for maintaining U.S. leadership,” Clemmer added. 

“If you are betting, as the administration is, that 21st century energy is one of oil, gas, coal, and uranium, and not renewables … that backs away from the need to pursue research in those areas,” Rabe, of Brookings, said.