Grid Modernization News

Dec 12, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

U.S. data storage technologies, like hard-disk drives (HDDs), contain imported rare-Earth elements in their magnets. As the demand for data storage increases, the supply of critical materials will become more limited.

Dec 12, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Join the NREL-administered Geothermal Collegiate Competition to win $50,000 in cash prizes this spring.

Dec 8, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

NREL scientists are working on harnessing cyanobacteria to convert growing concentrations of CO₂ in Earth's atmosphere into the same chemicals currently made from petroleum and natural gas—a step toward decarbonizing the chemical industry. With partner Nzyme2HC, they are exploring whether astronauts can use NREL's patented ethylene-emitting cyanobacteria to manufacture building materials and produce oxygen on Mars.

Dec 8, 2021, 17:00 by Kassidy Gamble

Throughout the past three years, NREL has partnered with Antora Energy and MIT to engage in two separate projects in thermophotovoltaic (TPV) technology that have both led to record efficiencies of more than 35%--a very competitive level of performance.

Dec 7, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

A paper co-authored by NREL researchers and others studies the success of the Energy Materials Network Data Hub—a secure, customizable scientific data sharing platform.

Dec 7, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

To discover materials for better batteries, researchers must wade through a vast field of candidates. New research demonstrates a machine learning technique that could more quickly surface ones with the most desirable properties.

Dec 6, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

NREL’s solar permitting tool “busts through bureaucracy” to fast-track residential solar projects and expands into energy storage permitting.

Dec 6, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have laid out a cost-effective five-point plan to improve the reliability of solar panels in light of extreme weather, rapid innovation, and extremely competitive prices.

Dec 6, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

After two decades working in finance, NREL analyst Riccardo Bracho pivoted to an energy career. Today he leads analysis of international power sector transformations.

Dec 1, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Driven by the growing popularity of shared micromobility—which typically involves the use of electric bicycles and scooters as well as regular bicycles—a research team from NREL is exploring the energy impacts of such travel modes versus the conventional modes they may replace.

Nov 30, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Every day, game-changing technologies are introduced that could more easily transition the world to a clean energy future. However, few entrepreneurs have the resources to develop promising new technologies into successful cleantech startups.

Nov 30, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Kestrel will take flight and bring the U.S. closer to a clean energy future.

Nov 29, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 2021 Standard Scenarios Outlook is now available. The Standard Scenarios are a suite of annually released future scenarios for U.S. power sector evolution through 2050.

Nov 28, 2021, 17:00 by Caitlin McDermott-Murphy

In the first Q&A profile in a new series, Manufacturing Masterminds, Birdie Carpenter shares how she is working to reduce industrial energy use, carbon emissions, plastic waste, and more.

Nov 28, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Researchers at NREL and affiliated institutions across the country have bolstered the efficiency of perovskite solar cells by as much as 16%.

Nov 21, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Scientists at NREL are helping pave the way for the next generation of data-driven, AI-enabled material science. In a new journal article, the authors describe a decade-long effort to build a modern data ecosystem to support close interaction between computational sciences and materials sciences.

Nov 18, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Commercial buildings generate 16% of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

Nov 15, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Largest 100% clean energy microgrid within U.S. Department of Defense supports island community, Pacific Missile Range facility, KIUC, and Hawaii's ambitious renewable energy goals.

Nov 15, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Eight researchers affiliated with NREL are on this year's list of Highly Cited Researchers, with many familiar names from the 2020 list. Clarivate PLC, the London-based company that released the list on Nov. 16, selected 6,602 researchers around the world based on the number of highly cited papers they produced between January 2010 and December 2020.

Nov 14, 2021, 17:00 by User Not Found

Since joining NREL in 2012, Janna Martinek has developed a reputation across the laboratory as a leader in numerical modeling and related engineering. She is also known as someone who can handle any problem that is thrown her way—no matter how complex.