News Release: NREL Researchers Discover How a Bacterium, Clostridium thermocellum, Utilizes both CO² and Cellulose to Make Biofuels

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made the surprise discovery that a metabolic pathway to take up CO2 exists and functions in a microorganism capable of breaking down and fermenting cellulosic biomass to produce biofuels including hydrogen and hydrocarbons.

NREL Innovation Showcase Helps Move Start-ups Closer to Market

Through several programs at numerous Department of Energy (DOE) National Labs, researchers are working with clean technology entrepreneurs on the innovative technologies that will shape our nation's clean energy future; but this type of big thinking extends far beyond the research lab.

News Release: NREL to Lead New Consortium to Develop Advanced Water Splitting Materials for Hydrogen Production

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has formed a new consortium with five other national labs intended to accelerate the development of commercially viable pathways for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. The consortium, named HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials Consortium (HydroGEN), also includes Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory.

IEEE Spectrum: Can Smarter Solar Inverters Save the Grid?

NREL’s Ben Kroposki writes about how smart solar inverters and a new technique called virtual oscillator control can help stabilize the power grid in a new article.

NREL Pilot Facility Co-Produces Bio-Derived Fuel Intermediates with Petroleum Refinery Infrastructure

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with partners, recently built a unique pilot-scale facility that can co-produce biomass-derived fuel intermediates with existing petroleum refinery infrastructure. The plant combines biomass pyrolysis with fluid catalytic cracking to demonstrate the potential to co-process biomass-derived streams with petroleum at an industrially relevant pilot scale.

News Release: Six Common City-Level Energy Policies Could Reduce Nationwide Carbon Emissions by up to 480 Million Metric Tons Annually

The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently examined the carbon abatement potential of city actions in six policy areas as part of the DOE’s Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. The analysis uses new data on energy use in more than 23,400 U.S. cities and estimates the aggregate impact of city actions related to: building energy codes, public transit, building energy incentives, rooftop photovoltaics, smart growth, and municipal actions. The results indicate that by 2035, these six common city-level policy approaches could reduce nationwide carbon emissions by 210–480 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. That is a 7–19 percent reduction in carbon emissions for the average city relative to current city-level emissions.

News Release: NREL Announces Innovation Challenge Winner for Crowdsourced Residential Buildings Energy-Efficiency Ideas

NREL's Solar Radiation Research Laboratory Offers a Mesa-Top Home for Global Measurement Accuracy

The NREL Pyrheliometer Comparisons help ensure that the devices scientists use for measuring solar irradiance are properly calibrated.

NREL and Fraunhofer ISE to Collaborate on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research

NREL and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Germany have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for close collaboration on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies research. The official launch took place on Monday, Oct. 10, at the "f-cell / World of Energy Solutions" conference in Stuttgart.

NREL's Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Research: Year in Review

This week NREL joins others across the United States to celebrate National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day on Oct. 8—10.08—a date chosen to represent the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008). One year ago NREL dedicated its new advanced hydrogen fueling station on the first National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day. Here we take a look back at the activities and accomplishments at the hydrogen fueling station in its first full year of use.

News Release: Nanoscale Confinement Leads to New All-inorganic Perovskite with Exceptional Solar Cell Properties

Scientists with the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.

NPR Features Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center Director Chris Gearhart

National Public Radio (NPR) recently featured the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Chris Gearhart, director of NREL’s Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center, in an interview on the affordability of low-emission vehicles.

NREL Announces Innovation Challenge Finalists for Crowdsourced Ideas for Energy-Efficiency in Residential Buildings

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with industry partner CLEAResult, has selected five finalists for the JUMP Smart Phone Call for Innovation.

News Release: NREL Report Shows U.S. Solar Photovoltaic Costs Continuing to Fall in 2016

The modeled costs to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems continued to decline in the first quarter of 2016 in the U.S. residential, commercial, and utility-scale sectors, according to updated benchmarks from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Driving the cost reductions were lower module and inverter prices, increased competition, lower installer and developer overheads, improved labor productivity, and optimized system configurations.

News Release: Three NREL Technologies Named as Finalists for R&D 100 Awards

Two technologies developed by researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a third developed through a collaboration between Wolfspeed, NREL, Toyota, and the University of Arkansas’ National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, have been named finalists by R&D Magazine for the coveted 2016 R&D 100 Awards.

From Pacific Islands to Ground Zero of Hurricane Sandy, Embedded NREL Staff Gain Experience As They Share Expertise

NREL staffers embed in the field with global organizations, providing knowledge while gaining experience.

News Release: NREL to Lead New Consortium to Improve Reliability and Performance of Solar Modules

The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will form a new consortium intended to accelerate the development of module materials for photovoltaics (PV) and lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power.

News Release: NREL to Lead One Exascale Computing Project, Support Three Others

Scientists at the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will lead an effort to model the complex and turbulent flow of wind through large wind plants as part of DOE's Exascale Computing Project (ECP), which is gearing up U.S. computational capabilities to prepare for the next generation of supercomputers. NREL will also provide support to three projects related to combustion science, urban systems, and power grid dynamics.

News Release: Survey Reveals Projections for Lower Wind Energy Costs

The cost of producing electricity via wind power is expected to fall 24-30 percent by 2030 and 35-41 percent by 2050, according to a survey of the world’s foremost wind power experts. Cost reductions are anticipated as a function of continued advancements in wind energy technology.

NREL to Showcase Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles at Two National Electric Drive Week Events September 14

Attendees can get behind the wheel or ride along in one of NREL's hydrogen-fueled fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Representatives from NREL will be on hand to answer questions about the vehicles and provide information about alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.