December 2022
The 2022 Standard Scenarios Are Now Available
NREL has released the 2022 Standard Scenarios, a suite of forward-looking scenarios of the U.S. electricity sector.
Transit Data Shed Light on Ridership Trends, Service Impacts
Transit agencies across the country conduct detailed passenger studies and surveys to better understand transit passenger trends. The data from many of these studies are now housed in the transit passenger data section of NREL's Transportation Secure Data Center.
What Is the Recipe for First Commercial Success for Clean Energy Technologies?
Analysts at the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis and National Renewable Energy Laboratory studied lab-to-market pathways for clean energy technologies.
Partnership Receives Funding To Commercialize NREL's 2,3-Butanediol Fermentation Process
NREL and BioPrincipia, a Georgia-based bioprocess technology company, are partnering to scale NREL's fermentation process for producing 2,3-butanediol.
The Caribbean Is Swimming in Seaweed. Scientists Aim To Turn It Into Jet Fuel and Batteries
It was not even close. In 2022, seaweed levels floating in the Caribbean smashed the record set in 2018 by 20%. You could see the consequences drifting up on shorelines from Puerto Rico to the Florida coast.
Two NREL Scientists Recognized for Their Contributions to Coating Science and Technology
Scott Mauger and Michael Ulsh received awards at this year's International Society of Coating Science and Technology (ISCST) Symposium.
Air Force Accelerator Adds NREL for Sustainable Aviation Expertise
NREL is enthusiastically supporting development of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) technologies, and a new collaboration with the U.S. Air Force is taking that research to new heights.
November 2022
SolarAPP+ Prize Helps Communities Adopt Automated Solar Permit Processing
NREL announced 12 communities as winners of Step 1 of the American-Made Solar Automated Permit Processing Plus (SolarAPP+) Prize—a two-step competition to help communities adopt automated processing of residential solar permits, lowering costs and making solar more accessible for homeowners.
Reasons Behind Wind Energy Workforce Gap Identified
Two NREL studies analyze the causes of the wind energy workforce gap and offer solutions to connect industry employers and potential workers.
NREL Tracks PV and Energy Storage Prices in Volatile Market
NREL has released its annual cost breakdown of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage systems.
Enzymes and Bacteria Sent on Mission To Upcycle Plastics
A plastic-degrading enzyme and an engineered bacterial strain have just been launched into space with an important mission: to convert waste plastics to upcycled materials during spaceflight.
Q&A With Stephanie Bostwick: Capacity Building and Energy Sovereignty for Tribal Nations
For Stephanie Bostwick's American Indian partners, the primary concern is energy sovereignty. Bostwick is an NREL project manager in the Energy Security and Resilience Center's Resilient Systems Design and Engineering group who supports technical assistance for tribal nations as well as resilience assessments for federal partners.
Science Is a Team Sport: 7 Energy Frontier Research Centers Boost NREL Research
As human knowledge grows deeper and broader, new and more complex scientific problems require multidisciplinary teams with more diverse ideas and skills.
How Wind Turbines Could Power Defense and Disaster Relief
Over the last four years, NREL has been part of a multilaboratory team that explored deployable wind turbine systems—including a few solar panels and batteries—using standard shipping containers to power military and disaster relief purposes.
NREL Researchers Developing Enhanced Methods for Evaluating Window Energy Performance Lifespan
A new technical report published by researchers with NREL, the University of Colorado Boulder, and WinBuild Inc. proposes new methods to evaluate how long windows sustain their energy performance.
PV Windows Unlock Goal of Increased Energy Efficiency of Skyscrapers
Skyscrapers dominate city skylines, but these massive glass-walled structures can be made more energy efficient through the addition of thermally efficient photovoltaic (PV) windows, according to an analysis by researchers at NREL.
Popular NREL Cell Efficiency Chart Shines in New Interactive Version
There is a new way to explore NREL's famous chart spotlighting the efficiency of solar cells. The Best Research-Cell Efficiency Chart is now interactive, with the ability to pull up decades of research data and create custom charts that focus on specific technologies or time periods. You can also dive deeper into the data behind many points on the chart, going beyond just efficiency.
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
An accessible, centralized data library for all things marine energy is making it easier for everyone in marine energy—from small startups to big universities—to get the data they need to accelerate technology development.
IN² Demonstration: Getting Control Outside of the Lab
For its 10th cohort, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) formed an all-demonstration group, where each participant would scope and perform a demonstration of their technologies as part of the program.
Collaborative Database Maps Lithium-Ion Supply Chain Landscape
Developing a secure supply chain—from material extraction to manufacturing battery cells and packs—is essential for a competitive edge in lithium-ion domestic and global markets.
Last Updated May 1, 2025