August 2022
Decarbonizing the Building Sector: The Devil's in the Data
In 2019, Washington, D.C., started using the Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) Platform, a web-based software created by NREL and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to manage data from large groups of buildings and help cities reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of their building stock.
News Release: R&D 100 Awards Honor NREL Innovation
R&D World magazine today presented NREL with one of its annual R&D 100 Awards for research innovations. The Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) Platform, developed in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is a data management and analysis tool that helps cities improve their building stock and reduce carbon emissions.
Democratizing the Data
The free, publicly available Marine Energy Atlas just got some new features, making it even easier for marine energy developers to learn how much electricity their device could produce at various U.S. sites.
Growing Plants, Power, and Partnerships Through Agrivoltaics
It is hard to find a flock of sheep nestled under an array of solar panels. But both solar developers and those in the local community who care for the land—whether as farmland, rangeland, or native habitats—can benefit from agrivoltaics.
Visiting the Land of Ice, Whales, and Climate Change
Whaling season had just begun when the housing survey team from NREL's Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) showed up in Point Lay this spring.
A Living Bridge to Clean Energy
A small project in New Hampshire could help tidal energy go global.
Better Components Can Boost Range and Efficiency of Next-Gen Sustainable Aircraft
New sustainable aviation technologies are providing actionable pathways for lowering greenhouse gas emissions for aircraft travel. Advancements in electrification and fueling are one exciting aspect, but research at NREL goes beyond power generation with a holistic approach to optimize energy use throughout the entire system design.
On Land, Across Oceans, and in the Air
This week, aviation industry experts join with the nation's top energy researchers to discuss strategies for cleaner air transportation that makes the nation less reliant on traditional fossil fuels while slowing climate change.
Assessing Power System Reliability in a Changing Grid, Environment
NREL's energy analysts use the "three Rs" concept to provide a fuller picture of power system reliability with changing resource mixes and grid conditions.
Beneath the Surface: Ritu Treisa Philip's Wavy New World
At NREL, Ritu Treisa Philip focuses her energy—and expert analyses—on marine energy technologies, which could provide renewable, reliable, and locally sourced power to coastal communities.
Global Researchers Revisit Grand Challenges of Wind Energy Science
In a collaborative effort, NREL researchers joined 100 worldwide wind energy experts in writing a series of 10 publications to summarize and clarify the most critical needs to advance wind energy science.
NREL Releases Comprehensive Databases of Local Ordinances for Siting Wind, Solar Energy Projects
State and local zoning laws and ordinances influence how and where wind and solar energy projects can be sited and deployed—which can have a measurable impact on U.S. renewable energy resource potential.
Ocean Observing Prize Competitors Ride the Winning Wave
Three winners of the Ocean Observing Prize BUILD Contest share a cash prize pool in recognition of their prototypes' potential to one day power ocean observing technologies after wave tank testing.
How Do We Get to Net Zero?
On July 11, 2022, NREL experts hosted two workshops at the 2022 HydroVision International Conference in Denver, Colorado.
En Route to Market: Alder Fuels and NREL Partner To Scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel Technology for Commercial Use
A critical pathway for producing large quantities of low- to negative-carbon sustainable aviation fuel is enroute to market following a collaborative research and development agreement between NREL and Alder Fuels.
Partner Forum Helps Cement Partnership Between NREL, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
NREL and DFW Airport have committed to working from the ground up at the system level on sustainability, decarbonization, and energy-efficiency overhauls, designing upgrades and implementations that can integrate intelligently across the board.
10 Years of Industry-Changing Influence
Over 10 years and more than 2.6 million downloads later, the Department of Energy's Geothermal Data Repository has taken the geothermal field from siloed science to becoming an industry leader in the open data movement.
New NREL Dataset Shows Value Building Flexibility Adds to Grid
Researchers at NREL ran hundreds of millions of simulations to gauge the contribution buildings make to gross grid value and created a publicly available dataset for others to use.
Cadmium Telluride Accelerator Consortium Aims To Reduce Costs, Speed Deployment of Low-Carbon Thin-Film Solar Technologies
This week, U.S. Department of Energy announced a new three-year consortium intended to accelerate the development of cadmium telluride (CdTe) technologies by lowering the cost and increasing the efficiency of the thin-film solar cells.
New Cybersecurity Tool Simplifies Site Evaluations
As federal sites invest in distributed energy resources like solar panels and battery backups, investments in cybersecurity must also be considered. More energy resources create more complexity to manage—introducing the potential of new cyber vulnerabilities and added costs down the road.
Last Updated May 28, 2025