February 2020
Q&A with Eliza Hotchkiss: Refining Resilience in Energy Systems
As new group manager for NREL's Energy Security and Resilience Center, Eliza Hotchkiss is developing resilience strategies for community, state, and federal agencies and organizations.
Sustainably Converting Waste CO₂ into Hydrocarbon Fuels and Products
Researchers at NREL and the University of Southern California demonstrated a new process to synthesize metal carbide nanoparticles that may be used to convert waste carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels or precursors to chemical products.
Life in the FAST Lane: A Pumped-Storage Prize Progress Report
What does it take to fast-track pumped-storage hydropower projects? Four hard-working teams of innovators may hold the answer.
News Release: Researchers Improve Safety of Lead-Based Perovskite Solar Cells
Researchers at NREL and Northern Illinois University have developed a technique to sequester the lead used to make perovskite solar cells, a highly efficient emerging photovoltaic technology.
Inaugural Edition of Industrial Data Book Identifies Trends in How Industry Uses Energy
New Data Compilation Includes Information on Industrial Energy Prices and Economic Activity for 2016-2018.
Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize Innovators Identifying Industry Partners
Across the country, teams of entrepreneurs are competing to build an innovative supply chain that addresses the collection, separating and sorting, safe storage and transportation, and reverse logistics of recycling lithium-ion batteries.
Latest Data Book Shows U.S. Renewable Capacity Surpassed 20% for First Time in 2018
New edition also shows continued growth in U.S. installed wind and solar photovoltaic capacity, energy storage, and electric vehicle sales.
Industry Innovators Take on Wave-Powered Desalination Challenge through DOE Prize Competition
The Waves to Water Prize competition invites participants to develop wave-powered desalination systems that can be deployed in disaster-relief scenarios and remote coastal locations to provide potable drinking water. DOE selected 20 teams as winners of the CONCEPT Stage of the prize.
Fuels Researcher Gina Fioroni Runs Past Lab—and Trail—Obstacles
NREL Senior Scientist Gina Fioroni displays the same tenacity in her research on fuel as in her pursuit of ultrarunning events.
New Reference Turbine Gives Offshore Wind an Upward Draft
NREL recently released the International Energy Agency 15-megawatt reference turbine, or IEA 15-MW for short, which features options for both fixed-bottom turbines and those with floating substructures. This open-source model can accommodate multiple software tools and will provide industry, researchers, and academics a public-domain tool for designing next-generation offshore wind turbines.
HOPE Program Offers Students Unparalleled Access to World's Leading Solar Researchers
The Hands-On Photovoltaic Experience is aimed at providing in-depth training and expertise on the latest in solar technology and advancements, with the benefit of individualized research training and access in a small-group setting.
NREL To Help New York Bight Fishing Communities and Offshore Wind Farms Share the Seas
NREL was recently selected by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for a two-year, $500,000 collaboration with the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) and Global Marine Group to develop solutions to address commercial fishing access in U.S. offshore wind farms.
New Guidebook Informs Next Generation of Grid Integration Studies
Produced through the USAID-NREL Partnership, a new guidebook synthesizes a decade of lessons learned and best practices for conducting high-quality grid integration studies.
Excellence in X-Ray Research Earns NREL Scientist Prestigious Award
Energy storage researcher Donal Finegan, a staff scientist at NREL, recently received the 2020 Young Scientist Award for his groundbreaking work at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF).
Pioneer in Zero Energy Buildings Research Receives ASHRAE's Highest Honor
The impact of NREL Principal Engineer Paul Torcellini's research can be seen in hundreds of commercial buildings worldwide. After three decades of dedication to energy-efficient buildings research, Torcellini has earned the distinction of ASHRAE Fellow.
January 2020
NREL Study Assesses the Energy Equivalence of Transportation Safety at Intersections
NREL researchers developed a framework for estimating the energy equivalence of transportation safety at intersections. The new framework evaluates the full economic costs of safety and their gross domestic product-weighted energy equivalences. Initial study results underscore the value of collision-avoidance technologies for benefits beyond safety.
NREL Partnership Strengthens Integration of Analytics and Building Design
Through a partnership with NREL, Autodesk has added an integrated building-design-to-energy-analysis workflow to Revit, referred to as "BIM-to-BEM." By closely coupling building information modeling (BIM) with building energy modeling (BEM), Revit makes it easy for buildings professionals to evaluate the impacts of their design choices on energy use.
Water Resource Recovery Prize Launches to Inspire Innovators to Help Meet the Water Security Grand Challenge
DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office launched the Water Resource Recovery Prize, a $1 million two-phased competition designed to increase resource recovery from municipal wastewater treatment plants across the U.S.
News Release: NREL Helps Launch Geothermal Manufacturing Prize — Newest of American-Made Challenges
Today, with support from NREL, the U.S. Department of Energy launched the American-Made Geothermal Manufacturing Prize. The ninth prize in the NREL-administered American-Made Challenges series, the Geothermal Prize is a first-of-its-kind competition designed to spur innovation and address the manufacturing challenges of operating in geothermal environments.
How NREL Is Fanning the Sparks of Innovation
During fiscal year 2019, NREL filed a record 124 patent applications and counted a record 233 disclosures — a category that includes 161 records of invention and 72 software records. NREL-developed software is protectable by copyright, while records of invention can be protected with patent applications.
Last Updated May 28, 2025