News and Feature Stories
The following news stories take an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how NREL is advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
March 2011
March 16, 2011
Guidebook to Geothermal Power Finance Now Available
NREL has released the Guidebook to Geothermal Power Finance (the Guidebook) to facilitate further investment in conventional geothermal projects in the United States.
March 15, 2011
Arizona Wind for Schools Project to Be Installed by September
The Williams News reported on the Arizona Wind for Schools project to be installed at Williams Elementary-Middle School by the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.
March 15, 2011
PV Module Reliability Workshop Cultivates Innovation, Progress
Innovation is often a product of teamwork among scientists and engineers with many perspectives, from many scientific and commercial entities. The 2011 PV Module Reliability Workshop's goal was to nurture innovation by providing a forum to share information—among the photovoltaic module manufacturers, testing labs, materials manufacturers, and the research community. This year's workshop was a resounding success, with about 180 participants exchanging information on the hottest topics in the industry.
March 11, 2011
DOE Honors Minnkota Power Cooperative with 2010 Wind Cooperative of the Year Award
This 10th annual award honors the North Dakota-based NRECA member for its outstanding leadership, innovation, project creativity and benefits to customers resulting from North Dakota's first utility-owned wind turbine and its other investments wind power.
March 11, 2011
First Virginia Wind for Schools Project Turbine Installed: A Wind Powering America Success Story
Wind Powering America's Virginia Wind for Schools team welcomed the state's first school turbine at Northumberland Middle/High School.
March 10, 2011
DOE Announces EERE Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
DOE's Wind Program will support two fellows: one to conduct research on wind resource characterization and a second to focus on offshore turbine reliability.
March 9, 2011
NREL Looks to Expand Biofuels Partnerships
The Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility (IBRF) at NREL is a place for NREL and industry to test demonstration-scale projects and speed the commercialization of biofuels. This past year, NREL completed construction on phase one of the IBRF and phase two is underway.
March 8, 2011
U.S. Residential Solar Water Heating Report Published
SEAC analysts Hannah Cassard, Paul Denholm, and Sean Ong recently published the report "Break-Even Cost for Residential Solar Water Heating in the United States: Key Drivers and Sensitivities."
March 8, 2011
OpenStudio Visualizes Energy Use in Buildings
NREL's free software tools help industry drive down energy use in new and retrofit building projects.
March 3, 2011
NREL Innovation Spectrum: Advanced Condenser Boosts Geothermal Power Plant Output
The first geothermal Innovation Spectrum case study tells the story of The Geysers geothermal power plant in California and how NREL stepped in to develop a technology that dramatically boosted the production efficiency of the plant when it waned in the 1990s.
March 3, 2011
North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners Current and Planned Activities in Small Wind Credentialing Webinar
NREL and the American Solar Energy Society Small Wind Division co-hosted the webinar, which covered the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners' current and planned activities in small wind credentialing.
March 3, 2011
DOE Offers Conditional Commitment for a Loan Guarantee to Support Maine Wind Project
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the offer of a conditional commitment to Record Hill Wind LLC for a $102 million loan guarantee.
March 2, 2011
Department of Energy Finalizes $96.8 Million Loan Guarantee for Oregon Geothermal Project
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized a $96.8 million Recovery Act supported loan guarantee to a project sponsored by U.S. Geothermal, Inc. to construct a 23 megawatt (net) geothermal power project in Malheur County, in southeastern Oregon.
March 1, 2011
ETA Announces $40 Million in Green Jobs Grants
The Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has $40 million available in Green Jobs Innovation Fund grants intended to increase the number of people completing green jobs training programs.
March 1, 2011
More Than 500 People Attend Wind Webinars Hosted by NEWEEP and WPA
The New England Wind Energy Education Project and Wind Powering America hosted popular webinars on the topics of Understanding the Current Science, Regulation, and Mitigation of Shadow Flicker and the Cost of Wind Energy, Project Financing, and Funding, respectively
March 1, 2011
Kansas High School Students Test Airspace Awareness Software as Part of Wind for Schools Project
The Kansas Department of Transportation chose Eudora High School as a testing ground for a new online airspace awareness software tool — the first of its kind in the nation.
March 1, 2011
Wind Powering America Launches Interactive Anemometer Loan Program Wind Data Map
Wind Powering America posted a new interactive map depicting wind data collected from its Native American anemometer loan program and the Western Area Power Administration anemometer loan program.
March 1, 2011
NREL Engineer Honored with Distinguished Speaker Award
NREL's John Rugh is one of five recipients of the 2011 Lloyd L. Withrow Distinguished Speaker Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers.
March 1, 2011
Regional Wind Powering America Meetings Are Coming to a City Near You
Wind Powering America is hosting a series of single-day regional meetings in March 2011 to identify current market barriers and solutions and to discuss potential regional collaboration.
February 2011
Feb. 28, 2011
NREL Expands Biofuels Partnerships
Companies on the path to commercialization can leverage the lab's new Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility.
Feb. 23, 2011
Gasoline Hybrid Electric Delivery Vehicles Reduce Tailpipe Emissions While Maintaining Fuel Economy
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently completed a yearlong technology evaluation of gasoline hybrid electric (gHEV) trucks compared with conventional diesel vehicles. A report released this week details NREL's efforts to determine the impact of hybridization on performance, emissions, and fuel economy.
Feb. 22, 2011
Website Reveals Early Lessons in Electric Vehicle Deployment
Cities and states have new blueprints to follow as they prepare for the arrival of plug-in electric vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) just released a convenient online collection of case studies in electric vehicle deployment. The case studies detail the early experiences of four U.S. locations on the leading edge of home-charging implementation.
Feb. 21, 2011
Wind Energy an Opportunity for Rural Income, Jobs, and Economic Development
During this interview Tom Potter, Colorado Wind for Schools Facilitator, says that greater acceptance of wind development is needed to take full advantage of wind energy's benefits, and unfortunately, several myths persist.
Feb. 18, 2011
NREL Teams with Industry to Validate Methanol Fuel Cell Technology
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is collaborating with Oorja Protonics of Fremont, Calif., on a two-year project to deploy and demonstrate methanol fuel cells for power pallet jacks, a kind of forklift, in four commercial wholesale distribution centers.
Feb. 16, 2011
Cost of Wind Energy, Project Financing, and Funding Webinar
This webinar explored how consumer-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, and communities are financing wind projects using creative structures that push the envelope of wind project finance in the United States; and the challenges that go along with wind project financing and funding.