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.
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April 2024
April 3, 2024
How Mountains Could Store Mountains of Clean Energy
Pumped storage hydropower might be one of the most promising ways to store energy for a future 100% clean energy grid. But it has been difficult for the public to know how much these facilities might cost to build—until now.
April 3, 2024
Study Examines Cost Competitiveness of Zero-Emission Trucks
Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) account for just 5% of vehicles on the road in the United States, yet they are responsible for 21% of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.
April 2, 2024
Making An Impact: Prize Competitors Bring Fresh Ideas to Community Clean Energy Projects
Twenty-three teams from the ecosystem tracks just won the Clean Energy Innovation Prize's CONCEPT Phase and have been awarded $100,000 in cash prizes to begin working collaboratively with underserved communities to advance clean energy and climate projects.
April 1, 2024
IN² at 10 Years: Cohort 1 Participant Turns Up Heat on Fire Prevention
The sensors in today's Whisker Labs Ting device trace their origins to the original sensors tested in NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility during the IN2 program.
March 2024
March 29, 2024
JISEA Launches Sustainable Agriculture Catalyzer To Examine Cobenefits of Decarbonization
The Sustainable Agriculture Catalyzer is collaborating with farmers to better understand the benefits and tradeoffs of decarbonization strategies beyond emissions reduction.
March 28, 2024
Solution to Energy Storage May Be Beneath Your Feet
Superheated sand provides one answer to the problem of long-term energy storage. Researchers at NREL built a prototype that proved the technology works. A larger-scale version is the next step.
March 28, 2024
Why You Might Love a Career in Marine Energy
Researchers across labs joined a Marine Energy Career Panel and agreed that their jobs are nothing if not varied.
March 26, 2024
Game-Changing High-Resolution Solar Data Enables Renewable Energy Expansion Across 2 Continents
New high-resolution solar data and analysis provides an in-depth look at solar resources in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
March 25, 2024
Connecting the Dots: Putting Offshore Wind Energy to Work
NREL researchers contributed to a thorough analysis and action plan to guide the United States on the most effective ways to bring Atlantic offshore wind energy to communities on the East Coast.
March 25, 2024
NREL To Lead New Lab Consortium To Enable High-Volume Manufacturing of Electrolyzers and Fuel Cells
The Roll-to-Roll Consortium aims to accelerate domestic manufacturing and reduce the cost of durable, high-performance systems.
March 25, 2024
International Researchers Explore New Territory in the Grand Challenges of Wind Energy Science
Wind energy's growth must be planned with careful consideration of atmospheric physics, turbine design, and grid resilience, as well as environmental and social impacts.
March 21, 2024
Before You Install Wind Energy Technology, Check Out This Database
The new, easy-to-use Wind Resource Database offers public access to more than a petabyte of detailed wind resource data in the United States and other countries.
March 20, 2024
Could a New Renewable Energy App Help Inspire Future Climate Crusaders?
Newly launched Renewable Energy Discovery Island could make it easy to teach, explore, and learn about clean energy (especially water power).
March 18, 2024
Behind the Blades: Amy Robertson Takes On the Complexities of Floating Offshore Wind
As a child immersed in the science of NASA, Amy Robertson was bound to end up an engineer—an aerospace engineer, to be exact. At NREL, she has traded in her love of the cosmos for the delightfully challenging dynamics of floating offshore wind energy.
March 18, 2024
Peer Learning Helps San Diego Center Community Voices in Clean Energy Plans
The San Diego Association of Governments has ambitious plans to make local progress toward California's goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.
March 13, 2024
NREL and MSU Denver Partnership Elevates Colorado High School Science Bowl to New Heights
Fossil Ridge High School emerged victorious in the 2024 Colorado High School Science Bowl, continuing its winning streak for the fourth year in a row by narrowly besting second-place finisher Stargate Charter High School.
March 13, 2024
New Report Shows It Is Time To Tap Into Hydropower Investment Opportunities
A new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory explores investment opportunities in hydropower.
March 8, 2024
Beneath the Surface: Alec Schnabel Has the Power (and the Power Electronics) To Advance Wave Energy
Alec Schnabel is working to advance one especially powerful part of marine energy technologies: their electronic guts.
March 7, 2024
A Crystal Ball for Solar Modules
Historically, photovoltaic (PV) modules have demonstrated high reliability, making them a dependable and growing part of global decarbonization efforts.
March 7, 2024
New Resources Spotlight Distributed Wind Energy's Local Value
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has launched the new National Distributed Wind Network and complementary Distributed Wind Energy Resource Hub.
March 7, 2024
Can We Connect Renewable Energy Hubs With Electricity Consumption Hubs?
A new approach to grid planning could make it possible to power your home with the nation's best and lowest-cost wind and solar energy, no matter where you live.
March 7, 2024
Electric Aircrafts Will Need Powerful Ports
An important consideration for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft is where they will charge and whether the existing power grid infrastructure can accommodate this demand.
March 7, 2024
From Instant Grits to Polymers: Scientist Kat Knauer Is Laser Focused on Plastics Pollution
As a polymer scientist and the chief technology officer of the NREL-led BOTTLE consortium, Knauer is responsible for helping solve one of the world's greatest challenges--plastic pollution.
March 5, 2024
NREL's Rail Optimization Software Is Putting Freight Electrification on the Fast Track
Combined, two first-in-the-world products—NREL's ALTRIOS rail optimization software and Parallel Systems' autonomous battery-electric rail vehicles—aim to help shift a portion of the freight currently carried by on-road trucks to rail, catalyzing decarbonization across the whole transportation sector.
March 4, 2024
Nextracker and NREL Partnership Inspires New Look at PV Tracker Industry Design Standards
Over the past year, NREL and industry partner Nextracker teamed up to advance the reliability of photovoltaic (PV) tracker technologies during severe weather events.
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