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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October 2016
Oct. 26, 2016
NREL Innovation Showcase Helps Move Start-ups Closer to Market
Through several programs at numerous Department of Energy (DOE) National Labs, researchers are working with clean technology entrepreneurs on the innovative technologies that will shape our nation's clean energy future; but this type of big thinking extends far beyond the research lab.
Oct. 24, 2016
News Release: NREL to Lead New Consortium to Develop Advanced Water Splitting Materials for Hydrogen Production
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has formed a new consortium with five other national labs intended to accelerate the development of commercially viable pathways for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. The consortium, named HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials Consortium (HydroGEN), also includes Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory.
Oct. 21, 2016
IEEE Spectrum: Can Smarter Solar Inverters Save the Grid?
NREL’s Ben Kroposki writes about how smart solar inverters and a new technique called virtual oscillator control can help stabilize the power grid in a new article.
Oct. 19, 2016
News Release: Six Common City-Level Energy Policies Could Reduce Nationwide Carbon Emissions by up to 480 Million Metric Tons Annually
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently examined the carbon abatement potential of city actions in six policy areas as part of the DOE’s Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. The analysis uses new data on energy use in more than 23,400 U.S. cities and estimates the aggregate impact of city actions related to: building energy codes, public transit, building energy incentives, rooftop photovoltaics, smart growth, and municipal actions. The results indicate that by 2035, these six common city-level policy approaches could reduce nationwide carbon emissions by 210–480 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. That is a 7–19 percent reduction in carbon emissions for the average city relative to current city-level emissions.
Oct. 19, 2016
NREL Pilot Facility Co-Produces Bio-Derived Fuel Intermediates with Petroleum Refinery Infrastructure
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with partners, recently built a unique pilot-scale facility that can co-produce biomass-derived fuel intermediates with existing petroleum refinery infrastructure. The plant combines biomass pyrolysis with fluid catalytic cracking to demonstrate the potential to co-process biomass-derived streams with petroleum at an industrially relevant pilot scale.
Oct. 11, 2016
NREL's Solar Radiation Research Laboratory Offers a Mesa-Top Home for Global Measurement Accuracy
The NREL Pyrheliometer Comparisons help ensure that the devices scientists use for measuring solar irradiance are properly calibrated.
Oct. 11, 2016
NREL and Fraunhofer ISE to Collaborate on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research
NREL and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Germany have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for close collaboration on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies research. The official launch took place on Monday, Oct. 10, at the "f-cell / World of Energy Solutions" conference in Stuttgart.
Oct. 7, 2016
NREL's Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Research: Year in Review
This week NREL joins others across the United States to celebrate National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day on Oct. 8—10.08—a date chosen to represent the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008). One year ago NREL dedicated its new advanced hydrogen fueling station on the first National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day. Here we take a look back at the activities and accomplishments at the hydrogen fueling station in its first full year of use.
Oct. 6, 2016
News Release: Nanoscale Confinement Leads to New All-inorganic Perovskite with Exceptional Solar Cell Properties
Scientists with the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.
September 2016
Sept. 30, 2016
NREL Announces Innovation Challenge Finalists for Crowdsourced Ideas for Energy-Efficiency in Residential Buildings
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with industry partner CLEAResult, has selected five finalists for the JUMP Smart Phone Call for Innovation.
Sept. 30, 2016
NPR Features Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center Director Chris Gearhart
National Public Radio (NPR) recently featured the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Chris Gearhart, director of NREL’s Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center, in an interview on the affordability of low-emission vehicles.
Sept. 28, 2016
News Release: NREL Report Shows U.S. Solar Photovoltaic Costs Continuing to Fall in 2016
The modeled costs to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems continued to decline in the first quarter of 2016 in the U.S. residential, commercial, and utility-scale sectors, according to updated benchmarks from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Driving the cost reductions were lower module and inverter prices, increased competition, lower installer and developer overheads, improved labor productivity, and optimized system configurations.
Sept. 21, 2016
News Release: Three NREL Technologies Named as Finalists for R&D 100 Awards
Two technologies developed by researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a third developed through a collaboration between Wolfspeed, NREL, Toyota, and the University of Arkansas’ National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, have been named finalists by R&D Magazine for the coveted 2016 R&D 100 Awards.
Sept. 15, 2016
News Release: NREL to Lead New Consortium to Improve Reliability and Performance of Solar Modules
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will form a new consortium intended to accelerate the development of module materials for photovoltaics (PV) and lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power.
Sept. 14, 2016
News Release: NREL to Lead One Exascale Computing Project, Support Three Others
Scientists at the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will lead an effort to model the complex and turbulent flow of wind through large wind plants as part of DOE's Exascale Computing Project (ECP), which is gearing up U.S. computational capabilities to prepare for the next generation of supercomputers. NREL will also provide support to three projects related to combustion science, urban systems, and power grid dynamics.
Sept. 13, 2016
News Release: Survey Reveals Projections for Lower Wind Energy Costs
The cost of producing electricity via wind power is expected to fall 24-30 percent by 2030 and 35-41 percent by 2050, according to a survey of the world’s foremost wind power experts. Cost reductions are anticipated as a function of continued advancements in wind energy technology.
Sept. 12, 2016
NREL to Showcase Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles at Two National Electric Drive Week Events September 14
Attendees can get behind the wheel or ride along in one of NREL's hydrogen-fueled fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Representatives from NREL will be on hand to answer questions about the vehicles and provide information about alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.
Sept. 8, 2016
Alberi Validates New Theory, Sheds Light on Semiconductors
A new theoretical framework on defect formation in semiconductors-materials used in a multitude of NREL-developed technologies such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and power electronics-indicates that shining light on them during growth can lead to improved crystalline quality and, ultimately, better device performance.
Sept. 1, 2016
News Release: NREL Releases Updated Baseline of Cost and Performance Data for Electricity Generation Technologies
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released the 2016 Annual Technology Baseline. In addition to updated data for utility-scale renewable and conventional energy technologies, this year’s version includes cost and performance data for residential and commercial rooftop photovoltaics (PV) systems.
Sept. 1, 2016
NREL- and Sandia-Developed HyStEP Device Receives Far West FLC Award
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and industry partners Air Liquide, Boyd Hydrogen, California Air Resources Board, and Toyota were selected as 2016 recipients of a Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Far West Region Award for their outstanding partnership in designing, building, and deploying the Hydrogen Station Equipment Performance (HyStEP) Device.
August 2016
Aug. 31, 2016
News Release: NREL Discovery Creates Future Opportunity in Quantum Computing
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discovered a use for perovskites that runs counter to the intended usage of the hybrid organic-inorganic material.
Aug. 31, 2016
News Release: NREL Supercomputing Model Provides Insights from Higher Wind and Solar Generation in the Eastern Power Grid
A new study from the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used high-performance computing capabilities and innovative visualization tools to model, in unprecedented detail, how the power grid of the eastern United States could operationally accommodate higher levels of wind and solar photovoltaic generation. The analysis considered scenarios of up to 30 percent annual penetration of wind and solar.
Aug. 29, 2016
NREL Research Puts the Wind at an Industry's Back
NREL collaboration with industry partners brings wind energy that is more reliable, more affordable, and better for the environment.
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