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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November 2023
Nov. 17, 2023
Transportation Annual Technology Baseline Expands To Include New Technologies
In its first-ever update, the Transportation Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) now offers its users expanded cost and performance data to inform transportation sector analysis nationwide.
Nov. 17, 2023
How Tyche Informs Strategic Energy Investments
Decision makers who want to know the impact of potential R&D investments on their energy technology goals now have a new tool: the Technology Characterization and Evaluation (Tyche) software.
Nov. 16, 2023
Accelerating Power at Sea for a Thriving Blue Economy
New prize challenges competitors to propose innovative marine energy concepts to accelerate renewable offshore energy—enabling the future blue economy.
Nov. 16, 2023
NREL Partners To Identify Strategies for a More Equitable Clean Energy Transition in Los Angeles
NREL partners on LA100 Equity Strategies project to identify pathways for underserved LA communities to reap benefits of transition to 100% clean energy.
Nov. 16, 2023
US Department of Energy Announces Heliostat Prize Semifinalists
Nine semifinalists have been selected to move on to design phase of the American-Made Heliostat Prize.
Nov. 15, 2023
Fall 2023 Geothermal Collegiate Competition Kicks Off With 33 Teams
Thirty-three teams from 25 U.S. collegiate institutions are competing in the U.S. Department of Energy Fall 2023 Geothermal Collegiate Competition, designing real-world geothermal solutions for a chance at $32,000 in prize funding.
Nov. 15, 2023
NREL Study Investigates EV Fast-Charging Infrastructure Needed To Enable Travel to National Parks
From the Grand Canyon to the majestic Tetons, national parks in the western United States draw more than 80 million visitors a year. Most of these visitors rely on their personal vehicles or rentals to get them there.
Nov. 15, 2023
Coming Soon to a Grid Near You: Clean Energy (Batteries Not Included)
NREL's far-reaching research on batteries helps ensure their safety, longevity, and sustainability through reuse and recycling, minimizing the environmental impact of recycling processes, and investigating how to scale up recycling from benchtop testing to industrial scenarios.
Nov. 15, 2023
Seven From NREL Make Return Appearance on Highly Cited Researchers List
Seven researchers from NREL and one college professor affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy facility are included on this year's Highly Cited Researchers list.
Nov. 14, 2023
Photovoltaic Toxicity and Waste Concerns Are Overblown, Slowing Decarbonization--NREL Researchers Are Setting the Record Straight
Photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation is essential for achieving decarbonization targets and mitigating climate change.
Nov. 10, 2023
NREL Water Power Research Flourishes Under Seedlings Program
The program provides funding to national laboratory researchers, empowering them to think outside the box when it comes to their water power research—and to fine-tune their ideas so they have real-world applications.
Nov. 8, 2023
Leading the Charge: 105 Solar Decathlon Teams Tackle Zero-Energy Building Designs
By designing high-performance, zero-energy buildings, 105 teams from 93 collegiate institutions are leading the charge to tackle climate change as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® 2024 Design Challenge.
Nov. 8, 2023
Ocean Energy Could Be a Golden Thread for Coastal Communities
National laboratory researchers are developing a guide for marine energy experts to support energy transitions in remote coastal and island communities.
Nov. 8, 2023
Solar Data Bounty Prize Stage 1 Finalists Selected
On Oct. 2, the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office announced seven Stage 1 finalists for the American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize. The seven teams will now move on to Stage 2 to compete for part of $1.4 million in cash prizes.
Nov. 7, 2023
Scaling and Aggregation Supercharge Electric Vehicle Charging
The latest installment of NREL's Tell Me Something Grid series by grid researcher Luke Lavin discusses the value of combining multiple distributed energy resources to effectively integrate them into the power grid.
Nov. 3, 2023
JUMP Into STEM Competition Prepares Next Generation of Building Scientists To Take on Clean Energy
Developing a diverse and knowledgeable workforce for building science is critical to meeting future decarbonization goals set by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Nov. 2, 2023
How Can We Avoid Drinking Forever Chemicals and Arsenic?
A new ion exchange model can help utilities and researchers simulate and study different system designs to remove forever chemicals from water.
Nov. 2, 2023
Pick Your Polymer Properties and This NREL Tool Predicts How To Achieve Them With Biomass
Great chemists have discovered ways to combine carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen into all manners of plastics: leak-proof food packaging, heat-resistant car parts, durable personal protective equipment—the list is long.
Nov. 1, 2023
News Release: Deep Decarbonization Scenarios Reveal Importance of Accelerating Zero-Emission Vehicle Adoption
The rapid adoption of zero-emission electric vehicles will move the nation close to an 80% or more drop in transportation greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from the 2019 level according to NREL.
October 2023
Oct. 30, 2023
Q&A With Jennifer Guerra: Accelerating Innovation Faster Than the Speed of Threats
During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, learn from Jennifer Guerra, an NREL cybersecurity researcher, about how an NREL-led initiative is supporting a more secure and resilient electric grid.
Oct. 30, 2023
Q&A With Nicholas Ryan: Building the Foundation for Cyber Evaluations at Scale
During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, learn from Nicholas Ryan, an NREL cybersecurity researcher, about his contributions to NREL's cyber range.
Oct. 30, 2023
Celebrating Weatherization Day Throughout the Seasons
As winter approaches, many families are grappling with a difficult choice: suffer the cold temperatures or drain their bank accounts to stay warm.
Oct. 25, 2023
NREL Improvements Boost Efficiency of III-V Solar Cells
Newly published research is the latest effort by NREL researchers to make III-V solar cells more affordable for terrestrial applications.
Oct. 25, 2023
Invertible Neural Network Tool Helps Optimize Airfoil Design
Computational tools using artificial intelligence (AI) can help optimize airfoil design for wind turbine blades, aircraft wings, and fan blades in natural gas turbines.
Oct. 24, 2023
As PV Market Evolved in the Last Year, Prices Went Up, Prices Went Down
NREL's 2023 PV Cost Benchmark Report documents the potential cost impacts of Inflation Reduction Act manufacturing tax credits, reports costs for community solar, and presents a new transparent cost model.
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