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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August 2016
Aug. 25, 2016
NREL Helps the National Park Service Celebrate Its Birthday with Clean Energy
As the National Park Service (NPS) marks its centennial on August 25, NREL is helping the NPS enhance the park experience by providing cleaner air and contributing to a healthier environment.
Aug. 25, 2016
NREL and NASA Receive Regional FLC Award for Notable Technology
NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) were selected as 2016 recipients of a Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Mid-Continent Regional Award, for their notable technology development of the patented Battery Internal Short-Circuit (ISC) Device.
Aug. 18, 2016
News Release: NREL Announces Round Two Selections for the DOE Small Business Vouchers Pilot
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help 12 companies advance their technologies under the second round of DOE’s Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot.
Aug. 15, 2016
News Release: Companies Can Reduce Carbon Footprint by Giving Consumers Green Choices
Companies can reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chains and improve customer satisfaction by giving consumers information and tools to make green choices, according to research conducted by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Aug. 11, 2016
News Release: Johney Green to Lead NREL Mechanical and Thermal Systems Engineering Research
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has named Dr. Johney Green Jr. as Associate Laboratory Director for Mechanical and Thermal Systems Engineering. He will oversee the laboratory’s transportation, buildings, wind, water and geothermal research programs.
Aug. 8, 2016
News Release: NREL Assesses Strategies Needed for Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Reduction
The White House wants to cut U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 percent by 2050, but the goal raises questions about one of the greatest sources of those pollutants, light-duty vehicles (LDVs). The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has taken a close look at what specific combination of measures national experts have determined is needed to slash LDV emissions from 1,514 million metric tons (MMTs) to 303 MMTs of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year and meet this larger emissions-reduction goal.
Aug. 3, 2016
News Release: NREL/DOE Launch Energy Profiles for Every U.S. City and a Toolbox for City Energy Actions
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched two new tools as part of its Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. Created by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the tools are designed to help cities nationwide make more strategic energy decisions based on actual and estimated data and analysis.
Aug. 2, 2016
New Funds to Help NREL Commercialize Compact, Power-Dense Inverters for Electric-Drive Vehicles
As part of the new Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded funding to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to lead a vehicle research and development (R&D) project in collaboration with John Deere Electronic Solutions (JDES).
Aug. 1, 2016
News Release: NREL Technique Leads to Improved Perovskite Solar Cells
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), devised a method to improve perovskite solar cells, making them more efficient and reliable with higher reproducibility.
July 2016
July 28, 2016
NREL Facilitates Installment of Advanced Hydrogen Fuel Station in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cell Technologies Office and Department of Interior's National Park Service recently unveiled a modular demonstration hydrogen fueling station as part of a partnership to demonstrate hydrogen technologies in the Washington, D.C. area for up to four years. NREL helped with installation of the technology and will collect data on the station's performance.
July 27, 2016
NREL Researcher Jason Lustbader Recognized with SAE Excellence in Oral Presentation Award
NREL's Jason Lustbader received an SAE award for his presentation on long-haul truck heating load reduction.
July 27, 2016
Happy Accident Keeps a Would-Be Teacher at NREL as a PV Leader
Sarah Kurtz's dream of being a university professor is on hold while she pursues her passion for solar energy at the National Center for Photovoltaics.
July 26, 2016
NREL, SolarCity Complete Experimental Evaluation of PV Inverter Anti-Islanding with Grid Support Functions in Multi-Inverter Island Scenarios
First known work using actual hardware to examine scenarios with multiple solar photovoltaic inverters connected to multiple different points on the grid.
July 25, 2016
NREL’s Campus EV Charging Stations are Now More Integrated with the Grid
NREL’s campus electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are now enhanced with integrative software that links drivers’ expectations with extensive renewables in the laboratory’s campus grid.
July 22, 2016
News Release: NREL's Kurtz, Tegen Honored for Clean Energy Leadership
The U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) program has honored Sarah Kurtz and Suzanne Tegen of the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for their leadership and achievement in the field of renewable energy.
July 20, 2016
R-Cubed: Assessing Commercial Viability of Biofuel Technologies
The National Bioenergy Center at NREL, with its extensive bioenergy research expertise and capabilities, is working to reduce costs and overcome technical barriers—an effort that will bring more bio-derived fuels and chemicals into the marketplace. A recent and significant step toward that goal is the retrofitting of a reactor system in NREL's Thermochemical Process Development Unit (TCPDU): the recirculating regenerating riser reactor or "R-Cubed."
July 20, 2016
Webinar July 28: H2@Scale – A Potential Opportunity
In this DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Office webinar, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will describe the role of hydrogen at the grid scale and the efforts of a large, national lab team assembled to evaluate the potential of hydrogen to play a critical role in our energy future.
July 15, 2016
New Report Evaluates the State of Distributed Wind Resource Assessment
NREL Engineers Jason Fields, Heidi Tinnesand, and Ian Baring-Gould recently published a report titled Distributed Wind Resource Assessment: State of the Industry.
July 14, 2016
NREL Evaluates Propane-to-Electricity Shuttle Bus Conversion at Zion National Park
NREL is evaluating the drive-cycle characteristics of a fleet of propane-powered shuttle buses operating at Zion National Park. As the propane-powered fleet ages and associated maintenance costs rise, NPS is working with NREL to use this drive-cycle information to optimize the conversion of 14 of its propane buses to run on electricity.
July 7, 2016
NREL to Offer Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Ride and Drive at Sustainable Smart Home Opening on July 9
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will showcase several fuel cell electric vehicles at a ride and drive event at the Sustainable Smart Home Living Learning Center Grand Opening in Superior, Colorado, on July 9.
June 2016
June 30, 2016
Workshop Examines State Policy Issues Pertaining to Automated Vehicles
A recent workshop at the University of Maryland explored key principles and issues that states need to wrestle with in order to craft effective policies enabling the safe and efficient operation of advanced automated vehicles on their roadways.
June 27, 2016
News Release: NREL Engineer Sheila Hayter Installed as ASHRAE Officer
Sheila Hayter, a group manager in the Integrated Applications Center at the Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has been officially installed as treasurer of ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) at its 2016 annual conference in St. Louis, Mo.
June 27, 2016
Solar PV Recycling Identified as Untapped Business Opportunity
A new report, End-of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic Panels, highlights that recycling or repurposing solar PV panels at the end of their roughly 30-year lifetime can unlock a large stock of raw materials and other valuable components.
June 24, 2016
News Release: NREL Names Mark Davis to Lead Biosciences Center
Dr. Mark Davis is the new director of the Biosciences Center at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
June 22, 2016
News Release: NREL Receives $1.38 Million from DOE to Help Commercialize Promising Clean Energy Technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will be receiving $1.38 million from DOE to lead four projects for the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The funds will be used to advance promising renewable energy-related technologies with commercial potential and help strengthen the partnerships between the national labs and private-sector companies. Total value for the four projects including industry and NREL cost share is $2.78 million.
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