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 2023
Oct. 24, 2023
DOE's AlgaePrize Student Competition Returns To Inspire Next-Generation Bioeconomy Professionals
Student teams gain valuable experience with innovative algal commercialization technologies while competing to earn prize money.
Oct. 24, 2023
News Release: New Database Shines Spotlight on Decades of Solar Mirror Research
NREL is preparing to unveil a publicly available Solar Mirror Materials Database (SMMD) database containing the results of exposure experiments on solar reflectors conducted over more than four decades.
Oct. 19, 2023
NREL's Phil Parilla Named Fellow of American Physical Society
The American Physical Society honored Phil Parilla of NREL by naming him a fellow of the 124-year-old organization.
Oct. 19, 2023
Decarbonizing the Decarbonizing: Tidal and Wind Turbines Get Even More Sustainable
A new material could help make clean energy technologies, like tidal energy turbines, even more sustainable.
Oct. 18, 2023
Electric Utility Companies and Co-Ops Can Unleash the Grid Edge With This Unique NREL Asset
There is a secret weapon for making the right distribution grid investments: the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) test bed at NREL.
Oct. 18, 2023
New Collaboration Balances Sustainability and Profitability of Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
A new collaboration between NREL and ACE Green Recycling aims to develop and optimize recycling techniques that will bridge the gap between sustainability and profitability, specifically for lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Oct. 18, 2023
Happy National Bioenergy Day 2023 From NREL
To commemorate the occasion, learn more about 11 exciting bioenergy-related projects at NREL over the past year.
Oct. 16, 2023
Statewide Residential Building Upgrade Planning Just Got Easier Thanks to New Dashboard
Communities and states looking to develop decarbonization plans for residential buildings now have a new tool at their disposal thanks to NREL researchers.
Oct. 16, 2023
Q&A With Rob Hovsapian: The Engineer Who Solves Crises Before They Happen
Rob Hovsapian, a mechanical engineer, is building a massive machine—one that could help solve future crises. In NREL's latest Manufacturing Masterminds Q&A, Hovsapian shares what kind of rare, national events the SuperLab might help solve.
Oct. 12, 2023
Wave Energy Devices Will Soon Head to New Testing Facility—But They Need Something First
Researchers have determined cost-effective ways to purchase moorings for a new wave energy test facility currently under construction off the coast of Oregon.
Oct. 12, 2023
Electric Vehicles Play a Surprising Role in Supporting Grid Resiliency
Widespread electrification initiatives are increasing the demands on America's aging power grid, but utilities and consumers may have an unlikely ally in electric vehicles.
Oct. 10, 2023
From Minor Player to Major League: Moving Beyond 4-Hour Energy Storage
A new report building on NREL's Storage Futures Study highlights challenges and opportunities to increase the value of longer-duration energy storage.
Oct. 9, 2023
News Release: NREL Analysis Identifies Drivers of Offshore Wind Development
As much as 20% of regional power needs along the Atlantic coast could be served by offshore wind farms by 2050, according to NREL.
Oct. 5, 2023
NREL-Supported Projects Receive Nearly $6 Million in Funding To Advance Building Decarbonization Efforts
As a sub-recipient on nine awards through the Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) funding opportunity, NREL will be diligently working with a variety of partners to advance building technologies and retrofit practices that enable healthier households and communities.
Oct. 5, 2023
Building Better Blades: Renewed Funding Supports Wind Turbine Blade Innovations at NREL
As one of six core partners in the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, NREL just received an additional round of funding for research to help lower the cost and boost quality and sustainability of wind turbine blades.
Oct. 3, 2023
NREL-Developed Dashboard Fuels Decarbonization Across Commercial Fleets
Commercial vehicle fleet owners and operators face a pressing question: Can zero-emissions alternatives, like battery-electric and hydrogen-fueled trucks, accomplish the same work as their diesel-powered fleets? To answer this question, NREL has released a new web-based data platform called Fleet Research, Energy Data, and Insights (FleetREDI).
Oct. 3, 2023
Announcing Participating Schools in Solar District Cup Class of 2023-2024
In a bid to address the ever-evolving needs of the energy industry and bolster the clean energy workforce, the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office proudly shares the colleges and universities participating in the Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition Class of 2023-2024.
Oct. 2, 2023
Athena ZEV Takes Up Challenge of Electrifying Airports and De-Risking Investment
NREL met with stakeholders and partners at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to launch Athena ZEV—the next phase of Athena—which aims to electrify transportation and de-risk airport investments, with an initial focus on rental cars.
September 2023
Sept. 29, 2023
Moving Toward Equity, One House at a Time
NREL has worked with eight rural villages across Alaska on HUD Healthy Homes projects to improve the health, safety, and energy efficiency of homes in extreme climates.
Sept. 29, 2023
Solar Data Bounty Prize Stage 1 Finalists Selected
On Oct. 2, the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office announced seven Stage 1 finalists for the American-Made Solar Data Bounty Prize, with each team receiving a $5,000 cash prize. The seven teams will now move on to Stage 2 to compete for part of $1.4 million in cash prizes.
Sept. 27, 2023
Making the Uncertain (More) Certain: How Malik Hassanaly Approaches the Invitation to Wonder
NREL researcher Malik Hassanaly embraces uncertainty—uncertainty quantification, that is—and using computational science to devise simpler methods of solving complex energy challenges.
Sept. 27, 2023
Boosting Building Efficiency in Unincorporated Norcross, Georgia
Community members from Unincorporated Norcross, Georgia, partnered with NREL researchers through the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Energy to Communities Expert Match program to learn how to improve the energy efficiency of hundreds of commercial buildings.
Sept. 26, 2023
New Modeling Approach Ensures All Community Members Are Considered in Electricity System Evolution
NREL's Elaine Hale discusses the importance of integrated modeling and analysis that capture the characteristics and behavior of multistakeholder systems with diverse objectives in how the electricity system evolves.
Sept. 26, 2023
At a Glance: How Renewable Energy Is Transforming the Global Electricity Supply
Even as fossil energy still provides most of the world’s electricity, new electricity generating capacity is dominated by renewable energy projects.
Sept. 26, 2023
What Will It Take To Unlock U.S. Floating Offshore Wind Energy?
Investment in a port system and domestic supply chain could enable the United States to efficiently deploy floating offshore wind energy at a commercial scale on the West Coast, according to an NREL study.
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