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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September 2019
Sept. 4, 2019
News Release: NREL Appoints Three Scientists as Senior Research Fellows
The three were chosen for their significant contributions to NREL and the larger scientific community.
August 2019
Aug. 30, 2019
NREL Collaborates with ComEd on Evaluating Highly Efficient Technologies for Buildings Energy Savings
NREL recently partnered with the midwestern utility company Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) on a project targeted to help the utility reduce energy consumption by 21.5% in the greater Illinois area by promoting more energy efficient technologies for buildings.
Aug. 23, 2019
Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NREL Expand Partnership with New Focus on Edge and Data-Centric Computing
At NREL's 2019 Partner Forum, the laboratory and Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced a new, cutting-edge joint effort to solve complex energy system challenges.
Aug. 22, 2019
NREL Marks Partner Forum With Dedication of Bioreactor
Installed outside the laboratory's Energy Systems Integration Facility, the bioreactor uses a selectively evolved microorganism that feeds on renewable hydrogen produced at NREL and a diet of carbon dioxide.
Aug. 22, 2019
Oregon State University Partners with NREL To Improve Wildlife Impact Minimization System
A surprising combination of sophisticated sensor technology, tennis balls, a potato gun, and a novel deterrent device could hold the answers to preventing eagles from encountering wind turbines.
Aug. 22, 2019
Exploring Tomorrow's Energy Solutions, Together
NREL’s 2019 Partner Forum brought together energy industry leaders across multiple sectors to discuss today’s energy challenges and explore tomorrow’s potential solutions.
Aug. 20, 2019
NREL's Past Collaboration with GM Continues to Proffer Rewards for Battery Electric Vehicles
One of the largest impediments to the mass adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the United States is range anxiety--or, consumers' fear that they will be stranded because the vehicle has insufficient battery power to get them to their destination. A 2012 NREL collaboration with General Motors (GM) continues to inform the improvement of industry apps that help allay range anxiety and increase driver freedom.
Aug. 19, 2019
Twin Scientists Advance Understanding of PV Windows
The brothers both previously worked at NREL, although the older one is now a university professor in Wisconsin.
Aug. 19, 2019
NREL, First Solar Collaboration Improves Thin-Film Solar Cells
A new paper reports a cell efficiency of 20.8%, representing a crossing point for the new group V technology relative to historic copper technology.
Aug. 16, 2019
Field Trials Validate Wind Turbine Wake Steering Impact at Scale
NREL researchers believe wind plant operators can increase energy capture using plant-level controls. By steering individual turbine wakes away from downstream turbines, existing facilities can achieve annual energy production gains of 1%-2% depending on the plant size and design.
Aug. 13, 2019
NREL Experts Give Added Steam to Geothermal Industry
NREL's Geothermal Laboratory Program Manager Kate Young and Operations Manager Caity Smith are members of the U.S. team selected as the new global chair of Women in Geothermal (WING), an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the education, professional development, and advancement of women in the geothermal industry.
Aug. 12, 2019
From the Bottom Up: Designing a Decentralized Power System
Cross-Discipline Team Envisions the Grid of the Future
Aug. 1, 2019
Virtual Tools Developed at NREL Create Real-World Savings
NREL researchers are creating useful software applications designed to help highlight potential costs and savings associated with renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. In doing so, they hope to shorten the path to commercialization and increase overall adoption of those technologies.
Aug. 1, 2019
Atomic-Level Look at Energy Already Solved One Mystery
Cara Lubner's research focuses on a novel method organisms use to generate energy, called flavin-based electron bifurcation. How this works was a mystery until Lubner and other researchers at NREL discovered the secret.
Aug. 1, 2019
The Role Fungi Will Play in NREL's Biomass Research
The research will attempt to solve the mystery of what really happens when white-rot fungi -- the best lignin degraders in nature -- meet lignin.
Aug. 1, 2019
Funding Provides Boost to Investigation of Nitrides
Nitride semiconductors have played an important role in certain technologies, such as light-emitting diodes and radio frequency transistors, but these materials aren't found in nature.
Aug. 1, 2019
Three NREL Scientists Receive Prestigious DOE Early Career Research Funding
The three were among 70 other researchers from institutions across the country named in an announcement made by the Office of Science.
Aug. 1, 2019
Q&A with Jennifer Daw: Working at the Crossroads of Energy, Water, and Land
Balancing the needs of food, water, and energy is becoming one of the most important trends in sustainability strategy, and we talked with one of its experts, Jennifer Daw, the group manager of strategy, policy, and implantation within NREL’s Integrated Application Center.
Aug. 1, 2019
Updated Baseline Cost and Performance Data for Electricity Generation Technologies
NREL has released a 2019 update to the Annual Technology Baseline, a key source of reliable electricity generation technology cost and performance data used to support and inform electric sector analysis in the United States.
July 2019
July 31, 2019
Fluid Mechanics and Fortuitous Plumbing: NREL Buildings Researcher Chuck Booten Talks Hands-On Entrepreneurship
NREL's Chuck Booten shares how managing rental properties changed the way he thinks about buildings research and entrepreneurship.
July 31, 2019
Addressing the Wind Energy Workforce Gap
A new NREL report, The Wind Energy Workforce in the United States: Training, Hiring, and Future Needs, assesses the national wind energy workforce and the hiring needs of the industry, along with the educational programs that are preparing students for work in the wind industry.
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