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 2022
Aug. 9, 2022
NREL Releases Comprehensive Databases of Local Ordinances for Siting Wind, Solar Energy Projects
State and local zoning laws and ordinances influence how and where wind and solar energy projects can be sited and deployed—which can have a measurable impact on U.S. renewable energy resource potential.
Aug. 9, 2022
Ocean Observing Prize Competitors Ride the Winning Wave
Three winners of the Ocean Observing Prize BUILD Contest share a cash prize pool in recognition of their prototypes' potential to one day power ocean observing technologies after wave tank testing.
Aug. 8, 2022
How Do We Get to Net Zero?
On July 11, 2022, NREL experts hosted two workshops at the 2022 HydroVision International Conference in Denver, Colorado.
Aug. 8, 2022
En Route to Market: Alder Fuels and NREL Partner To Scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel Technology for Commercial Use
A critical pathway for producing large quantities of low- to negative-carbon sustainable aviation fuel is enroute to market following a collaborative research and development agreement between NREL and Alder Fuels.
Aug. 8, 2022
Partner Forum Helps Cement Partnership Between NREL, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
NREL and DFW Airport have committed to working from the ground up at the system level on sustainability, decarbonization, and energy-efficiency overhauls, designing upgrades and implementations that can integrate intelligently across the board.
Aug. 5, 2022
10 Years of Industry-Changing Influence
Over 10 years and more than 2.6 million downloads later, the Department of Energy's Geothermal Data Repository has taken the geothermal field from siloed science to becoming an industry leader in the open data movement.
Aug. 4, 2022
Cadmium Telluride Accelerator Consortium Aims To Reduce Costs, Speed Deployment of Low-Carbon Thin-Film Solar Technologies
This week, U.S. Department of Energy announced a new three-year consortium intended to accelerate the development of cadmium telluride (CdTe) technologies by lowering the cost and increasing the efficiency of the thin-film solar cells.
Aug. 4, 2022
New NREL Dataset Shows Value Building Flexibility Adds to Grid
Researchers at NREL ran hundreds of millions of simulations to gauge the contribution buildings make to gross grid value and created a publicly available dataset for others to use.
Aug. 2, 2022
New Cybersecurity Tool Simplifies Site Evaluations
As federal sites invest in distributed energy resources like solar panels and battery backups, investments in cybersecurity must also be considered. More energy resources create more complexity to manage—introducing the potential of new cyber vulnerabilities and added costs down the road.
Aug. 1, 2022
Transforming Energy Through Internships
For 45 years, NREL has been innovating energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies with the help of highly qualified interns. Thousands of interns have walked the halls--virtually and physically--and assisted researchers over the four decades.
Aug. 1, 2022
SLOPE Platform Guides Equitable Clean Energy Planning
In 2020, more than a quarter of all U.S. households (34 million households) reported difficulty paying energy bills or reported keeping their homes at an unsafe temperature due to energy cost concerns, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report.
July 2022
July 29, 2022
Industry Partners Selected for Advanced Grid Management Demonstrations at NREL
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected industry leaders Shell, Spirae LLC, Electrical Grid Monitoring Inc., and Israel Electric Corporation to partner with NREL on power distribution system management and controls.
July 28, 2022
Calling on Cybersecurity Innovators: Help Utilities Improve Authentication for Distributed Energy Systems
Utilities need cybersecurity solutions that are easy to implement and can make a real-world difference immediately. That is why the theme for the first cohort of the new Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator (CECA) is strong authentication for distributed energy resources.
July 28, 2022
NREL Selected for Space-Bound Research To Solve the Plastic Waste Dilemma
Researchers at NREL will send an engineered bacteria into space as early as next year as part of ongoing research into solving the problem of plastic waste mitigation on Earth.
July 28, 2022
Scientist Maps Battery Data for Optimized Energy Storage Solutions
In recognition of his work, NREL recently named Kandler Smith a Distinguished Member of Research Staff for his world-class contributions in battery lifetime modeling, prediction, optimization, and design.
July 27, 2022
Not Just Bread and Beer—Microbes Can Ferment Carbon Dioxide To Make Fuel, Too
Bakers ferment dough for a well-risen loaf of bread. Brewers ferment wheat and barley for a smooth, malty glass of beer. And as nature's foremost bakers and brewers, some microbes can do even more.
July 27, 2022
Explore Colorado's Artificial Oceans and Rivers—in Three Dimensions
Learn how NREL simulates rivers and oceans (and much more) to help accelerate the development of cost-effective and durable hydropower and marine energy technologies.
July 25, 2022
Modeling Exactly Where Distributed Energy Resources Provide the Most Value to the Grid
NREL's Distributed Generation Market Demand Model helps identify where distributed energy resources could provide the most value to the grid, informing new compensation mechanisms.
July 21, 2022
Partnerships Explore Coexistence of Bats and Wind Energy
NREL has awarded three industry teams $1.1 million in funding to support research on bats and wind energy projects. The two-year studies will explore bat behavior around wind turbines and help inform future efforts to improve coexistence of clean, renewable energy with wildlife.
July 20, 2022
NREL's Johney Green Appointed Chairman of National GEM Consortium
Johney Green, associate laboratory director for Mechanical and Thermal Engineering Sciences at NREL, was appointed Chairman of The National GEM Consortium Board of Directors on July 18, 2022. GEM is a 45-year-old national nonprofit organization whose vision is to make scientific impact through underrepresented minority STEM talent in the United States.
July 20, 2022
Federal Aviation Administration Partners With NREL for a Holistic Look at Energy Needs of Electrified Aircraft
With integrated analysis from NREL, the FAA can create safety standards and recommend efficient and resilient airport infrastructure able to support electrified aircraft designs.
July 19, 2022
U.S. and Australia Collaborate To Accelerate Zero-Emission Technology
On July 11, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen signed the Australia-United States Net-Zero Technology Acceleration Partnership at the Sydney Energy Forum.
July 18, 2022
Reframing Curtailment: Why Too Much of a Good Thing Is Still a Good Thing
Video explains how having more than enough renewable energy capacity can make the grid more flexible.
July 18, 2022
NREL Researchers Create Order From Quantum Chaos
In a new paper in PNAS, NREL researchers tackle one of the fundamental problems in quantum information science: how to produce pure elements of quantum information at practical temperatures.
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