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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March 2024
March 25, 2024
NREL To Lead New Lab Consortium To Enable High-Volume Manufacturing of Electrolyzers and Fuel Cells
The Roll-to-Roll Consortium aims to accelerate domestic manufacturing and reduce the cost of durable, high-performance systems.
March 25, 2024
International Researchers Explore New Territory in the Grand Challenges of Wind Energy Science
Wind energy's growth must be planned with careful consideration of atmospheric physics, turbine design, and grid resilience, as well as environmental and social impacts.
March 21, 2024
Before You Install Wind Energy Technology, Check Out This Database
The new, easy-to-use Wind Resource Database offers public access to more than a petabyte of detailed wind resource data in the United States and other countries.
March 20, 2024
Could a New Renewable Energy App Help Inspire Future Climate Crusaders?
Newly launched Renewable Energy Discovery Island could make it easy to teach, explore, and learn about clean energy (especially water power).
March 18, 2024
Behind the Blades: Amy Robertson Takes On the Complexities of Floating Offshore Wind
As a child immersed in the science of NASA, Amy Robertson was bound to end up an engineer—an aerospace engineer, to be exact. At NREL, she has traded in her love of the cosmos for the delightfully challenging dynamics of floating offshore wind energy.
March 18, 2024
Peer Learning Helps San Diego Center Community Voices in Clean Energy Plans
The San Diego Association of Governments has ambitious plans to make local progress toward California's goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.
March 13, 2024
NREL and MSU Denver Partnership Elevates Colorado High School Science Bowl to New Heights
Fossil Ridge High School emerged victorious in the 2024 Colorado High School Science Bowl, continuing its winning streak for the fourth year in a row by narrowly besting second-place finisher Stargate Charter High School.
March 13, 2024
New Report Shows It Is Time To Tap Into Hydropower Investment Opportunities
A new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory explores investment opportunities in hydropower.
March 8, 2024
Beneath the Surface: Alec Schnabel Has the Power (and the Power Electronics) To Advance Wave Energy
Alec Schnabel is working to advance one especially powerful part of marine energy technologies: their electronic guts.
March 7, 2024
A Crystal Ball for Solar Modules
Historically, photovoltaic (PV) modules have demonstrated high reliability, making them a dependable and growing part of global decarbonization efforts.
March 7, 2024
New Resources Spotlight Distributed Wind Energy's Local Value
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has launched the new National Distributed Wind Network and complementary Distributed Wind Energy Resource Hub.
March 7, 2024
Can We Connect Renewable Energy Hubs With Electricity Consumption Hubs?
A new approach to grid planning could make it possible to power your home with the nation's best and lowest-cost wind and solar energy, no matter where you live.
March 7, 2024
Electric Aircrafts Will Need Powerful Ports
An important consideration for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft is where they will charge and whether the existing power grid infrastructure can accommodate this demand.
March 7, 2024
From Instant Grits to Polymers: Scientist Kat Knauer Is Laser Focused on Plastics Pollution
As a polymer scientist and the chief technology officer of the NREL-led BOTTLE consortium, Knauer is responsible for helping solve one of the world's greatest challenges--plastic pollution.
March 5, 2024
NREL's Rail Optimization Software Is Putting Freight Electrification on the Fast Track
Combined, two first-in-the-world products—NREL's ALTRIOS rail optimization software and Parallel Systems' autonomous battery-electric rail vehicles—aim to help shift a portion of the freight currently carried by on-road trucks to rail, catalyzing decarbonization across the whole transportation sector.
March 4, 2024
Nextracker and NREL Partnership Inspires New Look at PV Tracker Industry Design Standards
Over the past year, NREL and industry partner Nextracker teamed up to advance the reliability of photovoltaic (PV) tracker technologies during severe weather events.
March 4, 2024
How Many Transformers Will US Distribution Grid Need by 2050?
New NREL research is providing first-of-its-kind modeling to help curb the current shortage of distribution transformers and ensure a reliable and resilient power grid.
March 1, 2024
40 Collegiate Teams Advance—Solar Decathlon 2024 Design Challenge
Forty teams from 37 collegiate institutions are advancing to the final stage of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® 2024 Design Challenge based on their cutting-edge, zero-energy building designs.
March 1, 2024
Communities in Hawaii and Alaska Exchange Ideas To Engage Residents in Energy Transitions
When the third cohort of Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project communities was announced in 2023, the inclusion of Molokai, Hawaii, caught the eye of Bri Gabel, a sustainability coordinator for the City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska.
February 2024
Feb. 29, 2024
High Honors From DOE Point to Important Work by NREL Staff
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Feb. 20 honored staffers from NREL for their work on five major projects with far-reaching implications.
Feb. 29, 2024
Renewable Energy Is Green, but We Can Make It Greener
The U.S. energy transition is gaining speed, accelerated by government renewable energy goals and billions of dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act. As we race toward a greener future, understanding the potential adverse effects of renewable energy technologies before they are deployed has never been more critical.
Feb. 29, 2024
Leap Into New Capabilities: REopt Offers Enhanced Energy Solutions
The REopt team at NREL has significantly enhanced the publicly available REopt web tool and its underlying open-source code, providing more powerful capabilities.
Feb. 29, 2024
Second Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator Cohort Evaluates Solutions That Uncover Hidden Risks on Utility Networks
RunZero was selected as the first solution provider to participate in Cohort 2, through which their technology will be evaluated in the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) Cyber Range.
Feb. 29, 2024
On Its Journey To Make Clothing That Leaves No Trace, The North Face Taps the BOTTLE Consortium To Scale Biodegradable Polyester Alternative
Over the next 12 months, BOTTLE will scale the process to produce several pounds of PHA fiber, which The North Face will test and evaluate for use in its product lines.
Feb. 29, 2024
Biorefinery Model Points to Better Method at Producing Co-Products
A next-generation biorefinery model holds the potential to produce biofuels and chemicals through a process that researchers say has proven to be more efficient in converting plant biomass.
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