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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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April 2018
NREL Staff Honored for Innovative Thinking, Accomplishments
The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) celebrated the innovative minds behind cutting-edge research at its annual Innovation and Technology Transfer Awards ceremony last month.
News Release: Research Team Engineers a Better Plastic-Degrading Enzyme
A breakthrough in enzyme research led by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the United Kingdom's University of Portsmouth has led to an improved variant of an enzyme that can breakdown ubiquitous plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET.
NREL Research Pushes Perovskites Closer to Market
NREL has played a significant role in the increased efficiency of perovskite solar cells.
Heavy-Duty Emissions Research Honored with SAE Colwell Award
On April 10, authors the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Cummins Inc. received the Arch T. Colwell Merit Award during the 2018 annual Society of Automotive engineers (SAE) World Congress Awards and Recognition Ceremony in Detroit. The Colwell award recognizes the authors of papers of outstanding technical or professional merit that are presented at SAE meetings.
News Release: New Solar PV Tool Accurately Calculates Degradation Rates, Saving Money and Guiding Business Decisions
A new software package developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and industry partners SunPower and kWh Analytics is making the measurement of PV system expected lifetime performance more reliable, consistent, and accurate.
NREL Leadership Contributes to Revision of Key Energy Integration Standard, IEEE 1547
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has published the full revision of IEEE 1547, which establishes uniform requirements for interconnection of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar photovoltaics, with the electric power system. With support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office, NREL researchers provided leadership and technical support in developing this full revision of the standard.
New Analysis Finds Synergistic Relationship Between High PV Penetration and Energy Storage Deployment
Adding higher penetrations of solar photovoltaics (PV) to the electric power grid could increase the potential for energy storage to meet peak demand, according to new analysis from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
News Release: Perovskite Technology is Scalable, But Questions Remain about the Best Methods
As perovskite solar cells set efficiency records and the nascent technology becomes more stable, another major challenge remains: the issue of scalability, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
From Preble's Mouse to Rattlers, NREL Biologist Likes Critters
Looking out over the "living laboratory" of NREL's campus, Senior Wildlife Biologist Tom Ryon sees a tapestry that others may not. Everywhere he goes, he can't avoid interactions with nature. Nor does he want to.
News Release: NREL Opens Large Database of Inorganic Thin-Film Materials
An extensive experimental database of inorganic thin-film materials that organizes a decade's worth of research at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is now publicly available.
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Last Updated April 28, 2025