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News and Feature Stories
The following news stories take an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how NREL is leading energy systems innovation and integration.
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January 2022
Aligning Utilities and Electric Vehicles, for the Greater Grid
A team at NREL completed a literature review on the potential value of electric vehicle (EV) managed charging. Findings provide a complete look at how EVs and the grid could work together as the electric and transportation sectors become intertwined.
December 2021
Top 20 NREL Stories of 2021
NREL researchers and staff reached countless goals and achieved numerous successes in science, partnerships, and technology commercialization in 2021. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Sakshi Mishra Named One of Forbes' 30 Under 30
NREL researcher Sakshi Mishra was named to the North America 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Energy List, part of an annual recognition of groups of 30 young professionals in areas such as health care, media, and science.
NREL’s Ted Sears Supports White House Effort To Convert Federal Fleet to Electric Vehicles
NREL fuel and vehicle regulations expert Ted Sears has been tasked by the White House's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to lead efforts to convert the federal fleet to zero-emission vehicles.
Building Better Batteries: Architecture for Energy Storage
A recent breakthrough by NREL and the University of Ulm advances the way researchers measure and analyze battery materials using an artificially generated representative architecture of a Li-ion electrode particle in sub-particle grain detail.
Forget Sci-Fi—This NREL Biotechnology Could Actually Help Colonize Mars
NREL scientists are working on harnessing cyanobacteria to convert growing concentrations of CO₂ in Earth's atmosphere into the same chemicals currently made from petroleum and natural gas—a step toward decarbonizing the chemical industry. With partner Nzyme2HC, they are exploring whether astronauts can use NREL's patented ethylene-emitting cyanobacteria to manufacture building materials and produce oxygen on Mars.
Data-Informed Analysis Reveals Energy Impacts of Shared Micromobility
Driven by the growing popularity of shared micromobility—which typically involves the use of electric bicycles and scooters as well as regular bicycles—a research team from NREL is exploring the energy impacts of such travel modes versus the conventional modes they may replace.
November 2021
Q&A With Alberta ("Birdie") Carpenter: How To Untangle Carbon From the Vast Web of Manufacturing and Supply Chains
In the first Q&A profile in a new series, Manufacturing Masterminds, Birdie Carpenter shares how she is working to reduce industrial energy use, carbon emissions, plastic waste, and more.
U.S. Navy, KIUC, AES, and NREL Innovate and Collaborate for Resilience and Cost-Effective Clean Energy Project on Kauai
Largest 100% clean energy microgrid within U.S. Department of Defense supports island community, Pacific Missile Range facility, KIUC, and Hawaii's ambitious renewable energy goals.
October 2021
Large-Scale Experiments Demonstrate Advanced Controls for Autonomous Energy Systems
In a breakthrough for the autonomous energy systems research program, NREL has demonstrated new methods for optimizing more than 1 million distributed energy resources with autonomous controls. The updated approach cuts the computation time by more than tenfold, enabling real-time distribution system optimization for economics and stability in high-renewable power systems.
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Last Updated Aug. 20, 2025