David Greene has worked on water, energy and climate sustainability issues for over 25 years and joined NREL in 2019. For a decade before coming to NREL, he led the climate and resource sustainability efforts at the Austin (Texas) water and wastewater utility. Prior to that, he worked as an environmental consultant and on water and sanitation technology and development efforts internationally.

At NREL, David continues to work at the intersection of water and energy: as part of the Water Power team, his core work involves technoeconomic analyses of wave, tidal, and ocean current energy conversion devices at both the utility scale as well as in smaller, sector-specific applications through the DOE Powering the Blue Economy program.  He supports NREL’s work to promote hydropower and pumped storage at the municipal and regional level, and is one of the lab experts contributing to the National Alliance for Water Innovation (“Water Hub”). 

Research Interests

Technoeconomic analysis of water power

Powering the blue economy

Water-energy nexus

Hydropower and pumped storage hydropower

Water and wastewater treatment and resource recovery

Education

M.A., Environmental Science and Policy, Clark University

B.S., Civil (Environmental) Engineering, Rice University

B.A., Geology, Rice University

Featured Work

Mission Analysis for Marine Renewable Energy To Provide Power for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal, NREL Technical Report (2023)