National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Post

Happy #IndependenceDay from NREL! We are #TransformingEnergy every day to create an equitable, clean, and resilient American energy future!

Meet Anne Starace, #chemistry researcher at NREL and member of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), U.S. Department of Energy Chemical Catalysis for #Bioenergy Consortium (#ChemCatBio). Learn how Anne is engaging with #diverse communities to ensure #EnergyJustice in her work with ChemCatBio: https://bit.ly/4caMYIL

As permafrost thaws across the Arctic, NREL’s Alaska Campus is working with communities and tribes to design adjustable, moveable foundations that can adapt–everything from elevating homes off the ground to installing jacks and skis underneath homes to make them easy to level. https://bit.ly/3KUiD5f

Great news! A study by NREL and Sharply Focused LLC finds that severe weather—like tropical storms and tornadoes—doesn’t have broad impacts on renewable generation reliability. But it may impact reliability in other ways. What else do we need to consider to ensure grid reliability? Check out the key findings from this research: https://bit.ly/3z8NN6r

To meet decarbonization goals, aviation has 25 short years to overhaul how it creates, stores, and uses energy. According to Doug Arent, NREL’s executive director of strategic public-private partnerships, meeting that rigorous timeline requires speed only possible through trusting relationships across industry and government. Read NREL’s latest executive blog for Doug’s take on provocative discussions at the 2024 Sustainable Aviation Energy Conference and why it matters for #SustainableAviationFuel, #electric and #hydrogen #aircraft, #airport planning and infrastructure, and more.

A lifelong love of nature—plus a Thanksgiving break homework assignment—put Tina Ortega on a path to a career in clean energy. How? The homework assignment was an essay on energy sources in the United States. As she worked on the essay, Ortega began to wonder, “Why are we still using finite energy sources that pollute the air when we have renewable energy sources that don’t?” Inspired by that question—and by a lifelong love of nature—Ortega went on to study environmental resources engineering as an undergrad and advanced energy systems as a grad student, taking a gap year to complete an NREL internship. Today, she is a marine energy research engineer at NREL, where she and her team work to drive down the costs and standardize the economic modeling of marine energy systems, making them more competitive with other renewable energy technologies. Learn how Ortega’s journey, marked by overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities, showcases her dedication and pioneering spirit: https://lnkd.in/gYrQ6HuQ

“It's up to one's imagination where this might go or where this might end up.” Research at NREL, now published in Nature Portfolio, is advancing optoelectronic devices to new territory. Our researchers have transformed an existing commercialized LED into one that also controls the spin of electrons. The results provide a pathway toward transforming modern optoelectronics, a field that relies on the control of light and encompasses #LEDs, #solar cells, and #telecommunications lasers among other devices. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3xJCHV9

NREL’s Powered By webinar series is back with Powered By dsgrid on July 9! The demand-side grid (dsgrid) toolkit provides comprehensive, high-resolution, sector-specific electricity load data sets enabling users to analyze current patterns and future projections of end-use loads in detail. Register and join us for the webinar on Tuesday, July 9, at 10 a.m. MT to learn how dsgrid can help you tackle your grid planning challenges. bit.ly/3IlCyZT

Electric vehicles (EV) are becoming more prominent on the roads in the United States. That means significant changes could be on the horizon for the nation’s power grid and the load EV charging could put on it. That’s why NREL transportation modelers have created a new dataset suitable for grid modeling through a collaboration with NREL grid analysts and the open-source demand-side grid (dsgrid) toolkit. The Transportation Energy & Mobility Pathway Options™ (TEMPO) model provides a look at the range of possibilities in three scenarios for EV charging load through the year 2050, painting a clearer picture for the grid of the future. Check out the dataset here: https://bit.ly/dsgrid

NREL has a variety of ways for #smallbusinesses to work with the lab. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Mentor-Protégé Program, is an award-winning program that is proven to help veteran-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged businesses grow their capabilities and establish valuable partnerships. We’re excited to extend our congratulations to the latest program graduate, Converge Strategies! This fast-growing business has just been named Protégé-of-the-Year in the DOE 2023 Annual #SmallBusiness Awards! Are you interested in working together? Learn more about our commitment to small businesses: https://bit.ly/4eeIoee