Energy

By Mollie Rappe, Sandia News Media What do tiny dust particles, 22-ft-wide red balloons and “concentrated” sunlight have in common? Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories recently used 22-ft-wide tethered balloons to collect samples of airborne dust particles to ensure the safety of an emerging solar-power technology. The study determined that the dust created by the…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $61.4 million for technologies that produce low-cost, low-carbon biofuels. Biofuels are derived from renewable resources and can power heavy-duty vehicles that are difficult to electrify with current technologies — including airplanes and ships — to help accelerate America’s path to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. “Biofuels are…

By Karen K Dunlap, ORNL In a new twist to an existing award-winning ORNL technology, researchers have developed an electrocatalyst that enables water and carbon dioxide to be split and the atoms recombined to form higher weight hydrocarbons for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The technology is a carbon nanospike catalyst that uses nanoparticles of…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced up to $24.5 million to support improvements in domestic manufacturing to build resilient, modern electricity infrastructure and address the climate emergency. The two funding opportunities will back research and development (R&D) for the materials and technologies needed to expand the grid with new, clean-energy sources, deliver affordable…

  Southwest Research Institute has completed a pilot-scale facility to create and test natural gas foam as a safe and stable alternative to water for hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking.” The six-year project is part of an effort to show that stable natural gas foam can be generated on-site at fracking locations using commercially…

The energy system is currently facing several challenges, including grid stability problems, the curtailment of renewable energy (RE), security of supply and an imbalance between supply and demand in the RE generation. The aim of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s Electric Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) making it possible to increase the share of RE in total…

LF Energy, a Linux Foundation nonprofit seeking to accelerate the energy transition of the world’s grids and transportation systems through open source, along with its newest member, Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, announced today Hyphae, a microgrid initiative to automate the peer-to-peer distribution of renewable energy. With energy resources and infrastructure…

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University (SBU) and other collaborating institutions have uncovered dynamic, atomic-level details of how an important platinum-based catalyst works in the water gas shift reaction. This reaction transforms carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) into carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen gas (H2) — an…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $950,000 in funding to three energy storage research projects led by Southwest Research Institute. SwRI will use novel materials and technologies to develop and integrate thermal, mechanical and chemical systems to demonstrate methods of storing solar and wind power to enhance the reliable and predictable operation of…

Buildings represent 40% of the world’s primary energy use and are the second-largest source of carbon dioxide emissions. However, global building energy use can be reduced by one-half if energy efficiency (EE) equipment and systems are implemented at scale. To speed those reductions, the Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER), developed by Lawrence…

Over the next decade, hundreds of billions of dollars will be invested in new 21st century energy systems and processes that are more dynamic and interconnected than ever before. The Institute for Design of Advanced Energy Systems Integrated Platform (IDAES), developed by U.S. Department of Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, helps companies, technology…

A new carbon fiber material could bring cost and performance benefits to the wind industry if developed commercially, according to a study led by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. Wind blades containing carbon fiber weigh 25% less than ones made from traditional fiberglass materials. That means carbon fiber blades could be longer than fiberglass ones…

Catalysts are the enabling technology for the current chemical industry and clean energy applications such as battery and fuel cell cars. However, current catalysts have significant challenges such as structural instability and high cost. Finding new and better catalysts is paramount yet largely limited by immiscibility among elements and slow experimentation. Researchers at the University…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed an X-ray source that can diagnose temperature in experiments that probe conditions like those at the very center of planets. The new source will be used to perform extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) experiments at the National Ignition Facility. The work was published in Applied Physics Letters…

Decarbonizing energy production through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a popular idea that has been plagued by operational and economic challenges but integrating carbon capture with reuse to make high-value products could offer an operational advantage. The Carbon CURE process, from Idaho National Laboratory, provides a solution by using recyclable solvents as a carbon…

By Stephanie G Seay, ORNL In the quest for advanced vehicles with higher energy efficiency and ultra-low emissions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are accelerating a research engine that gives scientists and engineers an unprecedented view inside the atomic-level workings of combustion engines in real time. The new capability is an engine built specifically to…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to provide up to $32 million to harness DOE supercomputers for advanced research in a wide range of scientific fields, including materials science, condensed matter physics, chemical sciences, geosciences and energy-related biosciences. The effort is part of a joint program that brings together experts in key…

New York State today announced the unveiling of a new energy storage project that uses an innovation in lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery technology. The success of this project will demonstrate the safety and use of commercial energy storage systems that could enable more integration of renewable energy resources into the grid. Located at the New York…

By Colleen MacPherson Many have dreamed of being able to turn straw into gold like the fabled Rumpelstiltskin. While this may not be possible in the literal sense, scientists are using sunlight to turn straw into something more valuable. With the aid of technology from the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan,…

Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has worked for a long time to iron out all issues around the energy efficiency, durability, product yield rate and cost of dye-sensitized cells (DSC), a replacement for battery power sources in indoor applications. Their efforts have brought about a production facility capable of producing 2700 m2 (120,000 pieces) of…

By Manette Fisher, [email protected] For responding with innovative solutions during the pandemic, developing solar cell and hydrogen research technology and creatively working with companies, Sandia National Laboratories won six prestigious regional 2020 Federal Laboratory Consortium awards. The awards for the Mid-Continent and Far West regions put a spotlight on Sandia successes in transferring technology, partnerships…

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)’s mitigation process permanently solves a longstanding industry-wide problem: the loss of thermal efficiency eventually experienced in solar receivers of all parabolic trough plants. The decreased efficiency due to hydrogen buildup can be substantial, leading to a commensurate loss of electrical output and a similar loss in power-plant revenue. At Acciona’s…

Superclean Glass has developed a new technology that has potential to reduce the cost of solar energy: New generation of electrostatic based self-cleaning technology for increasing energy yield from dusty solar panels. The original concept was used by NASA to prevent Martian dust deposition on solar panels of the Mars rovers, where the screen of…

By Karen K Dunlap Prometheus Fuels has licensed an ethanol-to-jet-fuel conversion process developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The ORNL technology will enable cost-competitive production of jet fuel and co-production of butadiene for use in renewable polymer synthesis. The mission of Prometheus Fuels, a startup based in Santa Cruz,…

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers used additive manufacturing to build a first-of-its kind smart wall called EMPOWER. The wall, designed for a building’s interior, also functions as a cooling system to optimize energy use and lower overall cost. The prototype wall was manufactured with a cable-driven, field deployable concrete additive manufacturing system and embedded with…