How 4 Companies Are Working To Bring New Technologies to Communities in Need—With Help From National Laboratory Experts By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy and Stacy Parker, NLR A year after the Palisades and Eaton wildfires destroyed more than 13,000 homes in Los Angeles County, fewer than a dozen had been rebuilt. Rebuilds … [continued]
As part of NLR’s extensive work to improve battery safety, the Flatirons Campus recently hosted a battery energy storage system response training for local emergency responders. Photo by Joe DelNero, National Laboratory of the Rockies .
Battery failures can escalate quickly: Heat accumulates, materials break down, and gases ignite in a chain reaction known as thermal runaway. Such events are rare thanks to carefully applied safeguards in material design and battery management systems. Still, continued research is needed to anticipate how new battery materials behave, understand … [continued]
Transporting large power transformers requires specialized vehicles and trailers that can support large and heavy loads and reach isolated areas over rough terrain. Photo from Nippon Express.
New Report Identifies 9 Unique Challenges That Hydropower Facilities Face When Upgrading or Replacing Large Power Transformers The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) just released a report examining the U.S. supply chain for large power transformers, or LPTs. The latest report, titled Large Power Transformer Supply Chain Gap Analysis and … [continued]
National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) researcher Alec Schnabel tests the custom-built charge controller in the Water Power Instrumentation Laboratory on NLR's Flatirons Campus. Photo by Taylor Mankle, National Laboratory of the Rockies.
Latest HERO WEC Mission Status Update Examines How New Charge Controller Design Addresses Critical Challenge in Wave Energy Industry Since 2024, researchers at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) have been improving the overall design of NLR’s hydraulic and electric reverse osmosis wave energy converter—or HERO WEC. Their work aims … [continued]
Greg Bowman presented the keynote address at the 2026 Partner Forum where experts from across the R&D spectrum discussed how to build a stronger domestic supply chain for critical minerals. Photo by Joe DelNero, National Laboratory of the Rockies/
At 2026 Partner Forum, Industry, Academia, Government, and Researchers Convene To Talk U.S. Supply Strangleholds, Modern Mining, and Optimism If you drive through one of the western-most points of West Texas—about 85 miles east of El Paso County—you might spot a rounded brown mountain in the empty dust sprawl alongside … [continued]
National Laboratory of the Rockies Director Jud Virden (seated at left), Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson (center), and Gov. Mike Dunleavy (seated at right) are joined by NLR leadership and staff and University of Alaska Fairbanks leadership. Photo from the Office of Governor Mike Dunleavy.
NLR Laboratory Director Jud Virden Signs Partnership Agreements at Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) signed two new memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on May 19 that aim to increase research and innovation in critical minerals, energy, and buildings in Alaska and the Arctic. … [continued]
Sarah Inskeep Talks Supply Chains for Energy Technologies—and One NLR Model That Brings Them Together When you plug in your phone or laptop, do you ever think about the wires that carry the electricity to the battery? Okay, now what about the powerlines, transformers, and substations that move the electricity … [continued]
Partnership With Xcel Energy Reveals Solutions To Meet Needs of and Avoid Unnecessary Expenses for Grid Customers. As demand for electricity in the United States grows and evolves, utilities need to continually analyze whether distribution infrastructure is up to the task. Strain on the power grid can risk transformer overloads … [continued]
NLR Senior Energy Storage Engineer Matthew Keyser holds a sheet of copper discs, one of the metals that comprise the internal short-circuit device recently recognized by NASA’s 2025 Invention of the Year Award. Photo by Ellen Jaskol, National Laboratory of the Rockies.
To Shoot for the Moon, Lab Researchers Must First Learn How To Fail on Earth NLR Senior Energy Storage Engineer Matthew Keyser holds a sheet of copper discs, one of the metals that comprise the internal short-circuit device recently recognized by NASA’s 2025 Invention of the Year Award. Photo by … [continued]
When light hits the eye, it induces an electric charge that is trapped by cells. The cells interpret the energy, amplitude, and duration of that charge to create an image in the mind. Vanadium pentoxide does something similar: It entraps the charge, which can be read to reconstruct the image. Illustration by National Laboratory of the Rockies.
Optoelectronic Synapse Shows Exceptional Photoresponse for Neuromorphic Vision Like so much else in nature, the human visual system has both a complex structure and functional efficiency that is difficult for scientists to replicate. The system is both a sensor and a processor, with the eyes and the brain working together … [continued]
