The US Department of Energy (DOE) is out with another round of cleantech announcements today. Clean Energy Cybersecurity First of all, the Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator (CECA) program, working with the US DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) as well as some utilities, is moving forward … [continued]
Between 70% and 90% of Americans support using wind energy. One study that examined decades of national popular acceptance of wind energy makes that claim. However, local opposition to wind-generating projects can occasionally (or often) impede them, partly due to people’s perceptions of turbines once they are coming near. Over … [continued]
The demand for electricity is generally at its peak during summer afternoons, when many people use their air conditioners. Until this year, the bulk power system — the network of generators and transmission lines — met this demand through hydropower and fossil fuel generation. What a shift this past summer … [continued]
Whether it is a sweltering summer or a frigid winter, digging just a few feet into the earth provides relief from the temperatures above. That is because, on average, the ground temperature is warmer than the air during the winter and cooler in the summer. This relatively constant subsurface temperature … [continued]
Smart charge management—intelligently managing the flow of electricity that charges electric vehicles (EVs)—can have incredible benefits for drivers, utility companies, governments, and fleets. Yet smart charge management strategies have not been widely deployed nationwide. In response, two national laboratories, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory … [continued]
Supply Chain Report Tackles Hydropower’s Missing Links Solar panels and wind turbines get a lot of attention in the current conversation about renewable energy. Meanwhile, hydropower is quietly, consistently producing large amounts of clean energy—and has been for more than a century. In fact, nearly 27% of all current renewable energy … [continued]
The economic impact of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) topped $1.9 billion nationwide in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, according to a study by the University of Colorado Boulder’s (CU Boulder’s) Leeds School of Business. Every state in the nation felt an impact from direct or … [continued]
The industrial sector is integral to our daily lives, yet we do not often see the people and technologies that power it in action. That is why the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office launched the Framing the Future: Industrial Technologies Photo Contest, aiming to use photography … [continued]
Successful Projects Will Help Lower Cost of Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power and Support the Next Generation of Highly Trained Workers Heliostats are large mirrors that track the sun to reflect and direct its rays—and they are critical for efficient, cost-effective concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) plants. When hundreds or thousands of heliostats … [continued]
Resin Made From Biomass Enables Chemical Recycling at End of Useful Lifespan Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) see a realistic path forward to the manufacture of bio-derivable wind blades that can be chemically recycled and the components reused, ending the practice of old … [continued]
