Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Image from DOE, Pump Up Your Savings with Heat Pumps,https://www.energy.gov/articles/pump-your-savings-heat-pumps

Mobile Homes & Municipalities Find Heat Pumps To Fit Their Needs

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]

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory made a thin, flexible, solid-state electrolyte that may double energy storage for next-gen vehicles, cell phones, laptops and other devices. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Researchers Demystify Polymer Binders to Pave Way for Better Sulfide Solid-State Electrolyte Membranes

Using a polymer to make a strong yet springy thin film, scientists led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are speeding the arrival of next-generation solid-state batteries. This effort advances the development of electric vehicle power enabled by flexible, durable sheets of solid-state electrolytes. The sheets may … [continued]

The Grid Signature Event Library energizes utility and researcher understanding of grid behavior by providing access to datasets of waveforms from grid operations. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Library of Operating Data Enables Analysis of Complex Electric Grid — “Check Out” That Power

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have opened a new virtual library where visitors can check out waveforms instead of books. The Grid Event Signature Library is an open-access online collection of datasets containing waveforms, which are visual representations of behaviors of the electric grid. Utilities and research institutions contributed anonymized … [continued]

July 7, 2023 — Aerial view of the hydrogen infrastructure and grid integration research pads at National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Flatirons Campus. These capabilities are part of the ARIES research platform. (Photo by Josh Bauer / Bryan Bechtold / NREL)

U.S. VTO Announces $3 Million in Funding to Deliver Clean Energy Solutions to Market

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) announced over $3 million in federal funding, with an industry match of $1.9 million, for impactful projects across 3 National Laboratories to propel clean energy solutions. The funding is made available through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Office of Technology … [continued]

Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Polyphase Wireless Power Transfer System Achieves 270-kilowatt Charge, Sets Another World Record for Electric Light-Duty…

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have successfully demonstrated the first 270-kW wireless power transfer to a light-duty electric vehicle. The demonstration used a Porsche Taycan and was conducted in collaboration with Volkswagen Group of America using the ORNL-developed polyphase wireless charging system. The achievement surpasses ORNL’s … [continued]

ORNL has created publicly available data sets about projected energy use for all U.S. buildings through 2100 under different climate change scenarios, enhanced with a free visualization tool. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy.

Building Energy Around Changing Climate

County-level data reveals climate impact on future building energy use Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed free data sets to estimate how much energy any building in the contiguous U.S. will use in 2100. These data sets provide planners a way to anticipate future energy needs as the climate … [continued]

A novel technology developed by ORNL keeps food and beverages refrigerated with an advanced evaporator, phase change materials, metal foam, direct-contact defrosting technology and a low global warming refrigerant. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Less Carbon, More Chill Novel Refrigeration Approach Uses PCMs To Freeze, Cool Perishables

A technology developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory works to keep food refrigerated with phase change materials, or PCMs, while reducing carbon emissions by 30%. More than 100 million household refrigerators in operation across the United States consume up to 2 kilowatts of electricity daily. These refrigerators contribute to energy … [continued]