Feature Stories
The following feature stories take an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how NREL is advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
November 2024
Nov. 8, 2024
Empowering Tomorrow's Innovators: Inside NREL's STEM Education Center
NREL's STEM Education Center is doing its part to transform how young minds approach renewable energy during their years in school.
October 2024
Oct. 30, 2024
Are Carbon-Free Energy Systems Possible? NREL Has a Way To Find Out
Live power experiments using NREL’s ARIES platform solve future energy challenges in the present.
Oct. 22, 2024
NREL Helps US Forest Service Go Green After 2024 Lake Fire
During the July 2024 Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County, California, NREL and the U.S. Forest Service successfully piloted several renewable energy solutions that put their sustainable firefighting operations ideas into practice.
Oct. 10, 2024
Biofuels and Batteries Gain From the System Dynamics Behind the Research
How do researchers examine the relationships between various factors within a given system, how they could change, and how those changes ultimately lead to different behaviors in the system over longer periods of time? The answers to those questions may lie within a sophisticated modeling method known as system dynamics.
Oct. 3, 2024
National Transmission Analysis Maps Next Chapter of US Grid Evolution
The release of the National Transmission Planning Study shifts the energy transition into high gear.
September 2024
Sept. 18, 2024
Decade of Digital Computing Speeds Transformative Shift to Clean Energy
A decade ago, NREL embarked on an epic expansion of its data center in a push to accelerate the energy transition by enabling big data and reducing market risk.
Sept. 11, 2024
NREL Partner Forum Tackles the Built Environment
Nearly 150 innovators, energy planners, analysts, entrepreneurs, and researchers converged on NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus to focus on a highly complex, seemingly intractable problem: decarbonizing the built environment.
Sept. 5, 2024
NREL Welcomes Fresh Perspectives From Next Generation of Renewable Energy Researchers
Each year, NREL welcomes hundreds of interns from across the country to contribute to its mission of expanding renewable energy.
August 2024
Aug. 28, 2024
First Camp Cleantech Becomes Hub for Startup Collaboration and Innovation
Held Aug. 12–14, 2024, at CSU Spur in Denver, Colorado, Camp Cleantech was hosted by NREL's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center and sponsored by Wells Fargo.
Aug. 19, 2024
With Critical Systems Under Attack, a New Workplace Culture Could Be the Best Defense
The workforce in critical sectors is short-staffed and undertrained in cybersecurity. To address this gap, the U.S. government has taken steps to expand, diversify, and educate the critical infrastructure workforce, and that agenda is already in action at NREL.
July 2024
July 30, 2024
Decades of NREL Research Power Electric Vehicle Revolution Progress
Electric vehicles have moved beyond novelty to ubiquity, with approximately 1.6 million light-duty electric vehicles were sold in the United States last year. NREL researchers are doing what they can to make sure the experience of driving an EV is a positive one.
June 2024
June 20, 2024
How To Power the South Pole With Renewable Energy Technologies
From research to life in the Antarctica research stations, diesel fuel provides almost all of the necessary power. The fuel is shipped to Antarctica and either flown or trucked to the South Pole, an expensive proposition that could be greatly reduced using wind and solar.
May 2024
May 20, 2024
Startups Break New Ground at 2024 Industry Growth Forum
NREL's 29th annual Industry Growth Forum sold out for the second year in a row with nearly 900 attendees.
April 2024
April 24, 2024
IN² at 10 Years: How It Started, How It's Going, What's Next, and Beyond
For its 10th anniversary, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) is expanding in a major way.
April 18, 2024
The (In)Visible Plastic Pollution Problem
Together, BOTTLE's upstream approach and WaterPACT's downstream approach to addressing the plastic pollution problem will enable a better future for humanity and our environment.
April 10, 2024
NREL Unveils Groundbreaking Generative Machine Learning Model To Simulate Future Energy-Climate Impacts
As countries worldwide transition to more wind and solar generation and electrify energy end uses, societies are becoming more intertwined with weather conditions.
April 8, 2024
Puerto Rico Can Reach Its 100% Renewable Energy Goal by 2050
NREL led PR100 to model possible scenarios built on stakeholder priorities of energy affordability, resilience and reliability, land use, and economic benefits.
March 2024
March 28, 2024
Solution to Energy Storage May Be Beneath Your Feet
Superheated sand provides one answer to the problem of long-term energy storage. Researchers at NREL built a prototype that proved the technology works. A larger-scale version is the next step.
March 20, 2024
Could a New Renewable Energy App Help Inspire Future Climate Crusaders?
Newly launched Renewable Energy Discovery Island could make it easy to teach, explore, and learn about clean energy (especially water power).
February 2024
Feb. 13, 2024
Unleashing the Power: BatMan Project Revolutionizes Battery Manufacturing
A recent battery manufacturing project—affectionately coined BatMan—has developed a novel laser patterning process to alter the microstructure of battery electrode materials.
January 2024
Jan. 29, 2024
On the Ground in Colorado, NREL Is Simulating Sustainable Aviation Fuel Combustion During Flight
A cross-disciplinary research team is gathering meticulous fuel chemistry data to equip the aviation industry with an ultra-detailed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) combustion simulation. Powered by supercomputers, the "virtual jet engine" can predict how SAF performs during flight and provide insights on how to tune it to maximize its safety and performance.
Jan. 18, 2024
How NREL Helps Startups From the Beginning
Antora Energy, a startup focusing on improving heating, ventilating, and air conditioning technology, would not be where it is today without the help of NREL.
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