Circular Economy News
Read news stories covering a circular economy for energy materials, one of NREL’s
critical research objectives.
Dec. 13, 2021
U.S. data storage technologies, like hard-disk drives (HDDs), contain imported rare-Earth elements in their magnets. As the demand for data storage increases, the supply of critical materials will become more limited.
Nov. 29, 2021
In the first Q&A profile in a new series, Manufacturing Masterminds, Birdie Carpenter shares how she is working to reduce industrial energy use, carbon emissions, plastic waste, and more.
Oct. 20, 2021
On October 20, NREL will join organizations and individuals nationwide in celebrating the ninth annual Bioenergy Day. The day commemorates advancements in the use of biomass to produce energy from sustainable resources such as farm, forestry, and other plant waste.
Oct. 19, 2021
As manager of the Mobility Infrastructure and Impacts Analysis (MIIA) group, NREL's Maggie Mann will be the first to tell you that electric vehicles (EVs) alone are not a perfect solution to achieve sustainability within the transportation industry.
Oct. 13, 2021
To help combat the plastic waste problem, NREL and its collaborators have developed a method to upcycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into performance-advantaged nylon, a precursor to other valuable products such as waterproof clothing, stick-free cookware coatings, and heat-resistant machine parts.
Sept. 29, 2021
This is the first in series of articles profiling NREL researchers whose work is helping build a circular economy to extend the lifespan of materials, components, and products, while reducing waste, conserving resources, and boosting efficiency. NREL Senior Research Fellow Bob Allen shared his thoughts on how innovations in upcycling sustainable polymers and composites can contribute to the circular economy.
Sept. 15, 2021
By 2050, there could be 80 million metric tons globally of solar photovoltaics (PV) reaching the end of their lifetime, with 10 million metric tons in the United States alone—or the weight of 30 Empire State Buildings.
Aug. 18, 2021
NREL researchers are developing strategies to prevent construction from gobbling up resources with BREX—shorthand for Building Materials' Reduce, Reuse, and Recycling.
July 15, 2021
Researchers in the BOTTLE Consortium, including from NREL and the University of Portsmouth, have identified using enzymes as a more sustainable approach for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic in single-use beverage bottles, clothing, and food packaging.
April 20, 2021
One of the three key pillars of NREL's vision for the next decade is developing a circular economy for energy materials. This critical objective focuses on reducing waste and preserving resources through the design and manufacture of materials and products with reuse, recycling, and upcycling in mind from the start.
April 2, 2021
In a series of three reports, NREL analysts examine options and opportunities to repair, reuse, or recycle solar photovoltaic system materials, moving toward a circular economy.
March 15, 2021
A novel biorefining process using the untapped energy of food waste and other wet waste to produce a "drop-in" sustainable aviation fuel may lift net-zero flights off the runway sooner than you think.
Feb. 25, 2021
Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly in demand for energy storage and use in electric vehicles—needs that are projected to grow further with expected technological innovations and declining costs.
Feb. 24, 2021
Keeping wind gearboxes in operating condition is essential to efficient and cost-effective wind power plant operation. New tools from NREL are making it possible to predict individual component reliability for the entire wind plant, reduce operations and maintenance costs through early design decisions, and take maintenance measures to extend gearbox life spans.
Feb. 16, 2021
Researchers at NREL are addressing critical challenges when it comes to achieving a circular economy for wind turbine components. The motivations for pursuing this research are outlined in a new journal article, "Wind turbine blade material in the United States: Quantities, costs, and end-of-life options."
Feb. 16, 2021
At its fourth annual Partner Forum, NREL showcased its stable of leading experts and opened its virtual doors to partners, extending invitations to companies from around the world to engage in a collaborative effort to design a future replete with renewable energy solutions to the energy challenges of today.
Feb. 3, 2021
DOE funding pairs NREL with academic, nonprofit, and industry scientists to transform how we create and recycle plastic.
Jan. 21, 2021
Researchers developing renewable plastics and exploring new processes for plastics upcycling and recycling technologies will now be able to easily baseline their efforts to current manufacturing practices to understand if their efforts will save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
