The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located in Golden, Colorado, is the United States' primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility; it is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This arrangement allows a private entity to operate the lab on behalf of the federal government under a prime contract. NREL receives funding from Congress to be applied toward research and development projects. NREL also performs research on photovoltaics (PV) under the National Center for Photovoltaics. NREL has a number of PV research capabilities including research and development, testing, and deployment. NREL's campus houses several facilities dedicated to PV research. Established in 1974, NREL began operating in 1977 as the Solar Energy Research Institute. Under the Jimmy Carter administration, it was the recipient of a large budget and its activities went beyond research and development in solar energy as it tried to popularize knowledge about already existing technologies, like passive solar, amongst the population.
Energy & Green Tech
Popular wisdom holds that tall, fast-growing trees are best for biomass, but new research by two U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories reveals the size of trees is only part of the equation.
Oct 20, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
After years of development, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released the open-source dGen model, marking a new era since the model launched in 2016. Public users can access model methodology and instructions, ...
Oct 20, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
A wealth of wind energy potential as well as rich and diverse networks of wildlife species can be found off the coasts of the United States. Coastal ecosystems range from beach dunes where turtles and birds nest, to the shallow ...
Oct 20, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) report a breakthrough in developing a next-generation thermochromic window that not only reduces the need for air conditioning but ...
Oct 19, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
Since the mid-'80s, concentrating solar power (CSP) plants have generated clean energy to power our homes, schools, offices, and communities. Yet, one consistent challenge of CSP plants is hydrogen buildup, which can be costly ...
Oct 14, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
New research from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) identifies key opportunities for hydrogen to provide synergies for the U.S. energy system and quantifies their potential ...
Oct 09, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
Global installed offshore wind capacity reached 27,064 MW in 2019—a 19% increase from the previous year. This and other trends can be found in the "2019 Offshore Wind Technology Data Update," released by NREL on behalf ...
Oct 09, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
Hybrid systems of floating solar panels and hydropower plants may hold the technical potential to produce a significant portion of the electricity generated annually across the globe, according to an analysis by researchers ...
Sep 29, 2020
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Automotive
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Researcher Stan Young has a vision of a downtown district characterized by transportation mobility systems that are as easy and efficient to use as the moving walkways found in ...
Sep 16, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
The high-altitude Atacama Desert of northern Chile is a surprising location for scientific insights: Its dry and dusty likeness to Mars makes it ideal for interplanetary testing, and distant worlds are particularly visible ...
Sep 16, 2020
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