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
An oft-repeated refrain—the sun doesn't always shine, and the wind doesn't always blow—is sometimes seen as an impediment to renewable energy. But it's also an impetus toward discovering the best ways to store that energy ...
Jan 3, 2020
2
30
Engineering
What if carbon dioxide (CO2), a prevalent greenhouse gas, could be transformed into higher-value fuels and chemicals using low-cost, renewable electricity?
Jun 23, 2020
4
435
Energy & Green Tech
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have conducted the first global assessment into the most promising approaches to end-of-life management for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.
Jul 14, 2020
2
132
Energy & Green Tech
Power electronics—including the inverters that interface solar, wind, battery energy storage, and electric vehicles—are on track to gradually, or even entirely, displace traditional generation. In doing so, inverters ...
Dec 24, 2020
0
6
Engineering
With variable renewable energy (VRE) expected to become a much larger share of the global energy mix, storage solutions are needed beyond short-duration timescales, such as standard commercial batteries, which are suitable ...
May 27, 2021
0
12
Energy & Green Tech
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created a solar cell with a record 39.5% efficiency under 1-sun global illumination. This is the highest efficiency solar cell of ...
May 19, 2022
0
436
Energy & Green Tech
As states reach higher toward 100% renewable operation, energy storage will be key to enabling a more variable power supply. But no single technology will be a silver bullet for all our energy storage needs.
Oct 21, 2021
0
95
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 9, 2020
0
55
Energy & Green Tech
Heavy-duty trucks, or semi-trucks with a gross vehicle weight greater than 26,000 pounds, are responsible for around 15% of total U.S. transportation energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Electrifying these vehicles would ...
Jun 22, 2021
1
25
Energy & Green Tech
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created an environmentally stable, high-efficiency perovskite solar cell, bringing the emerging technology a step closer to commercial ...
Jan 31, 2018
0
243
