News

On Monday, April 29, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the division winners and Project Pitch Champion in the Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition's Class of 2023–2024. In the five years of this competition, this was the largest ever class of competing teams. A total of 17 student-led teams won first-, second-, or third-place trophies across six divisions, with the addition of three honorable mentions and one Project Pitch Champion.

The researchers from the DOE laboratories — Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ames National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory — pooled their diverse expertise to devise a roadmap to “defossilize” portions of the U.S. economy by reducing carbon emissions from segments of the market that are challenging to electrify.

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other institutions joined industry stakeholders in exploring solutions for power grid climate resilience at the Climate READi Southeast workshop co-hosted by EPRI and ORNL’s Water Power Program on April 10-11. EPRI launched Climate READi, or the REsilience and ADaptation Initiative, to mitigate climate risk, ensure resilient energy, and enable robust planning amidst increasing extreme weather events and growing dependence on electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Efficient and Healthy Schools Program recognized 13 school district honorees at the 2024 White House Summit for Sustainable and Healthy K-12 School Buildings and Grounds: Equity, Learning, Health, and Climate, held on April 26, 2024. DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has provided technical support to the Efficient and Healthy Schools Program since its launch in 2021.

Exploration of Coastal Hydrobiogeochemistry Across a Network of Gradients and Experiments (EXCHANGE) is a consortium of scientists interested in improving understanding of the biogeochemical exchange between water and land in coastal systems. In EXCHANGE Campaign 1 (EC1), researchers collected water, soil, and sediment samples at 52 sites in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Earth system model

earth system model (ESM)

A model that simulates how chemistry, biology, and physical forces work together. These models are similar to, but much more comprehensive than, global climate models.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy Source

with regional refinement over the U.S. produces different aerosol

aerosols

Small particles or droplets, such as wildfire smoke, volcanic gases, or salty sea spray, that float in the air. They are emitted by both natural events and human activities.

Source: NASA Global Climate Change Source

sources and sinks and aerosol-cloud interactions

aerosol-cloud interaction

The interaction of airborne particles (aerosols) with clouds. Scientists study how aerosols affect clouds and how these interactions can impact the Earth's climate.

Source: DOE Source

compared to the global low-resolution model. Earth system models are running at higher resolutions. Yet parameterizations designed to represent aerosol lifecycles and their interactions with clouds and radiation in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM)

Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM)

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project includes Earth System Models, simulations, and predictions to investigate energy-relevant science using code optimized for DOE's advanced supercomputers.

Source: NVCL Web Page Source

are developed and evaluated at Earth system model scales, and their performance at higher resolution is unclear.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) welcomed more than 200 students and chaperones from the Central Valley to ‘STEM Day at the Lab’ on Friday, April 19. STEM Day is a biannual daylong interactive event focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities for students (grades 5-8) from underserved communities.

Genetically modified bacteria brews two valuable products from underutilized plant fiber, potentially reducing fossil fuel use. Lignin

lignin

One of the main components of plant cell wall and it is a natural phenolic polymer with high molecular weight, complex composition and structure.

Source: NIH Source

is a major part of plant cells that makes them strong and rigid. It is made of compounds known as aromatics strung together in chains. Scientists have engineered microbes

microbe

Microbes are tiny living things that are found all around us and are too small to be seen by the naked eye. They live in water, soil, and in the air.

Source: NIH Source

that can funnel these aromatics into single chemicals used to make plastics and other valuable materials.

Roger Marchand, a research professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, found himself strapped into a seat aboard a Gulfstream V research jet. Landfall was hundreds of miles away, in Hobart, Australia. Just 500 meters (1,640 feet) below was a patch of the Southern Ocean, a region of drizzling low clouds and white-tipped wild waves. It covers 15 percent of the Earth’s surface and is said to be the stormiest place on Earth.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Office of Science chose 86 graduate students from 31 states and Puerto Rico for the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program's 2023 Solicitation 2 cycle. SCGSR offers top-notch training and access to cutting-edge facilities at DOE labs, preparing students for vital roles in DOE's mission and maintaining our leadership in discovery and innovation.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will provide technical assistance to 30 disadvantaged communities in west Fresno County to provide a future in clean-energy projects, including carbon capture and storage. The project is part of the Department of Energy’s Local Energy Action Program (LEAP) that aims to facilitate sustained community-wide economic and environmental benefits primarily through DOE’s clean-energy deployment work.

Soils constantly lose carbon dioxide (CO2)

carbon dioxide (CO2)

An important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas, that comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.

Source: NASA Source

generated by microbes and plant roots to the atmosphere, a process termed “soil respiration.

respiration

The process whereby living organisms consume CO², convert it to energy, and release it as O².

Source: EPA Environmental Protection Agency Source

” That CO2 from soils is one of the largest flows in the global carbon cycle.

carbon cycle

The movement and exchange of carbon through living organisms, the ocean, the atmosphere, rocks and minerals, and other parts of the Earth.

Source: a student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

This study examined advancements in understanding soil respiration, consolidating estimates from local to global scales, analyzing climate change's impact on various mechanisms, and addressing future challenges and opportunities.