News

New Open-Source, Publicly Available Model Rapidly Produces Super-Detailed Future Climate Data To Support Integrated Energy System Planning. As countries worldwide transition to more wind and solar generation and electrify energy end uses, societies are becoming more intertwined with weather conditions. Meanwhile, the climate is rapidly changing and making extreme weather events the “new normal.”

NSLS-II scientists use new spectrometer to help identify alternative catalyst materials for affordable hydrogen fuel

hydrogen fuel

A clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind.

Source: U.S Department of Energy Source

cells. Fuel cells are quickly becoming a viable, clean energy alternative to commonly used fossil fuels, such as gasoline, coal, and oil. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy resources that release carbon dioxide

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

into the atmosphere. Fuel cells, however, rely on an electrochemical

electrochemical

A discipline of chemistry concerned with the interconversion of electrical and chemical energy.

Source: Source

reaction rather than combustion, producing carbon-free energy.

Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are using computer simulations and laboratory experiments to see if depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs

reservoir

A manmade lake that is created when a dam is built on a river. River water backs up behind the dam creating a reservoir.

Source: USGS Source

can be used for storing this carbon-free fuel. Hydrogen is an important clean fuel: It can be made by splitting water using solar or wind power, it can be used to generate electricity and power heavy industry, and it could be used to power fuel-cell-based vehicles.

A new model accounts for co-occurring environmental parameters to improve predictions of a hurricane’s intensification. Tropical cyclones (TCs) that undergo rapid intensification (RI) can pose serious socioeconomic

socioeconomic

A way of describing groups based on their education, income, or job type. Socioeconomic status is usually described as low, medium, and high.

Source: National Cancer Institute Source

threats and result in major damage to coastal areas. Predicting TCs remains a challenge, though, due to the complexity of various physical mechanisms that play a role in RI, as well as its relatively low probability of occurrence.

The National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), which is led by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has been extended for five more years with $75 million in funding from DOE. NAWI will continue its contributions to helping decarbonize

decarbonize

Decarbonization involves the reduction or eradication of carbon dioxide emissions from specific systems, such as industries, economies, or societies.

Source: Source

the water and wastewater sectors through investments in technologies that enhance the efficient use of energy for water use, treatment, and distribution.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program is now accepting proposals for high-impact, computationally intensive research projects in a broad array of science, engineering and computer science domains. Proposals must be submitted between April 10 and June 14.

After presenting innovative solutions for some of the most complex challenges in the buildings industry, 11 students have been named winners of the 2024 JUMP into STEM Final Competition. Hosted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Final Competition brought together college students with diverse backgrounds, professors, and industry experts from across the country for a two-day event.

Vast amounts of worldwide emissions can be traced back to the supply chains that provide us with the goods we need. Some studies estimate that they generate up to two-thirds of global carbon emissions. Now, researchers from the National Renewable Energy

renewable energy

Renewable energy comes from unlimited, naturally replenished resources, such as the sun, tides, and wind. Renewable energy can be used for electricity generation, space and water heating and cooling, and transportation.

Source: U.S Department of Energy Source

Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with industry partners, have demonstrated the potential for a zero-tailpipe emissions supply chain.

In the latest Manufacturing Masterminds Q&A, Travis Lowder shares why he did not need a technical background to fight climate change

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

(and neither do you!) and why humility might be the most crucial trait for his job. Today, Lowder is a senior project manager with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Accelerated Deployment and Decision Support Center.

For almost as long as humans have spent time in Antarctica, the continent has been a home for science. One of the research outposts located there is the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The science done there includes studies of climate change and cosmology. Currently, this site exclusively uses nonrenewable energy sources, specifically diesel fuel, to power the instruments and provide warmth for staff.

Inside clusters of solvent, previously unseen carbon dioxide-based chemistry emerges. Finding ways to capture, store, and use carbon dioxide (CO2) remains an urgent global problem. As temperatures continue to rise, keeping CO2 from entering the atmosphere can help limit warming where carbon-based fuels are still needed.

Ten years later, data gathered in Brazil have proven highly influential across atmospheric science. For researchers trying to understand how human activities have affected the atmosphere, the Amazon’s relatively unpolluted air can provide critical baseline data. Centuries of industrialization have created a human-influenced background across most of the world. But areas of the Amazon remain sufficiently isolated from polluting activities to serve as effective proxies for preindustrial conditions.