U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 15-Apr-2013
UNC Charlotte researcher leads effort to forecast optimal energy investments
A Department of Energy SunShot award will fund a team that will use modeling based on the principles of ecological dynamics to forecast optimal investments for the array of solar energy technologies that are emerging.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 14-Apr-2013

Nature Climate Change
Cutting specific pollutants would slow sea level rise
With coastal areas bracing for rising sea levels, new research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow down sea level rise. Reductions in the four pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could forestall the rate of sea level rise by roughly 25 to 50 percent.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 9-Apr-2013
NREL employees lauded by industry peers
Employees of the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory were recently recognized by industry peers for their work in grid integration, industry advancement and electrochemistry. NREL was also named an Outstanding Large Company by IEEE.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 9-Apr-2013
NREL launches initiative to build solar performance database
The US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory has launched an initiative to build an open-source database of real-world performance from solar facilities across the country. As part of DOE's SunShot Initiative, the Open Solar Performance and Reliability Clearinghouse will give the private market tools to develop investment vehicles to tap low-cost public capital.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 9-Apr-2013
Better monitoring and diagnostics tackle algae biofuel pond crash problem
Sandia National Laboratories is developing a suite of complementary technologies to help the emerging algae industry detect and quickly recover from algal pond crashes, an obstacle to large-scale algae cultivation for future biofuels. The research, which focuses on monitoring and diagnosing algal pond health, draws upon Sandia's longstanding expertise in microfluidics technology, its strong bioscience research program and significant internal investments.

Public Release: 7-Apr-2013

Nature Chemical Biology
Sweet success
Using an ultrahigh-precision microscopy technique, Berkeley Lab researchers have uncovered a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails on cellulosic biomass, boosting the yields of sugars for the production of advanced biofuels.

Energy Biosciences Institute

Public Release: 4-Apr-2013
DOE renews JBEI funding
The Department of Energy has renewed funding for the Joint BioEnergy Institute for another five years. JBEI is a multi-institutional partnership for advanced biofuels research led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 4-Apr-2013
Energy Department announces 5-year renewal of funding for Bioenergy Research Centers
The US Department of Energy today announced it would fund its three Bioenergy Research Centers for an additional five-year period, subject to continued congressional appropriations. The three Centers are the BioEnergy Research Center led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in partnership with Michigan State University, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013
Berkeley Lab researchers release guide to financing energy upgrade for K-12 school districts
Energy costs K-12 schools in the U.S. $6 billion dollars annually. Spending less money on energy costs would leave more for funding-constrained school districts to spend on educating their students, according to researchers at Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. They have released a guide on planning and financing comprehensive energy upgrades that involve multiple measures and are targeted toward achieving significant and persistent energy savings.

US DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013
April 2013 story tips
This release includes these topics: Analytics -- Device has ORNL pedigree, Climate -- Going small with big computers, Transportation -- Highway to green, Energy -- Extending reactor life, Environment -- Seeing through soil.

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013
New instrument will quickly detect botulinum, ricin, other biothreat agents
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a medical instrument that will be able to quickly detect a suite of biothreat agents, including anthrax, ricin, botulinum, shiga and SEB toxin. Sandia's work is funded by a recent grant -- nearly $4 million over four years -- from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 29-Mar-2013

Plant Biotechnology Journal
Making do with more: Joint BioEnergy Institute researchers engineer plant cell walls to boost sugar yields for biofuels
Using the tools of synthetic biology, JBEI researchers are engineering healthy plants whose lignocellulosic biomass can more easily be broken down into simple sugars for the production of clean, green and renewable advanced biofuels.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 26-Mar-2013

Physical Review E
Simulations uncover obstacle to harnessing laser-driven fusion
Researchers at The Ohio State University have uncovered an obstacle to the cone-guided approach to fast-ignition fusion energy through simulations at the Ohio Supercomputer Center and experiments at the National Ignition Facility. Chris Orban, Ph.D., a researcher at Ohio State and the lead theorist on the project, found electric fields that build up on the cone's edge reduce the number of energetic electrons being directed by laser beams toward the targeted fuel.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 26-Mar-2013
NREL assembles industry working group to advance solar securitization
The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently convened the Solar Access to Public Capital working group with a mission to enable securitization of solar PV assets and associated cash flows in the marketplace.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 24-Mar-2013

Nature Genetics
Peach genome offers insights into breeding strategies for biofuels crops
Rapidly growing trees like poplars and willows are candidate "biofuel crops" from which it is expected that cellulosic ethanol and higher energy content fuels can be efficiently extracted. Domesticating these crops requires a deep understanding of tree physiology and genetics. Scientists are turning to fruit trees for hints, leading to an international initiative, including DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers, publishing the 265-million base genome of the Lovell variety of Prunus persica in Nature Genetics.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 21-Mar-2013

DOE Joint Genome Institute's 8th Annual Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting
DOE Joint Genome Institute 8th Annual Meeting on March 26-28, 2013
The 8th Annual Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting of the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute will be held at the Marriott in Walnut Creek on March 26-28, 2013.

Public Release: 20-Mar-2013

Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Thin films of nickel and iron oxides yield efficient solar water-splitting catalyst
University of Oregon chemists say that ultra-thin films of nickel and iron oxides made through a solution synthesis process are promising catalysts to combine with semiconductors to make devices that capture sunlight and convert water into hydrogen and oxygen gases.

US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 19-Mar-2013
Transportation study reveals potential for deep cuts to petroleum use and carbon emissions
The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory today announced the release of the Transportation Energy Futures study, an assessment of avenues to reach deep cuts in petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 19-Mar-2013
New ultra-efficient HPC data center debuts
Scientists and researchers at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory are constantly innovating, integrating novel technologies, and "walking the talk." Since 1982, NREL has won 52 R&D 100 Awards -- known in the research and development community as "the Oscars of Innovation" -- for its groundbreaking work.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 19-Mar-2013

mBio
UMass Amherst researchers reveal mechanism of novel biological electron transfer
"For biologists, Geobacter's behavior represents a paradigm shift. It goes against all that we are taught about biological electron transfer, which usually involves electrons hopping from one molecule to another," Lovley says. "So it wasn't enough for us to demonstrate that the microbial nanowires are conductive and to show with physics the conduction mechanism, we had to determine the impact of this conductivity on the biology."

Office of Naval Research, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 14-Mar-2013

Science
Breakthrough research shows chemical reaction in real time
The ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source have enabled unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step in the effort to develop cleaner and more efficient energy sources.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 13-Mar-2013

Nature Methods
Predictability: The brass ring for synthetic biology
DNA sequences and statistical models have been unveiled that greatly increase the reliability and precision by which microbes can be engineered.

Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 7-Mar-2013

PLOS ONE
Illuminating fractures: X-ray imaging sheds new light on bone damage
Using cutting-edge X-ray techniques, Cornell University researchers have uncovered cellular-level detail of what happens when bone bears repetitive stress over time, visualizing damage at smaller scales than previously observed. Their work could offer clues into how bone fractures could be prevented.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 5-Mar-2013
Biomass analysis tool is faster, more precise
A screening tool from the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory eases and greatly quickens one of the thorniest tasks in the biofuels industry: determining cell wall chemistry to find plants with ideal genes.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 4-Mar-2013
March story tips
By introducing microbial fuel cells into the corn stover biorefinery waste recovery process, a team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has demonstrated a new way to produce bioenergy from the process waste stream. Quantitative analyses of vitamins can be done in minutes with minimal processing, saving time and money with a technique successfully demonstrated by a team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers.