U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 21-May-2013

Environmental Science & Technology
Going green: Nation equipped to grow serious amounts of pond scum for fuel
A new analysis shows that the nation's land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country's yearly needs. For the best places to produce algae for fuel, think hot, humid and wet. Especially promising are the Gulf Coast and the Southeastern seaboard.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 16-May-2013

Science
LLNL scientist finds topography of Eastern Seaboard muddles ancient sea level changes
The distortion of the ancient shoreline and flooding surface of the US Atlantic Coastal Plain are the direct result of fluctuations in topography in the region and could have implications on understanding long-term climate change, according to a new study.

Public Release: 15-May-2013
The DOE Joint Genome Institute expands capabilities via new partnerships
Positioning itself to provide the most current technology and expertise to their users in order to address pressing energy and environmental scientific challenges, the DOE Joint Genome Institute announces six projects with which to launch the Emerging Technologies Opportunity Program. These new partnerships span the development of new scalable DNA synthesis technologies to the latest approaches to high throughput sequencing and characterization of single microbial cells from complex environmental samples.

DOE Office of Science

Public Release: 14-May-2013
Saudi Arabia looks to NREL for solar monitoring expertise
Saudi Arabia is planning to move aggressively into renewable energy, with plans to install more solar and wind power in the next 20 years than the rest of the world has installed to date. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is working with the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory for training and expertise in measuring its solar resource.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 8-May-2013

Nature
Researchers find a way to make steel without greenhouse-gas emissions
Steelmaking, a major emitter of climate-altering gases, could be transformed by a new process developed at MIT.

American Iron and Steel Institute, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 7-May-2013
NREL quantifies significant value in concentrating solar power
Researchers from the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have quantified the significant value that concentrating solar power plants can add to an electric grid.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 6-May-2013
May 2013 story tips from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The following are story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory for May 2013.

Public Release: 5-May-2013

Nature Methods
A new cost-effective genome assembly process
Genome assembly, the molecular equivalent of trying to put together a multi-million piece jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the picture on the cover of the box is, remains challenging due to the very large number of very small pieces, which must be assembled using current approaches. As reported May 5 online in the journal Nature Methods, a collaboration involving DOE JGI researchers has resulted in an improved and fully automated workflow for genome assembly.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 23-Apr-2013

Metallomics
Strengthening legumes to tackle fertilizer pollution
An international team of scientists create the first model of legume iron transportation aimed at maximizing nitrogen fixation, even in poor soil.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 19-Apr-2013

Global Change Biology
Nitrogen has key role in estimating CO2 emissions from land use change
A new global-scale modeling study that takes into account nitrogen -- a key nutrient for plants -- estimates that carbon emissions from human activities on land were 40 percent higher in the 1990s than in studies that did not account for nitrogen. Plant regrowth -- and therefore carbon assimilation by plants -- is limited by nitrogen availability, causing other studies to overestimate regrowth and underestimate net emissions from the harvest-regrowth cycle.

NASA, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 16-Apr-2013
NREL survey shows dramatic improvement in B100 biodiesel quality
The latest national survey of 100 percent biodiesel "blend stock" samples by the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that 95% of the samples from 2011-12 met ASTM International fuel quality specifications. The ASTM standards serve as guidelines for industry and are designed to ensure quality at the pump for consumers -- along with reliable operation of the nation's vehicles powered by biodiesel blends.

US Department of Energy

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: 11-Apr-2013

Science
Researchers measure reaction rates of second key atmospheric component
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories' Combustion Research Facility, the University of Manchester, Bristol University, University of Southampton and Hong Kong Polytechnic have successfully measured reaction rates of a second Criegee intermediate, CH3CHOO, and proven that the reactivity of the atmospheric chemical depends strongly on which way the molecule is twisted.

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: 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: 3-Apr-2013

Nature
Ancient pool of warm water questions current climate models
A huge pool of warm water that stretched out from Indonesia over to Africa and South America four million years ago suggests climate models might be too conservative in forecasting tropical changes.

US National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 2-Apr-2013

Journal of Climate
Rising temperature difference between hemispheres could dramatically shift tropical rain patterns
UC Berkeley and University of Washington researchers found that changes in the interhemispheric temperature difference during the 20th century were linked to catastrophic changes in tropical rainfall. They predict that in the future, the rising difference could have major effects on tropical rainfall patterns, generally shifting seasonal rains such as monsoons northward.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

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: 28-Mar-2013

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Study: 'Waste heat' may economize CO2 capture
In some of the first results from a federally funded initiative to find new ways of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal-fired power plants, Rice University scientists have found it may be possible to use "waste" heat to remove CO2 instead of the higher pressure steam needed to make electricity.

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: 26-Mar-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
UGA discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from CO2 in the atmosphere
Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 25-Mar-2013
Science of soot lands Hope Michelsen in Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame
Sandia National Laboratories scientist Hope Michelsen, who peers through atmospheric soot to learn about the air we breathe, has been named by the Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame as the 2013 Outstanding Woman in Science. She is the first Sandia employee to receive this award.