nrel

Google and more than 80 other companies are collaborating with the Department of Energy to make it simple for drivers of electric vehicles to find parts and charging sites.

Via a partnership called the GeoEVSE Forum, the organizations are pooling their data to build a definitive database of all available EV charging stations in the U.S. regardless of the manufacturer or network, the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory said yesterday.

The GPS and mapping system database will also include all available electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) stations.

While the data will be organized using Google mapping tools, it … Read more

When a lithium ion battery reaches the point at which it can no longer be used in an electric car, it still has the potential to be used in other applications. But exactly what are the best uses for them?

The U.S. government is backing a comprehensive study to determine just that, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced Tuesday.

"To date, no one has comprehensively studied the feasibility, durability, and value of Li-ion batteries for second-use applications," NREL said in a statement.

The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) will lead the research project which will … Read more

Conserval Engineering is testing a new product with the U.S. Army based on its original solar thermal wall panels that could help cool a building in addition to helping heat it up, the company announced today.

The company is best known for its SolarWall corrugated galvanized-steel solar collectors that can be used to heat a building's HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning) system as a way to save energy and bring down heating costs. It's used mainly on commercial, industrial, or large apartment buildings with vast wall space. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, for example, installed a … Read more

The Department of Energy has confirmed that MiaSole's thin-film photovoltaic solar modules have reached an efficiency of 15.7 percent, the company announced today.

That is an efficiency improvement of more than 1 percent since last year when the company was given a 14.3 percent efficiency rating from the DOE's 's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, according to MiaSole.

Solar panel efficiency ratings signify how much power one gets out of a solar panel per square inch, something obviously of great interest to companies and consumers evaluating which solar panels to purchase for projects.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based … Read more

Abandoning the mechanics common in today's air conditioners could slash energy use and summertime electricity bills, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Researchers at NREL recently detailed an air conditioning system that does away with the power-hungry condenser and compressor in traditional air conditioners. The goal is to further develop the technology and license it to commercial companies, something that NREL has already done in solar, wind, and other fields.

Called the DEVap (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative) air conditioner, the system uses a combination of techniques to deal with both dry heat and humidity.

The system uses an evaporative cooler, … Read more

An updated software tool combines energy-use evaluation with Google's 3D-modeling program to help improve building design in its early stages.

OpenStudio, a free, open-source tool introduced last year, now integrates EnergyPlus building analysis with Google SketchUp, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced this week.

"OpenStudio is lauded around our office as one of the most complicated plug-ins ever written for SketchUp," Christopher Cronin, Google's strategist for SketchUp, said in a statement.

While Google may see OpenStudio as a plug-in for SketchUp, OpenStudio's creators may instead see SketchUp as an add-on to its simulation program.

The … Read more

The National Renewable Energy Lab and U.S. Department of Energy have launched a mapping tool on alternative fuels and vehicles.

Employing Google Maps, TransAtlas plots geographical locations of things like specific types of fuel stations and concentrations where certain types of alternative fuel vehicles are owned in abundance.

It plots points where production facilities and other infrastructure for alternative fuel transportation exist, as well as separate icons identifying projects under development.

The comprehensive tool allows users to turn layers on and off by checking boxes in a legend. It includes alternative fuels like hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, propane, compressed … Read more

Rommel Noufi, one of the primary experts in copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells, is joining SoloPower as vice president of research.

Noufi has been a fixture in CIGS for several years as a scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He also holds the record for efficiency for CIGS cells: one of his cells can convert 19.9 percent of the sun's energy into electricity while another can convert 16.5 percent. When reporters or analysts have CIGS questions, the path in the past several years has often led to Noufi.

Efficiency has been a major headache … Read more

Algae fuel is going uptown.

Chevron, the honkin' big oil company, and the National Renewable Energy Labs have announced they will collaborate on identifying and developing strains of algae for fuel. Potentially, the research could result in jet fuel that uses algae as a feedstock.

The collaboration is part of a five-year deal, kicked off in 2006. The two are already cooperating on research for bio-oil reforming, which involves taking bio-oils and turning them into hydrogen and other oils.

In the past few years, a number of start-ups such as LiveFuels, Solazyme, and GreenFuel Technologies have come up with plans … Read more