Microgrids are a Key to Grid Resiliency

The aging energy grid is being pushed to the breaking point. Power outages from extreme weather alone cost anywhere from $2 billion to $77 billion per year. And some isolated communities still rely...

Compact Medium-Voltage Converters Enable Advanced Grid Architectures and Operations

As we trend toward more renewables and distributed energy resources (DERs), the design of the electric distribution system itself imposes physical...

Better Batteries for Grid-Scale Energy Storage

Molten sodium batteries have been used for many years to store energy from renewable sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines. However, commercially available molten sodium-sulfur...

More Efficient Electricity Distribution Thanks to New Insulation Material

If we are to transition to a world powered by renewable energy, efficient long-distance transport of electricity is essential, since the supply — renewable...

'Soil Fuel Cells' Support Water Treatment in Brazil

The soil microbial fuel cells produce energy to filter enough water for a person’s daily needs, with potential to increase scale.

New Fluid Makes Geothermal Power Cleaner

More American homes could be powered by the Earth's natural underground heat with a new, nontoxic, and potentially recyclable liquid that is expected to use half as much water as other fluids used to...

Gas Flow Measurement Technology Packs Hundreds of Sensors Into One Optical Fiber

By fusing together the concepts of active fiber sensors and high-temperature fiber sensors, a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh has created an...

PDC Drill Bits Open Up Options for Geothermal Energy

Nearly two-thirds of the oil we use comes from wells drilled using polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits, originally developed 30 years ago to lower the cost of geothermal drilling....

Atlas Maps Renewable Energy Resources

A new geospatial application developed by the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) allows users to map potential renewable energy resources in the United States. The interactive tool is...

Capturing and Using Waste Heat from Cars, Factories, and Power Plants

New technology is being developed at Oregon State University to capture and use the low-to-medium grade waste heat from automobiles, diesel generators, or factories and...

Geothermal Technology Sequesters Carbon Dioxide Underground

University of Minnesota researchers have developed an innovative approach to tapping heat beneath the Earth’s surface. The method is expected to not only produce renewable...

Geothermal Technology Advancement for Rapid Development of Resources in the U.S.

DOE has announced that up to $70 million is available in funding for technology advancements in geothermal energy. Innovations in exploration technologies to...

Funding Opportunity for Geothermal Heat Extraction R&D

The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Program recently announced a $15 million funding opportunity to research and develop innovative methods to extract heat from...

Geothermal Heat Extraction Process Takes Advantage of New Liquid

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have come up with an innovative approach that can safely and economically extract and convert...

Designing the First Fully Sustainable Block in the U.S.

In the near future, a crumbling parking lot in downtown Dallas, Texas will be the location of the first fully sustainable, urban square block in the United States. Re:Vision Dallas is...

30 Years of Power & Energy

In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of NASA Tech Briefs, our features in 2006 highlight a different technology category each month, tracing the past 30 years of the technology, and continuing with a glimpse into...