Their consistency and predictability makes tidal energy attractive, not only as a source of electricity but, potentially, as a mechanism to provide reliability and resilience to regional or local power grids.
Researchers at PNNL have developed a software tool that helps universities, small business, and corporate developers to design better batteries with new materials that hold more energy.
Lenaïg Hemery, a marine energy specialist with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been appointed to the position of topic editor for the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.
PNNL and WSU researchers have improved the performance and life cycle of sodium-ion battery technology to narrow the gap with some lithium-ion batteries.
Research buoys managed by PNNL underwent a $1.3-million upgrade that included more powerful lidar that reaches heights of today’s taller wind turbines.
On World Oceans Day, an international team of marine scientists reports that the potential impact of marine renewable energy to marine life is likely small or undetectable, though some uncertainty remains.
In a recent review article, an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by PNNL biogeochemist Nick Ward proposed a path to refining the representation of coastal interfaces in Earth systems models used to predict climate.
Researchers at PNNL have come up with a novel way to use silicon as an energy storage ingredient, replacing the graphite in electrodes. Silicon can hold 10 times the electrical charge per gram, but it comes with problems of its own.
With the help of a diagnostic tool called the Salish Sea Model, researchers found that toxic contaminant hotspots in the Puget Sound are tied to localized lack of water circulation and cumulative effects from multiple sources.
PNNL coastal ecologist Heida Diefenderfer was a featured speaker in February at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable on policy and global affairs.
PNNL Emeritus Scientist Ronald Thom received the 2019 Environmental Leadership Award at the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Conference.
Advancing a more collective understanding of coastal systems dynamics and evolution is a formidable scientific challenge. PNNL is meeting the challenge head on to inform decisions for the future.
Scientists have uncovered a root cause of the growth of needle-like structures—known as dendrites and whiskers—that plague lithium batteries, sometimes causing a short circuit, failure, or even a fire.
PNNL researchers have created a chemical cocktail that could help electric cars power their way through extreme temperatures where current lithium-ion batteries don’t operate as efficiently as needed.
The inner Salish Sea’s future response to climate change, while significant, is predicted to be less severe than that of the open ocean based on parameters like algal blooms, ocean acidification, and annual occurrences of hypoxia.
PNNL researchers demonstrate how the excitation of oxygen atoms that contributes to better performance of a lithium-ion battery also triggers a process that leads to damage, explaining a phenomenon that has been a mystery to scientists.
