PNNL and collaborators developed new models—recently approved by the U.S. Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC)—to help utilities understand how new grid-forming inverter technology will enhance grid stability.
Recycling polyolefin materials is challenging. One waste management strategy is plastic upcycling. New work demonstrates a single-step upcycling route coupling cracking and alkylation, recycling carbon and keeping valuable resources active.
PNNL’s patented Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE™) technique is an advanced manufacturing technology that enables better-performing materials and components while offering opportunities to reduce costs and energy consumption.
Researchers from PNNL have been assessing installation and use of electric heat pumps in an Alaskan community that relies on fuel oil for heat. The resulting information could advance electrification in cold rural areas across the nation.
An initiative from Washington State University and Snohomish County leaders is aiming to make Paine Field a nexus for testing and improving sustainable aviation fuels made from non-petroleum materials.
Mandy Mahoney, director of the DOE Building Technologies Office, visited PNNL in late November. One key agenda item involved meeting with staff for a discussion of effective equity and justice integration in buildings-related research.
Understanding the risk of compound energy droughts—times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow—will help grid planners understand where energy storage is needed most.
PNNL is at the midpoint of a study focused on the installation of electric heat pump water heaters in New Orleans homes. The efficient water heaters offer a unique capability that could help speed the transition from fossil fuels.
PNNL led one of five Pathway Summer School programs nationwide, with a specific focus on engaging students from Native American or Indigenous backgrounds.
Corinne Fuller has been named the new co-director of the Bioproducts Institute, a research collaboration between Washington State University and PNNL, as of July 2023.
For her most recent efforts, Bruckner-Lea, a senior technical advisor at PNNL, received the Secretary’s Appreciation Award from the U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in July.
PNNL’s extensive portfolio of buildings-grid research included three projects that helped answer some of the technical questions related to leveraging energy consumption in buildings to enhance grid operations.