Alternative energy

News and Updates

Sunlight shines through solar panel backsheet.

NIST Study Uncovers a Potential Driver of Premature Solar Panel Failures

March 10, 2020

Unlike diamonds, solar panels are not forever. Ultraviolet rays, gusts of wind and heavy rain wear away at them over their lifetime. Manufacturers typically

View from above, taken by a drone, of large array of solar panels on the campus of NIST near buildings and parking lots

NIST Celebrates Earth Day with a Massive New Solar Energy Array

April 22, 2019

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) held a ribbon-cutting today on its newest and largest

Illustration of sunlight shining on solar panel covered with nanometer-scale beads.

Psst! A Whispering Gallery for Light Boosts Solar Cells

April 13, 2018

Trapping light with an optical version of a whispering gallery, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a

Sub-microscopic LEDs Shed New Light on Advanced Materials

July 12, 2017

One of the persistent challenges in 21st century metrology is the need to measure ever-more-detailed properties of ever-smaller things, from microchip features

Projects and Programs

Multiscale structure and dynamics in advanced technological materials

This project develops and applies metrologies and standards for characterizing microstructure and dynamics in advanced functional materials of technological

Electronic Structure and Excited-state Dynamics in Photovoltaic Devices

Organic photovoltaic cells rely upon molecular interfaces to separate charge. Efficient charge separation depends on molecular structure and electronic band

Electron-Beam Irradiation of Solar Cells

The Dosimetry Group operates a system capable of performing electron beam processing, which consists of a Van de Graaff electron accelerator and a sample

Power Conditioning Systems for Renewables, Storage, and Microgrids

This project develops the measurement science necessary to support the widespread use of advanced power electronics to provide new functionality in the smart

Publications

Building Industry Reporting and Design for Sustainability (BIRDS) Low-Energy Residential Incremental Energy Efficiency Improvements Database Technical Manual: Update

September 22, 2020

Author(s)

Joshua D. Kneifel, Eric G. O'Rear, Priya D. Lavappa, Anne L. Greig, Sangwon Suh

Working Fluid Screening for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Applications

July 27, 2020

Author(s)

Ian H. Bell

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is among the small number of renewable energy production systems that can provide base load capacity. Ammonia has long

Estimation of the critical external heat leading to the failure of lithium-ion batteries

June 29, 2020

Author(s)

Wei Tang, Wai Cheong Tam, Liming Yuan, Thomas Dubaniewicz, Richard Thomas, John Soles

A detailed experimental investigation on the critical external heat leading to the failure of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was conducted using an Accelerating

PV Characterization under Artificial Low Irradiance Conditions Using Reference Solar Cells

May 29, 2020

Author(s)

Behrang H. Hamadani, Mark Campanelli

Due to the rapidly growing interest in energy harvesting from indoor ambient lighting for the powering of internet-of-things devices, accurate methods for

Software

AFUEBF Program

October 15, 2015

CALCULATION OF ANNUAL FUEL UTILIZATION EFFICIENCY OF RESIDENTIAL CENTRAL FURNACES AND BOILERSThe AFUEBF program available at this website can be used to

LoopDA

March 13, 2012

LoopDA is a natural ventilation design tool developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Version 3.0 is an update to the original version 1

Tools and Instruments

Apparatus for the Measurement of High Temperature Thermoelectric Transport Properties

The Seebeck coefficient is a physical parameter routinely measured to identify the potential thermoelectric performance of a material. However, researchers

Material Analysis Using Neutron Depth Profiling

Light elements such as helium, lithium, boron, and nitrogen are essential constituents in materials that enable energy technologies; lithium ion batteries