Alternative energy

News and Updates

New NIST Framework Strives for Cleaner, More Secure Power Grid

February 18, 2021

Whether it’s a new set of solar panels glistening on a neighbor’s roof or a freshly installed smart thermostat at home, burgeoning renewable and smart

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

Projects and Programs

Hydrogen Storage Optimization in Thin Film Combinatorial Alloys

Discovery of novel materials for hydrogen gas storage has prompted new avenues of research towards developing hydrogen as an alternative fuel. However

Cityscape in the background. Solar panels in the foreground.

Smart Grid Program

The Smart Grid Program develops and demonstrates smart grid measurement science advances to improve the efficiency, reliability, resilience, and sustainability

Fundamental Chemical Metrology

The Chemical Sciences Division serves as the Nation's reference laboratory for chemical compositional measurements and standards to enhance U.S. industry's

Smart Grid Interoperability Testbed Facility

NIST is charged by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) with facilitation of interoperability standards to enable successful implementation of

Publications

Residential net-zero energy buildings: Review and perspective

May 1, 2021

Author(s)

Wei Wu, Harrison Skye

Advancements in residential net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs) could significantly reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. NZEB design considerations

Energy Price Indices and Discount Factors for Life-Cycle Cost Analysis – 2021 Annual Supplement to NIST Handbook 135

April 12, 2021

Author(s)

Priya Lavappa, Joshua Kneifel

This is the 2021 edition of energy price indices and discount factors for performing life-cycle cost analyses of energy and water conservation and renewable

Photodynamics of Asymmetric Di-Iron-Cyano Hydrogenases Examined by Time-Resolved Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy

February 10, 2021

Author(s)

Edwin J. Heilweil, Amber Meyers, Christopher J. Stromberg

Two anionic asymmetric Fe-Fe Hydrogenase model compounds containing a single CN and five CO ligands: [Fe2(μ-S2C3H6)(CO)5(CN)1]1− (1) and [Fe2(μ-S2C2H4)(CO)5(CN

Unraveling the compositional heterogeneity and carrier dynamics of alkali cation doped 3D/2D perovskites with improved stability

December 11, 2020

Author(s)

Ming Chun Tang, Siyuan Zhang, Nhan V. Nguyen, Edwin J. Heilweil, Christina A. Hacker, Timothy J. Magnanelli, Thomas D. Anthopoulos

Preventing the degradation of hybrid perovskite by humid air remains a challenge for their future commercial utilization. 3D/2D perovskites with hierarchical

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