Sustainability

News and Updates

A shower head with steamy water coming out.

NIST Identifies Critical Needs for Improved Plumbing

May 11, 2020

We don’t use water like we used to. In recent decades, concerns about cost, water shortages and environmental impacts together with changes in plumbing design

A Lab-to-Market Tale: Icemaker Invention

April 7, 2020

Dr. David Yashar was always interested in finding ways to use practical application of science to improve real systems, so he studied mechanical engineering at

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

Industry Impacts

Low GHG Refrigerants

Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants are potent greenhouse gases (GHG) that are being phased down by the U.S. and 196 other countries under the Montreal

Projects and Programs

Autonomous Materials Science

We use autonomous experimentation (the merger of automated synthesis, characterization, AI-driven decision-making) to elucidate the role of composition

Measurements, Standards, and Data for Energy Conversion Materials

The Measurements, Standards, and Data for Energy Conversion Materials Project provides the underpinning measurement science needed to support the development

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

Publications

Developing Cost Functions for Estimating Solar Photovoltaic System Installed Using Historical Data and OLS Regression

November 20, 2020

Author(s)

David H. Webb, Joshua D. Kneifel

Solar photovoltaics (PV) continues to increase in market share. Policy decisions and the nature of solar markets continue to shift; however, it is likely that

Life Cycle Cost Manual for the Federal Energy Management Program

September 30, 2020

Author(s)

Joshua D. Kneifel, David H. Webb

Gas vs Electric: Sustainability Performance of Heating Fuel Options in the NIST NZERTF

September 28, 2020

Author(s)

David H. Webb, Joshua D. Kneifel

Recent updates to the underlying cost and environmental data have recently been implemented in the BIRDS database. This study evaluates the updated results for

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

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