Sustainability

News and Updates

Common Solar Tech Can Power Smart Devices Indoors, NIST Study Finds

August 19, 2021

Any time you turn on a light at home or in the office, you are expending energy. But what if flipping the light switch meant producing energy too? We usually

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

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

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

NCNR DAC and CCUS efforts

Overview Capture of carbon dioxide from the air (direct air capture; DAC) combined with energy efficiency and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)

Autonomous Materials Science

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

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

Analysis and Modeling of Atmospheric Particles to Assess Effects on Climate

Atmospheric aerosol particles often have compositions and shapes that cannot be described as a single material phase within a simplified geometric form such as

Publications

Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) Online 2.1 Technical Manual

September 20, 2021

Author(s)

Joshua D. Kneifel, Anne Landfield Greig, Priya Lavappa, Brian Polidoro

Building stakeholders need practical metrics, data, and tools to support decisions related to sustainable building product selection. The Engineering Laboratory

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

Laboratory Tests of a Prototype Carbon Dioxide Ground-Source Air Conditioner

April 12, 2021

Author(s)

Harrison Skye, Wei Wu

Environmental concerns are driving regulations to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) with high global warming potential (GWP) as refrigerants in heat

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

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