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FORGING THE FUTURE
In This Issue
News
See how we were featured in the news and read our press releases.
Staff Accomplishments
George Bonheyo
Co-authored paper featured on cover of the Journal of Biophotonics
Samuel Harding & Marshall Richmond
Recognized with Outstanding Paper Award from Measurement Science & Technology journal
Christian Johnson & Elizabeth Stephens
Received Fitzner-Eberhardt Awards for support of STEM
Kate McMordie Stoughton
Named 'Sustainability Superstar' by DOE's Sustainability Performance Office
Eric Nyberg
Presented with 2016 Special Recognition Award by DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office
June 2016 
Energy experts gathered at PNNL to discuss the latest developments in energy storage at the 2016 Beyond Lithium Ion Symposium. DOE's Patricia Hoffman gave a keynote address, highlighting challenges and opportunities within the modern electricity sector... read more.  
Electricity Infrastructure
Transactive Times: Three PNNL Researchers Featured in Special Issue
The May/June 2016 issue of IEEE's Power & Energy Magazine focuses on a topic that the grid gurus at PNNL hold dear: transactive energy. PNNL's Ron Melton, Jeff Taft, and Steve Widergren are featured in the issue, which may help demystify transactive energy and put it on the map as a novel approach for energy management... read more.
The Grid as a Value Exchange
In transactive systems, value is exchanged between parties through a technology-enabled platform. When applied to electricity, this approach has the potential to provide critical flexibility to the grid, as well as increased value to individuals, buildings, and society. Researchers from PNNL analyze this approach and offer insights and recommendations in a new report... read more.
Real-Time Relief for Easing Power Grid Congestion
Congestion on transmission lines worsens when atypical power demand patterns hit the grid. PNNL and partners are using high-performance computing to develop a "real-time path rating" software tool that allows operators to complete all required simulations of the transmission path ratings in minutes... read more.
New National Academy Book on Future Electric Grid Research
A new book - released by a special committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine - contains recommendations for recent research and policies to improve the mathematical foundations for the next-generation grid. PNNL's Jeff Dagle was on the committee and initiated... read more.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Scale-up of Aviation Biofuels from Alcohols Reaching New Heights
Over the course of a 10-hour flight, a passenger airplane burns roughly 36,000 gallons of fuel - about one gallon every second. As such, developing cleaner alternative sources of jet fuel is a priority. With funding from DOE, researchers at PNNL have been working with LanzaTech to convert alcohols derived from captured carbon monoxide into synthetic paraffinic kerosene... read more. 
Turning Energy Peaks into Valleys with Intelligent Load Control
Early results from an experiment at PNNL strongly suggest that a new method known as Intelligent Load Control rapidly reins in a building's energy demand without discomfort to building occupants. The results could help advance transactive energy concepts nationwide. As part of the Clean Energy and Transactive... read more.
Architecture-Friendly Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Studied in Demonstration
OLEDs are used today for television and cell phone displays, but this breakthrough technology is new to office lighting. So when Aurora Lighting Design, Inc. elected to take a chance on OLEDs in their space, a PNNL researcher in DOE's GATEWAY program followed up to learn about the experience and perform the first... read more.
Environmental Health and Remediation
Rising Stars of Robotics
Some of the brightest young minds in robotics are coming to PNNL - and they're going to build highly advanced robotics systems designed for extremely contaminated environments. Under the new program, Carnegie Mellon University will send graduate students for two-year internships with national lab staff. PNNL has used robotics systems... read more.
True Detection: New System to Monitor Vapors at Hanford Tank Farms
The first phase of testing is complete for a new system planned to monitor and detect chemical vapor releases at the Hanford Site tank farms. The new system captures data in a real-time model that could help guide response efforts and improve worker safety. The bench-scale tests were performed at PNNL's... read more.
Clean Fossil Energy
Once used to explore the inside of pyramids and volcanoes alike, muons - elementary particles originating from cosmic rays - now are enabling researchers to see deep underground with a technological breakthrough from PNNL. Scientists successfully tested the prototype borehole muon detector, moving it one step closer to field deployment for the imaging of carbon dioxide... read more.
Nuclear
In fast-neutron reactors, fuel is sealed in ~7-millimeter diameter steel tubes called cladding. When a high-energy "fast" neutron strikes an atom in the steel, it can knock the atom out of place, like a cue ball striking another billiard ball. This damages the metal and potentially reduces the life of the cladding. Researchers at PNNL tested a ferritic steel strengthened with a dispersion of nanometer-sized oxide particles that resists radiation damage...  read more.
PNNL | Energy and Environment Directorate
energyenvironment@pnnl.gov |  energyenvironment.pnnl.gov
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