Author: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  • Byproducts from biofuel focus of PNNL and WSU partnership

    Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created a continuous thermo-chemical process that produces useful biocrude from algae. The process takes just minutes and PNNL is working with a company which has licensed the technology to build a pilot plant using the technology.

  • Energy technologies get a boost toward commercial use

    Six energy technologies that do everything from protect fish to monitor the health of flow batteries are getting a boost at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.DOE is awarding PNNL nearly $1.5 million to bring six technologies closer to commercial use. The projects were announced today by DOE's Office of Technology Transitions, which selected them…

  • Seaweed-fueled cars? Maybe one day, with help of new tech

    Cars and trucks might one day run on biofuel made from seaweed with the help of two technologies being developed at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

  • Night vision for bird- & bat-friendly offshore wind power

    The same technology that enables soldiers to see in the dark can also help protect birds and bats near offshore wind turbines.Night vision goggles use thermal imaging, which captures infrared light that's invisible to the human eye. Now, researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are using thermal imaging to help birds and bats…

  • Battery500's first seedling projects awarded nearly $6 million

    The advanced batteries that will power tomorrow's electric vehicles are closer to being a reality thanks to more than $5.7 million in funding awarded to 15 different projects through the Department of Energy's Battery500 consortium.The new projects are the first to be funded through the consortium, which is led by DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and involves multiple…

  • Scientists bear witness to birth of an ice cloud

    RICHLAND, Wash. – Scientists have witnessed the birth of atmospheric ice clouds, creating ice cloud crystals in the laboratory and then taking images of the process through a microscope, essentially documenting the very first steps of cloud formation.

  • Nature and the Nurture of Aerosols

    You've seen it when flying into major cities the world over: a haze over the city. It is caused by aerosol particles, but scientists don't know all the details of the complex chemistry involved. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Dr. Alla Zelenyuk and her team took on a specific part of that haze: originated from…

  • Love that fresh smell after a rain?

    Most of us think of that sweet smell after a storm as the aftereffect of rain that has rinsed the air of pollutants and dust. But it turns out that rain also triggers the release of a mist of particles from wet soils into the air, a finding with consequences of its own for how…

  • Abundant natural gas will not slow climate change according to new study

    A new analysis of global energy use, economics and the climate shows that without new climate policies, expanding the current bounty of inexpensive natural gas alone would not slow the growth of global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide over the long term, according to a study appearing today in Nature Advanced Online Publication. Because natural gas…