• Is Nuclear Energy the Way to Achieve Climate Goals?

    After decades out of fashion, a declaration to triple nuclear capacity at UN climate talks suggests a revival. Some say it’s necessary to help curb emissions, others call it a needless distraction.

  • “Energy Droughts” in Wind and Solar Can Last Nearly a Week, Research Shows

    Understanding the risk of compound energy droughts—times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow—will help grid planners understand where energy storage is needed most.

  • Innovative Long-Duration Energy Storage Project

    Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a project to validate CMBlu Energy’s battery technology for microgrid resilience and electric vehicle charging. U.S. Department of Energy selects national labs to validate the company’s battery technology for microgrid resilience and electric vehicle charging.

  • Smart Microgrids Can Restore Power More Efficiently and Reliably in an Outage

    It’s a story that’s become all too familiar — high winds knock out a power line, and a community can go without power for hours to days, an inconvenience at best and a dangerous situation at worst. Engineers developed an AI model that optimizes the use of renewables and other energy sources to restore power when a main utility fails.

  • Seaworthy Solution Yields Green Energy, Fresh Water

    Engineers have refined a model that not only cultivates green energy, but also desalinates ocean water for large, drought-stricken coastal populations.By pumping seawater to a mountaintop reservoir and then employing gravity to send the salty water down to a co-located hydropower plant and a reverse osmosis desalination facility, science can satisfy the energy and hydration needs of coastal cities with one system.

  • Researchers Fabricate Commercial Grade Uranium Dioxide HALEU Fuel

    As the world clamors for carbon-free power, U.S. nuclear reactor developers have responded with several advanced reactor designs. Nuclear energy from light water reactors already ranks among the safest forms of energy production, and most advanced reactors will use safety systems that rely on the laws of physics to virtually eliminate the possibility of a serious accident.

  • Security Officers: Occupational Employment and Wages

    There are more than 1.1 million security officers in the United States, and they form an essential part of the U.S. economy, playing an important role in maintaining safety and security across various sectors. The wages of security officers in the United States vary depending on several factors such as location, experience, and the specific industry they are employed in.

  • New Insights on Community Resilience and Adaptation

    A major weather event such as a hurricane or wildfire can have lasting, visible impacts on communities, but the longer-term, compounding effects of a changing climate can be harder to see. There are  ways that communities can adapt and become more resilient as the climate changes.

  • Using AI to Help Dams Run Smarter

    Korea faces a precipitation peak during the summer, relying on dams and associated infrastructure for water management. However, the escalating global climate crisis has led to the emergence of unforeseen typhoons and droughts, complicating dam operations. In response, a new study has emerged, aiming to surpass conventional physical models by harnessing the potential of an artificial intelligence (AI) model trained on extensive big data.

  • Strengthening Domestic Supply Chains for Critical Minerals

    The USGS is investing millions of dollars in strengthening domestic supply chains for mineral resources critical to every economic sector and every member of society. Central to this effort is a nationwide mapping effort for critical minerals.

  • Modeling Geothermal Systems’ Viability

    Geothermal power has a lot of promise as a renewable energy source that is not dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing, but it has some obstacles to wide adoption. One challenge is that a limited number of locations in the U.S. naturally have the right conditions: hot rock relatively close to the surface and with plentiful groundwater to heat up. Web tool looks belowground for an economically viable renewable energy source.

  • A New Blueprint for Designing High-Performance Batteries

    Cooperative behavior among components in batteries points to an exciting new approach to designing next-generation technologies, pointing the way to better electric vehicle batteries and storage of renewable energy on the grid.

  • How a Small Caribbean Island Is Trying to Become Hurricane-Proof

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the Caribbean and for small islands such as Dominica (not to be confused with the much larger Dominican Republic) it is an existential threat. Unlike larger islands like Cuba or Jamaica, a single storm hitting Dominica can damage the entire country – and the topography and small size of the island imposes hard limits on its ability to adapt.

  • Bioengineered Potato Plant Detects Gamma Radiation

    A researcher in the University of Tennessee Herbert College of Agriculture has developed a potato plant that can detect gamma radiation, providing reliable indications of harmful radiation levels without complex monitoring technologies. The natural radiation sensor is affordable, too.

  • We Rarely Hear About the Disasters Which Were Avoided – but There’s a Lot We Can Learn from Them

    We frequently see headlines about disasters. But where are the headlines covering the good news of lives saved and damage averted when disasters do not happen? Our work, now published, offers examples we can learn from.