ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions has awarded $7.4 million to develop seven projects at Sandia National Laboratories aimed at advancing clean energy technologies. Vanessa Chan, the Chief Commercialization Officer and director of DOE’s OTT office, announced the funding at an event in Albuquerque on June 17. “The work you […]
Category Archives: Climate Change
Older posts
Sandia studies subterranean storage of hydrogen
April 9, 2024 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine a vast volume of porous sandstone reservoir, once full of oil and natural gas, now full of a different, carbon-free fuel — hydrogen. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are using computer simulations and laboratory experiments to see if depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs can be used for storing this carbon-free […]
Chasing the light: Sandia study finds new clues about warming in the Arctic
January 15, 2024 – 9:43 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Arctic, Earth’s icy crown, is experiencing a climate crisis like no other. It’s heating up at a furious pace — four times faster than the rest of our planet. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are pulling back the curtain on the reduction of sunlight reflectivity, or albedo, which is supercharging the […]
Using a fiber optic cable to study Arctic seafloor permafrost
December 15, 2023 – 1:30 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Arctic is remote, with often harsh conditions, and its climate is changing rapidly — warming four times faster than the rest of the Earth. This makes studying the Arctic climate both challenging and vital for understanding global climate change. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are using an existing fiber optic cable […]
Sandia successfully tests heat-powered system
August 21, 2023 – 7:24 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Capturing carbon dioxide and pumping it deep underground could be an important part of mitigating the effects of climate change. However, ensuring the carbon dioxide stays trapped away from the atmosphere, where it serves as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, is critical. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories recently designed, built and lab-tested a […]
Studying ship tracks to inform climate intervention decision-makers
February 20, 2023 – 7:10 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories are studying ship tracks — clouds that reflect sunlight and are formed by moving ships, similar to contrails from planes — to help inform decision-makers of the benefits and risks of one technology being considered to slow climate change. To understand how these ship tracks move and […]
Can clay capture carbon dioxide?
February 9, 2023 – 9:49 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The atmospheric level of carbon dioxide — a gas that is great at trapping heat, contributing to climate change — is almost double what it was prior to the Industrial Revolution, yet it only constitutes 0.0415% of the air we breathe. This presents a challenge to researchers attempting to design artificial trees […]
Surveilling carbon sequestration: A smart collar to sense leaks
December 13, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories engineers are working on a device that would help ensure captured carbon dioxide stays deep underground — a critical component of carbon sequestration as part of a climate solution. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing CO2 — a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere — […]
Burping bacteria: Identifying Arctic microbes that produce greenhouse gases
October 17, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As greenhouse gases bubble up across the rapidly thawing Arctic, Sandia National Laboratories researchers are trying to identify other trace gases from soil microbes that could shed some light on what is occurring biologically in melting permafrost in the Arctic. Sandia bioengineer Chuck Smallwood and his team recently spent five days collecting […]
Propelling wind energy innovation
September 8, 2022 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Motivated by the need to eliminate expensive rare-earth magnets in utility-scale direct-drive wind turbines, Sandia National Laboratories researchers developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact. Sandia is now ready to partner with the renewable energy industry to develop the next generation of direct-drive wind turbines. Sandia’s Twistact technology takes a […]
Back to the drawing board: Reinventing offshore wind turbines
August 16, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Brandon Ennis, Sandia National Laboratories’ offshore wind technical lead, had a radically new idea for offshore wind turbines: instead of a tall, unwieldy tower with blades at the top, he imagined a towerless turbine with blades pulled taut like a bow. This design would allow the massive generator that creates electricity from […]
Sandia applied mathematician wins DOE Early Career Research Award
July 21, 2022 – 9:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Examination of very fine real-world data can improve the fidelity by which complex computer simulations are guided, says Sandia National Laboratories applied mathematician Pete Bosler. He investigates multiscale simulations that, integrated, could combine individual raindrops, thunderstorms and the entire global atmosphere, guided by data currently thought too fine to be used, that […]
Together we rise
May 16, 2022 – 7:35 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As fierce wildfires spread through New Mexico, burning hundreds of structures and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate, Sandia National Laboratories found a way for the workforce to help. “We know that when people in our state are struggling, our staff feel the desire and immediate need to react and pull together,” […]
Cycloalkanes a strong candidate for reducing aviation emissions
April 20, 2022 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have released data that could play an important role in the future development of cleaner and more sustainable aviation fuel. In collaboration with researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the team explored the physical properties of cycloalkanes, or molecules composed of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in […]
Truman and Hruby 2022 fellows explore their positions
March 17, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Postdoctoral researchers who are designated Truman and Hruby fellows experience Sandia National Laboratories differently from their peers. Appointees to the prestigious fellowships are given the latitude to pursue their own ideas, rather than being trained by fitting into the research plans of more experienced researchers. To give wings to this process, the […]