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 […]
Category Archives: Climate Change
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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 […]
Neuromorphic computing widely applicable, Sandia researchers show
March 10, 2022 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With the insertion of a little math, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have shown that neuromorphic computers, which synthetically replicate the brain’s logic, can solve more complex problems than those posed by artificial intelligence and may even earn a place in high-performance computing. The findings, detailed in a recent article in the journal […]
Sandia-operated Arctic measurement facility moves, research to continue
November 9, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After eight great years of observations and research, a Sandia National Laboratories-operated atmospheric measurement facility moved from Oliktok Point, on the North Slope of Alaska, this summer. The mobile facility will be relocating to the southeastern United States; the exact location is still being decided. The Department of Energy Office of Science’s […]
‘I’m melting, melting’ — environmentally hazardous coal waste diminished by citric acid
October 25, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In one of nature’s unexpected bounties, a harmless food-grade solvent has been used to extract highly sought rare-earth metals from coal ash, reducing the amount of ash without damaging the environment and at the same time increasing an important national resource. Coal ash is the unwanted but widely present residue of coal-fired […]
Sandia uncovers hidden factors that affect solar farms during severe weather
August 31, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers combined large sets of real-world solar data and advanced machine learning to study the impacts of severe weather on U.S. solar farms, and sort out what factors affect energy generation. Their results were published earlier this month in the scientific journal Applied Energy. Hurricanes, blizzards, hailstorms and wildfires […]
Here comes the sun: Tethered-balloon tests ensure safety of new solar-power technology
April 22, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — What do tiny dust particles, 22-foot-wide red balloons and “concentrated” sunlight have in common? Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories recently used 22-foot-wide tethered balloons to collect samples of airborne dust particles to ensure the safety of an emerging solar-power technology. The study determined that the dust created by the new technology is […]