February 18, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A cooling unit installed on the roof of Sandia National Laboratories’ supercomputer center saved 554,000 gallons of water during its first six months of operation last year, says David J. Martinez, engineering project lead for Sandia’s Infrastructure Computing Services. The dramatic decrease in water use, important for...
Energy / Environment / Water
Current Filters
Clear all
A material benefit to society, Sandia scientist elected AAAS fellow
February 3, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A perennial inventor of advanced materials has been elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sandia National Laboratories senior scientist Tina Nenoff was bestowed the honor by her peers for the advancement of science “in service to society” and “for outstanding accomplishments in...
Reducing power plants’ thirst
January 8, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Electricity production is one of the industries that uses the most water in the country each day. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are helping the largest power plant in the United States identify the most efficient and cost-effective strategies to reduce water use. They developed a first-of-its-kind...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water
Sandia establishes collaborative research facility for low-temperature plasmas
December 20, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is setting up a collaborative facility to help researchers worldwide study low-temperature plasmas, the most pervasive state of matter in the universe. The 5-year, $5.5 million project, called the Sandia Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility, is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of...
Internships fuel research for engineering students from Puerto Rico
December 5, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For Edgardo Desarden Carrero, a student in the newly created electrical engineering doctorate program at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, his two summers working in resilient energy systems research at Sandia National Laboratories was his first internship. He is an unusual student in that he is...
From Afghanistan to Alaska with atmosphere in between
November 5, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For Justin LaPierre, helping maintain an atmospheric research station at the northern tip of Alaska is “eerily reminiscent” of being deployed in the deserts of Afghanistan — just much colder. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, LaPierre has worked as an observer at Oliktok Point for two years....
Categories: Climate Change, Energy / Environment / Water
Diesel innovation has humble beginnings
October 24, 2019 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — An engine innovation first conceived and tested by Sandia National Laboratories has attracted the attention of big business because of its potential to cost-effectively reduce emissions of soot and nitrogen oxides, encourage the use of renewable fuels, and maintain or improve engine performance. Ducted fuel injection, developed...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Transportation
Sandia research focuses on ‘switching on’ iron in clay minerals
October 11, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers have discovered the mechanism to “switch on” iron residing in clay mineral structures, leading to the understanding of how to make iron reactive under oxygen-free conditions. This research will help scientists understand and predict how contaminants, such as arsenic, selenium and chromium, move...
Categories: Chemistry, Energy / Environment / Water
Materials’ increased capacity, efficiency could lower the bar for hydrogen technology
October 10, 2019 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Hydrogen as a carbon-free energy source could expand into a variety of sectors, including industrial processes, building heat and transportation. Currently, it powers a growing fleet of zero-emission vehicles, including trains in Germany, buses in South Korea, cars in California and forklifts worldwide. These vehicles use a...
Categories: Renewable energy
Containing a nuclear accident with ground-up minerals
September 30, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a promising new way to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination and contain the hot molten mass that develops within a nuclear reactor during a catastrophic accident. During a three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development project, a team of scientists...
Asian American conference selects Sandia researcher ‘most promising engineer’
September 24, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Stanley Chou was recently selected one of three Most Promising Engineers of the Year at the 2019 Asian American Engineer of the Year Conference in Dallas. The AAEOY Award, first introduced in 2002, honors outstanding Asian American professionals in science and engineering for...
Topics: asian-american, Campersand, catalysts, diversity, engineer of the year, graphene, materials, sensors
Sandia experiments at temperature of sun offer solutions to solar model problems
September 10, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Experimenting at 4.1 million degrees Fahrenheit, physicists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have found that an astronomical model — used for 40 years to predict the sun’s behavior as well as the life and death of stars — underestimates the energy blockage caused by free-floating iron...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy
Topics: environment, iron
Sandia abuses batteries for better energy storage
August 13, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — They crush ‘em. They pierce ‘em. They roast ‘em, soak ‘em in saltwater and short circuit ‘em. They overcharge and even over-discharge ‘em. Heck, they can even shoot them with lasers. Those poor batteries never really stand a chance against Sandia National Laboratories researchers whose job is...
Don’t set it and forget it — scan it and fix it with tech that detects wind blade damage
June 24, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Drones and crawling robots outfitted with special scanning technology could help wind blades stay in service longer, which may help lower the cost of wind energy at a time when blades are getting bigger, pricier and harder to transport, Sandia National Laboratories researchers say. As part of...
Rooftop solar panels get boost from Sandia tool that previews a year on grid in minutes
June 20, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Homeowners and businesses may now have an easier time getting solar panels on rooftops thanks to software developed at Sandia. The new software can run a detailed, second-by-second simulation, known as quasi-static time series analysis, that shows utility companies how rooftop solar panels at a specific house...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Renewable energy
New look at old data leads to cleaner engines
June 10, 2019 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — New insights about how to understand and ultimately control the chemistry of ignition behavior and pollutant formation have been discovered in research led by Sandia National Laboratories. The discovery eventually will lead to cleaner, more efficient internal combustion engines. “Our findings will allow the design of new...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Transportation
Topics: combustion research, CRF
Fields of gold
April 4, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On a drive around Sandia National Laboratories, ecologist Jennifer Payne sees more than wide-open desert, grasslands, cacti and dirt. She notices tiers of soil that have experienced stress, looks closely at the height and spacing of vegetation and recites the Latin names of native New Mexico plants...
Categories: Biology, Energy / Environment / Water
Hear ye, hear ye: open call for algae
February 19, 2019 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — To make algae biofuels more competitive with petroleum, growers must increase productivity and keep their ponds from crashing. That’s why Sandia National Laboratories and partners are inviting participants to help in the search for the toughest algae strains and most innovative farming techniques. Though algae sometimes bloom...
Digesting hydrocarbons
February 8, 2019 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Volatile organic compounds can be found in the air — everywhere. A wide range of sources, including from plants, cooking fuels and household cleaners, emit these compounds directly. They also can be formed in the atmosphere through a complex network of photochemical reactions. Researchers at Sandia National...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water
Deconstructing deleterious soot
February 7, 2019 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — In most situations, breaking things apart isn’t the best way to solve a problem. However, sometimes the opposite is true if you’re trying to characterize complex chemical compounds. That’s what Sandia National Laboratories scientists Nils Hansen and Scott Skeen did to definitively identify pollution-causing soot precursors in...
CRADA enables resilient microgrid research between Sandia, Emera Technologies
November 15, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine a hurricane similar in magnitude to 2017’s Maria that pummels through islands and small communities, stripping out power lines and wreaking havoc on residents’ lives. Only imagine this time around there is a local power system that is more resilient and can withstand the storm, having...
Early biologists catch the bird … and lizard … and snake
October 25, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Its heart beating rapidly, a wild gray flycatcher sits in the palm of a steady hand, making side-eye contact and shaking, waiting for just the right moment to escape from its perceived human predator. Mere seconds are filled with fear, connection and protection, and the moment is...
Categories: Biology, Energy / Environment / Water
Water use cut in half at federal lab in Colorado, thanks in part to Sandia
October 19, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories engineer has won a Department of Energy environmental award for helping halve the amount of water used to cool a high-performance computer data center in 2017 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. David J. Martinez, engineering project lead for Sandia’s...
Some like it cryogenic
October 15, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories helped design the first generation of fueling stations for hydrogen-powered cars so that they’re as safe as conventional gas stations. Now, Sandia is working to do the same for the next generation of hydrogen stations. To keep up with growing demand for hydrogen fuel,...
Categories: Renewable energy, Transportation
Topics: hydrogen, hydrogen fuel cell
Sandia Labs names first Jill Hruby Fellows
October 11, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has named Mercedes Taylor and Chen Wang its first Jill Hruby Fellows. The honorees have each been awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in technical leadership, comprising national security-relevant research with an executive mentor. Susan Seestrom, chief research officer and associate laboratories director for advanced...
Results 76–100 of 338