May 22, 2023

For decades, some energy experts have dreamed of a carbon-free landscape where clean hydrogen is the dominant transportation fuel, energy storage medium and chemical building block.  Indeed, hydrogen already plays a big role in the manufacturing processes of many common...

February 9, 2023

In a back lot behind a building at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, energy systems engineer Kurt Myers leads me outside to look at a nondescript shipping container and an enclosed trailer. While at first glance, these generic-looking boxes...

January 31, 2023

When U.S. military members are deployed in the Middle East, they often have limited access to sustainable energy sources. To help reduce carbon emissions from troops abroad, Idaho National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Defense are developing three pilot...

January 16, 2023

Nuclear and hydrogen could be the ideal fuel for recharging electric trucks, opening potential markets for developers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).   That’s according to a University of Michigan study funded by Emerging Energy Markets Analysis, an Idaho National...

November 21, 2022

Idaho National Laboratory researchers have won funding from one of the nation’s largest sponsors of research in the natural sciences. At $3.8 million over three years, it is one of the largest Department of Energy Office of Science’s Basic Energy...

November 14, 2022

As nations work to eliminate carbon emissions, batteries will play a huge role.  Electric vehicles powered by batteries seem likely to dominate the future of commercial and consumer transportation.    Likewise, large stationary batteries will augment renewables like wind and solar...

October 18, 2022

Replete with tunneling particles, electron wells, charmed quarks and zombie cats, quantum mechanics takes everything Sir Isaac Newton taught about physics and throws it out the window.    Every day, researchers discover new details about the laws that govern the tiniest...

October 5, 2022

In the past, finding the right energy solution for a community was relatively straightforward.   Fossil-fuel power plants dominated energy production, with large nuclear power plants and renewables playing a smaller role. A utility would evaluate these technologies for a given...

September 29, 2022

It’s not uncommon in the scientific world for a process to have many unique applications. For example, Idaho National Laboratory researchers have taken a water treatment technology and adapted it for another environmentally important function – selectively separating rare earth...

September 27, 2022

The future of the manufacturing industry depends on advancements that lead to decarbonization. At Idaho National Laboratory, a ribbon cutting event recently unveiled first-of-its-kind electric field assisted sintering (EFAS) technology. At the event, the lab showcased the world’s largest direct...