Energy Production
and Efficiency

Energy Production & Efficiency

Market area icon

PNNL researchers have developed technologies that are advancing the safe, reliable, and efficient production of power from renewable resources, such as geothermal, hydropower, marine hydrokinetics, solar, and wind. Inventions range from improving the efficiency of geothermal power plants, while simultaneously extracting minerals and critical materials, to developing better materials and usage models for solar panels. We’re also helping to make our nation’s buildings smarter and less expensive to operate. One example is the Retro-Commissioning Sensor Suitcase technology. This award-winning innovation offers up to 10 percent of energy cost-savings opportunities annually. Check out our entire portfolio of available technologies.

 

Available Technologies Spotlight

CleanSET: Clean Sustainable Electrochemical Treatment

Bioenergy researchers have long worked to develop self-sustaining processes for converting sewage, agricultural waste, and more into fuels, while...
Read
CleanSET is a modular technology that renewably converts wastewater into hydrogen and valuable chemical intermediates.

Ethanol to Butenes in a Single Step

A new catalyst and process developed by researchers at PNNL will improve the efficiency and decrease the cost of converting ethanol to gasoline, jet...
Read
PNNL researchers use catalytic fixed bed reactors to convert biomass into fuel in a single-step chemical conversion. The invention is available for licensing. (Photo by Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Redox-Flow Cell for Low-Cost Hydrogen Production and Storage

Hydrogen is the most abundant and simple element in the universe, making it a particularly attractive option for delivering and storing clean energy....
Read
Hydrogen Generation

STERADIAN: Thermal Emission Coating to Improve Heat Exchange Efficiency

STERADIAN (short for Selective Thermal Emission and Radiation in Annuli) is a patent-pending coating material developed by researchers at PNNL in...
Read
The STERADIAN coating technology has applications in heat exchangers and turbine blades, allowing normally wasted energy to be utilized. | PNNL

Enhancing Oil Production in Oleaginous Microbes for Sustainable Transportation Fuels

Concerns regarding fossil fuel supply and the environmental impacts of its use have stimulated interest in developing sustainable renewable...
Read
Using the patented process, Lipomyces starkeyi cells (shown here with large lipid bodies stained green, surrounded by their cell wall stained blue) can be engineered to create various oil and chemical products.

Retro-Commissioning Sensor Suitcase

Retro-commissioning—the process of identifying and quantifying opportunities to increase energy efficiency in older commercial buildings—can save...
Read
The Retro-Commissioning Sensor Suitcase provides an expert in the suitcase to guide minimally trained personnel in performing retro-commissioning of small buildings, for potential energy cost savings of 10% per year.

Harmonic Adsorption Recuperative Power (HARP)

Primary energy production and use in the U.S. ultimately results in rejection to the environment of approximately 59 quads of low- or mid-grade heat...
Read
A 40 percent improvement in efficiency over other energy generation approaches such as organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems, HARP has the smaller size, lower weight, and dramatically improved cost of energy generated to be used to economically produce energy from low-grade thermal sources.

Converting Ethanol to High-Value Ketones

Bio-based ethanol could be used to fully replace fossil-derived materials, if the material and process to create it could be improved to overcome some...
Read
The novel single-bed catalyst method developed by PNNL can convert ethanol into a variety of high-value products quickly and cost effectively.

Search in Energy Production and Efficiency