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non-powered dam

Although more than 92,000 dams populate the country, the vast majority — about 89,000 — do not generate electricity through hydropower.

ORNL researchers are developing a method to print low-cost, high-fidelity, customizable sensors for monitoring power grid equipment. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to print high-fidelity, passive sensors for energy applications can reduce the cost of monitoring critical power grid assets.

Philip Bingham

Philip Bingham has two pieces of advice for researchers new to Oak Ridge National Laboratory: (1) develop a skill set that can be applied to multiple research areas, and (2) get out and meet folks across the lab. “The favorite part of my work is that I’ve done a lot of very diffe...

The sensors measure parameters like temperature, chemicals and electric grid elements for industrial and electrical applications. Credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Brixon, Inc., has exclusively licensed a multiparameter sensor technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The integrated platform uses various sensors that measure physical and environmental parameters and respond to standard security applications.

An ORNL report provides best practices for electric utilities using drones to monitor transmission systems.
Electric utilities seeking to enhance worker safety and system reliability by using drones to inspect their transmission systems can look to a new report by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers to help guide their efforts. The report by ORNL’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Research Ce...
ORNL researcher Xiaobing Liu  works in the laboratory’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center.

As a boy growing up in China, Xiaobing Liu knew all about Oak Ridge and the World War II Manhattan Project. He had no idea that he would one day work at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Secret City’s successor. Liu is a lead researcher in geothermal heat pump (GHP) techn...

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have produced the next generation of the National Hydropower Map – a visualization tool that provides updated statistics on overall capacity and performance on the nation’s hydropower fleet. The map is part of the lab’s National Hydropower ...
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Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are learning how the properties of water molecules on the surface of metal oxides can be used to better control these minerals and use them to make products such as more efficient semiconductors for organic light emitting diodes and solar cells, safer vehicle glass in fog and frost, and more environmentally friendly chemical sensors for industrial applications.
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Throw a rock through a window made of silica glass, and the brittle, insulating oxide pane shatters. But whack a golf ball with a club made of metallic glass—a resilient conductor that looks like metal—and the glass not only stays intact but also may drive the ball farther than conventional clubs. In light of this contrast, the nature of glass seems anything but clear.
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Complex oxides have long tantalized the materials science community for their promise in next-generation energy and information technologies. Complex oxide crystals combine oxygen atoms with assorted metals to produce unusual and very desirable properties.