Basic Research for Decarbonization of the Economy

The nation will need to update its infrastructure to continue to meet society’s everyday needs while minimizing the cost of energy production and consumption. NIST’s fundamental research promotes innovation and enables improvements to the nation’s infrastructure to support advances in energy technologies.

Energy-Efficient Buildings

NIST supports innovation that can increase energy efficiency and advance energy solutions for buildings, which account for nearly 40% of all U.S. energy use and around 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples of activities and programs include:

• Net-Zero Energy, High-Performance Buildings Program, which includes the Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility 
• Embedded Intelligence in Buildings Program and Intelligent Building Agents Laboratory
• Solid-State Lighting Metrology program

NIST conducts research to help industry transition away from hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. The NIST REFPROP database is used by industry to evaluate new refrigerants and design new systems. In addition, the NIST Standard Reference Database CYCLE_D provides performance estimates of various refrigerants and blends when used in refrigeration systems. 

Materials for Energy Infrastructure

NIST’s work in photovoltaics and batteries provides manufacturers and system developers critical information and data to improve their products and processes. Research in the Photovoltaic Characterization Laboratory develops methodologies to accurately measure cell output. Neutron measurements at the NIST Center for Neutron Research help identify new materials for batteries, and the Measurements, Standards, and Data for Energy Conversion Materials project supports the development, production and reliability of thermoelectric materials and devices. 

NIST also has ongoing work in alternative fuels, such as hydrogen.  

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) / Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS)

NIST is working in several areas of CDR and CCUS technologies to realize the economic potential of CO₂.  Direct air capture (DAC), a new engineering-based CDR approach that is still in the foundational stages of technology development. In addition, NIST is characterizing materials, such as solid sorbents and membranes, to enable discovery and optimization of materials for scalable DAC. NIST is also working on several use cases for CDR. In building materials, NIST is working with cement manufacturers to quantify carbon that can be sequestered in cement and concrete. In addition, NIST is researching new techniques for converting CO2 into fuels and chemicals, including low-temperature CO₂ conversion methods.

Manufacturing Efficiency and Optimization

Advanced manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing, lightweighting, process intensification and sustainable manufacturing reduce global energy demand by replacing complex parts with lighter alternatives and increasing the efficiency of manufacturing processes and supply chain logistics. 

The Circular Economy program and Manufacturing in a Circular Economy project aim to help industry transition away from a linear economic model toward one in which materials repeatedly cycle within the economy.