In the mountains of Colorado, scientists are building the future of American energy — and the rest of the world is starting to notice. The National Laboratory of the Rockies, a research facility operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, just won four of the most prestigious honors in technology: R&D 100 Awards. These awards, given annually by R&D World magazine, celebrate the 100 most innovative technologies of the year, chosen by independent judges. This year, NLR brought home four of them.
The lab has now collected 80 R&D 100 Awards since 1982, but these newest winners stand out for tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the planet.
Take ENDURING, for example. It's a new system that stores energy by heating up sand. Yes, sand. The technology stores heat generated during cheap, off-peak hours — like when the sun is shining or wind is blowing — and releases it when demand and prices are high. The sand-based storage costs less than $10 per kilowatt-hour to build and can hold enough energy to power hundreds of megawatts for up to 100 hours. That is like keeping the lights on for an entire city for nearly a week, using nothing more than heated sand.
Another winner, called ALTRIOS, is a digital simulation tool for freight railroads. Think of it as a video game that models entire train systems — including locomotives, rail networks, and shipping terminals — to help rail companies plan smarter, cleaner routes. The tool is free and open to anyone, meaning rail companies of all sizes can use it to cut fuel costs and emissions.
Then there's the Pele Suite, a computer program that simulates turbulent airflow for everything from car engines to power plants. By running on the world's most powerful supercomputers, it helps engineers design cleaner, more efficient machines.
But perhaps the most eye-catching winner is a technology that turns industrial waste gases into valuable chemicals. The system, called a perforated bipolar membrane, takes carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide — pollutants that would otherwise float into the atmosphere — and converts them into useful products like plastics and fuels. It can increase carbon reuse by up to 75 percent and cut production costs by as much as 62 percent. All of this happens in a single system, producing chemicals at purity levels above 99.5 percent.
Three of these technologies also earned special honors in categories called Corporate Social Responsibility and Market Disruptor, recognizing their potential to change industries for the better.
"Our people are actively building it," said Adam Bratis, NLR's deputy laboratory director and chief research officer.
With breakthroughs like sand-powered batteries and waste-to-chemical converters, the scientists in Colorado are not just imagining a cleaner world. They are building it, one award at a time.