Episode description

Special Correspondent Nataleah Small joins the podcast to discuss Hispanic Heritage Month at NREL. Hosts Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle discuss three recent stories from NREL:  

• NREL’s Annual Partner Forum Eyes Pathways to Future Energy Systems: The laboratory hosted its 7th annual Partner Forum last month, bringing together industry partners, researchers, and energy leaders to discuss our most pertinent energy challenges, explore energy innovation opportunities, connect stakeholders to solve grid integration challenges, and develop collaborations and partnerships. The event included a demonstration of NREL’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems platform—also known as ARIES.    
• After 20 Years, NREL and Walmart Partnership Stays Strong: NREL partnered with Walmart to test clean energy technologies in an Aurora, Colorado, store in 2003, and the partnership has been growing ever since.  Some of the technologies NREL has tested throughout the partnership are now standard in all Walmart stores.  
• Early-Career Researchers Gather in Frenoble, France, To Tackle Climate Change From a Global Perspective: In early July, 65 researchers from 16 countries spent one week outside of Grenoble in the northern French Alps participating in lectures and discussions about the latest developments and trends in renewable energy and sustainability research with a goal to create an international network of researchers dedicated to making the energy transition happen as quickly as possible. The summer school was organized under the patronage of the Research and Development 20 for Clean Energy Technologies (RD20) initiative.  

This episode was hosted by Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle, written and produced by Allison Montroy and Kaitlyn Stottler, and edited by James Wilcox, Joe DelNero, and Brittany Falch. Graphics are by Brittnee Gayet. Our title music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino of Drift BC. Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast is created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. We express our gratitude and acknowledge that the land we are on is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples. Email us at podcast@nrel.gov. Follow NREL on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, and Facebook.