The Computational Science Center supports projects across a wide range of interest to researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Learn about some selected projects in the renewable energy areas of biomass, biofuels, wind, and inverse design.
Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass to Fuels 
NREL's accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have the potential to accelerate the development and deployment of commercial-scale gasification and pyrolysis conversion units to meet the U.S. renewable fuels targets over the next 20 years. More information.
Enzymatic Conversion of Biomass to Fuels
NREL scientists use the latest terascale high-performance computers to address a major challenge to creating a carbon-neutral replacement for liquid fossil fuels: the high resistance of crystalline cellulose to chemical and biological deconstruction. More information.
Wind Energy Simulations
NREL scientists perform CFD of multi-turbine arrays to understand turbine wake and turbulent wind behavior will lead to improved wind farm designs that capture more energy, reduce the mechanical loading on the turbines, and lower the cost of wind energy. More information.
Inverse Design
Inverse Design is a fundamental and radical change in the approach and methods of materials research. The conventional approach involves producing a material with some particular atomic structure, then determining its electronic properties. However, in the Center for Inverse Design's novel approach, this conventional approach is turned on its head: we start by considering the specific properties we desire a material to have, then determine its required atomic structure. More information.
