Environment

woman kneeling on a Hawaiian beach putting plastic trash into a bag

The Plastic That Washes Up on Hawaii’s Beaches Affects Me. Personally. (blog post)

Video: Learn More About the NIST Biorepository

A fire burns along the ground at the edge of a wooded area.

In the Eye of the Fire

News and Updates

Two birds with black heads and white bellies stand on a rock.

Climate Variability May Alter Pollutants in Some Sub-Arctic Birds

August 11, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Emory University have discovered that some bird species in the sub-Arctic tend to ingest

Woman uses gas analysis mass spectrometer at NBS for chemical analysis of gas or vapor mixtures

NIST Adds New 'Fingerprints' to Chemical Identification Database

June 17, 2020

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has updated its database of chemical fingerprints, called mass spectra, that are used to identify

A shower head with steamy water coming out.

NIST Identifies Critical Needs for Improved Plumbing

May 11, 2020

We don’t use water like we used to. In recent decades, concerns about cost, water shortages and environmental impacts together with changes in plumbing design

A view through a door window of N95 masks being decontaminated.

NIST Tool Could Help Hospitals Repurpose Rooms for Disinfecting N95 Masks

April 16, 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals across the United States are disinfecting N95 masks by placing them in repurposed rooms or shipping containers

Events

Circular Economy in the High-Tech World

Wed, Jan 27 2021, 10:00am - Thu, Jan 28 2021, 5:00pm EST

This workshop will convene stakeholders from across the electronics, battery, and solar panel supply chains to assess

Industry Impacts

Net-Zero Energy House

To decrease the $225 billion that U.S. consumers spend each year in household energy costs will require accurate, reliable information about how new

Automotive Refrigerant Design

Traditional auto air conditioning refrigerants have high global warming potentials, but finding better refrigerants with the right properties has been a major

Projects and Programs

Plastic Pollution Measurement Science

While plastics have yielded immense benefits to society, discarded plastics or plastic pollution has become a pervasive highly visible problem especially in the

Measurement Science of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards & Technology are creating reference materials and data resources to address the per- and polyfluoroalkyl

Smoke Stack Simulator

Today, inconsistencies between measured CO2 emissions and emissions calculated from coal consumption are on the order of 10% to 20%. The objective of this

Fluid Phase Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopy is routinely used to analyze chemical mixtures in the liquid phase. It is far less common for these techniques to be applied to vapor-phase

Publications

Study of the Reactions of OH with HCl, HBr, and HI between 298 K and 460 K.

November 25, 2020

Author(s)

Vladimir L. Orkin, Victor Khamaganov, Igor Larin

The reactions between OH radicals and hydrogen halides (HCl, HBr, HI) have been studied between 298 K to 460 K by using a discharge flow electron paramagnetic

Benchmarking Thermal Comfort Performance of Two Residential Air Distribution Systems in a Low- Load Home

November 1, 2020

Author(s)

Hyojin Kim, Khiem Nguyen, Lisa C. Ng, Brian P. Dougherty, William V. Payne

Despite broad recognition that air distribution plays an important role in comfort for residential buildings, few studies have addressed the fundamental ability

Characterization of Long-Term Sub-Hourly Thermal Comfort Performance Data

November 1, 2020

Author(s)

Hyojin Kim, Lisa C. Ng, Brian P. Dougherty, William V. Payne

Current thermal comfort standards do not provide guidelines on how to graphically characterize and benchmark long-term, sub-hourly, thermal comfort. In an

Optical and Mechanical Design of a Telescope for Lunar Spectral Irradiance Measurements from a High-Altitude Aircraft

September 9, 2020

Author(s)

Clarence J. Zarobila, Steven E. Grantham, Steven W. Brown, John T. Woodward IV, Stephen E. Maxwell, Dana R. Defibaugh, Thomas C. Larason, Kevin Turpie

We have designed a non-imaging telescope for measurement of the spectral irradiance of the moon. The telescope was integrated into a wing pod of a NASA ER-2

Tools and Instruments

Ozone Standard Reference Photometer

DESCRIPTIONThe Standard Reference Photometer (SRP) Program began in the early 1980s as collaboration between NIST and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Environment

News and Updates

Climate Variability May Alter Pollutants in Some Sub-Arctic Birds

NIST Adds New 'Fingerprints' to Chemical Identification Database

NIST Identifies Critical Needs for Improved Plumbing

NIST Tool Could Help Hospitals Repurpose Rooms for Disinfecting N95 Masks

Events

Circular Economy in the High-Tech World

Industry Impacts

Net-Zero Energy House

Automotive Refrigerant Design

Projects and Programs

Plastic Pollution Measurement Science

Measurement Science of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Smoke Stack Simulator

Fluid Phase Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy

Publications

Study of the Reactions of OH with HCl, HBr, and HI between 298 K and 460 K.

Benchmarking Thermal Comfort Performance of Two Residential Air Distribution Systems in a Low- Load Home

Characterization of Long-Term Sub-Hourly Thermal Comfort Performance Data

Optical and Mechanical Design of a Telescope for Lunar Spectral Irradiance Measurements from a High-Altitude Aircraft

Tools and Instruments

Ozone Standard Reference Photometer

Awards

Katherine Peter Honored with Morgan Early Career Award

Lisa Ng Receives IBPSA-USA Emerging Contributor Award

MML Researcher Mark McLinden Named ASHRAE Fellow

Andrei Kazakov and Mark McLinden of MML Awarded 2017 DoC Gold Medal