Bilal Mark McDowell Bomani

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Malik Elbuluk

The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 

Henry Fain and Mark D. Kankam

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

The GreenLab Research Facility: A Micro-Grid 

Integrating Production, Consumption 

and Storage of Clean Energy

NASA/TM—2012-217719

September 2012
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Bilal Mark McDowell Bomani

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Malik Elbuluk

The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 

Henry Fain and Mark D. Kankam

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

The GreenLab Research Facility: A Micro-Grid 

Integrating Production, Consumption 

and Storage of Clean Energy

NASA/TM—2012-217719

September 2012

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135
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subject to revision as analysis proceeds.
NASA/TM—2012-217719 1

The GreenLab Research Facility: A Micro-Grid Integrating

Production, Consumption and Storage of Clean Energy

Bilal Mark McDowell Bomani

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Malik Elbuluk

The University of Akron

Akron, Ohio 44325

Henry Fain and Mark D. Kankam

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Abstract

There is a large gap between the production and demand for 

energy from alternative fuel and alternative renewable energy 

sources. The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has 

initiated a laboratory-pilot study that concentrates on using 

biofuels as viable alternative fuel resources for the field of 

aviation, as well as, utilizing wind and solar technologies as 

alternative renewable energy resources, and in addition, the 

use of pumped water for storage of energy that can be 

retrieved through hydroelectric generation. This paper 

describes the GreenLab Research Facility and its power and 

energy sources with recommendations for worldwide 

expansion and adoption of the concept of such a facility

1.0 Introduction

The GreenLab Research Facility focuses is on optimization 

of biomass feedstock that uses algae and halophytes as the 

next generation of renewable aviation fuels. The unique 

approach in this Facility is the achievement of optimal 

biomass feedstock through climatic adaptation of balanced 

ecosystems that do not use freshwater, do not compete with 

food crops or use arable land. In addition, the GreenLab 

Research Facility is powered, in part, by using alternative and 

renewable energy from photovoltaic and wind technologies 

which reduces the major environmental impact of current

electricity sources. The excess energy from wind and solar is 

stored by pumping water to a reservoir which is connected to a 

hydroelectric power generation system. The ultimate goal is to 

have a 100 percent clean energy laboratory which, combined 

with biomass feedstock research, has the framework in place 

for a self-sustainable renewable energy ecosystem that can be 

duplicated anywhere in the world and can, potentially, be used 

to mitigate the shortage of food, fuel and water. 

A solution to solving the world’s food, fuel and water 

problems is needed today. While our research concentrates

primarily on aviation fuel, there needs to be a concerted effort 

in the area of food and water as well, which lead us to come 

up with the Big 3 at GRC. To provide a green solution to the 

food, fuel and water crises; we do not use freshwater, do not 

compete with food crops and do not use arable land, which are 

the keys to what we think is an alternative, renewable and 

sustainable concept that can be implemented on any scale.

The projected growth of aviation depends on fueling where 

specific needs must be met. Safety is paramount and together

with political, social, environmental and legacy transport 

systems requirements, alternate aviation fueling becomes an 

opportunity of enormous proportions, driven by conflicts 

between energy, food and freshwater demands, population 

growth, and climatic changes.

2.0 Alternative Fuels

By 2026, the world’s liquid fuel (Refs. 1 and 2) demand is 

projected to grow by 20 to 25 percent, implying an increased 

U.S. demand from over 20 million bbl/day (2007) to 

24 million bbl/day. In order to meet that demand with 

alternative fuels, even if one could grow algae on the open 

seas fed by continent-sized nutrient streams under the most 

opportune of conditions and convert it to oils, the equivalent 

volume demand would require nearly half the Gulf of Mexico

or 0.8 million km. This assumes equivalency between refined 

barrels of plant oil and petroleum algae production.

By 2026, the world’s jet fuel consumption is also projected 

to grow from 95 billion gal (2007) to around 221 billion gal 

(836 billion liters) per year (Ref. 3). Replacing 10 percent of 

aviation fuel with a renewable jet fuel would be similar in 

scale to current world-wide liquid biofuels (ethanol and 

biodiesel) production. 
NASA/TM—2012-217719 2

Achieving the (2026) goal for a 70 percent decrease in fuel 

burn in future aircraft (Ref. 2), would imply annual aviation 

fueling requirement of less than 66 billion gal (250 billion 

liter). Yet it would, also, require an additional decade or more 

to impact the aviation fleet and a biomass-fuel area equivalent 

of about 1/3 Gulf of Mexico.

The need for replacement fueling and the effects of biofuels 

on both legacy and future aircraft performance and design 

have been established in prior publications (Refs. 4 to 7). 

These publications clearly illustrate the conflicts between fuel 

types and the crops plus crop land necessary for alternate 

aircraft fueling. The aviation industry requires specific 

mobility fuels, and cannot replace jet fuel with current 

renewable fuels (ethanol, higher alcohols, pyro-oils, biodiesel, 

or hydrogen electricity). Industry is therefore pursuing new, 

large-scale, secure, sustainable biofuels within several “do no 

harm” restraints including (i) not competing with arable land 

or freshwater resources needed for food/feed production, (ii) 

low carbon footprints that do not lead to deforestation, and 

(iii) not engendering adverse environmental or social impacts. 

Two tons of jet fuel generates over 1.6 tons of carbon and 

over 21⁄2 tons of water when burned. Globally, aviation fuel 

has been growing at about 4 percent per year, despite a 1

percent per year improvement in airplane fuel efficiency. The 

resulting high-altitude cloud formations and carbon footprint 

(CO2 emissions) are of increasing concern to the commercial 

aviation industry which has set a goal that future growth in the 

industry should be carbon-neutral. Thus, renewable jet fuels 

are a critical need for this industry. The Commercial Aviation 

Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) and commercial aviation 

industry have set a goal of certifying a blended renewable jet 

fuel in the 2009 to 2012 time frame. To reach this ambitious 

goal, a program is underway to establish the technical 

feasibility, environmental sustainability, and eventual 

commercial viability of renewable biojet fuels. The basic 

technical feasibility of synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) jet 

fuels produced from coal or natural gas, or of hydrogentreated renewable jet fuels (HRJ) produced from vegetable oils 

or similar sources (now called hydrogenated esters free fatty 

acids HEFA-2011) having the same properties as conventional 

jet fuels has already been proven through several flight 

demonstrations by the U.S. Air Force, commercial airline 

partners, and four aircraft engine OEMs (original equipment 

manufacturers). The next stage is to develop secure scalable, 

sustainable, and economically viable feedstock for biojet fuels 

that satisfy the aircraft industry’s “do no harm” constraints,

and reduce their reliance on petroleum-based fuels.

We are a society addicted to hydrocarbons. Our planet is 

gripped by our addiction to hydrocarbon energy generation 

sources. We need to rely on biomass fueling because it will do 

the following:

• Reduce hydrocarbon addiction

• Reduce CO2, NOX, etc., nano-particulate, altitude H2O 

clouds, and emissions health and climate hazards

• Reduce foreign control of our future

• Require cooperative world-wide investments

• Require a paradigm shift in source and use of energy

Economic growth, testing, and projections of biomass 

production must address these fueling source changes in the 

face of worldwide issues: 

1. Population is expected to grow 40 percent in 40 to 50 yr. 

2. Aviation is expected to grow at 4 percent/yr. 

3. 95 billion gal jet fuel were used in 2007 with 220 billion 

gal projected for 2026; replacement or even lowpercentage blends require huge investments and huge 

biomass production.

4. Projected fuel burn reductions: air traffic management 

(ATM), 15 percent; future aircraft, 50 percent; future 

engines (intercool, recuperator), 25 percent (must 

respect laws of thermodynamics)

5. A combination of legacy aircraft, future ATM and future 

fleet implies a fleet (2026) with less than 40 percent fuel 

burn reduction

6. CO2 goal of 80 percent reduction with no increase in 

other emissions 

7. Aviation ground rules limit fueling options to “do no 

harm.”

8. Given above issues 1 to 5, goals for 6 and 7 cannot be 

met.

9. Aviation and fuel industries recognize 8; however, the

space program does not.

10. Given issues 1 to 9, will aerospace grow, decline, or 

equilibrate?

11. Alternative fueling requires a paradigm shift in the 

conception, source, use of energy, and its funding. It will 

cost more with reduced dependence on oil/coal/

gas/nuclear.

12. If serious consideration is given to issues 1 to 11, 

biomass fueling could provide a resolution to issue 10, 

using multiple sources, (even without projected 2026 

aircraft fuel burn reduction goals or fuel economy 

improvements in power and transportation goals).

13. Our resources are 97 percent seawater, 43 percent arid 

land, and a solar source of energy

14. Our goals are to conserve freshwater and arable land and 

to protect our food supply, health, and climate through 

climatic adaptation of ecological cycles.

The challenge for us is to make our fuel resources secure, 

sustainable, economically viable and sufficiently available. The 

questions, issues and problems addressed lead to concluding 

that we must use Earth’s most abundant natural resources, 

which are biomass, solar energy, arid land (43 percent), 
NASA/TM—2012-217719 3

seawater (97 percent) with nutrients (80 percent), plus 

brackish waters and recovered nutrients to resolve the 

environmental triangle of conflicts between energy, food, and 

freshwater. Also, we must mitigate ultrafine particulate 

hazards. Such accomplishment requires a paradigm shift. We 

must develop and use solar for energy (in the form of virtually 

any renewable fossil fuel replacement resource: photovoltaic, 

thermal, wind, and drilled geothermal); biomass for aviation; 

and hybrid-electric-compressed air mobility fueling with 

transition to hydrogen and hybrid-electric in the long term.

3.0 Alternative Energy Sources

Presently, most of the world’s energy supply comes from 

coal, fossil fuels and nuclear sources. In spite of the increasing 

issues of resource limitations and environmental pollution, 

these sources continue to be important in providing energy for 

the next few generations. The increasing global demand for 

energy and for decrease of environmental pollution has

prompted alternative or clean energy sources which do not 

depend on fossil fuels. The high demand, also has a tolerable 

environmental impact. 

Alternative or renewable energy sources such as solar 

photovoltaic (PV), wind, wave, tidal, geothermal and 

hydroelectric energies seem to meet the requirement for clean 

energy. Figure 1 shows a sample of some world generating cites 

of different renewable energy sources. Although the energy 

generated by these resources exceeds that by fossil fuels, 

renewable energy sources have not yet become a major part of 

the electrical power system grid. Figure 2 shows the alternative 

energy sources as contributing 7 percent of the total generation 

of electricity in the world. The projection is to double this 

contribution within the next decade. The following paragraphs 

describe solution and recommendations for integrating 

alternative fuels and alternative energy concepts into a selfsustainable renewable energy ecosystem that can be replicated 

throughout the world. The key benefit of the approach is that it 

is truly a Green solution, meaning that it is Alternative, 

Renewable and, most importantly, sustainable with little or no 

negative impact on the environment (Refs. 7 to 10).

Figure 1.—Sample of renewable energy sources (Refs. 8 to 16).

Figure 2.—Contribution of renewable energy sources to generation of 

electricity (Refs. 8 to 10).
NASA/TM—2012-217719 4

4.0 The GreenLab Research Facility

As previously discussed, biofuels such as ethanol and

biodiesel are renewable energy sources that are made from 

biomass materials. The use of biofuels has been gaining 

popularity over the past few years due to their ability to reduce

the dependence on fossil fuels. They can be a viable option for 

sustaining long-term energy needs if they are managed 

efficiently. The GreenLab at GRC, shown in Figure 3, is a 

unique research facility that can be used to investigate possible 

future biofuel alternatives that are currently being researched 

and applied around the world. The main research objective is 

to develop biofuels for aviation. The program goals are to 

develop viable alternative choices for aviation biofuels 

production and refining processes, enable “well to wake and 

back” analysis, optimization, and performance testing of 

biofuels that meet Jet-A specifications, and provide unique 

bench scale laboratory for aviation-only biofuels feedstock 

research to provide independent assessments. The current 

research focus is on 3rd generation biofuel candidates: macro 

and microalgae, and selected halophyte species. The 

experimental techniques are coastline equivalent halophyte 

beds, open pond algae systems and photobioreactors. Figure 4

illustrates the NASA approach to producing aviation biofuels.

The GreenLab Research Facility is a facility that is 

patterned after the indoor biofuels laboratory. It serves as an 

example of a laboratory that is truly Green by having 

alternative, renewable and sustainable fuel, energy and 

technologies as its main focus. The GreenLab enables 

subjection of successful indoor plants and algae to real-world 

outdoor field trials. It poses several unique challenges that are

discussed in this report. It also proved a benchmark for other 

GreenLabs around the world that desire to establish alternative 

fuel and energy laboratories that do not use freshwater or

arable land, and do not compete with food crops.

The primary research goal of the GreenLab Research 

Facility is the development of a climate adaptive biomass 

feedstock program that uses algae and halophytes for the next 

generation of renewable aviation fuels. More specifically, 

efficient iterative processes are being developed to use

modeling, experimental verification and testing research to 

identify optimal algae/halophytes biomass candidates for 

aviation fuels. Additionally, processes and growth parameters 

are under study to improve feedstock properties and minimize 

complex and carbon positive refining steps to achieve greatest 

life cycle CO2 reduction benefit and mitigate environmental 

risks.

Figure 3.—The GreenLab Research Facility at GRC.

Figure 4.—NASA-Unique Approach to Aviation Biofuels.
NASA/TM—2012-217719 5

5.0 Alternative Energy Conversion

Renewable or alternative energy sources such as 

photovoltaic (PV) and wind are clean technologies that can 

reduce the major environmental impact of current electricity 

sources. The electricity obtained from these energy sources is 

normally unregulated, and is not in a suitable form to be 

directly connected to the power system grids or to non gridconnected loads. Therefore, regardless of the power ratings of 

the renewable energy generation unit, it must be converted to a 

suitable form by utilizing power electronic converters and 

other controllers (Ref. 8). When connected to the grid, the role 

of power electronic converters and controllers is not only to 

convert electricity to a suitable form, but also, ensuring that 

the distributed generation unit connected to the grid will not 

create problems that can impair the quality of the power 

supply and the safety of all other equipment connected to the 

point of common coupling (PCC). Examples of these systems 

are discussed for solar and wind energy systems. Figure 5

shows typical power electronic converters arrangement for 

solar systems. The unidirectional and bidirectional power 

converter are required to ensure that the energy storage 

devices (ESD) and loads can be supplied by the grid or by

alternate energy formats such as the PVs.

For wind systems, several possible power electronic 

topologies used can be classified into to two groups: direct-inline wind turbines and doubly-fed generator wind turbines. An 

example of the first group that uses a squirrel cage induction 

generator is shown in Figure 6. The generator can be 

mechanically coupled to the wind turbine directly or via a 

mechanical gearbox. The variable frequency voltage of the 

generator is rectified and fed to the inverter to produce a 

constant frequency voltage that can be connected to the grid. It 

is important to note that at the present time, unsubsidized

alternate energy solutions are cost prohibitive to implement on 

large scale. However, as petroleum prices rise, implementation 

options may change. This requires any proposed alternative 

energy system to be grid ready as well as power ready and that 

may also costs lots of money

Figure 5.—Power electronic converters for PV systems.

Figure 6.—Power electronic converters for wind turbine.
NASA/TM—2012-217719 6

Figure 7.—Distributed Energy Resources and Interface with the Utility Grid (Refs. 9 and 10)

5.1 DERs and Micro-Grids

Integration of renewable generating sources into the existing 

power system grid, known as distributed energy resources 

(DER), can provide a more reliable and better quality power to 

consumers. Implementing DERs can be as simple as setting up 

backup electricity generators not connected to the grid, or it 

can be a sophisticated power generation station with energy 

storage, control and management systems, which can receive 

or supply energy to the grid. The power ratings of the 

distributed generation units (ranging from few kilowatts to 

tens of megawatts), the types of converters and topologies 

used for interfacing depend on the available resources and on 

consumer loads and grid demands. Issues related to the 

interconnections of DERs with the utility grid are currently 

being conducted worldwide. Problems related to the transition 

between modes of operations of DERs are discussed, and 

algorithms during transitions are developed and implemented.

Figure 7 shows the infrastructure of a distributed energy 

system, which includes, the energy sources, the storage 

devices, the power electronics interface, the grid and the 

customer loads (Refs. 9 to 11). 

There are a few possible sources of energy from which the 

load can obtain the power; it can be from the alternative 

energy sources, from the energy storage devices (ESD), or 

from the grid or from the combinations of these sources. The 

choice of source or combination of sources used to supply the 

loads has to be made carefully to ensure maximum and 

efficient energy utilization. This depends on several factors, 

such as the instantaneous power available from the sources, 

energy on the ESD, load characteristics, price of energy from 

the grid at that instant and the desired power-factor. 

Integrating these factors with a decision tree in the power 

electronic interface modules for optimum energy utilization 

and cost constitutes the energy conversion conditioning 

system (ECCS). During power outage on the grid, the energy 

sources and the ESD supply power to the loads and fulfill 

instantaneous peak power demand. The ESD can be chargedup either by the grid or energy sources depending on the 

instantaneous power available and the load demand. The 

sizing of the ESD has to be determined, based on the 

anticipated loads, outage times and energy sources 

characteristics. The ESD are used to compensate the high 

transient load power demand that cannot be delivered by the 

energy sources due to their slow response.

5.2 The Role of Energy Storage Devices

DERs respond relatively slowly to sudden increase in load 

demand. It is reported that for micro-turbine and fuel cell 

systems, the time constant for the power output can range 

from 5 ms to 50 s. If the DER system is not connected to the 

utility grid and no energy storage devices (ESD) are installed, 

due to this slow response, a sudden increase in load power 

demand will result in a voltage reduction to achieve energy 

balance. There are a few types of ESD that are being used and 

researched in power system applications: batteries, flywheels, 

ultra-capacitors (or super-capacitors), superconducting 

magnetic energy storage systems (SMES), pumped-hydro, and 

mixed-salts (Refs. 11 and 15). Battery technologies, 

particularly the lead– acid batteries, are widely used in power 

system applications due to their low cost, high energy density 

and capability, and their established and mature technology. A 

fuel cell has energy storage similar to a battery in that an 

electro-chemical reaction is used to create electric current.

Fuel cells are suited for distributed generation (DS) due to 

their low emission and high efficiency. Power rating of a fuel 

cells system can be from 100 kW to few MW. Heat produced 

from the electrochemical reaction for electricity production 

can be used for combined heat and power (CHP) application. 

The dc voltage generated from the fuel cells may be too low 

for an inverter to operate efficiently; therefore a dc-dc 
NASA/TM—2012-217719 7

converter is normally used to step up the voltage to a higher 

level. Other energy storage devices such flywheel 

technologies are gaining popularity and have been applied in 

wind turbine technologies. Mixed salts are considered in solarthermal systems. Pumped-hydro is reliable and more 

commonplace in electric power systems. At present, ultracapacitors or super-capacitors are mainly used for low-energy, 

high peak power applications. They have been used in drive 

systems to improve ride-through capability during voltage 

sags; their applications in DER have yet to be found. SMES 

systems are known for their fast response and high efficiency, 

however compared to other energy storage systems they are 

presently too expensive to be competitive with hydrocarbons.

and require cryogenic support systems. In power system 

applications, SMES have been used for voltage sag 

compensation and to improve stability performance 

5.3 Interconnections of DERs

As stated earlier, distributed energy resources (DERs) are 

typically small-scale power generation technologies in the 

range of few kilowatts to tens of kilowatts used to provide an 

alternative to or an enhancement to the traditional electric 

power systems. A micro grid is a small power distribution 

system that includes a variety of these sources in combination 

with energy storage devices (ESD) and loads. When included 

with distributed generation (DG) and distributed storage (DS), 

a micro grid is also referred to as distributed energy resources 

(DER). Recently there has been considerable research and 

development on implementation of DERs, their 

interconnections and the security requirements of future 

electric power systems, in which DERs are likely to be an 

essential component (Ref. 17). DERs generate electricity from

many small energy sources such as solar and wind sources.

The electricity obtained from the energy sources is normally 

unregulated and is not in a suitable form to be directly 

connected to loads, as common commercial products or to the 

grid. Therefore, regardless of the power ratings of a distributed 

generation unit, it has to be converted to a suitable form by 

utilizing power electronics converters (part of the ECCS).

Figure 8 shows different interconnection of DERs operating in 

grid-connected mode with the loads connected directly or in 

parallel with the grid. The interconnections can be with power

only drawn from the grid or with power drawn and supplied 

back to the grid. The interconnection is a concern to the utility

provider, especially with regard to the power quality and 

safety of personnel or connected equipment. The gridconnected mode may or may not include ESD, with several 

factors that determine this choice. If the grid is intended as a 

backup supply to the load, ESD may not be required. Power is 

obtained from the grid when power from the energy sources is 

unavailable. With no ESD, power required for a sudden load 

change or during peak power demand is obtained from the 

grid and the alternative energy sources. However, power 

outage on the grid will result in the power supplied to the load 

being totally dependent on the energy sources. Thus, due to 

slow response of the energy sources to react to an 

instantaneous sudden load demand, the quality of the power 

supplied to the load will be impaired. In the worst case, when 

the energy sources are not generating power, power outage on 

Figure 8.—Example of interconnection of DERs with the utility (Refs. 14 and 15).
NASA/TM—2012-217719 8

Figure 9.—Tentative power system architecture for the GreenLab.

the grid will result in no power available at the load. If the 

energy sources are sized to supply the load only during 

average power usage, then during a power outage on the grid, 

peak power will not be fulfilled. Excess energy generated by 

the energy sources can be fed back only to the grid or stored 

for critical demand loads.

6.0 Green Laboratory Power Systems

The current power consumption of the green lab is 

approximately 20 kW. This is used by the many pumps, lights, 

fans and filters as shown in Table I. There is an on-going task 

of work currently being done to develop a structure and 

implement a power system architecture that will feed the 

electricity needs of the GreenLab from the commercially 

available renewable energy resources. Emphasis is put into 

energy from windmills and photovoltaic and on back-up 

power devices. Figure 9 shows the proposed grid-connected 

DER system architecture to supply energy from windmills and 

photovoltaic with battery back-up systems. DC loads are 

connected to the dc link via a dc-dc converter.

Renewable energy systems are commercially available for 

both residential and industrial applications. Advances in 

power electronics and energy storage devices are helping in 

reducing the weight, size and increasing reliability.

Commercial wind power development, in which large wind 

turbines are connected to the electric grid and produce 

electricity for widespread distribution is, however, a relatively 

recent phenomenon. During the early 1980s, hundreds of 

commercial wind turbines were installed in three areas in 

California. There are several single-phase wind and solar 

energy systems with all of the required power electronics and 

battery back-up energy system. Some systems are a fully 

integrated, utility-connected wind generator designed 

specifically for homes and small businesses. Several wind

systems have been installed world-wide and at different power 

levels. For example, 30 percent of Denmark’s electricity 

comes from wind energy systems (Refs. 12 to 16). Figure 10

shows two examples of these systems. Figure 10(a) shows 

both solar and wind applications in powering a childcare 

center at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and in Figure 

10(b) a windmill is used to supply power to the GreenLab 

Research Facility at GRC. Currently there are two wind

turbine systems that are partially supplying wind energy to the 

GreenLab Research Facility.

TABLE I.—GREEN LABORATORY POWER REQUIREMENTS

Item No. Rating 

(W)

Total 

power

Tunze 6205 Pumps 19 55 1045

Tunze 6305 pumps 6 64 384

Tunze 6105 pumps 2 45 90

Aquaclear 500 Filter 16 14 224

Dual voltage Homer Head pump 2 246 492

Reeflo snapper (universal motor) 4 104 416

Wave Generator Tunze 6261 Pumps 6 50 300

Blue Line Aqua pump 1 390 390

Tunze Protein Skimmers pump 2 22 44

Delta Star Chiller 4 1104 4416

Ad Smith Fans 2 373 746

MAG24 Pump 1 237 237

Motors for moving the lights 7 5.5 38.5

Galaxy Lights 26 400 10400

*Evaporative Cooling 1 93 93

Total 99 19315.5
NASA/TM—2012-217719 9

(a) Childcare Center, JSC

(b) GRC GreenLab Research

Figure 10.—Demonstration of commercially available wind and 

solar energy sources

7.0 Summary

A description of the GreenLab Research Facility at NASA 

GRC is provided in this paper. The Facility comprises two 

complementary components: (i) the indoor or incubator 

facility and the (ii) outdoor growth facility. Each of the two 

facilities possesses a variety of climatic adaptive ecosystems, 

power and energy sources and requirements. The goal is to 

promote worldwide expansion and adoption of the research 

and development facility to enable the commercialization of 

biomass production for energy, fuel, food, feed and freshwater 

recovery.

The primary motivation for the reported work derives from 

the large gap between the production and demand for energy 

from alternative fuel and alternative renewable energy 

sources. The basic issues center on sustainability of humanity.

Such sustainability depends directly on the ability to secure 

affordable energy, food, feed, fuel with conservation of arable 

land and freshwater. These issues are addressed directly in the 

GreenLab Research Facility where focus is directed to 

optimization of biomass feedstock utilizing primarily, but not 

exclusively, algae and halophytes as the next generation of 

renewable aviation fuels.

The unique approach is directed at the achievement of 

optimal biomass feedstock through climatic adaptation of 

balanced ecosystems that do not use freshwater or arable land

and do not compete with food crops. The incubator laboratory 

screens seeds, seedlings, waste treatment, and ecosystems with 

a variety of controlled saline, lighting and nutrient conditions 

preliminary to transitioning to the outdoor laboratory. 

Successful biomass treatments are then transported and 

implemented on a larger scale more realistic of actual soil and 

water conditions in six parts of the world in the outdoor 

facility. The climatic adaptive approach enables saline-tolerant 

plants to thrive in freshwater environments, as well as, adapt

freshwater species to grow in saline environments. The 

adaptation is extended to fish which in turn supply rapid 

growth, reproduction and nutrients. Aquatic life, primarily 

fish, becomes the health monitoring system for the GreenLab. 

Reclamation of contaminated waters becomes a necessity.

Algae from the incubator laboratory are both tested for 

reclamation and sources of fueling biomass. 

To offset the GreenLab Research Facility power 

consumption, alternative and renewable energy from wind and 

photovoltaic (proposed micro-grid) technologies reduce the 

major environmental impact of commercial electricity. The 

ultimate goal is to have a 100 percent clean energy laboratory 

dedicated to biomass research within the framework of a selfsustainable ecosystem that can be duplicated anywhere in the 

world, and can, potentially, be used to mitigate the shortage of 

food, fuel and water. 

Biomass-derived biofuels represent viable alternative fuel 

resources for aviation, with byproducts for feed or direct use 

as food and residuals as energy sources. Utilizing wind and 

solar technology as alternative renewable energy resources 

supplements the GreenLab energy and power demands.

References

1. Reilley, J., Paltsev, S., and Choumert, F., 2007, “Heavier 

Crude, Changing Demand for Petroleum Fuels, Regional 

Climate Policy, and the Location of Upgrading Capacity: 

A Preliminary Look,” MIT Joint Program on the Science 

and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 144, 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. 

2. http://web.mit.edu/globalchange/www/MITJPSPGC_Rpt

144.pdf

3. Energy Information Administration, 2009a, “Chapter 

1—World Energy Demand and Economic Outlook,” 

International Energy Outlook 2009, Report Number.:

DOE/EIA–0484(2009).

4. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/world.html
NASA/TM—2012-217719 10

5. Daggett, D. L., Ben-Amotz, A., and Benemann, J., 2009, 

“Feasibility of Algal Oil for Renewable Jet Fuel,” 

submitted to Journal of Applied Phycology.

6. Daggett, D., Hadaller, O., Hendricks, R., and Walther, R., 

2006, “Alternative Fuels and Their Potential Impact on 

Aviation,” ICAS 2006–5.8.2, 25th International Congress 

of the Aeronautical Sciences, Hamburg, Germany.

7. Daggett, D. L., Hendricks, R. C., Walther, R., and 

Corporan, E., 2007, “Alternate Fuels for Use in 

Commercial Aircraft,” ISABE–2007–1196, Beijing, 

China.

8. Hendricks, R. C., 2007, “Sustainable Secure Alternate 

Aviation Fueling,” 2007 NASA Seal/Secondary Air 

System Workshop, NASA/CP—2008-215263/VOL1, 

Cleveland, OH, pp. 75–99.

9. Elbuluk, M., Idris, N. R. N. Idris, “The role power 

electronics in future energy systems and green 

industrialization,” IEEE2nd International Power and 

Energy Conference, 2008, (PECon’08), pp. 1–6.

10. http://www.netl.doe.gov/

11. http://www.nrel.gov

12. http://www.energy.ca.gov/distgen/equipment/energy_sto

rage/energy_storage.html

13. http://windenergy.com/products/skystream

14. http://www.xantrex.com/power-products/overview.aspx

15. http://www.outbackpower.com/

16. http://www.cse.anl.gov/electrochem_energy_storage/ind

ex.html

17. http://www.power-thru.com/

18. http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc21/1547.6/1547.6_inde

x.html

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The GreenLab Research Facility: A Micro-Grid Integrating Production, Consumption 

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McDowell Bomani, Bilal Mark; Elbuluk, Malik; Fain, Henry; Kankam, Mark, D. 

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There is a large gap between the production and demand for energy from alternative fuel and alternative renewable energy sources. The 

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has initiated a laboratory-pilot study that concentrates on using biofuels as viable alternative fuel 

resources for the field of aviation, as well as, utilizing wind and solar technologies as alternative renewable energy resources, and in 

addition, the use of pumped water for storage of energy that can be retrieved through hydroelectric generation. This paper describes the 

GreenLab Research Facility and its power and energy sources with .recommendations for worldwide expansion and adoption of the concept 

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Renewable energy; Microgrid; Solar energy; Wind energy; Hydro storage 

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