November 2009 story tips from the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory

TRANSPORTATION -- Gone hybrid . . .

Fuel economy ratings for the new 2010 model year automobiles are now posted at the www.fueleconomy.gov web site, which Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed and maintains for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nine of the top 10 vehicles on the best fuel economy list are hybrid electrics, led by the Toyota Prius (51 MPG city; 48 highway). "This list proves that hybrids have gone mainstream," said project leader Bo Saulsbury of ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division. "There's now a hybrid for everyone. The 32 hybrid models available in 2010 offer car buyers the choice of an SUV, passenger car, economy or luxury model, from almost every major automobile maker." The site also now contains its first Spanish-language pages, including the "Find and Compare Cars" and "Gas Mileage Tips" pages which can be found at the main address or at www.ahorremosgasolina.com. Saulsbury said ORNL plans to post an entire Spanish-language site by the end of 2010. Many of the new models qualify for federal tax credit. Users can check out the new 2010 hybrids, clean diesels, alternative fuel vehicles and more energy efficient gasoline-powered vehicles at www.fueleconomy.gov or at the abbreviated "mobile" site at www.fueleconomy.gov/m. [Contact: Mike Bradley, (865)576-9553; ]

MATERIALS – Ferroelectric fury...

By discovering a technique to guide the ferroelectric switching process in bismuth ferrite, a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Nina Balke has moved one step closer to developing more rugged memory and logic devices. One key to the success is that the material has both electrical and magnetic properties at the same time, which is unusual. By controlling the polarization switching it is possible to alter magnetization states as well due to parameter coupling, which can be used to store information. Using a one-of-a-kind scanning probe in research funded by ORNL's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program, Balke was able to select among final polarization states that have the same electrostatic energy but differ dramatically in elastic or magnetic order. Remarkably, the control of polarization switching allowed the authors to create the closure ferroelectric domain pattern, the precursor for the long-theorized ferroelectric vortex state. Funding for this work, published in Nature Nanotechnology, was provided by the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the National Science Foundation. The work was performed at ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Science. [Contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; ]