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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Energizing Government Decision-Makers with the Facts on Solar Technology, Policy, and Integration

The Solar Technical Assistance Team (STAT) is a network of solar technology and implementation experts who provide timely, unbiased expertise to assist policymakers and regulators in making informed decisions about solar programs and policies. Government officials can submit requests directly to the STAT for technical assistance. STAT then partners with experts in solar policy, regulation, finance, technology, and other areas to deliver accurate, up-to-date information to state and local decision makers. The STAT responds to requests on a wide range of issues -- including, but not limited to, feed-in tariffs, renewable portfolio standards, rate design, program design, workforce and economic impacts of solar on jurisdictions, and project financing.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Wind energy variability and links to regional and synoptic scale weather

The accurate characterization of seasonal and inter-annual site-level wind energy variability is essential during wind project development. Understanding the features and probability of low-wind years is of particular interest to developers and financers. However, a dearth of long-term, hub-height wind observations makes these characterizations challenging, and thus techniques to improve these characterizations are of great value. To improve resource characterization, we explicitly link wind resource variability (at hub-height, and at specific sites) to regional and synoptic scale wind regimes. Our approach involves statistical clustering of high-resolution modeled wind data, and is applied to California for a period covering 1980–2015. With this approach, we investigate the unique meteorological patterns driving low and high wind years at five separate wind project sites. We also find wind regime changes over the 36-year period consistent with global warming: wind regimes associated with anomalously hot summer days increased at half a day per year and stagnant conditions increased at one-third days per year. Despite these changes, the average annual resource potential remained constant at all project sites. Additionally, we identify correlations between climate modes and wind regime frequency, a linkage valuable for resource characterization and forecasting. Our general approach can be applied in any location and may benefit many aspects of wind energy resource evaluation and forecasting.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Roadmap to reach global net-zero emissions for developing regions by 2085

As climate change intensifies, determining a developing region’s role in achieving net-zero emissions worldwide is crucial. However, regional efforts, considering historical emissions, remain underexplored. Here, we assess energy system changes, technology adoption, and investments needed for developing regions, including five major- and minor-emitting nations. Our analysis, using an integrated assessment model, shows a large gap in regional efforts toward global net-zero emissions, stemming from the necessary shift of energy systems to low-carbon resources. The use of new technologies, like electric vehicles, hydrogen, and carbon capture, varies by region, with the highest adoption required between 2020 and 2030. Financing this shift needs an average gross domestic product (GDP) investment rise of 0.464% in minor-emitting regions and up to 2.1% in major-emitting regions by 2085. Our results could guide policies and support setting quantifiable targets for developing nations. The findings are key to facilitating strategic technology use and finance mobilization to achieve a carbon-neutral future.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Social Impact Management Plans: Innovation in corporate and public policy

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) has traditionally been practiced as a predictive study for the regulatory approval of major projects, however, in recent years the drivers and domain of focus for SIA have shifted. This paper details the emergence of Social Impact Management Plans (SIMPs) and undertakes an analysis of innovations in corporate and public policy that have put in place ongoing processes – assessment, management and monitoring – to better identify the nature and scope of the social impacts that might occur during implementation and to proactively respond to change across the lifecycle of developments. Four leading practice examples are analyzed. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards require the preparation of Environmental and Social Management Plans for all projects financed by the IFC identified as having significant environmental and social risks. Anglo American, a major resources company, has introduced a Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox, which requires mine sites to undertake regular assessments and link these assessments with their internal management systems, monitoring activities and a Social Management Plan. In South Africa, Social and Labour Plans are submitted with an application for a mining or production right. In Queensland, Australia, Social Impact Management Plans were developed as part of an Environmental Impact Statement, which included assessment of social impacts. Collectively these initiatives, and others, are a practical realization of theoretical conceptions of SIA that include management and monitoring as core components of SIA. The paper concludes with an analysis of the implications for the practice of impact assessment including a summary of key criteria for the design and implementation of effective SIMPs. -- Highlights: • Social impact management plans are effective strategies to manage social issues. • They are developed in partnership with regulatory agencies, investors and community. • SIMPs link assessment to ongoing management and address social and community issues. • SIMPs clarify responsibilities in the management of impacts, opportunities and risks. • SIMPs demonstrate a shift to include management as a core component of SIA practice.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

The influence of actor capacities on EIA system performance in low and middle income countries —Cases from Georgia and Ghana

In this paper, we aim to better understand the factors that contribute to the substantive performance of EIA systems in low and middle income countries. Substantive performance is defined as the extent to which the EIA process contributes to the EIA objectives for the long term, namely environmental protection or, even more ambitious, sustainable development. We have therefore developed a conceptual model in which we focus on the key actors in the EIA system, the proponent and the EIA authority and their level of ownership as a key capacity to measure their performance, and we distinguish procedural performance and some contextual factors. This conceptual model is then verified and refined for the EIA phase and the EIA follow-up phase (permitting, monitoring and enforcement) by means of 12 case studies from Ghana (four cases) and Georgia (eight cases), both lower–middle income countries. We observe that in most cases the level of substantive performance increases during the EIA phase but drops during the EIA follow-up phase, and as a result only five out of 12 operational cases are in compliance with permit conditions or national environmental standards. We conclude, firstly that ownership of the proponent is the most important factor explaining the level of substantive performance; the higher the proponent's level of ownership the higher the level of substantive performance. The influence of the EIA authority on substantive performance is limited. Secondly, the influence of procedural performance on substantive performance seems less important than expected in the EIA phase but more important during the EIA follow-up phase. In order to improve substantive performance we learned two lessons. Firstly, increasing the proponent's level of ownership seems obvious, but direct change is probably difficult. However, where international finance institutes are involved they can increase ownership. Despite the limited influence of the EIA authority, a proactive strategy of, for example, working together with international finance institutes has a slightly larger influence than a reactive strategy. - Highlights: • Ownership of the proponent is the most important factor explaining the level of substantive performance. • The influence of the EIA authority on substantive performance is limited. • The influence of procedural performance on substantive performance seems less important than expected in the EIA phase but more important during the EIA follow-up phase.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Incorporating energy justice into utility-scale photovoltaic deployment: A policy framework

Utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations made up 77 GW (6%) of installed capacity in the United States, as of the end of 2021. This will grow to more than 500 GW by 2050 under a mid-case projection or more than 800 GW if solar costs decline more rapidly. While utility-scale PV is projected to grow rapidly, to date, unlike energy efficiency or distributed PV, utility-scale PV has not been used to provide substantial financial benefits to underserved communities, either through ownership, financing of assets, or direct electricity bill reduction. We assess two mechanisms through which utility-scale PV could benefit underserved communities. We find that while a framework for direct electricity bill reduction can be meaningful to customers, this mechanism falls short of providing restorative justice via wealth creation for minority-owned businesses. In contrast, we find that a framework for procurement of utility-scale PV by public and private entities from PV projects that are financed, owned, and/or developed by minority-owned businesses can provide this restorative justice benefit, and thereby facilitate an equitable energy transition. We conclude with concrete recommendations for new policies and programs to ensure that the benefits of utility-scale PV systems are distributed to underserved communities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Efficient estimators for likelihood ratio sensitivity indices of complex stochastic dynamics

We demonstrate that centered likelihood ratio estimators for the sensitivity indices of complex stochastic dynamics are highly efficient with low, constant in time variance and consequently they are suitable for sensitivity analysis in long-time and steady-state regimes. These estimators rely on a new covariance formulation of the likelihood ratio that includes as a submatrix a Fisher information matrix for stochastic dynamics and can also be used for fast screening of insensitive parameters and parameter combinations. The proposed methods are applicable to broad classes of stochastic dynamics such as chemical reaction networks, Langevin-type equations and stochastic models in finance, including systems with a high dimensional parameter space and/or disparate decorrelation times between different observables. Furthermore, they are simple to implement as a standard observable in any existing simulation algorithm without additional modifications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Activities ONDRAF/NIRAS related to the decommissioning of nuclear facilities

Since 1980, the Agency is responsible by law for the safe management of all radioactive waste produced in Belgium, including decommissioning wastes. By the law of 11 January 1991 and the implementing Royal Decree of 16/10/1991, ONDRAF/NIRAS has been entrusted with a mission concerning the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. This mission involves the collection and assessment of data concerning decommissioning forecasts for nuclear facilities, the approval of facilities' decommissioning programmes, the establishment - in consultation with operators - of financing conditions for decommissioning, as well as the implementation of these programmes on request by the operator, or in the case of its failure to do so. This is the case for the company Best Medical Belgium SA located at Fleurus (MDS Nordion SA, till April 2011), which produced radioisotopes for medical applications and went bankrupt in 2012. These installations have been entrusted to ONDRAF/NIRAS. A plan of action was developed for taking over the operations in the framework of remediation and decommissioning. Steps have been taken to integrate his new role as a nuclear operator. The installations of Best Medical Belgium SA are now referred to as the 'O/N - Site Fleurus.' Nuclear facility operators, or any person requesting to operate a nuclear facility, are obliged to provide ONDRAF/NIRAS, under their responsibility and in due time, with all the necessary information concerning these facilities' decommissioning forecasts, the nature, quantities and dates of transfer of the resulting waste, and the financing conditions for these facilities' decommissioning. In order to make the necessary funds available for decommissioning a nuclear facility when it will be shut down, operators are obliged to establish provisions during the facility's active life. These provisions are calculated in such a way that the total amount established at the time of the final shutdown covers all costs resulting from the facility's final phase, namely the preparation of decommissioning, decontamination, more or less long-term maintenance, dismantling, treatment, conditioning and disposal of waste produced during this phase. In order to face to multiple and repeated evaluation processes, the Agency, already in the early 90's, started with the implementation of its own integrated data processing system, recording the physical and radiological inventories of nuclear facilities, and allowing the evaluation of the quantities of decommissioning materials and wastes as well as of the decommissioning costs of these facilities. The cost evaluations cover all decommissioning activities from final shutdown of the facility until final release from nuclear control, as well as conventional demolition and site restoration if required. Beside the information related to the inventories, the database involves so called auxiliary tables integrating unit prices of the various decontamination and dismantling techniques, unit rates for radioactive waste processing, interim storage and final disposal. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2012

Wind Powering America State Outreach Project (Final Scientific Report)

The goal of the Wind Powering America State Outreach Project was to facilitate the adoption of effective state legislation, policy, finance programs, and siting best practices to accelerate public acceptance and development of wind energy. This was accomplished by Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) through provision of informational tools including reports and webinars as well as the provision of technical assistance to state leaders on wind siting, policy, and finance best practices, identification of strategic federal-state partnership activities for both onshore and offshore wind, and participation in regional wind development collaboratives. The Final Scientific Report - Wind Powering America State Outreach Project provides a summary of the objectives, activities, and outcomes of this project as accomplished by CESA over the period 12/1/2009 - 11/30/2011.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Sensitivity of Rooftop PV Projections in the SunShot Vision Study to Market Assumptions

The SunShot Vision Study explored the potential growth of solar markets if solar prices decreased by about 75% from 2010 to 2020. The SolarDS model was used to simulate rooftop PV demand for this study, based on several PV market assumptions--future electricity rates, customer access to financing, and others--in addition to the SunShot PV price projections. This paper finds that modeled PV demand is highly sensitive to several non-price market assumptions, particularly PV financing parameters.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Breakeven Prices for Photovoltaics on Supermarkets in the United States

The photovoltaic (PV) breakeven price is the PV system price at which the cost of PV-generated electricity equals the cost of electricity purchased from the grid. This point is also called 'grid parity' and can be expressed as dollars per watt ($\$$W) of installed PV system capacity. Achieving the PV breakeven price depends on many factors, including the solar resource, local electricity prices, customer load profile, PV incentives, and financing. In the United States, where these factors vary substantially across regions, breakeven prices vary substantially across regions as well. In this study, we estimate current and future breakeven prices for PV systems installed on supermarkets in the United States. We also evaluate key drivers of current and future commercial PV breakeven prices by region. The results suggest that breakeven prices for PV systems installed on supermarkets vary significantly across the United States. Non-technical factors -- including electricity rates, rate structures, incentives, and the availability of system financing -- drive break-even prices more than technical factors like solar resource or system orientation. In 2020 (where we assume higher electricity prices and lower PV incentives), under base-case assumptions, we estimate that about 17% of supermarkets will be in utility territories where breakeven conditions exist at a PV system price of $\$$3/W; this increases to 79% at $\$$1.25/W (the DOE SunShot Initiative's commercial PV price target for 2020). These percentages increase to 26% and 91%, respectively, when rate structures favorable to PV are used.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

New Hampshire Better Buildings (Final Interim Report)

With $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Buildings Neighborhood Program, the NH Better Buildings program was established as an initiative that initially empowered the three “Beacon Communities” of Berlin, Nashua and Plymouth to achieve transformative energy savings and reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gases through deep energy retrofits and complementary sustainable energy solutions. The program also enabled those Communities to provide leadership to other communities around the state as “beacons” of energy efficiency. The goal of the program was to reduce energy use by a minimum of 15% through energy efficiency upgrades in residential and commercial buildings in the communities. The program expanded statewide in April 2012 by issuing a competitive solicitation for additional commercial projects non-profit, and municipal energy efficiency projects from any community in the state, and a partnership with the state’s utility-run, ratepayer-funded residential Home Performance with ENERGY STAR ® (HPwES) program. The NH Better Buildings program was administered by the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (OEP) and managed by the NH Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA). The program started in July 2010 and the last projects funded with American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds were completed in August 2013. The program will continue after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program period as a Revolving Loan Fund, enabling low-interest financing for deep energy retrofits into the future.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

Case Study of the Maplewood Park Multifamily Retrofit for Energy Efficiency

Maplewood Park (Maplewood), a 110-unit multifamily apartment complex in Union City, Georgia, completed major renovations under the guidance of a third-party green building certification program in October 2012. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) partnered with Southface Energy Institute (Southface) to use this project as a case study of energy retrofits in low-rise, garden-style, multifamily buildings in the southeastern United States. This report provides a comprehensive profile of this project including the project economics, findings of the building audit, and results of the analysis of energy retrofit measures specific to this project. With a main focus of energy retrofits, this report aims to discuss other aspects of multifamily building retrofit that would benefit future projects in terms of improved building audit process, streamlined tasks, and higher energy savings in low-rise, garden-style apartments. Maplewood received Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) financing via the 2010 Georgia Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). To be eligible for QAP funds in Georgia, all major renovations must incorporate energy-efficiency measures and adopt a third-party green building certification. Because of the unique demands of this financing, including requirements for long-term ownership, property owners were also especially motivated to invest in upgrades that will increase durability and comfort while reducing the energy cost for the tenants.

Kim, Euy-Jin↗
DOE OSTI2014

Selling an Energy Efficiency Loan Portfolio in Oregon: Resale of the Craft3 loan portfolio to Self-Help Credit Union

Under the Clean Energy Works (CEW) program, Craft3 developed a loan product that widened access to financing for homeowners, offered long term funding, and collected repayments through the customer?s utility bill. The program?s success led Craft3 to pursue the sale of the loan portfolio to both mitigate its own risks and replenish funds for lending. This sale breaks new ground for energy efficiency finance and is notable as it was completed even with many novel program design elements. It replenished Craft3?s program capital and uncovered some valuable lessons that may facilitate future transactions. However, the lack of data history and the unproven nature of the loan portfolio meant that Craft3 had to limit the risk of losses to Self-Help, the purchaser of the portfolio. It remains to be seen whether this experience will pave the way for more sales of on-bill energy efficiency loan portfolios. This case study illustrates how certain program design decisions can sometimes both facilitate programmatic objectives and possibly present challenges for the sale of a portfolio of energy efficiency loans.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2014

New Hampshire Better Buildings - Final Report

With $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Buildings Neighborhood Program, the NH Better Buildings program was established as an initiative that initially empowered the three “Beacon Communities” of Berlin, Nashua and Plymouth to achieve transformative energy savings and reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gases through deep energy retrofits and complementary sustainable energy solutions. The program also enabled those Communities to provide leadership to other communities around the state as “beacons” of energy efficiency. The goal of the program was to reduce energy use by a minimum of 15% through energy efficiency upgrades in residential and commercial buildings in the communities. The program expanded statewide in April 2012 by issuing a competitive solicitation for additional commercial projects non-profit, and municipal energy efficiency projects from any community in the state, and a partnership with the state’s utility-run, ratepayer-funded residential Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® (HPwES) program. The NH Better Buildings program was administered by the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (OEP) and managed by the NH Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA). The program started in July 2010 and the last projects funded with American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds were completed in August 2013. The program will continue after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program period as a Revolving Loan Fund, enabling low-interest financing for deep energy retrofits into the future.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

Benchmarking Non-Hardware Balance-of-System (Soft) Costs for U.S. Photovoltaic Systems Using a Bottom-Up Approach and Installer Survey

This report presents results from the first U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored, bottom-up data-collection and analysis of non-hardware balance-of-system costs—often referred to as “business process” or “soft” costs—for residential and commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems. Annual expenditure and labor-hour-productivity data are analyzed to benchmark 2010 soft costs related to the DOE priority areas of (1) customer acquisition; (2) permitting, inspection, and interconnection; (3) installation labor; and (4) installer labor for arranging third-party financing. Annual expenditure and labor-hour data were collected from 87 PV installers. After eliminating outliers, the survey sample consists of 75 installers, representing approximately 13% of all residential PV installations and 4% of all commercial installations added in 2010. Including assumed permitting fees, in 2010 the average soft costs benchmarked in this analysis total $1.50/W for residential systems (ranging from $0.66/W to $1.66/W between the 20th and 80th percentiles). For commercial systems, the median 2010 benchmarked soft costs (including assumed permitting fees) are $0.99/W for systems smaller than 250 kW (ranging from $0.51/W to $1.45/W between the 20th and 80th percentiles) and $0.25/W for systems larger than 250 kW (ranging from $0.17/W to $0.78/W between the 20th and 80th percentiles). Additional soft costs not benchmarked in the present analysis (e.g., installer profit, overhead, financing, and contracting) are significant and would add to these figures. The survey results provide a benchmark for measuring—and helping to accelerate—progress over the next decade toward achieving the DOE SunShot Initiative’s soft-cost-reduction targets. We conclude that the selected non-hardware business processes add considerable cost to U.S. PV systems, constituting 23% of residential PV system price, 17% of small commercial system price, and 5% of large commercial system price (in 2010). These processes present significant opportunities for further cost reductions and labor-productivity gains.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Manufacturing Cost Levelization Model – A User’s Guide

The Manufacturing Cost Levelization Model is a cost-performance techno-economic model that estimates total large-scale manufacturing costs for necessary to produce a given product. It is designed to provide production cost estimates for technology researchers to help guide technology research and development towards an eventual cost-effective product. The model presented in this user’s guide is generic and can be tailored to the manufacturing of any product, including the generation of electricity (as a product). This flexibility, however, requires the user to develop the processes and process efficiencies that represents a full-scale manufacturing facility. The generic model is comprised of several modules that estimate variable costs (material, labor, and operating), fixed costs (capital & maintenance), financing structures (debt and equity financing), and tax implications (taxable income after equipment and building depreciation, debt interest payments, and expenses) of a notional manufacturing plant. A cash-flow method is used to estimate a selling price necessary for the manufacturing plant to recover its total cost of production. A levelized unit sales price ($ per unit of product) is determined by dividing the net-present value of the manufacturing plant’s expenses ($) by the net present value of its product output. A user defined production schedule drives the cash-flow method that determines the levelized unit price. In addition, an analyst can increase the levelized unit price to include a gross profit margin to estimate a product sales price. This model allows an analyst to understand the effect that any input variables could have on the cost of manufacturing a product. In addition, the tool is able to perform sensitivity analysis, which can be used to identify the key variables and assumptions that have the greatest influence on the levelized costs. This component is intended to help technology researchers focus their research attention on tasks that offer the greatest opportunities for cost reduction early in the research and development stages of technology invention.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Market valuation perspectives for photovoltaic systems

Sandia National Laboratories, working with Energy Sense Finance developed the proof-ofconcept PV Valueª tool in 2011 to provide real estate appraisers a tool that can be used to develop the market value and fair market value of a solar photovoltaic system. PV Valueª moved from a proof-of-concept spreadsheet to a commercial web-based tool developed and operated exclusively by Energy Sense Finance in June 2014. This paper presents the results of a survey aimed at different user categories in order to measure how the tool is being used in the marketplace as well as elicit information that can be used to improve the tool s effectiveness.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗