Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “energy efficiency programs”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 235 records · Page 13

Longhorn Business Jets

Developed in NASA's Aircraft Energy Efficiency program and manufactured by Gates Learjet Corporation, the winglet is an aerodynamic innovation designed to reduce fuel consumption and improve airplane performance. Winglets are lifting surfaces designed to operate in the "vortex" or air whirlpool which occurs at an airplane's wingtip. Complex flow of air around wingtip creates drag which retards the plane's progress. Winglet reduces strength of vortex and thereby reduces strength of drag. Additionally, winglet generates its own lift, producing forward thrust in the manner of a boat's sail. Combination of reduced drag and additional thrust adds up to significant improvement in fuel efficiency.

Source record↗

Recovery Act: Tennessee Energy Efficient Schools Initiative Ground Source Heat Pump Program

The Tennessee Energy Efficient Schools Initiative (EESI) Hybrid-Water Source Heat Pump (HY-GSHP) Program sought to provide installation costs and operation costs for different Hybrid water source heat pump systems’ configurations so that other State of Tennessee School Districts will have a resource for comparison purposes if considering a geothermal system.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Colorado Better Buildings Project. Final Report

The Colorado Better Buildings project intended to bring new and existing energy efficiency model programs to market with regional collaboration and funding partnerships. The goals for Boulder County and its program partners were to advance energy efficiency investments, stimulate economic growth in Colorado and advance the state’s energy independence. Collectively, three counties set out to complete 9,025 energy efficiency upgrades in 2.5 years and they succeeded in doing so. Energy efficiency upgrades have been completed in more than 11,000 homes and businesses in these communities. Boulder County and its partners received a $25 million BetterBuildings grant from the U.S. Department of Energy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the summer of 2010. This was also known as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants program. With this funding, Boulder County, the City and County of Denver, and Garfield County set out to design programs for the residential and commercial sectors to overcome key barriers in the energy upgrade process. Since January 2011, these communities have paired homeowners and business owners with an Energy Advisor – an expert to help move from assessment to upgrade with minimal hassle. Pairing this step-by-step assistance with financing incentives has effectively addressed many key barriers, resulting in energy efficiency improvements and happy customers. An expert energy advisor guides the building owner through every step of the process, coordinating the energy assessment, interpreting results for a customized action plan, providing a list of contractors, and finding and applying for all available rebates and low-interest loans. In addition to the expert advising and financial incentives, the programs also included elements of social marketing, technical assistance, workforce development and contractor trainings, project monitoring and verification, and a cloud-based customer data system to coordinate among field advisors and across local governments and local service vendors. A portion of the BetterBuildings grant went to the Metro Mayors Caucus (MMC) who worked in partnership with the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) to conduct a series of 10 energy efficiency workshops for local government officials and other interested parties. The workshops helped showcase lessons learned on energy efficiency and helped guide other local governments in the establishment of similar programs. The workshops covered a wide range of energy efficiency and renewable energy topics such as clean energy finance, social mobilization and communications, specific case studies of Colorado towns, energy efficiency codes, net zero buildings and solar power. Since the programs launched in January 2011, these communities have collectively spurred economic investments in energy efficiency, achieved greater than 5:1 leveraging of grant funds, saved energy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, provided trainings for a robust local energy contractor network, and proved out viable and replicable program models that local utilities and other communities are adopting, with long lasting market transformation.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

A Multi-State Model for Catalyzing the National Home Energy Retrofit Market (Final Technical Report)

In the fall of 2010, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) launched the Multi-State Model for Catalyzing the National Home Energy Retrofit Market Project (Multi-State Project). This residential energy efficiency pilot program was a collaborative effort among the states of Alabama, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, and was funded by competitive State Energy Program (SEP) awards through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The objective of this project was to catalyze the home energy efficiency retrofit market in select areas within the state of Alabama. To achieve this goal, the project addressed a variety of marketplace elements that did not exist, or were underdeveloped, at the outset of the effort. These included establishing minimum standards and credentials for marketplace suppliers, educating and engaging homeowners on the benefits of energy efficiency and addressing real or perceived financial barriers to investments in whole-home energy efficiency, among others. The anticipated effect of the activities would be increased market demand for retrofits, improved audit to retrofit conversion rates and growth in overall community understanding of energy efficiency. The four-state collaborative was created with the intent of accelerating market transformation by allowing each state to learn from their peers, each of whom possessed different starting points, resources, and strategies for achieving the overall objective. The four partner states engaged the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) to oversee a project steering committee and to manage the project evaluation for all four states. The steering committee, comprised of key program partners, met on a regular basis to provide overall project coordination, guidance, and progress assessment. While there were variances in program design among the states, there were several common elements: use of the Energy Performance Score (EPS) platform; an audit and home energy rating tool; emphasis on community based coordination and partnerships; marketing and outreach to increase homeowner participation; training for market actors; access to financing options including rebates, incentives, and loan products; and an in depth process evaluation to support continual program improvement and analysis. In Alabama, Nexus Energy Center operated energy efficiency retrofit programs in Huntsville and Birmingham. In the Huntsville community the AlabamaWISE program was available in five Alabama counties: Cullman, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, and Morgan. In Birmingham, the program was available to residents in Jefferson and Shelby Counties. In both communities, the program was similar in terms of program design but tailored marketing and partnerships to address the unique local conditions and population of each community. ADECA and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) provided overall project management services and common resources to the local program administrator Nexus Energy Center, including contracted services for contractor training, quality assurance testing, data collection and reporting, and compliance. The fundamental components of the AlabamaWISE program included a vertical contractor-based business model; comprehensive energy assessments; third-party quality assurance; rebates for installation of energy saving measures; accessible, low-interest financing; targeted and inbound marketing; Energy Performance Score (EPS) tool to engage and educate homeowners; training for auditors, contractors, and real estate professionals; and online resources for education and program enrollment. Program participants were eligible to receive rebates or financing toward the assessments and upgrades to their home provided they reached at least 20 percent deemed or modeled energy savings. The design of each program focused on addressing several known barriers including: limited homeowner knowledge on the benefits of energy efficiency, lack of financing options, lack of community support for energy efficiency programs, and lack of trained market actors including contractors and real estate professionals. The programs were able to make progress on addressing all of these barriers and were most successful in offering financing options and training market actors. The most challenging barriers proved to be the act of building a market for energy efficiency where none previously existed, convincing homeowners of the value in investing in energy efficiency (and therefore completing retrofits), engaging electric and natural gas utilities to partner on delivery, and achieving the overall project target of 1,365 completed retrofits. The components that proved to be the most valuable to program success were engaged contractor networks that could promote and endorse the program, partnerships with local business and organizations, and the access to rebates, incentives and financing mechanisms. The programs were successful in building relationships with a variety of community participants including: local contractors, Associations of REALTORS, home builders associations, universities, utilities, local and state governments, and other non-profit organizations. Throughout this program, 933 building audits and 795 building retrofits were completed making homes in Alabama more comfortable, less expensive to operate, more valuable to the marketplace, and safer and healthier for families. Continuing on this momentum, Nexus Energy Center plans to continue operating and expanding operations in Alabama as a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR sponsor and will continue to provide energy services and education to communities in Alabama.

Grimes, Elizabeth M.↗

Energy efficient engine component development and integration program

Accomplishments in the Energy Efficient Engine Component Development and Integration program during the period of April 1, 1981 through September 30, 1981 are discussed. The major topics considered are: (1) propulsion system analysis, design, and integration; (2) engine component analysis, design, and development; (3) core engine tests; and (4) integrated core/low spool testing.

Source record↗

Peak Demand Savings from Efficiency: Opportunities and Practices [Slides]

Electricity systems are designed to meet peak demand - the maximum load during a specified period, typically in summer - even if that demand occurs only a few hours in a year. Yet most evaluations of electricity efficiency programs focus on reductions in annual energy use. However, these efficiency programs are also delivering peak demand savings at an affordable cost. A new study by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) explores the program administrator (PA) cost - or the cost to implement an energy efficiency program to a utility or third party administrator - of saving peak demand through efficiency programs for electric utility customers. Berkeley Lab collected data on costs, annual energy savings, and peak demand savings for electricity efficiency programs for 52 utilities and other program administrators in 15 states between 2014 and 2018. The analysis focused on eight program types that represent 68% of the peak demand savings for the utilities and program administrators studied. The findings improve our understanding of which energy efficiency programs produce the most peak demand savings and their cost performance.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG): Better Buildings Neighborhood Program Final Report

The Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge (N2N) brought together a consortium of 14 leading clean energy rural, suburban, and low income communities throughout Connecticut. N2N was awarded $4.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) competitive BetterBuildings Neighborhood Program on August 10, 2010 to run a two-year pilot program (plus one year of transition and evaluation) (Award No. EMCBC- 00969-10). N2N tested innovative program models and hypotheses for improving Connecticut’s existing residential energy efficiency programs that are overseen by the ratepayer fund board and administered by CT utilities. N2N’s original goal was to engage 10 percent of households in participating communities to reduce their energy usage by 20 percent through energy upgrades and clean energy measures. N2N planned for customers to complete more comprehensive whole-home energy efficiency and clean energy measures and to achieve broader penetration than existing utility-administered regulated programs. Since this was an ARRA award, we report the following figures on job creation in Table 1. Since N2N is not continuing in its current form, we do not provide figures on job retention. Table 1 N2N Job Creation by Quarter Jobs Created 2010 Q4 6.65 2011 Q1 7.13 2011 Q2 4.98 2011 Q3 9.66 2011 Q4 5.43 2012 Q1 11.11 2012 Q2 6.85 2012 Q3 6.29 2012 Q4 6.77 2013 Q1 5.57 2013 Q2 8.35 2013 Q3 6.52 Total 85.31 The N2N team encountered several gaps in the existing efficiency program performance that hindered meeting N2N’s and DOE’s short-term program goals, as well as the State of Connecticut’s long-term energy, efficiency, and carbon reduction goals. However, despite the slow program start, N2N found evidence of increasing upgrade uptake rates over time, due to delayed customer action of one to two years from N2N introduction to completion of deeper household upgrades. Two main social/behavioral principles have contributed to driving deeper upgrades in CT: 1. Word of mouth, where people share their experience with others, which leads to others to take action; and 2. Self-herding, where people follow past behavior, which leads to deeper and deeper actions within individual households.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Energy efficient engine sector combustor rig test program

Under the NASA-sponsored Energy Efficient Engine program, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft has successfully completed a comprehensive combustor rig test using a 90-degree sector of an advanced two-stage combustor with a segmented liner. Initial testing utilized a combustor with a conventional louvered liner and demonstrated that the Energy Efficient Engine two-stage combustor configuration is a viable system for controlling exhaust emissions, with the capability to meet all aerothermal performance goals. Goals for both carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons were surpassed and the goal for oxides of nitrogen was closely approached. In another series of tests, an advanced segmented liner configuration with a unique counter-parallel FINWALL cooling system was evaluated at engine sea level takeoff pressure and temperature levels. These tests verified the structural integrity of this liner design. Overall, the results from the program have provided a high level of confidence to proceed with the scheduled Combustor Component Rig Test Program.

Dubiel, D. J.↗

From Policy to Compliance: Federal Energy Efficient Product Procurement

Federal buyers are required to purchase energy-efficient products in an effort to minimize energy use in the federal sector, save the federal government money, and spur market development of efficient products. The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP)’s Energy Efficient Product Procurement (EEPP) Program helps federal agencies comply with the requirement to purchase energy-efficient products by providing technical assistance and guidance and setting efficiency requirements for certain product categories. Past studies have estimated the savings potential of purchasing energy-efficient products at over $500 million per year in energy costs across federal agencies.1 Despite the strong policy support for EEPP and resources available, energy-efficient product purchasing operates within complex decision-making processes and operational structures; implementation challenges exist that may hinder agencies’ ability to comply with purchasing requirements. The shift to purchasing green products, including energy-efficient products, relies on “buy in” from a variety of potential actors throughout different purchasing pathways. Challenges may be especially high for EEPP relative to other sustainable acquisition programs given that efficient products frequently have a higher first cost than non-efficient ones, which may be perceived as a conflict with fiscal responsibility, or more simply problematic for agency personnel trying to stretch limited budgets. Federal buyers may also face challenges in determining whether a given product is subject to EEPP requirements. Previous analysis on agency compliance with EEPP, conducted by the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), shows that federal agencies are getting better at purchasing energy-efficient products. ASE conducted two reviews of relevant solicitations for product and service contracts listed on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO), the centralized website where federal agencies are required to post procurements greater than $25,000. In 2010, ASE estimated a compliance rate of 46% in 2010, up from an estimate of 12% in 2008. Our work updates and expands on ASE’s 2010 analysis to gauge agency compliance with EEPP requirements.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

The Impact of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs on the U.S. Electricity Market

This study analyzes the impact of the energy efficiency (EE) and demand response (DR) programs on the grid and the consequent level of production. Changes in demand caused by EE and DR programs affect not only the dispatch of existing plants and new generation technologies, the retirements of old plants, and the finances of the market. To find the new equilibrium in the market, we use the Oak Ridge Competitive Electricity Dispatch Model (ORCED) developed to simulate the operations and costs of regional power markets depending on various factors including fuel prices, initial mix of generation capacity, and customer response to electricity prices. In ORCED, over 19,000 plant units in the nation are aggregated into up to 200 plant groups per region. Then, ORCED dispatches the power plant groups in each region to meet the electricity demands for a given year up to 2035. In our analysis, we show various demand, supply, and dispatch patterns affected by EE and DR programs across regions.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Energy efficient engine component development and integration program

The objective of the Energy Efficient Engine Component Development and Integration program is to develop, evaluate, and demonstrate the technology for achieving lower installed fuel consumption and lower operating costs in future commercial turbofan engines. Minimum goals have been set for a 12 percent reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption (TSFC), 5 percent reduction in direct operating cost (DOC), and 50 percent reduction in performance degradation for the Energy Efficient Engine (flight propulsion system) relative to the JT9D-7A reference engine. The Energy Efficienct Engine features a twin spool, direct drive, mixed flow exhaust configuration, utilizing an integrated engine nacelle structure. A short, stiff, high rotor and a single stage high pressure turbine are among the major enhancements in providing for both performance retention and major reductions in maintenance and direct operating costs. Improved clearance control in the high pressure compressor and turbines, and advanced single crystal materials in turbine blades and vanes are among the major features providing performance improvement. Highlights of work accomplished and programs modifications and deletions are presented.

Source record↗

International Experiences with Quantifying the Co-Benefits of Energy-Efficiency and Greenhouse-Gas Mitigation Programs and Policies

Improving the efficiency of energy production and consumption and switching to lower carbon energy sources can significantly decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and reduce climate change impacts. A growing body of research has found that these measures can also directly mitigate many non-climate change related human health hazards and environmental damage. Positive impacts of policies and programs that occur in addition to the intended primary policy goal are called co-benefits. Policy analysis relies on forecasting and comparing the costs of policy and program implementation and the benefits that accrue to society from implementation. GHG reduction and energy efficiency policies and programs face political resistance in part because of the difficulty of quantifying their benefits. On the one hand, climate change mitigation policy benefits are often global, long-term, and subject to large uncertainties, and subsidized energy pricing can reduce the direct monetary benefits of energy efficiency policies to below their cost. On the other hand, the co-benefits that accrue from these efforts’ resultant reductions in conventional air pollution (such as improved health, agricultural productivity, reduced damage to infrastructure, and local ecosystem improvements) are generally near term, local, and more certain than climate change mitigation benefits and larger than the monetary value of energy savings. The incorporation of co-benefits into energy efficiency and climate mitigation policy and program analysis therefore might significantly increase the uptake of these policies. Faster policy uptake is especially important in developing countries because ongoing development efforts that do not consider co-benefits may lock in suboptimal technologies and infrastructure and result in high costs in future years. Over the past two decades, studies have repeatedly documented that non-climate change related benefits of energy efficiency and fuel conversion efforts, as a part of GHG mitigation strategies, can be from between 30% to over 100% of the costs of such policies and programs strategies. Policy makers around the world are increasingly interested in including both GHG and non-GHG impacts in analyses of energy efficiency and fuel switching policies and programs and a set of methodologies has matured from the efforts of early moving jurisdictions such as the European Union, the United States, and Japan.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Development and implementation of energy efficiency standards and labeling programs in China: Progress and challenges

Over the last twenty years, with growing policy emphasis on improving energy efficiency and reducing environmental pollution and carbon emissions, China has implemented a series of new minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and mandatory and voluntary energy labels to improve appliance energy efficiency. As China begins planning for the next phase of standards and labeling (S&L) program development under the 12th Five Year Plan, an evaluation of recent program developments and future directions is needed to identify gaps that still exist when compared with international best practices. The review of China’s S&L program development and implementation in comparison with major findings from international experiences reveal that there are still areas of improvement, particularly when compared to success factors observed across leading international S&L program. China currently lacks a formalized regulatory process for standard-setting and do not have any legal or regulatory guidance on elements of S&L development such as stakeholder participation or the issue of legal precedence between conflicting national, industrial and local standards. Consequently, China’s laws regarding standard-setting and management of the mandatory energy label program could be updated, as they have not been amended or revised recently and no longer reflects the current situation. While China uses similar principles for choosing target products as the U.S., Australia, EU and Japan, including high energy-consumption, mature industry and testing procedure and stakeholder support, recent MEPS revisions have generally aimed at only eliminating the bottom 20% efficiency of the market. Setting a firm principle based on maximizing energy savings that are technically feasible and economically justified may help improve the stringency of China’s MEPS program and reduce the need for frequent revisions. China also lacks robust survey data and relies primarily on market research data in relatively simple techno-economic analyses used to determine its efficiency standards levels rather than the specific sets of analyses and tools used internationally. Based on international experiences, inclusion of more detailed energy consumption surveys in the Chinese national census surveys and statistical reporting systems could help provide the necessary data for more comprehensive standard-setting analyses. In terms of stakeholder participation in the standards development process, stakeholder participation in China is limited to membership on technical committees responsible for developing or revising standards and generally do not include environmental groups, consumer associations, utilities and other NGOs. Increasing stakeholder involvement to broader interest groups could help garner more support and feedback in the S&L implementation process. China has emerged as a leader in a national verification testing scheme with complementary pilot checktesting projects, but it still faces challenges with insufficient funding, low local awareness amongst some regulatory agencies and resistance to check-testing by some manufacturers, limited product sampling scope, and testing inconsistency and incomparability of results. Thus, further financial and staff resources and capacity building will be needed to overcome these remaining challenges and to expand impacts evaluations to assess the actual effectiveness of implementation and enforcement.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

New Rating Opening Windows to a World of Comfort, Opportunity, and Cost-Effective Savings

Window attachments offer a huge, cost-effective energy-saving opportunity that remains largely untapped. The newly launched window attachment energy rating and certification program, through the Attachments Energy Rating Council (AERC), is altering the way people think about residential and commercial window attachments by providing reliable, easy-to-understand energy performance information to consumers. Window attachments, such as blinds, shades, shutters, awnings, and low-emissivity (low-e) storm windows, represent an enormous existing market. With 64% of U.S. homes having single- or double-pane clear (non-low-e) less-efficient windows, the savings opportunity is significant. Studies of model homes show energy savings of 10% or more after installing more efficient storm window and cellular shades technologies (AERC 2016).In a study conducted by Efficiency Vermont, 68% of respondents had concerns with their existing windows and could benefit from an upgrade (Efficiency Vermont 2016).Through AERC, window attachment products are rated based on their Energy Performance (EP). The EP metric is an easy-to-understand comparative metric created for consumers. This rating not only allows consumers to make more informed decisions when buying attachments products, but also creates a new energy savings measure for utilities and efficiency programs to incentivize energy efficient window attachment products. This paper will outline the savings potential of window attachments, introduce the AERC rating program, detail the methodology behind the Energy Performance ratings, and explain the AERCalc tool that generates the ratings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

New Rating Opening Windows to a World of Comfort, Opportunity, and Cost-Effective Savings

Window attachments offer a huge, cost-effective energy-saving opportunity that remains largely untapped. The newly launched window attachment energy rating and certification program, through the Attachments Energy Rating Council (AERC), is altering the way people think about residential and commercial window attachments by providing reliable, easy-to-understand energy performance information to consumers. Window attachments, such as blinds, shades, shutters, awnings, and low-emissivity (low-e) storm windows, represent an enormous existing market. With 64% of U.S. homes having single- or double-pane clear (non-low-e) less-efficient windows, the savings opportunity is significant. Studies of model homes show energy savings of 10% or more after installing more efficient storm window and cellular shades technologies (AERC 2016). In a study conducted by Efficiency Vermont, 68% of respondents had concerns with their existing windows and could benefit from an upgrade (Efficiency Vermont 2016). Through AERC, window attachment products are rated based on their Energy Performance (EP). The EP metric is an easy-to-understand comparative metric created for consumers. This rating not only allows consumers to make more informed decisions when buying attachments products, but also creates a new energy savings measure for utilities and efficiency programs to incentivize energy efficient window attachment products. Here, this paper will outline the savings potential of window attachments, introduce the AERC rating program, detail the methodology behind the Energy Performance ratings, and explain the AERCalc tool that generates the ratings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Northwest Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Program High-Performance Test Homes

This project represents the third phase of a multi-year effort to develop and bring to market a High Performance Manufactured Home (HPMH), which is intended to make significant progress toward performing as zero-net-energy ready. The scope of this project involved building four HPMH prototypes, resulting in what is expected to be a 30% savings relative to the Building America Benchmark. (The actual percent savings varies depending on choice of heating equipment and climate zone). Previous phases of this project created a HPMH specification and prototyped individual measures from the package to obtain engineering approvals and develop preliminary factory construction processes. This report describes the project team's work during 2014 to build prototype homes to the HPMH specifications and to monitor the homes for energy performance and durability during 2014. Monitoring is expected to continue into 2016.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Northwest Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Program Specification Development

The Hood River Passive Project was developed by Root Design Build of Hood River Oregon using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to meet all of the requirements for certification under the European Passive House standards. The Passive House design approach has been gaining momentum among residential designers for custom homes and BEopt modeling indicates that these designs may actually exceed the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building America program to reduce home energy use by 30%-50% (compared to 2009 energy codes for new homes). This report documents the short term test results of the Shift House and compares the results of PHPP and BEopt modeling of the project.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗