Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “SALES”

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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

ESPC ESA Webinar Series: ESPC ENABLE Contract Vehicle Overview

This webinar provides instructions and resources for financing distributed energy projects (e.g. on-site renewable energy, storage, and combined heat and power) using an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) energy sales agreement (ESA) through the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) ESPC ENABLE contract vehicle. The ESPC ENABLE contract vehicle is a streamlined procurement process that uses a standard investment grade audit tool and standard contract templates. Topics covered in the webinar include: An overview of the ESPC ENABLE contract vehicle; ESA-specific considerations for ENABLE contracts; and Case studies. This webinar also provides an overview of the resources available on the Federal Energy Management Program website, such as ESPC ENABLE templates. This webinar is the fourth of a series that provides information, best practices, and resources for implementing an ESPC ESA project. ESPC ESAs are a great option for federal sites that are motivated to reduce site costs, have no capital investment funding, and cannot use the U.S. Department of Defense 10 USC 2922a authority for long-term contracting.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Status and Trends in the Voluntary Market (2020 Data)

Green power refers to renewable electricity voluntarily purchased by retail electricity customers. Renewable energy sources for green power include solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and small-scale hydropower. This report summarizes data on the various ways in which voluntary purchasers - including residential, commercial, and institutional customers - purchase green power. We summarize key historic trends in U.S. voluntary green power markets and the current status of green power sales through seven products: utility green pricing programs, utility renewable contracts, competitive suppliers, unbundled renewable energy certificates, community choice aggregations, and power purchase agreements. It includes discussion of how the voluntary market may impact the grid.

community choice aggregation↗
DOE OSTI2022

Status and Trends in the Voluntary Market (2021 Data)

Green power refers to renewable electricity voluntarily purchased by retail electricity customers. Renewable energy sources for green power include solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and small-scale hydropower. This report summarizes data on the various ways in which voluntary purchasers including residential, commercial, and institutional customers purchase green power. We summarize key historic trends in U.S. voluntary green power markets and the current status of green power sales through seven products: utility green pricing programs, utility renewable contracts, competitive suppliers, unbundled renewable energy certificates, community choice aggregations, and power purchase agreements. It includes discussion of how the voluntary market may impact the grid.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

What Is a Polyolefin? A Critical Overview of Ethylene Copolymers Used as Solar Photovoltaic Module Encapsulants

In recent years, photovoltaic (PV) encapsulant films marketed as polyolefins (POs), more specifically as PO elastomers (POEs) and thermoplastic POs (TPOs), have gained significant market share and are projected to become the dominant encapsulation films by 2030. Relative to other industries, there are significant misconceptions about the term PO in the PV industry. Both in the scientific literature as well as in sales and advertising, the terms PO, POE, and TPO are often misused to describe the same type of material with comparable properties, while in reality these may each consist of separate material classes. This paper provides a comprehensive literature and market review, to showcase a broad range of PO and other ethylene copolymer encapsulants from recent studies, and discusses the materials' properties to clarify what constitutes a “polyolefin.” In addition, to promote a clearer comparison of encapsulant properties, we propose a two‐dimensional taxonomy to categorize polymers used in module manufacturing, including POs. In terms of improving the reliability of solar PV modules, PO‐based encapsulants have several advantages (including lower water uptake and ion diffusion), but might come with disadvantages too, such as a more complex processing and a higher sensitivity to the storage conditions and shelf life. All this might prospectively impact adhesion properties of the encapsulant to other materials' interfaces (glass, cells etc.) and end‐product quality. Because the track record of field‐deployed PV modules containing PO encapsulants is also limited, we hope to contribute to better material understanding and precision in communication in PV to secure quality.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Spatial genetic analysis of coyotes in New York State

ABSTRACT The robust dispersal capability of the coyote ( Canis latrans ) would suggest a pattern of widespread gene flow across North America, yet historical legacies, dispersal barriers, and habitat affinities may produce or reinforce genetic structure. In the northeastern United States, some coyotes carry genetic signatures from past hybridization events with eastern wolves ( C. lupus lycaon ). These so‐called “coywolves” may have differential predation or competitive success compared with the western origin coyotes with whom they share the contemporary landscape. We sampled coyote populations from New York ( n = 156) and Wyoming, USA ( n = 8) in 2006–2007 and from South Carolina, USA, in 2010 and confirmed regional genetic structure among these coyote populations. Then, within the putative contact zone between the northeastern and western coyote colonization fronts (New York State), we evaluated evidence for broad‐ and fine‐sale genetic structure, and a genetic gradient among New York coyotes using a suite of spatial genetic analyses. Although broad‐scale analyses indicated New York coyotes were highly intermixed, subtle isolation‐by‐distance was detected, and local spatial autocorrelation indicated potentially shorter dispersal distances and larger group sizes for coyotes in the Northeastern Highlands (Adirondack Mountains and foothills). Yet we failed to detect a distinct contact zone between 2 coyote types in New York, indicating that local abundance and ecological context rather than genetic lineage are likely to determine the local ecological effects of coyotes in this region. We suggest that the contact zone between coyote colonization fronts has either eroded or moved further south. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.

Berkman, Leah K.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electrocatalytic Valorization into H2 and Hydrocarbons of an Aqueous Stream Derived from Hydrothermal Liquefaction

Electrocatalytic oxidation is an attractive process for valorizing the carbon and removal of nitrogen present in the aqueous waste streams at ambient conditions. Here, we evaluated the electrocatalytic oxidation as a function of applied potential over a commercial Pt electrode of aqueous waste stream generated via hydrothermal liquefaction. We validated the conversion of quantifiable carbon (e.g., carboxylic acids, alpha hydroxyacids, alcohols, ketones, amides) and unquantifiable carbon as well as nitrogen removal. The unquantifiable carbon was valorized to quantifiable short chain organic molecules (e.g., acetic). Model studies showed that carboxylic acids, alcohol and ketones converted following (non-) Kolbe chemistry. Amides and alpha hydroxyacids formed carboxylic acids that subsequently converted via (non-) Kolbe chemistry. Ammonia was oxidized into N2. The reaction rate varied for each molecule family with carboxylic acids and ammonia having the highest reaction rates. The main reaction products from the electrocatalytic oxidation at the anode were volatile, short chain hydrocarbons (i.e., olefins, paraffins) and CO generated via Kolbe chemistry, while H2 was generated at the cathode. The parallel denitrification, valorization of carbon, and H2 generation of the aqueous waste can replace and simplify the current unit operations used in a commercial hydrothermal liquefaction process. The high operation potential required to drive the electrocatalytic reaction is responsible for high operation costs; however, they can be either partially subsidized with sale of excess H2 at the current DOE goal of $2/kg H2. Thus, the present work shows how electrocatalytic oxidation can be used to valorize aqueous waste streams into volatile hydrocarbons and H2.

Electrocatalytic oxidation, Aqueous waste valoriza↗
DOE OSTI2020

Plug-in electric vehicles in China and the USA: a technology and market comparison

As the top two plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) markets in the world, China and the United States of America (USA) have developed different market structures that are influenced by government policies, test procedures, customer acceptance, and vehicle performance. There are differences in PEV test procedures and vehicle class definitions as well. This paper quantifies such differences and compares PEV characteristics and markets in the two countries using actual data collected over several years. First, although China surpasses the USA in annual PEV production because of generous PEV policies and higher charging infrastructure availability, the USA has a higher PEV adoption rate per capita (2.3 versus 0.81 per 1000 people at the end of 2017). Second, the most popular vehicle classes are A00 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in China but long-range mid-size BEVs in the USA. Moreover, China's electric and plug-in hybrid sport utility vehicle market is growing quickly. Third, the electricity consumption rated under Chinese test procedures is 20%-40% lower than that rated under US procedures. The sales-weighted electricity consumption of an average BEV in China is 23% lower than that in the USA because of larger proportions of small and micro BEVs in China. Fourth, PEV battery cost in the two countries is currently close to $210-$220 kWh. Finally, China has higher numbers of charging infrastructure, and the ratio of PEVs to public chargers is 9.0 in China versus 17.9 in the USA at the end of 2018.

China EV market↗
DOE OSTI2012

Perspectives on Permanent Magnetic Materials for Energy Conversion and Power Generation

Permanent magnet development has historically been driven by the need to supply larger magnetic energy in ever smaller volumes for incorporation in an enormous variety of applications that include consumer products, transportation components, military hardware, and clean energy technologies such as wind turbine generators and hybrid vehicle regenerative motors. Since the 1960s, the so-called rare-earth "supermagnets," composed of iron, cobalt, and rare-earth elements such as Nd, Pr, and Sm, have accounted for the majority of global sales of high-energy-product permanent magnets for advanced applications. In rare-earth magnets, the transition-metal components provide high magnetization, and the rare-earth components contribute a very large magnetocrystalline anisotropy that donates high resistance to demagnetization. However, at the end of 2009, geopolitical influences created a worldwide strategic shortage of rare-earth elements that may be addressed, among other actions, through the development of rare-earth-free magnetic materials harnessing sources of magnetic anisotropy other than that provided by the rare-earth components. Materials engineering at the micron scale, nanoscale, and Angstrom scales, accompanied by improvements in the understanding and characterization of nanoscale magnetic phenomena, is anticipated to result in new types of permanent magnetic materials with superior performance. DOI: 10.1007/s11661-012-1278-2 (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2012

Lewis, LH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Public Health Policies on E-Cigarettes

Tobacco continues to kill about 0.48 million Americans per year and there are currently 34.3 million smokers in the USA. As a consequence of the First Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco in 1964, tobacco control interventions on part of the government led to a significant decline in conventional tobacco product usage over the last few decades. However, more recently, a new entity in the form of electronic cigarettes has risen rapidly and has exposed a younger population to a plethora of dangerous consequences. Looking at e-cigarettes from the perspective of tobacco control however raises a lot of challenges. There is little doubt that existing smokers of combustible cigarettes who switch to e-cigarettes will be switching to a less harmful product. However, if the younger generation begins using e-cigarettes as a result of targeted marketing, appealing flavors and ‘safer alternative’ perception, decades of progress made in conventional tobacco control will be negated. Governments at the federal, state, and local levels have a mandate to once again implement new public health policies to ensure that non-conventional tobacco products like e-cigarettes are available as smoking cessation tools for existing smokers but at the same time do not play a role in ruining the health of future generations through addiction and disease. Purpose of Review: To review the present scenario of regulations and policies impacting public health with respect to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) with the objective of providing a meaningful and balanced view of the challenges at hand with plausible recommendations. Recent Findings: Nicotine in tobacco is known to cause addiction and dependence. It is particularly potent in children and young adults. E-cigarettes can deliver high concentrations of nicotine, and these concentrations can vary depending on the numerous constituents within the e-cigarette which vary greatly from one another. Use of e-cigarettes is implicated as a risk factor for future cigarette use in young adults. Moreover, e-cigarette usage patterns also depend on several sociodemographic factors. Banning tobacco products has shown to reduce smoking risk in youth and as such, strong e-cigarette regulation measures are needed for prevention. Summary: Effective regulation of ENDS faces a multitude of challenges. One such challenge is to prevent youth and non-smokers from getting habituated to nicotine through e-cigarettes. The intention of tobacco companies to sustain sales through harmful marketing strategies that tone down the risks and highlight e-cigarettes as a “much safer alternative” while promoting flavors appealing to children should be immediately prohibited. Another hazard is the endorsement of ENDS as devices meant for enhancing social interaction which opens a path for youth to make erroneous choices under peer pressure. On the other hand, several studies have reported that e-cigarettes significantly reduce an existing smoker’s risk of being exposed to toxic tobacco smoke constituents that are normally present in cigarette smoke. This leads to the conclusions that e-cigarettes can be a tool for smoking cessation for current smokers. Public policy must take a multi-dimensional approach to balance these two extremes.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Thermal performance and potential annual energy impact of retrofit thin-glass triple-pane glazing in US residential buildings

Heat transfer through the building envelope and associated air leakage comprise the largest HVAC loads in most climates, and windows, which are known as the weakest link in the thermal envelope, are responsible for about 5 Quads, or approximately 10%, of building energy use. Therefore, windows offer a significant opportunity for building energy savings. High performance windows, such as triple glazing, though comprised of less than 2% of all US window sales in 2016 and has remained stagnant because they typically require a full and expensive redesign of the typical window sash and frame. One potential low incremental cost solution to kick start the market is upgrading the glazing with a thin-glass triple-pane design that does not require modifications to existing frame and sash. Here in this work, we first define the characteristics and performance of current “typical” residential windows through an examination of the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) Certified Products Directory (CPD). With knowledge of the typical window, we determine the potential thermal performance impact of replacing typical glazing with thin-glass triple-pane glazing. Finally, with an understanding of the potential improvements to traditional performance metrics, such as U-factor, we show the energy savings potential of the thin-triple glazing in place of typical low-e windows in residential buildings is 16% in heating dominated climates such as Minneapolis, MN, 12% in mixed climates such as Washington DC, and 7% in cooling dominated climates such as Houston, TX.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Developing an integrated hub location and revenue management model considering multi-classes of customers in the airline industry

The hub location and revenue management problems are two interesting research fields in the transportation and network design studies. The hub location model designs the transportation network structure and the revenue management model allocates the network’s capacity for customer classes based on their sensitivity to prices. In this paper, we consider the integrated hub location and revenue management problem in the airline industry to maximize the revenue of transportation network and minimize hub installation costs. p hubs have been chosen from a set of n nodes and connected to a central node based on star–star network design. The capacity of the installed links between the hubs and the central node and the hubs and non-hub nodes is limited. This limited capacity has been allocated to the stochastic demands of customer classes using the revenue management approach. A two-stage stochastic model has been derived to determine the locations of hubs and protection levels in the ticket sale process, and an efficient modification of genetic algorithm has been proposed for the large-scale problems. Numerical experiments have been carried out to assess the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Range cost-effectiveness of plug-in electric vehicle for heterogeneous consumers: An expanded total ownership cost approach

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) appears to have sales momentum in major personal vehicle markets but are still at the early market stage. Opportunities to accelerate PEV adoption can be discovered through comprehensive total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis. Understanding the cost-effective electric ranges of PEVs for consumers, manufacturers, and the society is critical for any discussion of PEV mass markets. This study expanded the traditional TCO approach by (1) fully considering heterogeneous consumer driving patterns, (2) quantifying the charging inconvenience and range anxiety cost of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), and (3) monetizing both tangible and intangible PEV policies. Uncertainties were handled through Monte Carlo simulation. The results suggest that BEVs with an electric range of 250–350 km have the lowest TCO in cities with government-enacted purchase limitations, and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) have the lowest TCO in cities without purchase limitations, even when considering PEV subsidies. The lowest TCO for some consumer groups is obtained by BEVs with an electric range of 400–450 km, especially in northern China, where the weather is colder. The cost-effective all-electric range for BEVs in each city in 2025 will decrease due to improved battery performance in cold environments and an expanded charging infrastructure. Finally, based on TCO, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are currently more suitable for drivers with a high average daily mileage or a large mileage variance. However, by 2025, BEVs with a long driving range may become a more cost-effective choice for these drivers.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Technoeconomic assessment of hydrogen cogeneration via high temperature steam electrolysis with a light-water reactor

Increased electricity production from renewable energy resources, coupled with low natural gas (NG) prices, has caused existing light-water reactors (LWRs) to experience diminishing returns from the electricity market. This reduction in revenue is forcing LWRs to consider alternative revenue streams, such as introduction hydrogen production or desalination, to remain profitable. This paper performs a technoeconomic assessment (TEA) regarding the viability of retrofitting existing pressurized-water reactors (PWRs) to produce green hydrogen (H 2 ) via high-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE). Such an integration would allow nuclear facilities to expand into additional markets that may be more profitable in the long term and eliminate CO 2 emissions from the hydrogen production process. Here, to accommodate such an integration, a detailed single market levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) and multimarket analyses were conducted of HTSE process operation, requirements, costing, and flexibility. Alongside this costing analysis, market analyses were conducted on the electric and hydrogen markets in the PJM interconnect. Utilizing a novel stochastic, dispatch optimization approach results suggest that a positive gain is achievable, and by operating in multiple markets, the nuclear facility can avoid the sale of electricity during times of low electricity market pricing, while maintaining the ability to capitalize on the high electricity market pricing. It should be noted that the analysis conducted is a differential cash flow analysis and, as such, does not present profit levels. LCOH analysis results demonstrate the potential exists to produce hydrogen at a cost as low as $1.20/kg. This price is lower than traditional steam methane reforming (SMR) allowing nuclear based hydrogen production to disrupt the existing hydrogen production market.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The value of concentrating solar power in ancillary services markets

Ancillary services, such as spinning reserves, can provide grid reliability and contribute to profitability of an energy resource. We exercise an existing dispatch optimization model to estimate the profitability of a concentrating solar power plant by incorporating the sale of spinning reserves in the ancillary service market using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model to simulate operations within a 72-h rolling horizon framework. Assuming a price-taker approach with day-ahead energy and spinning reserve prices from both the California Independent System Operator and the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, we find that selling spinning reserves in addition to electric energy increases plant profitability by up to 7% with perfect knowledge of day-ahead pricing and solar resource availability. Here, this finding suggests that spinning reserve markets provide significant value streams to concentrating solar power plants that can leverage thermal energy storage to offer reliable production in the short-to-medium term.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

A computationally efficient algorithm for computing convex hull prices

Electricity markets worldwide allow participants to bid non-convex production offers. While non-convex offers can more accurately reflect a resource's capabilities, they create challenges for market clearing processes. For example, system operators may be required to execute side payments to participants whose costs are not covered through energy sales as determined via traditional locational marginal pricing schemes. Convex hull pricing minimizes this and other types of side payments while providing uniform (i.e., locationally and temporally consistent) prices. Computing convex hull prices involves solving either a large-scale linear program or the Lagrangian dual of the corresponding non-convex scheduling problem. Further, the former approach requires explicit descriptions of market participants' convex hulls. While linear programs for computing convex hull prices are large, their structure is naturally decomposable by generators. Here, in this work, we propose and empirically analyze a Benders decomposition approach to computing convex hull prices that leverages recent advances in convex hull formulations for thermal generating units. We demonstrate across a large set of test instances that our decomposition approach only requires modest computational effort, obtaining solutions at least an order of magnitude faster than the equivalent large-scale linear programming approach. Overall, we provide a computationally feasible method for computing convex hull prices for industrial scale market clearing problems, enabling the possibility of practical adoption of this advanced pricing mechanism.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Chemical supply chain modeling for analysis of homeland security events

The potential impacts of man-made and natural disasters on chemical plants, complexes, and supply chains are of great importance to homeland security. To be able to estimate these impacts, we developed an agent-based chemical supply chain model that includes: chemical plants with enterprise operations such as purchasing, production scheduling, and inventories; merchant chemical markets, and multi-modal chemical shipments. Large-scale simulations of chemical-plant activities and supply chain interactions, running on desktop computers, are used to estimate the scope and duration of disruptive-event impacts, and overall system resilience, based on the extent to which individual chemical plants can adjust their internal operations (e.g., production mixes and levels) versus their external interactions (market sales and purchases, and transportation routes and modes). As a result, to illustrate how the model estimates the impacts of a hurricane disruption, a simple example model centered on 1,4-butanediol is presented.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗