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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 289 records · Page 16

SPUS-Small-PDE-U-net-Solver

Small PDE U-Net Solver (SPUS) is a compact and efficient foundation model (FM) designed as a unified neural operator for solving a wide range of partial differentialequations (PDEs). SPUS leverages a lightweight residual U-Net-based architecture as a foundation model architecture. To enable effective learning in this minimalist framework, SPUS utilizes a simple yet powerful auto-regressive pretraining strategy which closely replicates the behavior of numerical solvers to learn the underlying physics. SPUS is designed to be pretrained on a diverse set of fluid dynamics PDEs from public benchmark datasets.

Siddik, Abu↗

Exploring the relationship between peatland net carbon balance and apparent carbon accumulation rate at century to millennial time scales

Each year, a peatland has an annual net carbon balance (NCB), which can be positive (net uptake), zero or negative. Over centuries to millennia, this NCB accumulates as a peat profile. Contemporary peatlands can be sampled (cored), and the past apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) can be determined as the quantity of peat carbon in any particular dated interval down the core profile. Here, we use a process-based peatland carbon and water cycle model to compare peatland annual NCB during millennia of peat accumulation to the contemporary estimate of aCAR, resulting from this accumulation. Integrating over the entire profile, the accumulated NCB must equal the aCAR, but for shorter time intervals, these two quantities can diverge. A climate variation/perturbation that leads to persistent, slow carbon loss or negligible carbon gain through enhanced decomposition will necessarily reduce the aCAR for time periods before the climate variation/perturbation occurred. Finally, this can compromise peatland climate–carbon balance relationships inferred from joint analysis of peat cores and paleoclimate reconstructions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Multi-head attention-based U-Nets for predicting protein domain boundaries using 1D sequence features and 2D distance maps

Abstract The information about the domain architecture of proteins is useful for studying protein structure and function. However, accurate prediction of protein domain boundaries (i.e., sequence regions separating two domains) from sequence remains a significant challenge. In this work, we develop a deep learning method based on multi-head U-Nets (called DistDom) to predict protein domain boundaries utilizing 1D sequence features and predicted 2D inter-residue distance map as input. The 1D features contain the evolutionary and physicochemical information of protein sequences, whereas the 2D distance map includes the structural information of proteins that was rarely used in domain boundary prediction before. The 1D and 2D features are processed by the 1D and 2D U-Nets respectively to generate hidden features. The hidden features are then used by the multi-head attention to predict the probability of each residue of a protein being in a domain boundary, leveraging both local and global information in the features. The residue-level domain boundary predictions can be used to classify proteins as single-domain or multi-domain proteins. It classifies the CASP14 single-domain and multi-domain targets at the accuracy of 75.9%, 13.28% more accurate than the state-of-the-art method. Tested on the CASP14 multi-domain protein targets with expert annotated domain boundaries, the average per-target F1 measure score of the domain boundary prediction by DistDom is 0.263, 29.56% higher than the state-of-the-art method.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Harvesting Fertilized Rye Cover Crop: Simulated Revenue, Net Energy, and Drainage Nitrogen Loss

Harvesting fertilized rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop has been suggested as a method to increase producer revenue and biofuel feedstock production, but drainage N loss impacts are currently unknown. Using the tested Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) across several N rates, spring application of 120 kg N ha -1 prior to winter rye harvest reduced drainage N loss by 54% compared with no cover crop and by 18% compared with planted rye that was neither fertilized nor harvested. Estimates of producer revenue and net energy were also positive, with 8.3 Mg ha -1 of harvested rye biomass. If confirmed by field studies, these results suggest that double-cropping fertilized rye is a promising strategy to increase producer revenue, increase net energy production, and reduce drainage N loss.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Hybrid Capture for Net-Negative Emissions

The Energy & Environmental Research Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and North Dakota ethanol producer Red Trail Energy, LLC (RTE), completed an initial engineering design (IED) for a potential hybrid capture system at the RTE CCS (carbon capture and storage) site. The RTE CCS Project is currently operating a CO2 capture facility, adjacent to the RTE ethanol facility in western North Dakota, and injecting the CO2 more than a mile below RTE property for permanent storage. This novel process would add capturing CO2 produced from natural gas boilers to the existing bioprocessing capture system to achieve a net-negative CO2 emissions industrial process at commercial scale (~310,000 tonnes/yr CO2). Initial findings of the IED showed the hybrid system to be technically viable with a moderate estimated cost of $55/tonne CO2 captured for the hybrid system. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) was also conducted, showing preliminary net-negative carbon emissions potential anticipated from implementing a hybrid CCS system at a commercial scale. Recommended next steps toward potential implementation include hybrid capture system demonstration testing for detailed engineering and LCA model comparisons with low-carbon fuel incentive programs for financial support.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Near-Net Shape Fabrication Using Low-Cost Titanium Alloy Powders

The use of titanium in commercial aircraft production has risen steadily over the last half century. The aerospace industry currently accounts for 58% of the domestic titanium market. The Kroll process, which has been used for over 50 years to produce titanium metal from its mineral form, consumes large quantities of energy. And, methods used to convert the titanium sponge output of the Kroll process into useful mill products also require significant energy resources. These traditional approaches result in product forms that are very expensive, have long lead times of up to a year or more, and require costly operations to fabricate finished parts. Given the increasing role of titanium in commercial aircraft, new titanium technologies are needed to create a more sustainable manufacturing strategy that consumes less energy, requires less material, and significantly reduces material and fabrication costs. A number of emerging processes are under development which could lead to a breakthrough in extraction technology. Several of these processes produce titanium alloy powder as a product. The availability of low-cost titanium powders may in turn enable a more efficient approach to the manufacture of titanium components using powder metallurgical processing. The objective of this project was to define energy-efficient strategies for manufacturing large-scale titanium structures using these low-cost powders as the starting material. Strategies include approaches to powder consolidation to achieve fully dense mill products, and joining technologies such as friction and laser welding to combine those mill products into near net shape (NNS) preforms for machining. The near net shape approach reduces material and machining requirements providing for improved affordability of titanium structures. Energy and cost modeling was used to define those approaches that offer the largest energy savings together with the economic benefits needed to drive implementation. Technical feasibility studies were performed to identify the most viable approaches to NNS preform fabrication using basic powder metallurgy mill product forms as the building blocks and advanced joining techniques including fusion and solid state joining to assemble these building blocks into efficient machining performs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Electrohydraulic Forming of Near-Net Shape Automotive Panels - Final CRADA Report

This report provides the results of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) project between Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Ford Motor Company intended to demonstrate the relevance of using the electrohydraulic forming (EHF) process as a near-net-shape automotive panel manufacturing technology to simultaneously reduce the energy embedded in vehicles and the energy consumed while producing automotive structures. The application of EHF by automotive manufacturers and their suppliers could significantly reduce the amount of tooling, manufacturing equipment, and material input compared to conventional stamping technologies, while at the same time producing superior, near-net-shape stampings and parts. EHF represents a highly viable manufacturing technology because of its ability to form all types of sheet materials. Furthermore, the EHF process has been used to produce prototype components for commercialization evaluations at Ford. Given the results of this project, including the tensile tests and modeling presented in this report and further work performed internally at Ford, Ford Motor Company will remain active in the development and commercialization of the EHF manufacturing method.

Soulami, Ayoub↗

Analysis to determine the maximum dimensions of flexible apertures in sensored security netting products.

Although technological advances provide new capabilities to increase the robustness of security systems, they also potentially introduce new vulnerabilities. New capability sometimes requires new performance requirements. This paper outlines an approach to establishing a key performance requirement for an emerging intrusion detection sensor: the sensored net. Throughout the security industry, the commonly adopted standard for maximum opening size through barriers is a requirement based on square inches typically 96 square inches. Unlike standard rigid opening, the dimensions of a flexible aperture are not fixed, but variable and conformable. It is demonstrably simple for a human intruder to move through a 96-square-inch opening that is conformable to the human body. The longstanding 96-square-inch requirement itself, though firmly embedded in policy and best practice, lacks a documented empirical basis. This analysis concluded that the traditional 96-square-inch standard for openings is insufficient for flexible openings that are conformable to the human body. Instead, a circumference standard is recommended for these newer types of sensored barriers. The recommended maximum circumference for a flexible opening should be no more than 26 inches, as measured on the inside of the netting material.

Murton, Mark↗

Final Technical Report for the Net-Zero Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium

The Commercial Buildings Consortium (CBC) was established in 2009, under the chairmanship of the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), as a supporting organization to the Commercial Buildings Initiative (CBI). The CBI was created by Congress through the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and launched by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2008 with the goal to “develop and disseminate technologies, practices, and policies for establishment of zero net energy commercial buildings.”. The impact of the CBC since 2009 has been multifold, resulting in increased collaboration, increased innovation, and increased demonstration and deployment. During the project performance period of 2009-2014, the CBC provided an organizational framework for sustained public-private collaboration among more than 600 commercial building professionals, researchers and educators, utilities, and government agencies at federal, state, and local level. The CBC’s research has identified emerging technologies, market strategies, and innovative public and corporate policies to help advance CBI’s zero-net-energy. Finally, the CBC worked in close partnership with DOE’s commercial building teams and the Better Buildings Alliances to identify opportunities for proving out and deploying energy-saving technologies and practices.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Oregon Sustainability Center: Weighing Approaches to Net Zero

The Oregon Sustainability Center (OSC) was to represent a unique public/private partnership between the city of Portland, Oregon, state government, higher education, non-profit organizations, and the business community. A unique group of stakeholders partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) technical expert team (TET) to collaboratively identify, analyze, and evaluate solutions to enable the OSC to become a high-performance sustainability landmark in downtown Portland. The goal was to build a new, low-energy mixed-use urban high-rise that consumes at least 50 percent less energy than requirements set by Energy Standard 90.1-2007 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of America (IESNA) as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) program.1 In addition, the building design was to incorporate renewable energy sources that would account for the remaining energy consumption, resulting in a net zero building. The challenge for the CBP DOE technical team was to evaluate factors of risk and components of resiliency in the current net zero energy design and analyze that design to see if the same high performance could be achieved by alternative measures at lower costs. In addition, the team was to use a “lens of scalability” to assess whether or not the strategies could be applied to more projects. However, a key component of the required project funding did not pass, and therefore this innovative building design was discontinued while it was in the design development stage.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Achieving a Net Zero Energy Retrofit - In a humid, temperate climate: Lessons from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa

The University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) partnered with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement solutions to retrofit exiting buildings to reduce energy consumption by at least 30% as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) Program.1 Kuykendall Hall, located on the UHM campus in Honolulu, was the focus of a CBP analysis and design collaboration among the University of Hawai’i, their consultants, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Kuykendall Hall consists of two 1960s-era wings – a four-story wing containing classrooms, and a seven-story tower containing offices – with a total floor area of approximately 76,000 square feet (ft2). The retrofit design, which uses local prevailing winds to aid ventilation and cooling and incorporates envelope and lighting elements that reduce the need for cooling, was initially on track to use about 50% less energy than the current building, exceeding the CBP’s 30% savings goal. With the addition of building-mounted solar electric panels, the retrofitted building is projected to achieve net-zero annual energy use. Achieving net-zero energy addressed an emerging challenge to the university – how to lower energy usage and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuel in the face of already-high energy prices that are forecast to double by 2040. Not only will the retrofit dramatically reduce Kuykendall Hall’s annual energy costs, but the project lays the groundwork for new campus policies and processes and low-energy design approaches and is building a campus knowledge base on low-energy practices. This project is a model of integrated design and building delivery that will be replicated in future projects on the campus.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Transformations, Inc.: Partnering To Build Net-Zero Energy Houses in Massachusetts

Transformations, Inc. is a residential development and building company that has partnered with Building Science Corporation to build new construction net-zero energy houses in Massachusetts under the Building America program. There are three communities that will be constructed through this partnership: Devens Sustainable Housing ("Devens"), The Homes at Easthampton Meadow ("Easthampton") and Phase II of the Coppersmith Way Development ("Townsend"). This report intends to cover all of the single-family new construction homes that have been completed to date. The houses built in these developments are net zero energy homes built in a cold climate. They will contribute to finding answers to specific research questions for homes with high R double stud walls and high efficiency ductless air source heat pump systems ("mini-splits"); allow to explore topics related to the financing of photovoltaic systems and basements vs. slab-on-grade construction; and provide feedback related to the performance of ductless mini-split air source heat pumps.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Transformations, Inc.: Partnering to Build Net-Zero Energy Houses in Massachusetts

Transformations, Inc. is a residential development and building company that has partnered with Building Science Corporation to build new construction net-zero energy houses in Massachusetts under the Building America program. There are three communities that will be constructed through this partnership: Devens Sustainable Housing ('Devens'), The Homes at Easthampton Meadow ('Easthampton') andPhase II of the Coppersmith Way Development ('Townsend'). This report intends to cover all of the single-family new construction homes that have been completed to date. The houses built in these developments are net zero energy homes built in a cold climate. They will contribute to finding answers to specific research questions for homes with high R double stud walls and high efficiency ductlessair source heat pump systems ('mini-splits'); allow to explore topics related to the financing of photovoltaic systems and basements vs. slab-on-grade construction; and provide feedback related to the performance of ductless mini-split air source heat pumps.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Additive Manufacturing of Near-net Shaped Permanent Magnets

The technical objective of this technical collaboration phase I proposal is to fabricate near net-shaped permanent magnets using alloy powders utilizing direct metal deposition technologies at the ORNL MDF. Direct Manufacturing using the POM laser system was used to consolidate Nd 2 Fe 14 B (NdFeB) magnet powders into near net-shape parts efficiently and with virtually no wasted material as part of the feasibility study. We fabricated builds based on spherical NdFeB magnet particles. The results show that despite the ability to fabricate highly reactive materials in the laser deposition process, the magnetic coercivity and remanence of the NdFeB hard magnets is significantly reduced. X-ray powder diffraction in conjunction with electron microscopy showed that the material experienced a primary Nd 2 Fe 17 B x solidification due to the undercooling effect (>60K). Consequently the presence of alpha iron phase resulted in deterioration of the build properties. Further optimization of the processing parameters is needed to maintain the Nd 2 Fe 14 B phase during fabrication.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Tracer gas test in Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility

The Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) at NIST was built in 2012 to support the development and adoption of cost-effective net-zero energy designs, technologies, and construction methods. It is two-story, and has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and an open living room, dining room, and kitchen space. The NZERTF also has a basement and attic, both located within the conditioned space because the thermal and air-moisture barriers encompass the basement walls and attic roof. Transfer grilles link the living spaces to these two zones. The central heating and cooling system includes an air-toair heat pump, which delivers air to the basement, first and second floors. The heat pump has a cooling capacity of 7.6 kW and a heating capacity of 7.8 kW. The indoor unit is in the basement and ductwork runs along the basement ceiling. A balanced heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is installed in the basement and has its own dedicated ductwork. The HRV supplies 47 L/s of outdoor air to the house, with supplies on the first floor (in the kitchen/dining area) and in each of the three second-floor bedrooms. Air from the first-floor bathroom and both second-floor bathrooms is returned to the HRV before being exhausted, though the HRV was turned off during the tests. The house also has a range hood exhaust and a clothes dryer exhaust, both of which were turned off for the tests. The temperature of the house was measured and the operation of the space conditioning system, including its recirculating air distribution fan, were controlled by a commercially available thermostat.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

The Net Zero World Initiative’s Preliminary Analysis of Decarbonization Pathways for Five Countries. Executive Summary

Under the Net Zero World Initiative, the United States is marshalling the forces of nine U.S. government agencies, led by the U.S. Department of Energy, to partner with philanthropies and multiple countries to cocreate and implement tailored technical and investment pathways to accelerate the decarbonization of global energy systems. In addition, 10 of the DOE national laboratories have built a consortium housed in the Net Zero World Action Center to implement this vision by providing the deep analysis and modeling required to carry out the vision.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

BTRIC Technical Support for Appalachia: FY 2023 Summary Report on Net Negative Carbon Building Demonstration with AgPod

This study investigates the effects of various concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) on the photosynthesis and biomass accumulation of crops growing in an Agricultural Pod (AgPod). The initial test crop was kale. It has been found that increasing the CO 2 concentration in the AgPod promotes higher photosynthetic rates in kale plants up to 1300 ppm (highest CO 2 concentration). An interesting finding was that net photosynthetic rates of kale leaves remain unsaturated until unusually high levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, > 1200 µmolm-2s-1) and CO 2 concentration (> 1100 ppm) are reached. Such high levels of saturating PAR and CO 2 concentration values rarely occur under natural conditions, suggesting a promising potential for carbon capture via enriched greenhouse crop production. This task is one part of an overall plan to incorporate an AgPod to utilize carbon captured from the atmosphere to achieve net negative carbon emissions in a small neighborhood or community.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Accelerating the Deployment of Advanced Energy Communities: The Oakland EcoBlock A Zero Net Energy, Low Water Use Retrofit Neighborhood Demonstration Project

This report describes the design development process and recommendations of a Community-Scale Zero Net Energy Master Plan for a residential block in Oakland, the Oakland EcoBlock. The recommended master plan includes an integrated system of energy efficiency retrofits, a direct current solar/storage/electric vehicle microgrid, alternating/direct current houses, and water efficiency retrofits with rainwater capture. The recommended master plan is projected to be close to zero-net energy (95 percent) for homes, reduce carbon emissions by 65 percent at the block scale (including transportation), and reduce water use 60–70 percent. The integrated system of energy efficiency and a direct current solar/storage/electric vehicle (EV) charging microgrid is the first of its kind at the residential block scale. This breakthrough because the deep energy efficiency retrofit savings free up enough capacity in the solar supply and storage to enable residents to switch from natural gas to electricity for heating and domestic hot water and to provide EV charging for 33 percent of vehicle miles traveled. The savings in household transportation costs are a game changer because when combined with savings in the electric and water utility bills, the total cash flow savings are projected to fund the capital improvements of the proposed systems. This project’s benefits include lower and more predictable utility bills; greater resiliency because the system can operate during outages, and vastly improved indoor air quality by reducing natural gas consumption. The local energy storage reduces peak demand for the utility. California benefits from a model that exceeds the targets for reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions and the reductions in water use address California’s severe water challenges. The Oakland EcoBlock is a transformative model for accelerating the rapid deployment of advanced energy communities.

decarbonization codes↗