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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Commercial Building Energy Asset Score

This software (Asset Scoring Tool) is designed to help building owners and managers to gain insight into the as-built efficiency of their buildings. It is a web tool where users can enter their building information and obtain an asset score report. The asset score report consists of modeled building energy use (by end use and by fuel type), building systems (envelope, lighting, heating, cooling, service hot water) evaluations, and recommended energy efficiency measures. The intended users are building owners and operators who have limited knowledge of building energy efficiency. The scoring tool collects minimum building data (~20 data entries) from users and build a full-scale energy model using the inference functionalities from Facility Energy Decision System (FEDS). The scoring tool runs real-time building energy simulation using EnergyPlus and performs life-cycle cost analysis using FEDS. An API is also under development to allow the third-party applications to exchange data with the web service of the scoring tool.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2007

Implementing an Applied Science Program

The work implied in the NASA Applied Science Program requires a delicate balancing act for the those doing it. At the implementation level there are multiple tensions intrinsic to the program. For example each application of an existing product to a decision support process requires deep knowledge about the data and deep knowledge about the decision making process. It is highly probable no one person has this range of knowledge. Otherwise the decision making process would already be using the data. Therefore, a team is required. But building a team usually requires time, especially across agencies. Yet the program mandates efforts of relatively short duration. Further, those who know the data are scientists, which makes them essential to the program. But scientists are evaluated on their publication record. Anything which diverts a scientist from the research for his next publication is an anathema to him and potential death to their career. Trying to get another agency to use NASA data does not strike most scientists as material inherently suitable for publication. Also, NASA wishes to rapidly implement often substantial changes to another agency's process. For many reasons, such as budget and program constraints, speed is important. But the owner of a decision making process is tightly constrained, usually by law, regulation, organization and custom. Changes when made are slow, cautious, even hesitant, and always done according a process specific to the situation. To manage this work MSFC must balance these and other tensions. Some things we have relatively little control over, such as budget. These we try to handle by structural techniques. For example by insisting all of our people work on multiple projects simultaneously we inherently have diversification of funding for all of our people. In many cases we explicitly use some elements of tension to be productive. For example the need for the scientists to constantly publish is motivation to keep tasks short and to the immediate point. As another example, the DSS agency and it personnel are treated as integral to the effort at every step. Thus, their ways of doing things, their problems and their assets become part of the solution. MSFC also manages the Applied Science work' within a strategic framework.' First, the scientists are necessarily at the core of all of this work as well as all of the work within the larger' organization. We therefore strive to keep a roughly 50-50 balance between the work done on tasks funded directly by the research side of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and funding from the applied side. Done at both the organization level and the level of the individual, this keeps the scientist both happy and productive over the long term. We also try diligently to remove as much burden from the scientist as practical by employing people such as the authors and others to do tasks not requiring; scientific knowledge. We also have designed our effort to take full use of external partners. We actively seek and support, including fund, people from multiple organizations to join us as committed collaborators. In this we use today's money and today's problem to help us diversify and strengthen for tomorrow. MSFC also considers the Applied Science work holistically. Each element is viewed as a step in a larger process. At a management level we can chose to emphasize or encourage certain areas which service long term goals. Thus, if we think work in a particular area should be developed, we can start with the smaller, less costly elements and grow.

Rickman, Doug↗
DOE OSTI2026

Utility Managed Distributed Energy Resources Intelligent Community - UDERMS iCommunity (Final Technical Report)

The Utility Managed Distributed Energy Resources Intelligent Community (UDERMS iCommunity) project, led by PacifiCorp and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (Award No. DEEE0009782), aimed to demonstrate an integrated, utility-managed “behind-the-meter” distributed energy resource (DER) program connecting multifamily, commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings to deliver grid services and improve energy efficiency.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2010

An Integrated Architecture for On-Board Aircraft Engine Performance Trend Monitoring and Gas Path Fault Diagnostics

Aircraft engine performance trend monitoring and gas path fault diagnostics are closely related technologies that assist operators in managing the health of their gas turbine engine assets. Trend monitoring is the process of monitoring the gradual performance change that an aircraft engine will naturally incur over time due to turbomachinery deterioration, while gas path diagnostics is the process of detecting and isolating the occurrence of any faults impacting engine flow-path performance. Today, performance trend monitoring and gas path fault diagnostic functions are performed by a combination of on-board and off-board strategies. On-board engine control computers contain logic that monitors for anomalous engine operation in real-time. Off-board ground stations are used to conduct fleet-wide engine trend monitoring and fault diagnostics based on data collected from each engine each flight. Continuing advances in avionics are enabling the migration of portions of the ground-based functionality on-board, giving rise to more sophisticated on-board engine health management capabilities. This paper reviews the conventional engine performance trend monitoring and gas path fault diagnostic architecture commonly applied today, and presents a proposed enhanced on-board architecture for future applications. The enhanced architecture gains real-time access to an expanded quantity of engine parameters, and provides advanced on-board model-based estimation capabilities. The benefits of the enhanced architecture include the real-time continuous monitoring of engine health, the early diagnosis of fault conditions, and the estimation of unmeasured engine performance parameters. A future vision to advance the enhanced architecture is also presented and discussed

Simon, Donald L.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Water Heater Control

Electric water heaters represent 14% of the electricity consumption in residential buildings. An average household in the United States (U.S.) spends about USD 400–600 (0.45 ¢/L–0.68 ¢/L) on water heating every year. In this context, water heaters are often considered as a valuable asset for Demand Response (DR) and building energy management system (BEMS) applications. To this end, this study proposes a model-free deep reinforcement learning (RL) approach that aims to minimize the electricity cost of a water heater under a time-of-use (TOU) electricity pricing policy by only using standard DR commands. In this approach, a set of RL agents, with different look ahead periods, were trained using the deep Q-networks (DQN) algorithm and their performance was tested on an unseen pair of price and hot water usage profiles. The testing results showed that the RL agents can help save electricity cost in the range of 19% to 35% compared to the baseline operation without causing any discomfort to end users. Additionally, the RL agents outperformed rule-based and model predictive control (MPC)-based controllers and achieved comparable performance to optimization-based control.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Evolution of NASA’s High-End Computing Capabilities

For over 35 years, the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center has housed and managed the U.S. space agency’s largest supercomputing assets. Focused on high-end computing technologies, efficient operations, and user success, the NAS Division has worked with industry to deploy a series of highly successful systems that enable scientific and engineering achievements across NASA. The complementary role of the High-End Computing Capability (HECC) project is evolving to meet NASA’s future challenges in returning to the Moon as a pathway to Mars, while continuing exciting research in aeronautics, space exploration, and Earth science.

Thigpen, William↗
DOE OSTI2014

2014 State of Western's Assets

In this report we document the State of Western’s Assets in terms of physical equipment, financial resources, strategic direction, and human capital, both at the organizational and regional levels. We identify the condition of our assets today and share what work we will be doing in these areas in the coming years.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2015

Fault Management Architectures and the Challenges of Providing Software Assurance

The satellite systems Fault Management (FM) is focused on safety, the preservation of assets, and maintaining the desired functionality of the system. How FM is implemented varies among missions. Common to most is system complexity due to a need to establish a multi-dimensional structure across hardware, software and operations. This structure is necessary to identify and respond to system faults, mitigate technical risks and ensure operational continuity. These architecture, implementation and software assurance efforts increase with mission complexity. Because FM is a systems engineering discipline with a distributed implementation, providing efficient and effective verification and validation (VV) is challenging. A breakout session at the 2012 NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Annual Workshop titled VV of Fault Management: Challenges and Successes exposed these issues in terms of VV for a representative set of architectures. NASA's IVV is funded by NASA's Software Assurance Research Program (SARP) in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to extend the work performed at the Workshop session. NASA IVV will extract FM architectures across the IVV portfolio and evaluate the data set for robustness, assess visibility for validation and test, and define software assurance methods that could be applied to the various architectures and designs. This work focuses efforts on FM architectures from critical and complex projects within NASA. The identification of particular FM architectures, visibility, and associated VVIVV techniques provides a data set that can enable higher assurance that a satellite system will adequately detect and respond to adverse conditions. Ultimately, results from this activity will be incorporated into the NASA Fault Management Handbook providing dissemination across NASA, other agencies and the satellite community. This paper discusses the approach taken to perform the evaluations and preliminary findings from the research including identification of FM architectures, visibility observations, and methods utilized for VVIVV.

Fault Management↗
NASA NTRS2015

Fault Management Architectures and the Challenges of Providing Software Assurance

Fault Management (FM) is focused on safety, the preservation of assets, and maintaining the desired functionality of the system. How FM is implemented varies among missions. Common to most missions is system complexity due to a need to establish a multi-dimensional structure across hardware, software and spacecraft operations. FM is necessary to identify and respond to system faults, mitigate technical risks and ensure operational continuity. Generally, FM architecture, implementation, and software assurance efforts increase with mission complexity. Because FM is a systems engineering discipline with a distributed implementation, providing efficient and effective verification and validation (V&V) is challenging. A breakout session at the 2012 NASA Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Annual Workshop titled "V&V of Fault Management: Challenges and Successes" exposed this issue in terms of V&V for a representative set of architectures. NASA's Software Assurance Research Program (SARP) has provided funds to NASA IV&V to extend the work performed at the Workshop session in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). NASA IV&V will extract FM architectures across the IV&V portfolio and evaluate the data set, assess visibility for validation and test, and define software assurance methods that could be applied to the various architectures and designs. This SARP initiative focuses efforts on FM architectures from critical and complex projects within NASA. The identification of particular FM architectures and associated V&V/IV&V techniques provides a data set that can enable improved assurance that a system will adequately detect and respond to adverse conditions. Ultimately, results from this activity will be incorporated into the NASA Fault Management Handbook providing dissemination across NASA, other agencies and the space community. This paper discusses the approach taken to perform the evaluations and preliminary findings from the research.

Fault Management↗
NASA NTRS2007

Web-Based Real-Time Emergency Monitoring

The Web-based Real-Time Asset Monitoring (RAM) module for emergency operations and facility management enables emergency personnel in federal agencies and local and state governments to monitor and analyze data in the event of a natural disaster or other crisis that threatens a large number of people and property. The software can manage many disparate sources of data within a facility, city, or county. It was developed on industry-standard Geo- Spatial software and is compliant with open GIS standards. RAM View can function as a standalone system, or as an integrated plugin module to Emergency Operations Center (EOC) software suites such as REACT (Real-time Emergency Action Coordination Tool), thus ensuring the widest possible distribution among potential users. RAM has the ability to monitor various data sources, including streaming data. Many disparate systems are included in the initial suite of supported hardware systems, such as mobile GPS units, ambient measurements of temperature, moisture and chemical agents, flow meters, air quality, asset location, and meteorological conditions. RAM View displays real-time data streams such as gauge heights from the U.S. Geological Survey gauging stations, flood crests from the National Weather Service, and meteorological data from numerous sources. Data points are clearly visible on the map interface, and attributes as specified in the user requirements can be viewed and queried.

Harvey, Craig A.↗
DOE OSTI1994

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 35, No. 1, January-June 1994]

Nuclear Safety is a review journal that covers significant developments in the field of nuclear safety. Its scope includes the analysis and control of hazards associated with nuclear energy, operations involving fissionable materials, and the products of nuclear fission and their effects on the environment. Primary emphasis is on safety in reactor design, construction, and operation; however, the safety aspects of the entire fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing, nuclear waste disposal, handling of radioisotopes, and environmental effects of these operations, are also treated. Table of Contents for this issue follows. GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT: 1 Chernobyl Accident Management Actions, A. R Sich 25 The IAEA-ASSET Approach to Avoiding Accidents is to Recognize the Precursors to Prevent Incidents, F. Reisch; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 36 A Review of the Available Information on the Triggering Stage of a Steam Explosion, D. F. Fletcher; 58 Analysis and Modeling of Flow-Blockage-Induced Steam Explosion Events in the High-Flux Isotope Reactor, R. P. Taleyarkhan, V. Georgevich, C. W. Nestor, U. Gat, B. L. Lepard, D. H. Cook, J. Freels, S. J. Chang, C. Luttrell, R. C. Gwaltney, and J. Kirkpatrick; 74 An Analysis of Disassembling the Radial Reflector of a Thermionic Space Nuclear Reactor Power System, M. S. El-Genk and D. V. Paramonov; CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION: 86 Standards for High-Integrity Software, D. R. Wallace, D. R. Kuhn, L M. Ippolito, and L. Beltracchi; DESIGN FEATURES: 98 Adoption of New Design Features for the Next Generation Nuclear Power Reactors, L. S. Tong; 114 Review of Nuclear Piping Seismic Design Requirements, G. C. Slagis and S. E. Moore; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: 128 PC-Based Probabilistic Safety Assessment Study for a Geological Waste Repository Placed in a Bedded Salt Formation, S. A. Khan; OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 142 Managing Aging in Nuclear Power Plants: Insights from NRC’s Maintenance Team Inspection Reports, A. Fresco and M. Subudhi; 150 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher; 153 Selected Safety-Related Events, Compiled by G. A. Murphy; RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 158 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Queener; 168 Proposed Rule Changes as of Dec. 31, 1993; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 177 Symposium on Radioactive and Mixed Waste—Risk as a Basis for Waste Classification; 177 1995 Incineration Conference 178 Ninth Power Plant Dynamics Control and Testing Symposium; 174 The Authors

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hybrid Energy Management with Real-Time Control of a High-Power EV Charging Site

Decarbonization of transportation systems is driving higher capacity energy storage and faster charging power requirements in electric vehicles (EVs). Given the potential advantages - such as increased efficiency, reduced inverter capacity, and less total cable mass - there is a demand in the industry for more DC distribution for high-power charging (HPC) hubs. However, the cost-effective, adaptive, and robust operation of the DC-coupled HPC hub necessitates a robust site energy management system (SEMS). Validating SEMS operation using a digital twin of an HPC hub in a real-time simulator (RTS) platform is crucial before field deployment. In this study, we propose a hybrid energy management site controller designed to achieve high-level, long-term operational objectives while managing low-level power sharing control between hub assets. We develop a centralized model predictive controller (MPC) to optimize hub operating points and use these points to update the droop parameters of the site energy storage system (ESS). This approach ensures the hub follows an optimal operating point while maintaining the flexibility to respond to load surges. We tested and verified our proposed approach both offline and on a Controller Hardware-in-the-loop (C-HIL) simulation platform integrated with a SEMS framework, demonstrating real-time site operation and validating a cost-effective and robust site controller.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS2008

The NASA Real Time Mission Monitor - A Situational Awareness Tool for Conducting Tropical Cyclone Field Experiments

The NASA Real Time Mission Monitor (RTMM) is a situational awareness tool that integrates satellite, aircraft state information, airborne and surface instruments, and weather state data in to a single visualization package for real time field experiment management. RTMM optimizes science and logistic decision-making during field experiments by presenting timely data and graphics to the users to improve real time situational awareness of the experiment's assets. The RTMM is proven in the field as it supported program managers, scientists, and aircraft personnel during the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (investigated African easterly waves and Tropical Storm Debby and Helene) during August-September 2006 in Cape Verde, the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling experiment during July-August 2007 in Costa Rica, and the Hurricane Aerosonde mission into Hurricane Noel in 2-3 November 2007. The integration and delivery of this information is made possible through data acquisition systems, network communication links, and network server resources built and managed by collaborators at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC). RTMM is evolving towards a more flexible and dynamic combination of sensor ingest, network computing, and decision-making activities through the use of a service oriented architecture based on community standards and protocols. Each field experiment presents unique challenges and opportunities for advancing the functionality of RTMM. A description of RTMM, the missions it has supported, and its new features that are under development will be presented.

Goodman, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2017

Integrated Smart Distribution RD&D Project Final Technical Report

Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), tasked OE with accelerating the commercialization, deployment and integration of advanced digital systems that are needed to modernize the nation’s electricity delivery network for enhanced interoperability and cyber security. To support this mandated task, a goal of the SGR&D Program is to develop technology with the ability to dynamically optimize grid operations and resources and incorporate demand response and consumer participation. The majority of historical research and development in the domain of distribution management systems (DMS) had focused on classical, radial and passive networks with one-way power flow from transmission to distribution systems and thus to the end customer. With the focus on customers, a bottom-up approach required a completely new thinking in real-time operations, and automation, of smart distribution systems. Thus, the GE team embarked on a project with a plan of two distinct phases. Work during the first phase concentrated on research and development (R&D) for the first three years. The second phase, lasting approximately two years, accomplished the demonstration of the use cases developed during the first phase, with further sharing and dissemination of the research at industry events. The consolidated technical scope of the project can be summarized into the following six areas: Advanced distribution modeling capability to accurately simulate/model smart grid operations. Accurate representation of the distribution system in real- or near real-time (capture real-time topology). Interoperability with, and seamless communication between, other management systems and databases used by the utility Simulation of distribution systems based on real-time operational planning to analyze the benefits of smart grid assets. Integration of network, market, and renewable resource models for next generation DMS. Management and forecasting of DER (Distributed Generation, Storage, Demand Response).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

The Integrated Basin-Scale Opportunity Assessment Initiative: Pilot Assessment for the Deschutes River Basin

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Wind and Water Power Technologies Office provided funding to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Argonne National Laboratory to develop an approach for assessing a river basin as an integrated system within the context of existing uses and environmental conditions to identify opportunities for sustainable hydropower development and environmental improvements. Called the Integrated Basin-Scale Opportunity Assessment Initiative (BSOA Initiative), the project is one of seven action items of the March 24, 2010 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Sustainable Hydropower. Early efforts of the BSOA Initiative focused on forming a National Steering Committee, identifying potential basins for opportunity assessments, methodologies for stakeholder engagement, existing and needed analytical tools, barriers to the opportunity assessment process, and significant data gaps. One of the key outcomes was identifying a need for better collaborative decision-making tools that can be used by stakeholders. In response to this need, the Basin-Scale Project Team chose a scenario-based modeling approach for assessing hydropower, environmental, and other water-use opportunities. The approach involved the development of a daily hydrologic model for the Upper Deschutes River and Lower Crooked River subbasins to simulate alternative water management scenarios. Two example scenarios were constructed to demonstrate the use of the hydrologic model to explore three management goals in the Deschutes Basin: 1) increasing hydropower assets by adding new generation at existing dams or diversions and in existing irrigation canals or conduits, 2) increasing instream flows to benefit fish and aquatic ecosystems, and 3) maintaining existing water uses (primarily irrigation). Actions to achieve these goals were simulated by incrementally increasing minimum flow requirements during the storage season and reducing water demands during the irrigation season, while simulating hydropower generation at non-powered dams and in irrigation canals. As part of the effort to demonstrate scenario-based modeling, the project team also developed a web-based data-visualization interface for synthesizing modeling results. The interface allows users to view model results in raw form (daily flow) or in the form of value-based metrics that are based on specific information needs expressed by stakeholders (e.g., how often flow exceeds a conservation flow target at a certain location). In addition to the modeling efforts, 29 potential hydropower sites (14 non-powered dams, 15 canal/conduit sites) were evaluated for their technical and economic feasibility using ORNL’s Hydropower Energy and Economic Assessment tool. Results of the feasibility assessment indicated that eight of the sites (four non-powered dams, four canals/conduits) may be feasible and could add approximately 19 megawatts (MW) of hydroelectric capacity in the basin and generate over 78 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy per year. The approach presented here is intended to encourage consideration of methods that emphasize exploration of a range of potential management actions that may achieve a better balance among multiple, and often conflicting, management goals. It is important to consider the approach as an iterative and collaborative process focused on moving debates beyond agreement about an exact target that is acceptable to all parties to a discussion of how stakeholders can better understand how achieving their goals interacts with the achievement of goals by other stakeholder groups. By exploring the results of the model in this way, stakeholders are more likely to narrow the bounds of interest so that more in-depth analysis can be completed.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Commercial Building Energy Asset Score Program Overview and Technical Protocol (Version 1.1)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a voluntary national scoring system for commercial buildings to help building owners and managers assess a building’s energy-related systems independent of operations. The goal of the score is to facilitate cost-effective investment in energy efficiency improvements of commercial buildings. The system, known as the Commercial Building Energy Asset Score, will allow building owners and managers to compare their building infrastructure against peers and track building upgrades over time. The system will also help other building stakeholders (e.g., building investors, tenants, financiers, and appraisers) understand the relative efficiency of different buildings in a way that is independent from operations and occupancy. This report outlines the technical protocol used to generate the energy asset score, explains the scoring methodology, and provides additional details regarding the energy asset scoring tool. The alternative methods that were considered prior to developing the current approach are described in the Program Overview and Technical Protocol Version 1.0.

Building Energy Use↗
DOE OSTI2016

Building Efficiency Evaluation and Uncertainty Analysis with DOE's Asset Score Preview

Building Energy Asset Score Tool, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is a program to encourage energy efficiency improvement by helping building owners and managers assess a building's energy-related systems independent of operations and maintenance. Asset Score Tool uses a simplified EnergyPlus model to provide an assessment of building systems, through minimum user inputs of basic building characteristics. Asset Score Preview is a newly developed option that allows users to assess their building's systems and the potential value of a more in-depth analysis via an even more simplified approach. This methodology provides a preliminary approach to estimating a building's energy efficiency and potential for improvement. This paper provides an overview of the methodology used for the development of Asset Score Preview and the scoring methodology.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗