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At least 343 records · Page 19

Clean Cities Coalitions: Advancing Affordable, Domestic Transportation Fuels and Technologies Across the Country

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office Clean Cities coalitions, which advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels and technologies nationwide. Nearly 100 coalitions serve as the foundation of Clean Cities, working in communities across the country to help local decision makers and fleets understand and implement alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction measures, fuel economy improvements, new mobility choices, and emerging transportation technologies. At the national level, VTO develops and promotes publications, tools, and other unique resources to support coordinators. At the local level, coalitions leverage these resources to create networks of stakeholders.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Clean Cities Coalitions: Advancing Affordable, Domestic Transportation Fuels and Technologies Across the Country

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office Clean Cities coalitions, which advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels and technologies nationwide. Nearly 100 coalitions serve as the foundation of Clean Cities, working in communities across the country to help local decision makers and fleets understand and implement alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction measures, fuel economy improvements, new mobility choices, and emerging transportation technologies. At the national level, VTO develops and promotes publications, tools, and other unique resources to support coordinators. At the local level, coalitions leverage these resources to create networks of stakeholders.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Clean Cities Coalitions: Advancing Affordable, Domestic Transportation Fuels and Technologies Across the Country

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Vehicle Technologies Office Clean Cities Coalition Network, which advances affordable, domestic transportation fuels and technologies nationwide. More than 75 active coalitions serve as the foundation of Clean Cities, working in communities across the country to help local decision makers and fleets understand and implement alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction measures, fuel economy improvements, new mobility choices, and emerging transportation technologies. At the national level, VTO develops and promotes publications, tools, and other unique resources to support coordinators. At the local level, coalitions leverage these resources to create networks of stakeholders.

accomplishments↗

Clean Cities Coalitions: Advancing Affordable, Domestic Transportation Fuels and Technologies Across the Country

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Vehicle Technologies Office Clean Cities Coalition Network, which advances affordable, domestic transportation fuels and technologies nationwide. More than 75 active coalitions serve as the foundation of Clean Cities, working in communities across the country to help local decision makers and fleets understand and implement alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction measures, fuel economy improvements, new mobility choices, and emerging transportation technologies. At the national level, VTO develops and promotes publications, tools, and other unique resources to support coordinators. At the local level, coalitions leverage these resources to create networks of stakeholders.

accomplishments↗

Clean Cities Coalitions: Advancing Affordable, Domestic Transportation Fuels and Technologies Across the Country

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Vehicle Technologies Office Clean Cities Coalition Network, which advances affordable, domestic transportation fuels and technologies nationwide. More than 75 active coalitions serve as the foundation of Clean Cities, working in communities across the country to help local decision makers and fleets understand and implement alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction measures, fuel economy improvements, new mobility choices, and emerging transportation technologies. At the national level, VTO develops and promotes publications, tools, and other unique resources to support coordinators. At the local level, coalitions leverage these resources to create networks of stakeholders.

accomplishments↗

A global anthropogenic emission inventory of atmospheric pollutants from sector- and fuel-specific sources (1970–2017): an application of the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS)

Global anthropogenic emission inventories remain vital for understanding the sources of atmospheric pollution and the associated impacts on the environment, human health, and society. Rapid changes in today's society require that these inventories provide contemporary estimates of multiple atmospheric pollutants with both source sector and fuel type information to understand and effectively mitigate future impacts. To fill this need, we have updated the open-source Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) (Hoesly et al., 2019) to develop a new global emission inventory, CEDSGBD-MAPS. This inventory includes emissions of seven key atmospheric pollutants (NOx; CO; SO2; NH3; non-methane volatile organic compounds, NMVOCs; black carbon, BC; organic carbon, OC) over the time period from 1970–2017 and reports annual country-total emissions as a function of 11 anthropogenic sectors (agriculture; energy generation; industrial processes; on-road and non-road transportation; separate residential, commercial, and other sectors (RCO); waste; solvent use; and international shipping) and four fuel categories (total coal, solid biofuel, the sum of liquid-fuel and natural-gas combustion, and remaining process-level emissions). The CEDSGBD-MAPS inventory additionally includes monthly global gridded (0.5°?×?0.5°) emission fluxes for each compound, sector, and fuel type to facilitate their use in earth system models. CEDSGBD-MAPS utilizes updated activity data, updates to the core CEDS default scaling procedure, and modifications to the final procedures for emissions gridding and aggregation. Relative to the previous CEDS inventory (Hoesly et al., 2018), these updates extend the emission estimates from 2014 to 2017 and improve the overall agreement between CEDS and two widely used global bottom-up emission inventories. The CEDSGBD-MAPS inventory provides the most contemporary global emission estimates to date for these key atmospheric pollutants and is the first to provide global estimates for these species as a function of multiple fuel types and source sectors. Dominant sources of global NOx and SO2 emissions in 2017 include the combustion of oil, gas, and coal in the energy and industry sectors as well as on-road transportation and international shipping for NOx. Dominant sources of global CO emissions in 2017 include on-road transportation and residential biofuel combustion. Dominant global sources of carbonaceous aerosol in 2017 include residential biofuel combustion, on-road transportation (BC only), and emissions from the waste sector. Global emissions of NOx, SO2, CO, BC, and OC all peak in 2012 or earlier, with more recent emission reductions driven by large changes in emissions from China, North America, and Europe. In contrast, global emissions of NH3 and NMVOCs continuously increase between 1970 and 2017, with agriculture as a major source of global NH3 emissions and solvent use, energy, residential, and the on-road transport sectors as major sources of global NMVOCs. Due to similar development methods and underlying datasets, the CEDSGBD-MAPS emissions are expected to have consistent sources of uncertainty as other bottom-up inventories. The CEDSGBD-MAPS source code is publicly available online through GitHub: https://github.com/emcduffie/CEDS/tree/CEDS_GBD-MAPS (last access: 1 December 2020). The CEDSGBD-MAPS emission inventory dataset (both annual country-total and monthly global gridded files) is publicly available under https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3754964 (McDuffie et al., 2020c).

Mcduffie, Erin↗

Electricity Produced from Photovoltaic Systems in Apartment Buildings and Self-Consumption: Comparison of the Situation in Various IEA PVPS Countries

Over the last two decades, grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems have increased from a niche market to one of the leading power generation capacity additions annually. In 2018 the total installed photovoltaic electricity generation capacity exceeded 500 GW. Another doubling is forecasted until the early 2020s. Therefore, the further development is coupled with the question at what prices solar photovoltaic electricity can be provided and delivered to the customers. The installation of PV systems for self-consumption is already now an interesting option for many people but in general limited to those who have access to a rooftop they own or can use. A new envelopment to enable residents of multi apartment buildings to commonly use electricity generated by a PV system (collective self-consumption) is a relatively new development and is still facing a lot of administrative and regulatory challenges.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Summary of the the 11th Symposium of the International Society of Root Research

11th Symposium of the International Society of Root Research (ISRR11) and the 9th International Symposium on Root Development (Rooting2021) - Root Biology Never Sleeps virtual meeting May 24 - 28. These meetings are generally held in separate years. However, because of travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizing committees of both symposia decided to host the two meetings as a fully-joint and virtual-only conference. Various time zones were considered when developing the schedule, as live interactions was an important focus. Scientific sessions were held from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. US Central Daylight Time (CDT) to meet the international demand. More than 700 participants from 52 countries virtually attend both events which featured 74 talks in 16 sessions including: 10 plenary lectures, 16 keynote speakers and 48 selected talks. Additionally, nearly 300 posters were presented in nine poster sessions. The meeting also featured an Ambassador Program with 21 ambassadors from 10 countries. These ambassadors organized a half-day pre-symposium workshop and produced a review of the meeting for “New Phytologist”. The meeting also awarded a Lifetime Award to Dr. Wendy Silk (Prof. Emerita University of California, Davis). Committee Members: • Bob Sharp (Chair) – University of Missouri • Felix Fritschi (Chair, Int’l Program Committee) – University of Missouri • David Braun – University of Missouri • Vicki Bryan – University of Missouri • Rich Ferrieri – University of Missouri • Laura Greeley – University of Missouri (postdoctoral representative) • Ali Housh – University of Missouri (graduate student representative) • Allison Miller – Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and St Louis University • Mel Oliver – University of Missouri • Jonathan Stemmle – University of Missouri • Gus Thies – University of Missouri & Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (graduate student representative) • Chris Topp - Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Root Biology↗

Wind Energy Accomplishments and Year-End Performance Report: Fiscal Year 2023

As the United States' largest source of renewable energy, wind is already playing a vital role in the nation's shift to electricity generated from sustainable resources. Scientists, engineers, and analysts at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are propelling our country closer to this clean energy future with new efficient, reliable, and cost-competitive wind technologies and deployment strategies. In Fiscal Year 2023 (FY 2023), NREL received national acclaim for recent wind technology breakthroughs, applauded sustained decades of progress in wind energy research, and heralded new initiatives to support the next generation of wind development. This report and NREL's achievements of the last year set the stage for innovative research to come. Two NREL software innovations used to assess wind technology options were recognized with R&D 100 Awards. The Renewable Energy Potential (reV) model helps planners, developers, and researchers calculate wind energy capacity, generation, and cost for specific facilities, fleets and scenarios. NREL's Simulation and Emulation for Advanced Systems validates transmission and distribution solutions to minimize implementation risks. Both of these tools can be applied to a range of renewable solutions to cut costs and improve the reliability of systems in even the most remote locations. The laboratory commemorated landmark anniversaries for wind energy research facilities and programs managed by NREL. The National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) celebrated 30 years as a world-class hub for renewable energy research. An important component of the NWTC on NREL's Flatirons Campus, the one-of-a-kind 7-megawatt (MW) Controllable Grid Interface wind energy research apparatus, turned 10 this year. The Collegiate Wind Competition completed its tenth annual competition in May 2023. Six years after the grand challenges in wind energy science were first compiled, NREL brought together more than 100 wind energy experts from 15 countries to revisit the field's most pressing research needs. Other key new research initiatives examined ways to simultaneously address the needs for skilled wind energy workers and equitable job opportunities. NREL released the first national-level report evaluating offshore wind industry workforce gaps and ways to build a large, diverse pool of job candidates. The lab also co-hosted the International Partnering Forum's Offshore Wind Workforce Summit as part of its ongoing efforts to address the special challenges of that industry sector. NREL research and development (R&D) for the DOE Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) continues to build momentum in its efforts to combat climate change, create clean energy jobs, and promote energy justice. This report provides more detail on these top achievements and other accomplishments made by NREL and its partners during FY 2023 (between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023).

accomplishments↗

Enhancing integrated analysis of national and global goal pursuit by endogenizing economic productivity

Analysis with integrated assessment models (IAMs) and multisector dynamics models (MSDs) of global and national challenges and opportunities, including pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), requires projections of economic growth. In turn, the pursuit of multiple interacting goals affects economic productivity and growth, generating complex feedback loops among actions and objectives. Yet, most analysis uses either exogenous projections of productivity and growth or specifications endogenously enriched with a very small set of drivers. Extending endogenous treatment of productivity to represent two-way interactions with a significant set of goal-related variables can considerably enhance analysis. Among such variables incorporated in this project are aspects of human development (e.g., education, health, poverty reduction), socio-political change (e.g., governance capacity and quality), and infrastructure (e.g. water and sanitation and modern energy access), all in conditional interaction with underlying technological advance and economic convergence among countries. Using extensive datasets across countries and time, this project broadly endogenizes total factor productivity (TFP) within a large-scale, multi-issue IAM, the International Futures (IFs) model system. We demonstrate the utility of the resultant open system via comparison of new TFP projections with those produced for Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios, via integrated analysis of economic growth potential, and via multi-scenario analysis of progress toward the SDGs. We find that the integrated system can reproduce existing SSP projections, help anticipate differential economic progress across countries, and facilitate extended, integrated analysis of trade-offs and synergies in pursuit of the SDGs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

2024 OES-Environmental 2024 State of the Science Report, Chapter 6: Strategies to Aid Consenting Processes for Marine Renewable Energy

While the marine renewable energy (MRE) industry has made positive strides in the past decade, challenges remain that stall forward progress, scaling up, and commercialization. For MRE to provide a viable solution to address the effects of climate change and achieve sustainable development and renewable energy goals, identifying and understanding barriers and opportunities to deployment is key. Barriers to date have included long consenting timelines, costly in-depth baseline data collection and monitoring requirements, and hesitancy in some countries to approve device and array deployments (Copping & Hemery 2020; Kramer et al. 2020). Some of the key drivers behind these barriers are 1) uncertainty about potential effects of MRE on marine animals, habitats, and the environment; 2) lack of familiarity with MRE technologies; or 3) challenges accessing available scientific information (Copping et al. 2020a).

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Lessons Learned from More than Three Decades of Decommissioning and RAW Management in Slovakia - 20074

The purpose of this paper is to describe utilization of experience of JAVYS Company acquired while acting as the Slovak national decommissioning and radioactive waste management entity. JAVYS manages both the decommissioning of A1 NPP (shut down after series of accidents) and V1 NPP (shut down after standard operation) and related radioactive waste management. Besides JAVYS is responsible for management of institutional radioactive waste in Slovakia. The paper is focusing on selected successfully completed projects and related lessons learned from development of special procedures and implementation of activities within decommissioning and management of generated waste streams from cradle to grave. Recently, experience and lessons learned from all aforementioned activities are used internationally to provide assistance to other countries in order to overcome difficulties and to successfully implement various projects dealing with decommissioning and radioactive waste management. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Development of New Reactor Core Configuration for Power Uprate - Fuel Reload & Heat Processing Analyses, Core Design, System Safety Assessments, and Fuel Performance Analyses

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, the United States stands at a critical juncture for the future of nuclear power. These landmark policies provide significant support for clean energy initiatives, positioning nuclear power as a key component of the nation’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions and achieve energy security. This growing emphasis on nuclear energy is driven by the need for reliable, low-carbon power sources as the country transitions away from fossil fuels. Federal policy, along with increasing state-level support, is encouraging investment in nuclear technology advancements to meet these demands. Building new nuclear power plants (NPPs), however, presents significant challenges due to high costs and long construction timelines. As a result, increasing the power output of existing NPPs through power uprates has emerged as a more feasible and cost-effective strategy. One key area of advancement is the development of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF), such as chromium-coated zirconium alloy cladding, which offers enhanced material performance, enabling power uprates in light water reactors (LWRs). Given the growing demand for nuclear energy fueled by federal policies and state initiatives, it is essential to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of significant power uprates in existing pressurized water reactors (PWRs) using advanced fuel technologies. The introduction of ATF concepts opens new opportunities for safely and economically achieving these power increases. Assessing whether these innovations can support substantial power uprates while maintaining operational safety is crucial to maximizing the potential of the nation’s existing nuclear infrastructure. This project aims to explore how power uprates can be achieved by boosting reactor thermal power output and optimizing reactor core design, while ensuring the safety and economic viability of NPPs. Specifically, it will focus on demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of power uprates in a PWR using low 5-10% enrichment uranium (LEU+) high burnup (HBU) fuel combined with ATF concepts. In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), the research and development focus on building foundational models and conducting multi-physics performance and safety analyses to support the power uprate. The findings of the study would be shared through LWRS Seasonal Meetings, conferences and workshops with utility companies and researchers. These also serve as a basis for further study of fuel reloading optimization with ATF claddings.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Representing Global Soil Erosion and Sediment Flux in Earth System Models

Abstract Soil erosion produces enormous amounts of sediment, carbon, and nutrient fluxes from land to rivers, thus playing crucial roles in global biogeochemical cycles and food security. To predict soil erosion in the context of climate and land use changes, we explicitly parameterize cropland management actions (i.e., irrigation, conserved agriculture, and crop residue management) and geological factors (i.e., lithology and glacier) in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) soil erosion module. The erosion model is calibrated using a global‐scale regionalized parameter calibration method. The spatial variabilities of the modeled and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) based benchmark soil erosion are consistent across vegetation, climate and soil properties. Compared with independent data, our model shows a bias reduction in 59% of the observations relative to the RUSLE‐based soil erosion, with 53% of the bias reduction exceeding 50%. This improvement is mainly due to a better representation of the topographic effect on soil erosion. Our results indicate that conserved agriculture practices have effectively reduced soil erosion in cropland by over 25% in the United States and Argentina. In contrast, irrigation has increased soil erosion in many Asian countries. For upland sediment flux, our model is consistent with the WBMsed benchmark data in inter‐basin variability but could be more skillful in simulating intra‐basin variability because it couples soil erosion and sediment flux explicitly. The developed model provides useful skills for more realistic predictions of soil erosion and river sediment dynamics under environmental changes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Leverage demand-side policies for energy security

Energy security is a top priority for governments, companies, and households because energy systems and the critical functions that they support are threatened by disruptions from wars, pandemics, climate change, and other shocks (1). More often than not, governments rely on policies focused on energy supply to enhance energy security while generally ignoring demand-side possibilities. Further, the indicators traditionally used to measure energy security are also tilted toward the supply side; this fails to capture the full spectrum of vulnerability to energy crises. Energy security assessments need to reflect the wider benefits of security related interventions more accurately. To that end, we develop a systematic approach to measuring the energy security impacts of policy interventions that explicitly considers energy demand (buildings, transport, and industry). Here, we determine that demand-side actions outperform conventional supply-side approaches at making countries more resilient. Energy demand links more directly than supply to the satisfaction of critical social functions and human well-being that are at the core of energy security. Yet, demand-side perspectives tend to be neglected or underrepresented in analysis and policy debates on energy security. Factors that contribute to this supply-side bias include the traditional sectoral organization of industries and policy institutions along fuels (coal, oil, and gas) and energy forms (electric utilities) as well as the decentralized and multivaried activities characteristic of energy demand (from vehicles to household appliances to manufacturing and more), which leads to a multitude of actors and institutional fragmentation. The basic fundamentals of energy systems and markets, where demand and supply are intricately linked, have also not yet risen from vague awareness to a central organizing principle among policy-makers for structuring the energy security discourse.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Why the United States? Why NRIC? US Advanced Nuclear Ambitions: History and Future

The United States is the birthplace of modern atomic technology. It was responsible for the development of the first nuclear bomb during World War II as well as subsequent decades of world-leading research into the peaceful applications of the atom for energy generation, medicine, industry, agriculture and home appliances. Today, 30 countries use nuclear power to produce energy with the United States being the largest producer in terms of total gigawatt hours (GWh).

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Lessons Learned from Site Selection Efforts for Deep Geological Disposal

This report discusses international experiences from site selection of deep geological repositories (DGR) for radioactive waste disposal. Based on experiences from three countries with recent or ongoing site selections, the report describes different site selection approaches and summarizes lessons learned. The German and Swiss programs are two slightly different examples of one end of the spectrum of potential siting approaches: Starting with the entire country, a technically based downselection is performed to select the repository site. The Canadian program is an example of the other end of the spectrum: Here, the program started with an extensive engagement program with Canadians to collaboratively develop a socially acceptable and technically sound national approach for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. This was followed by the launch of a collaboratively developed consent-based siting process designed to seek an informed and willing host with suitable sites, considering both technical and community well-being site requirements.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Unveiling the Arsenal of Apple Bitter Rot Fungi: Comparative Genomics Identifies Candidate Effectors, CAZymes, and Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Colletotrichum Species

The bitter rot of apple is caused by Colletotrichum spp. and is a serious pre-harvest disease that can manifest in postharvest losses on harvested fruit. In this study, we obtained genome sequences from four different species, C. chrysophilum, C. noveboracense, C. nupharicola, and C. fioriniae, that infect apple and cause diseases on other fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Our genomic data were obtained from isolates/species that have not yet been sequenced and represent geographic-specific regions. Genome sequencing allowed for the construction of phylogenetic trees, which corroborated the overall concordance observed in prior MLST studies. Bioinformatic pipelines were used to discover CAZyme, effector, and secondary metabolic (SM) gene clusters in all nine Colletotrichum isolates. We found redundancy and a high level of similarity across species regarding CAZyme classes and predicted cytoplastic and apoplastic effectors. SM gene clusters displayed the most diversity in type and the most common cluster was one that encodes genes involved in the production of alternapyrone. Our study provides a solid platform to identify targets for functional studies that underpin pathogenicity, virulence, and/or quiescence that can be targeted for the development of new control strategies. With these new genomics resources, exploration via omics-based technologies using these isolates will help ascertain the biological underpinnings of their widespread success and observed geographic dominance in specific areas throughout the country.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗