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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Powering a Home with Just 25 Watts of Solar PV. Super-Efficient Appliances Can Enable Expanded Off-Grid Energy Service Using Small Solar Power Systems

Highly efficient direct current (DC) appliances have the potential to dramatically increase the affordability of off-grid solar power systems used for rural electrification in developing countries by reducing the size of the systems required. For example, the combined power requirement of a highly efficient color TV, four DC light emitting diode (LED) lamps, a mobile phone charger, and a radio is approximately 18 watts and can be supported by a small solar power system (at 27 watts peak, Wp). Price declines and efficiency advances in LED technology are already enabling rapidly increased use of small off-grid lighting systems in Africa and Asia. Similar progress is also possible for larger household-scale solar home systems that power appliances such as lights, TVs, fans, radios, and mobile phones. When super-efficient appliances are used, the total cost of solar home systems and their associated appliances can be reduced by as much as 50%. The results vary according to the appliances used with the system. These findings have critical relevance for efforts to provide modern energy services to the 1.2 billion people worldwide without access to the electrical grid and one billion more with unreliable access. However, policy and market support are needed to realize rapid adoption of super-efficient appliances.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1975

Crew appliance concepts. Volume 1, appendix A: Bibliography

A review of crew appliance related literature was made to provide background engineering information for development of conceptual appliance systems for the shuttle orbiter and the modular space station. From this review, a file containing abstracts of 299 appliance-related documents coded according to subject was developed along with a computerized bibliography of 682 references. Trade studies were conducted using information from these references to determine the optimum concepts to satisfy the shuttle and space station mission requirements. An appliance system was devised for each vehicle which has minimum impact to the respective environmental control system with the smallest possible weight, volume, and electrical penalty. Engineering parameters for each appliance concept considered are presented along with the total thermal and electrical loads and weight and volume penalties for each of the optimized appliance systems.

Proctor, B. W.↗
DOE OSTI2012

Impact of Natural Gas Appliances on Pollutant Levels in California Homes

This report presents results from the first year of a 2-year study, investigating associations of five air pollutants (CO, NO 2 , NO X , formaldehyde and acetaldehyde) with the presence of natural gas appliances in California homes. From November 2011 to March 2012, pollutant concentration and occupant activity data were collected in 155 homes for 6-day periods. The sample population included both single-family (68%) and multi-family (32%) dwellings, with 87% having at least one gas appliance and 77% having an unvented gas cooking appliance. The geometric mean (GM) NO 2 levels measured in the kitchen, bedroom and outside of homes were similar at values of 15, 12 and 11 ppb, respectively. In contrast, the GM NO X levels measured in the kitchen and bedroom of homes were much higher than levels measured outdoors, at levels of 42 and 41 ppb, compared to 19 ppb, respectively. Roughly 10% of sampled homes had 6-day average NO2 levels that exceeded the outdoor annual average limit set by the California Ambient Air Quality Standards (CAAQS) (30 ppb). The GMs of the highest 1-h and 8-h CO level measured in homes were 2.5 and 1.1 ppm, respectively. Four homes had a 1-h or 8-h concentration that exceeded the outdoor limits set by the CAAQS. The GM formaldehyde and acetaldehyde concentrations measured in homes were 15 and 7 ppb, respectively. Roughly 95% of homes had average formaldehyde levels indoors that exceeded the Chronic Reference Exposure Level set by the California EPA (7 ppb). Concentrations of NO 2 and NO X , and to a lesser extent CO were associated with use of gas appliances, particularly unvented gas cooking appliances. Based on first principles, it is expected that effective venting of cooking pollutant emissions at the source will lead to a reduction of pollutant concentrations. However, no statistical association was detected between kitchen exhaust fan use and pollutant concentrations in homes in this study where gas cooking occurred frequently. The lack of statistical

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Characterizing electrical demand and load diversity of low-power water and space heating appliances in US homes

Home renovation and remodeling projects can involve costly and time consuming electrical infrastructure upgrades at the household level. From the grid perspective they also lead to costly replacement of local infrastructure, such as transformers, and can add stress to the grid at peak times. The emergence of innovative, power-efficient household appliances offers a way to minimize these problems. These appliances are designed for lower power consumption, simplifying installation through standard plug-in connections, reducing the need for new electric circuits/panels/service, and minimizing the peak power demand for the home. Key examples include low-power heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) and cold climate window heat pumps that operate on standard 120V outlets. To assess the real-world impact of these solutions, we compiled and analyzed power metering data from several US field studies. This data provides insights into the effects on peak power demand of selecting lower-power appliances. Our analysis focuses on several key metrics, including the maximum power demand of individual appliances, their operational runtime, continuous operation and load diversity. While individual low-power 120V space and water heating appliances offer significant peak demand reductions compared to 240V heat pump or resistance alternatives, their longer runtimes might increase the likelihood of operation during whole-dwelling peak events, albeit at lower power levels.

Less, Brennan↗
DOE OSTI2013

Avoided electricity subsidy payments can finance substantial appliance efficiency incentive programs: Case study of Mexico

Numerous countries use taxpayer funds to subsidize residential electricity for a variety of socioeconomic objectives. These subsidies lower the value of energy efficiency to the consumer while raising it for the government. Further, while it would be especially helpful to have stringent Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for appliances and buildings in this environment, they are hard to strengthen without imposing a cost on ratepayers. In this secondbest world, where the presence of subsidies limits the government’s ability to strengthen standards, we find that avoided subsidies are a readily available source of financing for energy efficiency incentive programs. Here, we introduce the LBNL Energy Efficiency Revenue Analysis (LEERA) model to estimate the appliance efficiency improvements that can be achieved in Mexico by the revenue neutral financing of incentive programs from avoided subsidy payments. LEERA uses the detailed techno-economic analysis developed by LBNL for the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative to calculate the incremental costs of appliance efficiency improvements. We analyze Mexico’s tariff structures and the long-run marginal cost of supply to calculate the marginal savings for the government from appliance efficiency. We find that avoided subsidy payments alone can finance incentive programs that cover the full incremental cost of refrigerators that are 27% more efficient and TVs that are 32% more efficient than baseline models. We find less substantial market transformation potential for room ACs primarily because AC energy savings occur at less subsidized tariffs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Detailed Modeling and Response of Demand Response Enabled Appliances

Proper modeling of end use loads is very important in order to predict their behavior, and how they interact with the power system, including voltage and temperature dependencies, power system and load control functions, and the complex interactions that occur between devices in such an interconnected system. This paper develops multi-state time variant residential appliance models with demand response enabled capabilities in the GridLAB-DTM simulation environment. These models represent not only the baseline instantaneous power demand and energy consumption, but the control systems developed by GE Appliances to enable response to demand response signals and the change in behavior of the appliance in response to the signal. These DR enabled appliances are simulated to estimate their capability to reduce peak demand and energy consumption.

demand response↗
DOE OSTI2011

Appliance Commitment for Household Load Scheduling

This paper presents a novel appliance commitment algorithm that schedules thermostatically-controlled household loads based on price and consumption forecasts considering users comfort settings to meet an optimization objective such as minimum payment or maximum comfort. The formulation of an appliance commitment problem was described in the paper using an electrical water heater load as an example. The thermal dynamics of heating and coasting of the water heater load was modeled by physical models; random hot water consumption was modeled with statistical methods. The models were used to predict the appliance operation over the scheduling time horizon. User comfort was transformed to a set of linear constraints. Then, a novel linear, sequential, optimization process was used to solve the appliance commitment problem. The simulation results demonstrate that the algorithm is fast, robust, and flexible. The algorithm can be used in home/building energy-management systems to help household owners or building managers to automatically create optimal load operation schedules based on different cost and comfort settings and compare cost/benefits among schedules.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2011

Max Tech and Beyond: Maximizing Appliance and Equipment Efficiency by Design

It is well established that energy efficiency is most often the lowest cost approach to reducing national energy use and minimizing carbon emissions. National investments in energy efficiency to date have been highly cost-effective. The cumulative impacts (out to 2050) of residential energy efficiency standards are expected to have a benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.71:1. This project examined energy end-uses in the residential, commercial, and in some cases the industrial sectors. The scope is limited to appliances and equipment, and does not include building materials, building envelopes, and system designs. This scope is consistent with the scope of DOE's appliance standards program, although many products considered here are not currently subject to energy efficiency standards. How much energy could the United States save if the most efficient design options currently feasible were adopted universally? What design features could produce those savings? How would the savings from various technologies compare? With an eye toward identifying promising candidates and strategies for potential energy efficiency standards, the Max Tech and Beyond project aims to answer these questions. The analysis attempts to consolidate, in one document, the energy savings potential and design characteristics of best-on-market products, best-engineered products (i.e., hypothetical products produced using best-on-market components and technologies), and emerging technologies in research & development. As defined here, emerging technologies are fundamentally new and are as yet unproven in the market, although laboratory studies and/or emerging niche applications offer persuasive evidence of major energy-savings potential. The term 'max tech' is used to describe both best-engineered and emerging technologies (whichever appears to offer larger savings). Few best-on-market products currently qualify as max tech, since few apply all available best practices and components. The three primary analyses presented in this report are: Nevertheless, it is important to analyze best-on-market products, since data on truly max tech technologies are limited. (1) an analysis of the cross-cutting strategies most promising for reducing appliance and equipment energy use in the U.S.; (2) a macro-analysis of the U.S. energy-saving potential inherent in promising ultra-efficient appliance technologies; and (3) a product-level analysis of the energy-saving potential.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measure Guideline: Combustion Safety for Natural Draft Appliances Using Indoor Air

This Measure Guideline covers how to assess and carry out the combustion safety procedures for appliances and heating equipment that uses indoor air for combustion in low-rise residential buildings. Only appliances installed in the living space, or in an area freely communicating with the living space, vented alone or in tandem with another appliance are considered here. A separate Measure Guideline addresses combustion appliances located either within the living space in enclosed closets or side rooms or outside the living space in an adjacent area like an attic or garage that use outdoor air for combustion. This document is for inspectors, auditors, and technicians working in homes where energy upgrades are being conducted whether or not air infiltration control is included in the package of measures being applied. In the indoor combustion air case, guidelines summarized here are based on language provided in several of the codes to establish minimum requirements for the space using simplified prescriptive measures. In addition, building performance testing procedures are provided by testing agencies. The codes in combination with the test procedures offer comprehensive combustion safety coverage to address safety concerns, allowing inexperienced residential energy retrofit inspectors to effectively address combustion safety issues and allow energy retrofits to proceed.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Combustion Safety for Appliances Using Indoor Air (Fact Sheet)

This measure guideline covers how to assess and carry out the combustion safety procedures for appliances and heating equipment that uses indoor air for combustion in low-rise residential buildings. Only appliances installed in the living space, or in an area freely communicating with the living space, vented alone or in tandem with another appliance are considered here. A separate measure guideline addresses combustion appliances located either within the living space in enclosed closets or side rooms or outside the living space in an adjacent area like an attic or garage that use outdoor air for combustion. This document is for inspectors, auditors, and technicians working in homes where energy upgrades are being conducted whether or not air infiltration control is included in the package of measures being applied. In the indoor combustion air case, guidelines summarized here are based on language provided in several of the codes to establish minimum requirements for the space using simplified prescriptive measures. In addition, building performance testing procedures are provided by testing agencies. The codes in combination with the test procedures offer comprehensive combustion safety coverage to address safety concerns, allowing inexperienced residential energy retrofit inspectors to effectively address combustion safety issues and allow energy retrofits to proceed.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Predicting Backdrafting and Spillage for Natural-Draft Gas Combustion Appliances: Validating VENT-II

VENT-II is a computer program designed to provide detailed analysis of natural draft and induced draft combustion appliance vent-systems (i.e., furnace or water heater). This program is capable of predicting house depressurization thresholds that lead to backdrafting and spillage of combustion appliances; however, validation reports of the program being applied for this purpose are not readily available. The purpose of this report is to assess VENT-II’s ability to predict combustion gas spillage events due to house depressurization by comparing VENT-II simulated results with experimental data for four appliance configurations. The results show that VENT-II correctly predicts depressurizations resulting in spillage for natural draft appliances operating in cold and mild outdoor conditions, but not for hot conditions. In the latter case, the predicted depressurizations depend on whether the vent section is defined as part of the vent connector or the common vent when setting up the model. Overall, the VENTII solver requires further investigation before it can be used reliably to predict spillage caused by depressurization over a full year of weather conditions, especially where hot conditions occur.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measure Guideline: Combustion Safety for Natural Draft Appliances Using Indoor Air

This measure guideline covers how to assess and carry out the combustion safety procedures for appliances and heating equipment that uses indoor air for combustion in low-rise residential buildings. Only appliances installed in the living space, or in an area freely communicating with the living space, vented alone or in tandem with another appliance are considered here. A separate measure guideline addresses combustion appliances located either within the living space in enclosed closets or side rooms or outside the living space in an adjacent area like an attic or garage that use outdoor air for combustion. This document is for inspectors, auditors, and technicians working in homes where energy upgrades are being conducted whether or not air infiltration control is included in the package of measures being applied. In the indoor combustion air case, guidelines summarized here are based on language provided in several of the codes to establish minimum requirements for the space using simplified prescriptive measures. In addition, building performance testing procedures are provided by testing agencies. The codes in combination with the test procedures offer comprehensive combustion safety coverage to address safety concerns, allowing inexperienced residential energy retrofit inspectors to effectively address combustion safety issues and allow energy retrofits to proceed.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2017

Research and Development of Natural Draft Ultra-Low Emissions Burners for Gas Appliances

Combustion systems used in residential and commercial cooking appliances must be robust and easy to use while meeting air quality standards. Current air quality standards for cooking appliances are far greater than other stationary combustion equipment. By developing an advanced low emission combustion system for cooking appliances, the air quality impacts from these devices can be reduced. This project adapted the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Ring-Stabilizer Burner combustion technology for residential and commercial natural gas fired cooking appliances (such as ovens, ranges, and cooktops). LBNL originally developed the Ring-Stabilizer Burner for a NASA funded microgravity experiment. This natural draft combustion technology reduces NOx emissions significantly below current SCAQMD emissions standards without post combustion treatment. Additionally, the Ring-Stabilizer Burner technology does not require the assistance of a blower to achieve an ultra-low emission lean premix flame. The research team evaluated the Ring-Stabilizer Burner and fabricated the most promising designs based on their emissions and turndown.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program (SEEARP) Reports

The State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program (SEEARP) reports database includes rebate reports (xls) and summary factsheets (pdf) from states and territories that participated in SEEARP. With funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed SEEARP to spur economic activity and invest in long-term energy savings by helping consumers replace older, inefficient appliances with new, efficient models. SEEARP provided almost $300 million to the 56 U.S. states and territories to support state-level consumer rebate programs for efficient appliances from December 1, 2009 to February 17, 2012. The successes and challenges of SEEARP provide valuable lessons for designing and running a consumer-focused appliance rebate program. In addition to the SEEARP reports database, the two reports included provide a results and program design lessons.

appliances↗
DOE OSTI2021

Consumer Guide to Kitchen Appliances

Learn how reducing energy and water consumption in the kitchen means choosing your new appliances with care and using your existing ones more efficiently. This fact sheet from Energy Saver includes information on ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances, including refrigerators and freezers and dishwashers. Also learn what to look for when shopping for appliances, as well as practices for saving energy and money when using your kitchen appliances.

appliances, ENERGY STAR, EnergyGuide, refrigerator↗
DOE OSTI2019

Data-Driven Load Modeling and Forecasting of Residential Appliances

The expansion of residential demand side management programs and increased deployment of controllable loads require accurate appliance-level load modeling and forecasting. This paper proposes a conditional hidden semi-Markov model to describe the probabilistic nature of residential appliance demand. Model parameters are estimated directly from power consumption data using scalable statistical learning methods. We also propose an algorithm for short-term load forecasting as a key application for appliance-level load models. Case studies performed using granular sub-metered power measurements from various types of appliances demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed load model for short-term prediction.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

Evaluation of Waste Heat Recovery and Utilization from Residential Appliances and Fixtures

Executive Summary In every home irrespective of its size, location, age, or efficiency, heat in the form of drainwater or dryer exhaust is wasted. Although from a waste stream, this energy has the potential for being captured, possibly stored, and then reused for preheating hot water or air thereby saving operating costs to the homeowner. In applications such as a shower and possibly a dryer, waste heat is produced at the same time as energy is used, so that a heat exchanger to capture the waste energy and return it to the supply is all that is needed. In other applications such as capturing the energy in drainwater from a tub, dishwasher, or washing machine, the availability of waste heat might not coincide with an immediate use for energy, and consequently a heat exchanger system with heat storage capacity (i.e. a regenerator) would be necessary. This study describes a two-house experimental evaluation of a system designed to capture waste heat from the shower, dishwasher clothes washer and dryer, and to use this waste heat to offset some of the hot water energy needs of the house. Although each house was unoccupied, they were fitted with equipment that would completely simulate the heat loads and behavior of human occupants including operating the appliances and fixtures on a demand schedule identical to Building American protocol (Hendron, 2009). The heat recovery system combined (1) a gravity-film heat exchanger (GFX) installed in a vertical section of drainline, (2) a heat exchanger for capturing dryer exhaust heat, (3) a preheat tank for storing the captured heat, and (4) a small recirculation pump and controls, so that the system could be operated anytime that waste heat from the shower, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, and in any combination was produced. The study found capturing energy from the dishwasher and clothes washer to be a challenge since those two appliances dump waste water over a short time interval. Controls based on the status of the dump valve on these two appliances would have eliminated uncertainty in knowing when waste water was flowing and the recovery system operated. The study also suggested that capture of dryer exhaust heat to heat incoming air to the dryer should be examined as an alternative to using drying exhaust energy for water heating. The study found that over a 6-week test period, the system in each house was able to recover on average approximately 3000 W-h of waste heat daily from these appliance and showers with slightly less on simulated weekdays and slightly more on simulated weekends which were heavy wash/dry days. Most of these energy savings were due to the shower/GFX operation, and the least savings were for the dishwasher/GFX operation. Overall, the value of the 3000 W-h of displaced energy would have been $0.27/day based on an electricity price of $.09/kWh. Although small for today s convention house, these savings are significant for a home designed to approach maximum affordable efficiency where daily operating costs for the whole house are less than a dollar per day. In 2010 the actual measured cost of energy in one of the simulated occupancy houses which waste heat recovery testing was undertaken was $0.77/day.

Tomlinson, John J.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Energy Efficiency and Minimum Standards: a Market Analysis of Recent Changes in Appliance Eenergy Efficiency Standards in the United States

The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of energy efficiency standards on prices and market shares of major household appliances in the United States. The household appliance market is analyzed using point-of-sale (POS) retail data of clothes washers and dryers from NPD Group. Energy efficiency information for each clothes washer model was obtained from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appliance energy database. Using these data, we conclude that energy efficiency standards had an overall negative impact on clothes washer price, and products with a mid-low efficiency rating experienced the greatest short run price drop following the January 2004 and 2007 new standard effective dates. In neither instance is there any evidence of an increase in prices of affected appliances. In both cases we analyse the price effects of the standard both relative to dryers as a counterfactual group. Additionally, we show that market shares for clothes washers shifted towards greater efficiency over the course of the period between 2002 and 2011.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗