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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 OSTI2020

Minnesota’s Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Action Plan

With funding from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy State Energy Program’s Competitive Financial Assistance program, the Minnesota’s Department of Commerce (COM) created a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Action Plan that has the potential to double the state’s CHP capacity, help the state achieve its target of 1.5% annual energy savings, and improve the resilience of the distribution grid.

implementation model, combined heat and power acti↗
DOE OSTI2022

Higher Education Buildings Recognized for Integrated Controls for HVAC and Lighting Systems - Case Study: California State University Dominguez Hills and University of Minnesota

This case study describes connected lighting system projects on two college campuses; Cal State Dominguez Hills and the University of Minnesota both implemented lighting and controls upgrades at mixed-use buildings, including advanced sensors, HVAC integration, and plug load control. Both projects were recognized by DOE's Integrated Lighting Campaign.

integrated lighting, higher education, college, un↗
DOE OSTI2022

Integrated Controls for Plug Loads and Lighting Systems - Case Study: Minnesota DOT Cedar Avenue Truck Station

This case study highlights the strategies the Minnesota Department of Transportation used at Cedar Avenue Truck Station for integrating plug load and lighting systems. An integrated controls pilot project with retrofit installation was conducted from October 2019 to April 2020 and was recognized by DOE's Integrated Lighting Campaign.

integrated lighting, lighting, controls, plug load↗
DOE OSTI2022

Minnesota's Clean Energy Jobs Potential Through 2030

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota had 3,634,453 people in its working population (15 to 64 years of age) in 2019. The graphs below show solar photovoltaic (PV), land-based wind, battery energy storage (BES), and energy efficiency job estimates in 2020, 2025, and 2030.1 These job estimates do not represent net job creation. Rather, they represent the size of the workforce required to achieve projected national deployment levels of each technology for 2025 and 2030 if the state captures the same proportion of jobs in the sector as it did in 2020.

clean energy↗
DOE OSTI2024

Household Energy Efficiency Analysis for Duluth, Minnesota

Many households in the Duluth, Minnesota, could save hundreds of dollars annually on their energy bills and reduce carbon emissions with energy efficiency retrofits and upgrades in their homes and apartments. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) pilot, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) analyzed energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for about 39,000 housing units in Duluth.

Communities LEAP↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electric Mobility Opportunities for Brooklyn Park, Minnesota

This report will support Brooklyn Park as it navigates changes in mobility technologies and approaches to best serve the transportation needs of its communities. The content details the advantages of electric mobility, reviews electric mobility options that meet diverse needs and constraints, and maps the benefits and limitations of these options in terms of available technologies, their uses, and incentives that aim to improve accessibility and affordability. Although personal EVs provide both individual and collective advantages to residents - from lowering the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of a vehicle to improving air quality in the surrounding environment by reducing tailpipe emissions - they may still be unaffordable and/or inaccessible to some households in Brooklyn Park. Therefore, this report provides an overview of other accessible and affordable electric mobility options, including electric carshares, e-micromobility (i.e., e-scooters, e-bikes), and on-demand services, as enabled by web-connected technologies and the proliferation of smartphones.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Solar Power + Electric Vehicle Charging: Capturing Synergies in Minnesota

Despite the state policy support, significant market barriers to decarbonization of transportation remain. Analysis conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and others confirm that without routine access to charging infrastructure, both at home and in non-residential locations, bullish market forecasts are unlikely to materialize. Similarly, the expansion of EV charging and variable renewable energy deployment each have potentially disruptive and costly effects on the distribution grid. Finally, electrification of passenger vehicles is not enough to decarbonize transportation without pathways to carbon-free electrification, linking EV charging and clean energy generation. This document examines the opportunity to jointly deploy solar energy and EV charging infrastructure to capture synergistic value, mitigate for risks associated with integrating and scaling both solar and EV charging, and accelerate their mutual deployment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

TUMME: Tsinghua University Minnesota Master Equation program

We report that TUMME is a program for assembling and solving master equations for gas-phase chemical kinetics based on chemically significant eigenmodes. TUMME has interfaces to the Gaussian, Polyrate, and/or MSTor output files that allow the master equation code to obtain the microcanonical flux coefficients needed for the coefficient matrix of the master equation. The flux coefficients for reactions with barriers can be calculated by multi-structural variational transition state theory with small-curvature tunneling (MS-VTST/SCT) or by simpler approximations to this such as conventional transition state theory without tunneling (also called RRKM theory). The flux coefficients for barrierless reactions are provided by a hard-sphere model. TUMME is written in double precision with Python 3; quadruple and octuple precision are also available for some subtasks in C++. The Python code can run in serial or parallel (MP or MPI), and the C++ code can run on a single processor or on multiple processors with OpenMP.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

If you build it, will they come? Insect community responses to habitat establishment at solar energy facilities in Minnesota, USA

Abstract Global declines in insect populations have important implications for biodiversity and food security. To offset these declines, habitat restoration and enhancement in agricultural landscapes could mutually safeguard insect populations and their pollination services for crop production. The expansion of utility-scale solar energy development in agricultural landscapes presents an opportunity for the dual use of the land for energy production and biodiversity conservation through the establishment of grasses and forbs planted among and between the photovoltaic solar arrays (‘solar-pollinator habitat’). We conducted a longitudinal field study across 5 years (2018–2022) to understand how insect communities responded to newly established habitat on solar energy facilities in agricultural landscapes by evaluating (1) temporal changes in flowering plant abundance and diversity; (2) temporal changes in insect abundance and diversity; and (3) the pollination services of solar-pollinator habitat by comparing pollinator visitation to agricultural fields near solar-pollinator habitat with other agricultural field locations. We found increases over time for all habitat and biodiversity metrics: floral rank, flowering plant species richness, insect group diversity, native bee abundance, and total insect abundance, with the most noticeable temporal increases in native bee abundance. We also found positive effects of proximity to solar-pollinator habitat on bee visitation to nearby soybean ( Glycine max ) fields. Bee visitation to soybean flowers adjacent to solar-pollinator habitat were comparable to bee visitation to soybeans adjacent to grassland areas enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, and greater than bee visitation to soybean field interior and roadside soybean flowers. Our observations highlight the relatively rapid (<4 year) insect community responses to grassland restoration activities and provide support for solar-pollinator habitat as a feasible conservation practice to safeguard biodiversity and increase food security in agricultural landscapes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

SPRUCE Methane Transport in Plants at S1 Bog, Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, 2017-2019

This data set contains measurements of methane (CH4) transport by plants (both ground-layer and trees) and diffusion, as well as whole-plot emissions, taken in September 2018 and June 2019 in S1 Bog outside of the SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments) experimental enclosures. Additionally, CH4 and carbon dioxide (CO2) stable isotope data in porewater and atmospheric emissions were taken in July 2017 in the SPRUCE enclosures to explore the relative magnitude of CH4 oxidation. Episodic ebullition rates for S1 Bog are taken from Gill et al. (2017). Methane transport is an important component of many ecosystem models of peatlands. The results were compared to two methane models that have been developed for the SPRUCE project, ELM-SPRUCE (Earth Land Model) and TECO_SPRUCE (Terrestrial ECOsystem model). This dataset contains six data files in comma separate (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: six data dictionaries and a file-level metadata file in comma separate (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

SPRUCE Whole Ecosystem Warming (WEW) Environmental Data and Water Table Summaries, Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, 2015-2024

This data set contains observations of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), precipitation, soil temperature, soil volumetric water content, air temperature, relative humidity, and normalized water table depth that are summarized on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis for each of the SPRUCE plots. Observations span 2015-2024. This dataset draws on several datasets (Hanson et al. 2016; Hanson et al. 2020; and Warren, unpublished data) and compiles these environmental observations into useful formats for data analysis. These environmental metrics can be used to understand the environmental conditions inside SPRUCE environmental chambers throughout the durations of the experiment and can be paired with other data for modeling and analysis. R code used to generate these files is provided as part of the data package. This dataset contains four data files in comma separate (.csv) format and a compressed folder (*.zip) containing three R (*.r) scripts. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma separate (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format. User note: Users must cite the original dataset/s along with this dataset when publishing any analyses using this dataset. Details on the dataset used to compile each variable are available in the header row of the files and in the user guide.

air temperature↗
DOE OSTI2026

SPRUCE Peat Core Sample Collection Metadata, Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, August 2025

This data set contains metadata associated with peat core samples collected from the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experiment in August 2025. This sample metadata contains no analytical results and is a reference for analytical datasets. To ensure accessibility and discoverability, each sample was assigned an International Generic Sample Number (IGSN), a persistent identifier, using System for Earth and Extraterrestrial Sample Registration (SESAR). These samples were used for downstream analysis by multiple teams of researchers the results of which will be reported separately. This dataset contains one data file in comma separate (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma separate (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format. An aliquot of most samples is stored in the SPRUCE archive and may be available for further analysis by request. Access this collection event on SESAR https://doi.org/10.58052/IEJ9B05LW. To inquire about obtaining archived samples for analysis, reach out using the Contact Sample Owner form located on the bottom of the landing page in SESAR.

EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > TERRESTRI↗
DOE OSTI2025

SPRUCE: Shrub-Layer Vegetation Biomass Collection Metadata, Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, August 2025

This data set contains metadata associated with shrub-layer vegetation samples collected from the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experiment in August 2025. This sample metadata contains no analytical results and is a reference for analytical datasets. To ensure accessibility and discoverability, each sample was assigned an International Generic Sample Number (IGSN), a persistent identifier, using System for Earth and Extraterrestrial Sample Registration (SESAR). These samples were used for downstream analysis by multiple teams of researchers the results of which will be reported separately. This dataset contains one data file in comma separate (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma separate (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format. An aliquot of most samples is stored in the SPRUCE archive and may be available for further analysis by request. See below under 7 Sample Access. Access this collection event on SESAR https://doi.org/10.58052/IEJ9B069L. To inquire about obtaining archived samples for analysis, reach out using the Contact Sample Owner form located on the bottom of the landing page in SESAR.

Birkebak, Joshua [ORNL] (ORCID:0009000955611494)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cost Effectiveness of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2016 for the State of Minnesota

This report describes the methodology and results of a state cost-effectiveness analysis of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2016. Moving to the Standard 90.1-2016 edition from Standard 90.1-2013 is found to be cost-effective for the state. Annual energy cost savings, added construction costs, and life-cycle costs are all described and presented here for various building types and climate zones.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Final Scientific/Technical Report Small Scale Ammonia Synthesis Using Stranded Wind Energy

Ammonia absorber columns offer an alternative separation unit to replace condensation in the Haber-Bosch synthesis loop. Metal halide salts can selectively separate ammonia from the reactor outlet gas mixture and incorporate it into their crystal lattice with remarkably high thermodynamic capacity. While the salts’ working capacity can be limited and unstable when they are in their pure form, the capacity is stable and can be high when using a porous ceramic support. In this project, we found optimal conditions for sorbent fabrication, we demonstrated benchmark levels of uptake and release of ammonia, and we fabricated and demonstrated a prototype at a scale of 1 kg/day ammonia. This task allowed us to assess improvement in the techno-economic prospects for this new separation approach, making viable more distributed production of green ammonia from geographically dispersed renewable energy sources.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cost-Effectiveness of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2019 for Minnesota

This report describes the methodology and results of a state cost-effectiveness analysis of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019. Moving to the Standard 90.1-2019 edition from Standard 90.1-2016 is found to be cost-effective for the state. Annual energy cost savings, added construction costs, and life-cycle costs are all described and presented here for various building types and climate zones.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗