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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Monitoring of Observation Errors in the Assimilation of Satellite Ozone Data

The stratospheric ozone layer protects life on Earth from the harmful effects of solar ultravioiet radiation. The ozone layer is currently in a fragile state because of depletion caused by man-made chemicals, especially chlorofluorocarbons. The state of the ozone layer is being monitored and evaluated by scientific experts around the world, in order to help policy makers assess the impacts of international protocols that control the production and release of ozone depleting chemicals. Scientists use a variety ozone measurements and models in order to form a comprehensive picture about the current state of the ozone layer, and to predict the future behavior (expected to be a recovery, as the abundance of the depleting chemicals decreases). Among the data sets used, those from satellite-borne instruments have the advantage of providing a wealth of information about the ozone distribution over most of the globe. Several instruments onboard American and international satellites make measurements of the properties of the atmosphere, from which atmospheric ozone amounts are estimated; long-term measurement programs enable monitoring of trends in ozone. However, the characteristics of satellite instruments change in time. For example, the instrument lenses through which measurements are made may deteriorate over time, or the satellite orbit may drift so that measurements over each location are made later and later in the day. These changes may increase the errors in the retrieved ozone amounts, and degrade the quality of estimated ozone amounts and of their variability. Our work focuses on combining the satellite ozone data with global models that capture atmospheric motion and ozone chemistry, using advanced statistical techniques: this is known as data assimilation. Our method provides a three-dimensional global ozone distribution that is consistent with both the satellite measurements and with our understanding of processes (described in the models) that control ozone distribution. Through the monitoring of statistical properties of the agreement between the data and the model, this approach also enables us to detect changes in the quality of ozone data retrieved from satellite-borne instrument measurements. This paper demonstrates that calculations of the changes in satellite data quality, and the impact these changes on the estimates of the global ozone distribution, can assist in maintaining the uniform quality of the satellite ozone data throughout the lifetime of these instruments, thus contributing to our understanding of long-term ozone change.

Stajner, Ivanka↗
DOE OSTI2026

Fall 2025 Solar Industry Update [Slides]

Each quarter, the National Laboratory of the Rockies conducts the Quarterly Solar Industry Update, a presentation of technical trends within the solar industry. Each presentation focuses on global and U.S. supply and demand, module and system price, investment trends and business models, and updates on U.S. government programs supporting the solar industry.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Co-Simulation Framework to Study Future Energy-Economy Interactions

Energy-economy interactions are often studied using top-down integrated assessment or economy models that have broad scope but lack the resolution and process detail to consider complex emerging trends across the energy sector. This presentation describes an approach to maintain both detail and scope by linking NREL's highly resolved models of the electricity, transportation, and buildings sectors with a MIT's USREP computable general equilibrium model of the U.S. economy. We will discuss strategies for linking across disparate models along with preliminary results describing the economy-wide impacts of future energy technology innovation.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamic land use implications of rapidly expanding and evolving wind power deployment

Abstract The expansion of wind power poses distinct and varied geographic challenges to a sustainable energy transition. However, current knowledge of its land use impacts and synergies is limited by reliance on static characterizations that overlook the role of turbine technology and plant design in mediating interactions with the environment. Here, we investigate how wind technology development and innovation have shaped landscape interactions with social and ecological systems within the United States and contribute to evolving land area requirements. This work assesses trends in key land use facets of wind power using a holistic set of metrics to establish an evidence base that researchers, technology designers, land use managers, and policymakers can use in envisioning how future wind-intensive energy systems may be jointly optimized for clean energy, social, and environmental objectives. Since 2000, we find dynamic land occupancy patterns and regional trends that are driven by advancing technology and geographic factors. Though most historical U.S. wind deployment has been confined to the temperate grassland biome in the nation’s interior, regional expansion has implicated diverse land use and cover types. A large percentage of the typical wind plant footprint (∼96% to > 99%) is not directly impacted by permanent physical infrastructure, allowing for multiple uses in the spaces between turbines. Surprisingly, turbines are commonly close to built structures. Moreover, rangeland and cropland have supported 93.4% of deployment, highlighting potential synergies with agricultural lands. Despite broadly decreasing capacity densities, offsetting technology improvements have stabilized power densities. Land use intensity, defined as the ratio of direct land usage to lifetime power generation of wind facilities, has also trended downwards. Although continued deployment on disturbed lands, and in close proximity to existing wind facilities and other infrastructure, could minimize the extent of impacts, ambitious decarbonization trajectories may predispose particular biomes to cumulative effects and risks from regional wind power saturation. Increased land-use and sustainability feedback in technology and plant design will be critical to sustainable management of wind power.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing the Current State of U.S. Energy Equity Regulation and Legislation (2024 Update) [Slides]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) partnered with E9 Insight (E9) to update the 2022 database of executive, legislative, and regulatory actions focusing on energy equity and directed at electricity and natural gas utilities. The resulting database contains 307 energy equity actions, which consist of documents (e.g., bills, dockets, and executive orders) identified through keyword searches associated with energy equity. Based on our review, almost half of states (32 + DC) were taking some sort of action on energy equity (i.e., executive order, PUC activity, agency plan, or executive bill). In the report, we explored temporal trends to track state actions over time across regions, outcomes, equity tenets, and objectives. We also explored what drivers led to what outcomes. Drivers were organized into legislative, regulatory, executive, and stakeholder-driven.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Accelerating room air conditioner efficiency in India: Grid, economic, and policy implications through 2035

India is poised for a rapid surge in space cooling demand, driven by rising incomes, urbanization, and intensifying heat. Between 2025 and 2035, the country is expected to add 130–150 million new room air conditioners (ACs). If Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) continue to improve at the historical rate of 2–3 % annually, room ACs alone could contribute over 180 GW to peak electricity demand by 2035-nearly 30 % of the projected national total. This study evaluates the impact of an accelerated MEPS trajectory, proposing to raise the 1-star threshold to ISEER 5.0 by 2027, ISEER 6.3 by 2030, and ISEER 7.4 by 2033. Drawing on engineering cost analysis, stock turnover modeling, and retail pricing data, we find that this pathway could reduce peak demand by over 60 GW, save 118 TWh of electricity annually, avoid 49 MtCO₂ of electricity-related emissions per year, avert ₹7.5 trillion (∼US$85 billion) in power system investments, and yield ₹0.7–2.3 trillion (∼US$8–26 billion) in net consumer savings by 2035. Contrary to affordability concerns, empirical trends show that higher efficiency does not increase AC prices. These results highlight the value of ambitious MEPS as a cost-effective strategy for improving grid reliability, reducing emissions, and advancing consumer welfare in emerging economies.

Abhyankar, Nikit↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluating the Impact of Residential Solar Contract Cancellations in the United States

The residential solar photovoltaic (PV) market in the United States is growing, despite frequent customer cancellations. Contract cancellations result in lost time and costs that must be borne by installers, often in the form of higher "soft costs" (i.e., non-equipment costs). These costs are often passed on to customers who successfully install PV systems. To date, few studies have attempted to estimate national cancellation rates or model the impacts on installed system costs. In this report, we utilize an installer-provided dataset of 199,665 residential PV-only projects representing about 10% of U.S. installs each year from 2017-2019. With this data, we evaluate cancellation rates and trends from contract signing to install. Next, by leveraging NREL's soft cost model for residential solar, we estimate installer spending through each phase of the pre-install process. Applying our findings on cancellation timelines and rates, we then estimate the potential cost impacts to successful installs from contract cancellations. Our work suggests that the rates and impacts of contract cancellations have been previously underestimated. Namely, we find that cancellations/unsuccessful project are; more common than previous estimates suggest; occur earlier in project timelines, though a significant number happen even after permit/ATB approvals; and contribute significantly to customer acquisition and other soft costs. We also find that cancellation do not appear to be driven by review delays in permitting and interconnection applications.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Cost of Decarbonization and Energy Upgrade Retrofits for US Homes

Cost is a major barrier when upgrading homes to reduce carbon emissions required to meet DOE’s climate-related goals. This report summarizes a nationwide effort to gather home energy upgrade project cost data along with household energy performance data. The goal was to develop cost benchmarks and to guide future R&D efforts aimed at cost compression and scaling of the residential upgrade market. The cost data were compiled for both total project costs and costs of individual measures. The majority of energy savings were modeled, with some models using measured site data for calibration. The database was analyzed using clustering techniques to find common energy and CO2 reduction approaches. The individual measures were combined into archetypal solutions to determine least-cost approaches to maximizing energy and carbon savings. Several financial analyses were preformed to examine other cost metrics beyond first cost. Project data was obtained for 1,739 projects, from 15 states and 12 energy programs, with a total of 10,512 individual measures. The database includes a wide-array of projects, ranging from single-measure HVAC upgrades to net-zero energy whole home remodels. Projects were predominantly single-family detached dwellings with wood frame construction. Most of the data was obtained from energy programs because they had recorded the necessary information and were willing to share with this study. This sample of convenience can provide broad guidance and national cost benchmarks, but lacks sufficient detail to draw more disaggregated conclusions, such as geographical trends. The majority of data contributions were obtained without compensation from sources where the required data was already in some sort of structured format. We compensated sources to enter data from individual projects into a structured data format for about 500 projects, with an average cost of about $40 per project. The database was highly skewed to lower cost, lower impact projects due to the nature of the sample of convenience. Less than 10% of projects had savings greater than 50%. The cost data for individual measures in the database are being used in other DOE efforts on residential energy use/decarbonization. This data collection effort should continue in order to provide the best-informed guidance for DOE and industry R&D, as well as deployment efforts (including policy and program planning).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Emerging Trends in Power System Planning Models

This presentation highlights NREL's power system modeling capabilities, both existing and the future direction of improvements. Specific enhancements to the ReEDS (Regional Energy Deployment System) model and a new electricity market design testbed called EMIS (Electricity Markets and Investment Suite) were described. This content was part of a broader discussion to help inform the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on the Future of Electric Power in the U.S. on existing power system models and improvements needed in these models to capture the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of the power system.

capacity expansion modeling↗
DOE OSTI2021

Transient Simulations with a Large Penetration of Converter-Interfaced Generation: Scientific Computing Challenges and Opportunities

Current trends in energy systems point to renewable energy sources (RESs) and battery energy storage systems (BESSs) becoming prevalent in power system operations. As of writing this article, the United States has more than 37 GW of utility-scale solar capacity and an additional 112 GW under development. With the rapidly declining capital costs of many of these technologies, we can expect significant deployments in the coming years.

analytical models↗
DOE OSTI2023

The geographies, typologies, and trends of community-based organizations for solar energy in the United States

Community-based organizations (CBOs)1 play an important role in developing solar energy in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. This article shares the perspectives of CBO leaders in LMI communities, identifies and addresses solar information gaps, and provides recommendations State Energy Agencies and other government leaders can use to better involve CBOs in solar program initiatives. Using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with CBOs from across the United States (US) we develop typologies of CBO structure and function, and determine the primary motivations, challenges, opportunities, and communication barriers CBOs face. We explore the correlation between key typologies such as tenure, staff capacity, population served, organizational structure, and region with the organizational activities performed by solar-related CBOs. CBOs operate in disparate regional political and economic ecologies. Our findings suggest strategies for states to support their engagement in solar-related endeavors, particularly with respect to the dissemination of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: Solar for All. Developing policies that encourage CBOs to enter the solar training and installation domains, alongside targeted grants and capacity-building initiatives can help maximize community benefits. Furthermore, states can additionally contribute to the positive trajectory and collaboration between state agencies and CBOs in advancing solar energy adoption by fostering a supportive environment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Halfway to Zero: Progress towards a Carbon-Free Power Sector

Sharply reducing carbon emissions is imperative to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Yet even in the power sector—often viewed as the lynchpin to economy-wide decarbonization, and where low-carbon solutions are increasingly plentiful and cost-effective—the pace and scale of the required transformation can be daunting. A review of historical trends, however, shows the progress the power sector has already made in reducing emissions. Fifteen years ago, many business-as-usual projections anticipated that annual carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from power supply in the United States would reach 3,000 million metric tons (MMT) in 2020. In fact, direct power-sector CO 2 emissions in 2020 were 1,450 MMT—roughly 50% below the earlier projections. By this metric, in only 15 years the country’s power sector has gone halfway to zero emissions. Other metrics also evolved differently than projected: total consumer electricity costs (i.e., bills) were 18% lower; costs to human health and the climate were 92% and 52% lower, respectively; and the number of jobs in electricity generation was 29% higher. Economic, technical, and policy factors contributed to this success, including sectoral changes, energy efficiency, wind and solar, continued operations of the nuclear fleet, and coal-to-gas fuel switching. This historical record demonstrates the ability of technological and policy changes to set the power sector on a dramatically different emissions trajectory. Past success, however, does not trivialize the challenges that remain for further decarbonization in the power sector and beyond. Nor does it offer a specific roadmap for how best to achieve additional power-sector emissions reductions. Numerous challenges confront a zero-emissions pathway, and future strategies will likely differ from those of the past. Many recent studies have assessed how to make further progress in decarbonizing the power sector on the pathway to decarbonizing the economy as a whole. We summarize the core results of those studies, but the primary goal of this report is to highlight the progress that has already been made in reducing power-sector emissions. As the country maps out a plan for further decarbonization, experience from the past 15 years offers two central lessons. First, policy and technology advancement are imperative to achieving significant emissions reductions. Second, our ability to predict the future is limited, and so it will be crucial to adapt as we gain policy experience and as technologies advance in unexpected ways.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Advances in Resin Management Using 3R-Scan - 20154

The most important factor underlying optimal waste management is developing a clear picture of the radioactivity content of the waste and its impact on waste disposal cost. For over 35 years since the publishing of 10CFR61, waste characterization has relied on sampling the final waste product after formation. In the days following 10CFR61, the cost of final disposal was marginal with only a small impact on the overall costs. Constraints were added by provisions of the Low Level Waste Policy Act of 1985 leading to increasingly limited access to those disposal sites that remained available. In addition, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) pressure promoting waste volume reduction led to disposal costs inevitably rising. Despite this, characterization practices in monitoring of waste generation for activity content still center on the same dated processes. This results in a disposal classification on the basis of endpoint sampling without consideration of the homogeneity of the waste mixture. It can also disregard consideration of the representativeness of the single or small sample base. As a minimum effort, a formalized sampling program of a fixed grouping of waste streams can be implemented that could account for more than 95% of all of the activity carried in solid waste products. The sample results for each radionuclide could then be trended as time passes to develop reasonable scaling factors for difficult to measure radionuclides. This process, identified in NRC guidance, has been rigorously followed by a relatively small number of facilities. The trended scaling factors serve to improve accuracy by identifying anomalous results that could otherwise go undetected. Direct monitoring of the accumulation of activity in process streams generating solid radwaste, including demineralizers and filter streams, is a more precise approach. Nearly all of these streams are monitored by plant chemistry on a regular schedule to maintain water quality. This paper discusses viable options for developing the basis for characterization through process monitoring of the accumulation of activity at the point of generation. Special focus is on resin bed tracking and how process knowledge of these streams can be brought together to form a consistent and precise solid waste radioactivity inventory. Some of the specific points covered in this paper include the merger of the fission product release computer program, 3R-STAT, with the radwaste sample analysis computer program, SCAN4 to create 3R-SCAN, the importance of individual waste stream influences on the overall source term, and the use of historic sample data to develop scaling factors using an automated process. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cybersecurity for Digital Energy Infrastructure : Trends, Threats, and Cyber-Informed Engineering

This presentation discusses the rise in digital energy infrastructure and associated threats. It covers an in-depth risk assessment of digital energy equipment and provides real world examples of threats, vulnerabilities, and known incidents. Research conducted by INL assessing and addressing these risks follows, concluding with a dive into Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) and it's application to digital energy infrastructure, using battery energy storage systems (BESS) as an example.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2019

Improved assessment of mangrove forests in Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary using WorldView 2 and TanDEM-X high resolution imagery

Recent developments of remote sensing techniques which can capture both the structure and function of the ecosystem provide a more representative view of the landscape. These unique Earth observations were used to help improve traditional forestry surveys by providing species-specific land cover classes for mangrove forests in the Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary. By combining optical data from WorldView2 (WV2; 2 m pixel) and a canopy height model derived using radar data from TanDEM-X (TDX; 12 m pixel), we identified nine mangrove and five non-mangrove classes by following an Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Algorithm. Three dominant mangrove species accounted for nearly 50% of the sanctuary. Heritieria fomes disproportionately covered the largest area at 43%, overturning previous field-based estimates of Excoecaria agallocha dominance. E. agallocha and Sonneratia apetala, covered 3% and 1.47% of the sanctuary, respectively. Four mixed species classes were also identified with clear vegetation zonation patterns that trended toward species homogeneity with increasing distance from shore. The overall land cover accuracy (WV2: 89.33%; WV2-TDX: 89.89%), the Kappa Coefficient (WV2:0.88; WV2-TDX: 0.89) and change statistics between WV2 and WV2-TDX landcover classifications indicate that the WV2 imagery can separate mangrove community types without structural data. The combination of the land cover classifications and the canopy height model indicated that H. fomes were not only the most dominant forest but also, on average, the tallest (12.3 m) among the other eight mangrove types. Our large-scale mapping with high resolution optical and radar platforms can capture subtle changes in mangrove vegetation and canopy structural gradients more accurately and be used to monitor biodiversity changes and Aichi Biodiversity Targets and Indicators, which would contribute to biodiversity policy updating.

Md Mizanur Rahman↗
NASA NTRS2010

CLARREO Cornerstone of the Earth Observing System: Measuring Decadal Change Through Accurate Emitted Infrared and Reflected Solar Spectra and Radio Occultation

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) is one of four Tier 1 missions recommended by the recent NRC Decadal Survey report on Earth Science and Applications from Space (NRC, 2007). The CLARREO mission addresses the need to provide accurate, broadly acknowledged climate records that are used to enable validated long-term climate projections that become the foundation for informed decisions on mitigation and adaptation policies that address the effects of climate change on society. The CLARREO mission accomplishes this critical objective through rigorous SI traceable decadal change observations that are sensitive to many of the key uncertainties in climate radiative forcings, responses, and feedbacks that in turn drive uncertainty in current climate model projections. These same uncertainties also lead to uncertainty in attribution of climate change to anthropogenic forcing. For the first time CLARREO will make highly accurate, global, SI-traceable decadal change observations sensitive to the most critical, but least understood, climate forcings, responses, and feedbacks. The CLARREO breakthrough is to achieve the required levels of accuracy and traceability to SI standards for a set of observations sensitive to a wide range of key decadal change variables. The required accuracy levels are determined so that climate trend signals can be detected against a background of naturally occurring variability. Climate system natural variability therefore determines what level of accuracy is overkill, and what level is critical to obtain. In this sense, the CLARREO mission requirements are considered optimal from a science value perspective. The accuracy for decadal change traceability to SI standards includes uncertainties associated with instrument calibration, satellite orbit sampling, and analysis methods. Unlike most space missions, the CLARREO requirements are driven not by the instantaneous accuracy of the measurements, but by accuracy in the large time/space scale averages that are key to understanding decadal changes.

Sandford, Stephen P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Methodology for Reliability Assessments of Arbitrary Satellite Constellations

The commercial success of small satellite development and multi-satellite missions has led to constellation missions being proposed in every sector of the market. This paradigm shift has the potential to enable more capable and cost-effective space science missions. However, these novel approaches to space missions have outstripped existing policy and analysis methods for assessing the reliability of multi-satellite missions. Mission designers and decisionmakers need new methods and standards for modeling how the reliability of constituent spacecraft elements affect the aggregate reliability of constellations across a wide range of concepts and application-specific requirements. The Space Mission Analysis Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a methodology for simulating the on-orbit reliability of arbitrary spacecraft constellations. In this paper, the authors describe the methodology and provides examples of how it can be used to evaluate specific constellation designs. To demonstrate the flexibility of the approach, several different constellation configurations are considered, including both homogenous and heterogenous designs. Next, the authors demonstrate the ability to perform broad parameter sweeps to develop greater insight into the intrinsic reliability trends associated with constellation concepts. Finally, the authors provide tables and novel data graphics which enable decisionmakers to quickly discern the relationships between constellation sizes, topologies, replenishment strategies, and overall constellation reliability.

satellite↗
DOE OSTI2024

Status and Trends in the U.S. Voluntary Green Power Market: 2022 Data

Voluntary green power, for the purposes of this report, refers to renewable energy procurement by retail electricity customers above what is otherwise provided by load-serving entities. This report is part of an annual series of reports synthesizing trends in the United States voluntary green power market. In 2022, about 9.6 million retail electricity customers procured about 272 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of voluntary green power, representing about 38% of non-hydro renewable energy sales and about 6% of all U.S. retail electricity sales. Most of the remainder of U.S. renewable energy sales reflects renewable energy procured by load-serving entities to comply with state renewable energy mandates, also known as compliance-based procurement.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗