SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “benefits”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 379 records · Page 21

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2022

Open Hardware in Science: The Benefits of Open Electronics

Abstract Openly shared low-cost electronic hardware applications, known as open electronics, have sparked a new open-source movement, with much untapped potential to advance scientific research. Initially designed to appeal to electronic hobbyists, open electronics have formed a global “maker” community and are increasingly used in science and industry. In this perspective article, we review the current costs and benefits of open electronics for use in scientific research ranging from the experimental to the theoretical sciences. We discuss how user-made electronic applications can help (I) individual researchers, by increasing the customization, efficiency, and scalability of experiments, while improving data quantity and quality; (II) scientific institutions, by improving access to customizable high-end technologies, sustainability, visibility, and interdisciplinary collaboration potential; and (III) the scientific community, by improving transparency and reproducibility, helping decouple research capacity from funding, increasing innovation, and improving collaboration potential among researchers and the public. We further discuss how current barriers like poor awareness, knowledge access, and time investments can be resolved by increased documentation and collaboration, and provide guidelines for academics to enter this emerging field. We highlight that open electronics are a promising and powerful tool to help scientific research to become more innovative and reproducible and offer a key practical solution to improve democratic access to science.

Oellermann, Michael (ORCID:0000000153926737)↗

DOE OSTI2021

Bioeconomic benefits of managing fishing effort in a coexisting small- and large-scale fishery game

Abstract Fishing systems provide employment, income generation, poverty alleviation, and food security. The coexistence of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) and large-scale fisheries (LSFs) increases management complexity. Management actions have ecological and social implications that must be addressed carefully. We applied a bioeconomic game-theoretical model to the four-gear mullet fishery in southern Brazil—one industrial LSF (purse seine) and three artisanal SSFs (gillnet, beach seine, and drift net). All fishing gears target adult individuals during mullet's reproductive migration. First, we explored whether the current fishing efforts of all fishing gears could persist over time. Second, we investigated their interactions through a non-cooperative game. Finally, we studied the response of these interactions when fishing effort was restricted. We found that when the current fishing effort was maintained, the stock reduced to 26.4% of its capacity in 25 years. In addition, under non-cooperation, the traditional beach seine fleet exited the fishery. Interestingly, the constrained scenario had a coexistence output with increasing values for the final stock size and the per capita labour income, suggesting that limiting fishing effort can maintain all fishing gears in the fishery with social and ecological benefits.

de Azevedo, Eric Zettermann Dias (ORCID:0000000323↗

DOE OSTI2024

Defined synthetic microbial communities colonize and benefit field-grown sorghum

The rhizosphere constitutes a dynamic interface between plant hosts and their associated microbial communities. Despite the acknowledged potential for enhancing plant fitness by manipulating the rhizosphere, the engineering of the rhizosphere microbiome through inoculation has posed significant challenges. These challenges are thought to arise from the competitive microbial ecosystem where introduced microbes must survive, and the absence of adaptation to the specific metabolic and environmental demands of the rhizosphere. Here, in this study, we engineered a synthetic rhizosphere community (SRC1) with the anticipation that it would exhibit a selective advantage in colonizing the host Sorghum bicolor, thereby potentially fostering its growth. SRC1 was assembled from bacterial isolates identified either for their potential role in community cohesion through network analysis or for their ability to benefit from host-specific exudate compounds. The growth performance of SRC1 was assessed in vitro on solid media, in planta under gnotobiotic laboratory conditions, and in the field. Our findings reveal that SRC1 cohesion is most robust when cultivated in the presence of the plant host under laboratory conditions, with lineages being lost from the community when grown either in vitro or in a native field setting. We establish that SRC1 effectively promotes the growth of both above- and below-ground plant phenotypes in both laboratory and native field contexts. Furthermore, in laboratory conditions, these growth enhancements correlate with the transcriptional dampening of lignin biosynthesis in the host. Collectively, these results underscore the potential utility of synthetic microbial communities for modulating crop performance in controlled and native environments alike.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Why don't we share data and code? Perceived barriers and benefits to public archiving practices

The biological sciences community is increasingly recognizing the value of open, reproducible and transparent research practices for science and society at large. Despite this recognition, many researchers fail to share their data and code publicly. This pattern may arise from knowledge barriers about how to archive data and code, concerns about its reuse, and misaligned career incentives. Here, we define, categorize and discuss barriers to data and code sharing that are relevant to many research fields. We explore how real and perceived barriers might be overcome or reframed in the light of the benefits relative to costs. By elucidating these barriers and the contexts in which they arise, we can take steps to mitigate them and align our actions with the goals of open science, both as individual scientists and as a scientific community.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Spokane Eco-District Campus Performance Under Alternative Electricity Rates: Benefits for virtual power plant participants and suppliers

Here, the respective benefits for virtual power plant participants and suppliers are revealed and compared under alternative electricity rate structures, including conventional large commercial electricity rates, large commercial electricity rates with special rates for demand-side generation, and dynamic hourly transactive prices. These three scenarios were explored using the capabilities of the Eco-District campus, a virtual power plant in Spokane, Washington, that is supplied electricity by Avista Utilities. The Eco-District Campus was modeled to host solar power generation, battery energy storage, and thermal energy resources that must be coordinated with building heating and cooling needs. First, the electricity supplier’s costs for energy, infrastructure, and energy losses were modeled. Then, the virtual power plant’s performance was modeled while presuming that its manager would minimize its costs under its electricity rate structure. The demand charges of conventional commercial electricity rates managed monthly peak, as would be expected, but hourly dynamic transactive pricing resulted in a striking alignment between the costs incurred by the supplier and the virtual power plant’s energy costs.

Electricity rates↗

DOE OSTI2024

Assessing the Reliability Benefits of Energy Storage as a Transmission Asset

Utilizing energy storage solutions to reduce the need for traditional transmission investments has been recognized by system planners and supported by federal policies in recent years. This work demonstrates the need for detailed reliability assessment for quantitative comparison of the reliability benefits of energy storage and traditional transmission investments. First, a mixed-integer linear programming expansion planning model considering candidate transmission lines and storage technologies is solved to find the least-cost investment decisions. Next, operations under the resulting system configuration are simulated in a probabilistic reliability assessment which accounts for weather-dependent forced outages. The outcome of this work, when applied to TPPs, is to further equalize the consideration of energy storage compared to traditional transmission assets by capturing the value of storage for system reliability.

co-optimization↗

DOE OSTI2021

Balanced stochastic versus deterministic assembly processes benefit diverse yet uneven ecosystem functions in representative agroecosystems

Ecological assembly processes, by influencing community composition, determine ecosystem functions of microbiomes. However, debate remains on how stochastic versus deterministic assembly processes influence ecosystem functions such as carbon and nutrient cycling. Towards a better understanding, we investigated three types of agroecosystems (the upland, paddy, and flooded) that represent a gradient of stochastic versus deterministic assembly processes. Carbon and nutrient cycling multifunctionality, characterized by nine enzymes associated with soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur cycling, was evaluated and then associated with microbial assembly processes and cooccurrence patterns of vital ecological groups. Our results suggest that strong deterministic processes favour microorganisms with convergent functions (as in the upland agroecosystem), while stochasticity-dominated processes lead to divergent functions (as in the flooded agroecosystem). To benefit agroecosystems services, we speculate that it is critical for a system to maintain balance between its stochastic and deterministic assembly processes (as in the paddy agroecosystem). By doing so, the system can preserve a diverse array of functional traits and also allow for particular traits to flourish. To further confirm this speculation, it is necessary to develop a systematic knowledge beyond merely characterizing general patterns towards the associations among community assembly, composition, and ecosystem functions.

Liu, Wenjing↗

DOE OSTI2023

Climate cooling benefits of cellulosic bioenergy crops from elevated albedo

Abstract Changes in land surface albedo can alter ecosystem energy balance and potentially influence climate. We examined the albedo of six bioenergy cropping systems in southwest Michigan USA: monocultures of energy sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.), and giant miscanthus ( Miscanthus × giganteus) , and polycultures of native grasses, early successional vegetation, and restored prairie. Direct field measurements of surface albedo ( α s ) from May 2018 through December 2020 at half‐hourly intervals in each system quantified the magnitudes and seasonal differences in albedo (∆ α ) and albedo‐induced radiative forcing (RF ∆ α ). We used a nearby forest as a historical native cover type to estimate reference albedo and RF ∆ α change upon original land use conversion, and a continuous no‐till maize ( Zea mays L .) system as a contemporary reference to estimate change upon conversion from annual row crops. Annually, α s differed significantly ( p < 0.05) among crops in the order: early successional (0.288 ± 0.012SE) >> miscanthus (0.271 ± 0.009) ≈ energy sorghum (0.270 ± 0.010) ≥ switchgrass (0.265 ± 0.009) ≈ restored prairie (0.264 ± 0.012) > native grasses (0.259 ± 0.010) > maize (0.247 ± 0.010). Reference forest had the lowest annual α s (0.134 ± 0.003). Albedo differences among crops during the growing season were also statistically significant, with growing season α s in perennial crops and energy sorghum on average ~20% higher (0.206 ± 0.003) than in no‐till maize (0.184 ± 0.002). Average non‐growing season (NGS) α s (0.370 ± 0.020) was much higher than growing season α s (0.203 ± 0.003) but these NGS differences were not significant. Overall, the original conversion of reference forest and maize landscapes to perennials provided a cooling effect on the local climate (RF αMAIZE : −3.83 ± 1.00 W m −2 ; RF αFOREST : −16.75 ± 3.01 W m −2 ). Significant differences among cropping systems suggest an additional management intervention for maximizing the positive climate benefit of bioenergy crops, with cellulosic crops on average ~9.1% more reflective than no‐till maize, which itself was about twice as reflective as the reference forest.

Lei, Cheyenne↗

DOE OSTI2025

Comparative Economic Analysis Between Bioenergy and Forage Types of Switchgrass for Sustainable Biofuel Feedstock Production: A Data Envelopment Analysis and Cost–Benefit Analysis Approach

ABSTRACT The capacity to produce switchgrass efficiently and cost‐effectively across diverse environments can be pivotal in achieving the short‐ and medium‐term Sustainable Aviation Fuel targets set by the U.S. Department of Energy. This study evaluated the economic performance of forage‐ and bioenergy‐type switchgrass cultivars and their response to N fertilization under diverse marginal environments across the US Midwest that included Illinois (IL), Iowa (IA), Nebraska (NE), and South Dakota (SD). Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to evaluate the efficiency of 23 Decision‐Making Units (DMUs)—cultivar types and N fertilization rate combinations—while a cost–benefit analysis calculated their profitability over 5 years. Results showed that two energy‐type cultivars—“Independence” and “Liberty”—were superior economically to the forage cultivars. Independence performed best with the highest profit margin when fertilized at 56 kg N ha −1 , particularly in the US hardiness zone 6a (Urbana, IL). Liberty exhibited the highest profit margins in hardiness zone 5b (Madrid, IA, and Ithaca, NE) at 56 kg N ha −1 and showed exceptional profitability with 28 kg N ha −1 in hardiness zone 6b (Brighton, IL). Switchgrass cultivar “Carthage” showed better efficiency score and profitability results in hardiness zone 4b (South Shore, SD) at 56 kg N ha −1 . The profit trends observed in current study sites may indicate broader patterns across similar US hardiness zones. This study provides valuable insights for decision‐makers to optimize input strategies for biomass production of bioenergy switchgrass to meet renewable energy demands.

Arshad, Muhammad Umer [Department of Crop Sciences↗

DOE OSTI2022

Perspective—Potential Benefit of Li-Rich Cathode Materials: Reduction of Co and Ni Content Rather than Achievement of Ultra-High Capacities

In the conventional cycling protocol for lithium and manganese rich NMC layered oxides (LMRNMC), the upper cutoff voltage V cut is extended to ~ 4.8, to achieve capacities of similar to 250 mAh g -1 . With this mode of operation, structural rearrangements result in voltage fade upon cycling. Herein, a strategy is proposed to avoid these structural rearrangements based on (a) restricting V cut to values < ~ 4.6 to shut down the bulk instabilities, and (b) application of a (preferably) semi-coherent coating that protects the surface oxygen. The potential benefit of this strategy would be to minimize Co and Ni content, compared to Ni-rich NMC.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2021

WOMBAT (Windfarm Operations and Maintenance cost-Benefit Analysis Tool) WISDEM® [SWR-21-68]

The windfarm operations and maintenance cost-benefit analysis tool (WOMBAT) is software to simulate the operations and maintenance phase of either onshore or offshore windfarms. WOMBAT is a medium-fidelity tool that is designed to model turbine, cable, and substation failures at the subassembly level, but is flexible enough that individual component or asset-level modeling can also be performed. WOMBAT enables users to model technological improvements, the use of a wide range of service equipment from drone repairs and remote resets to heavy lift vessels and crawler cranes, to analyze cost trends with varying trade-offs in conjunction with energy production, availability and a growing range of metrics. This library provides a tool to simulate the operation and maintenance phase (O&M) of distributed, land-based, and offshore windfarms using a discrete event simulation framework. WOMBAT is written around the SimPy discrete event simulation framework. Additionally, this is supported using a flexible and modular object-oriented code base, which enables the modeling of arbitrarily large (or small) windfarms with as many or as few failure and maintenance tasks that can be encoded. Please note that this is still heavily under development, so you may find some functionality to be incomplete at the current moment, but rest assured the functionality is expanding. With that said, it would be greatly appreciated for issues or PRs to be submitted for any improvements at all, from fixing typos (guaranteed to be a few) to features to testing. Also available at: https://pypi.org/project/wombat/

Cooperman, Aubryn↗

DOE OSTI2021

Exploring the potential benefits of high-efficiency dual-fuel combustion on a heavy-duty multi-cylinder engine for SuperTruck I

In support of the Daimler SuperTruck I team’s 55% brake thermal efficiency (BTE) pathway goal, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed an experimental investigation of the potential efficiency and emissions benefits of dual-fuel advanced combustion approaches on a modified heavy-duty 15-L Detroit™ DD15 engine. For this work, a natural gas port fuel injection system with an independent injection control for each cylinder was added to the DD15 engine. For the dual-fuel strategies investigated, 65%–90% of the total fuel energy was supplied through the added port fuel injection natural gas (NG) fueling system. The remaining fuel energy was supplied by one or more direct injections of diesel fuel using the production high pressure diesel fueling system. The production DD15 air handling system and combustion geometry were unmodified for this study. Efficiency and emissions with dual-fuel strategies including both low temperature combustion (LTC) and non-LTC approaches such as dual fuel direct-injection were investigated along with control authority over combustion phasing. Parametric studies of dual-fuel NG/diesel advanced combustion were conducted in order to experimentally investigate the potential of high-efficiency, dual-fuel combustion strategies to improve BTE in a multi-cylinder engine, understand the potential reductions in engine-out emissions, and characterize the range of combustion phasing controllability. Characterization of mode transitions from mixing-controlled diesel pilot ignition to kinetically controlled ignition is presented. Key findings from this study included a reproducible demonstration of BTE approaching 48% at up to a 13-bar brake mean effective pressure with significant reductions in engine-out NOx and soot emissions. Additional results from investigating load transients in dual-fuel mode and initial characterization of particle size distribution during dual-fuel operation are presented.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2020

National-Tribal Critical Infrastructure Protection: Collaboration for Extraordinary National Security Benefit

This paper examines national and tribal collaborative opportunities to get ahead of the critical infrastructure insecurity problem. Recommendations are viewed through the lens of the Sandia Labs Tribal Cyber-Energy initiative and national security projects. Recommendations include 1) Collaboratively address national priority and shared challenges to gain faster and better solutions to national priority problems on a smaller yet comprehensive American Indian and Alaskan Native sovereign single-point of authority scale 2) Utilize newer standards-based technologies to provide scalable, capable, and manageable solutions for greatly expanded and connected national critical infrastructures 3) Employ Cyber-Physical-Resilient design preliminary analysis to define concept- to-disposition design requirements for preemptive critical infrastructure risk mitigation and baked-in security; 4) Develop data-centric protection to provide increased information asset protection as data shifts from data-owner operated on-premises infrastructure to virtual service provider data-steward owned and operated off-premises infrastructure; and 5) Balance shared solutions with the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity and Risk Management frameworks, and the System Security Engineering Guidelines. As yet unallocated federal funding would support research, development, the timely application of National-Tribal critical infrastructure protection, and critical infrastructure Cyber disruption response and recovery with extraordinary mutual benefits for the foreseeable future. The Critical Infrastructure Insecurity Problem: Rapid modernization and expansive connectivity are due to advances in Information and Communications Technologies that have sweeping cyber impact across all critical infrastructure sectors. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition and Industrial Control Systems are particularly impacted as systems long separated from the Internet are now being connected and computerized. Virtualization and mobility create a Data Everywhere-User Anywhere paradigm that has evaporated the enterprise network perimeter. There are multi-front technological challenges at play, where long depended on technologies simply don't scale to current needs resulting in a digital dichotomy of competing old and new standards. New standards-based technologies scale but are not as well-known or as widely deployed, which leaves decision makers, stakeholders, and the workforce in a quandary, caught mid-stream between the technological past and the virtual future. Rapid and expansive cyber threat accompanies disruptive change in connectivity and computational dependencies. A lack of action will exacerbate the problem if new technologies roll out without baked-in security design. The Risk: If National-Tribal CIP collaboration to design in security is not done, then an ongoing state of insufficient bolt-on security and elevated threat exposure will remain for years to come.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Capturing the full benefits of bifacial modules to approach an LCOE of 3c/kWh through a regional optimization of the electrical architecture (Final Technical Report)

This is the final technical report for the Cypress Creek Renewables project focused on bifacial plant performance. The project consisted of building a heavily instrumented Bifacial test sites with several cell technologies; instrumenting >1 MW scale commercial sites with both monofacial and bifacial arrays in order to understand real-world differences; and to engage with the performance modeling and financial stakeholder community to improve accuracy and increase investor confidence. The data from the test and commercial sites has been used to validate and improve the accuracy of both physics-based and reduced order modeling software. The heavily instrumented nature has been used to understand how light contributions from the sky and reflected from the ground impact different portions of the module and array while the data from the commercial sites has directly impacted how independent engineers model production from bifacial systems. The latter point has led to an increase in over 2% compared to earlier predictions. Even this modest increase has had significant downward pressure on project LCOE. As the data and results are both public, this refined modeling and empirical evidence for a higher bifacial gain than modeled, the benefits to the broader US solar community are assured.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2020

Vehicle Technologies Office Research and Development Program, Prospective Benefits Assessment Report for FY 2020

Under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) invests in research on technologies and innovations, including advanced batteries and electrification; engines and fuels, materials, and energy-efficient mobility systems; hydrogen production, delivery, and storage; and fuel cells. This report documents the estimated benefits of successfully developing and implementing these technologies (the “Program Success” case) relative to a base case (the “No Program” case). The Program Success case represents a future with successful implementation of VTO technologies. The No Program case represents a future in which there is no contribution after Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 by VTO to these technologies. Results presented here are not intended to be predictions. Instead, they represent possible future market outcomes, predicated on assumed technological progress and other future conditions.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Benefit FOA FY2015 - Solid State Magnetocaloric Air Conditioner (Final Report)

The active magnetic refrigeration (AMR) cycle holds great promise to reduce energy consumption of space cooling and heating. It is estimated that it could achieve up to 25% improvement in energy efficiency over conventional vapor compression systems. Prototypes have been built and demonstrated the working principles and energy benefits of the technology. These prototypes however were of low specific cooling power, defined as cooling power obtainable from unit mass of magnetocaloric materials (MCM). Specific cooling power is inversely proportional to the cost of the system. Therefore, for the magnetocaloric technology to be commercially viable, the specific cooling power must be increased. To increase the specific cooling power, for any MCM, the frequency of operation must increase. However, the maximum frequency that an AMR can operate at is limited by the residence time that is required to transfer heat in and out of the regenerator during the cold and got blows. This time length is dependent on the thermal conductivity of the heat transfer medium. The higher the thermal conductivity of the heat transfer medium, the faster heat can be transferred between the medium and the MCM.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2022

Transmission Alternatives for California North Coast Offshore Wind, Volume 4: Cost-Benefit Analysis Report

The purpose of this report is to compare the costs and benefits of installing offshore wind power plants with capacities up to 500 megawatts (MW) in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area offshore California, focusing on identifying the costs related to transmission upgrades and possible alternatives such as energy storage. We identify several options that result in lower costs than upgrading transmission to provide full deliverability. Our estimates of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) assuming full deliverability range from $80/MWh for a 144-MW plant to $73/MWh for a 480-MW plant with a 2030 commercial operation date; however, the additional cost of transmission upgrades increases these values to between $86/MWh and $98/MWh. Based on curtailment and revenue estimates developed using a production cost model, the LCOEs for plant capacities of 144 MW and 168 MW with Energy Only deliverability are lower than the combined cost of energy and transmission upgrades for full deliverability. The addition of a 4-hour, 15-MW battery energy storage system increases revenue for both plant sizes, with the 144 MW + storage scenario producing the most revenue relative to LCOE.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Cost-Benefit Analysis for Energy Efficient Refrigerators and Freezers in Uganda

Refrigeration appliances and equipment available on the market are manufactured with a wide range of energy performance. The goal of this report is to perform a cost-benefit analysis, providing policy recommendations to develop standards and labels for refrigerators in Uganda: in particular, an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of adopting the UNEP U4E MRG for refrigerators given the local context in Uganda.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗