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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 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Considerations for Developing a Regulatory Roadmap for Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Integration in Colombia

The USAID-NREL Partnership in Colombia, in conjunction with SURE and USEA, selected four action plan teams from the Young Professionals Leadership Program to receive tailored NREL technical assistance to support action plan implementation. The four plans selected represent various aspects associated with planning for the efficient integration of DERs, including electric mobility, residential and commercial energy applications, distributed generation modeling, and regulatory considerations. In response to national grid modernization, decentralization, digitalization, and electrification trends, CREG is looking to update Colombia's electric distribution code, with an emphasis on the integration of electric vehicles and charging stations, but also energy storage systems, non-conventional sources of renewable energy, and other distributed energy resources (DERs). CREG aims to establish the general steps that must be carried out to update the distribution code for the integration of DERs, with a view to the design and development of new markets. The objective of the TA provided to CREG was to support them in identifying and outlining the general processes and approaches to consider when updating Colombia's distribution code for the integration of electric vehicles, distributed renewable energy systems, and energy storage systems, with a view to the design and development of new markets.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1993

Jet Engine hot parts IR Analysis Procedure (J-EIRP)

A thermal radiation analysis method called Jet Engine IR Analysis Procedure (J-EIRP) was developed to evaluate jet engine cavity hot parts source radiation. The objectives behind J-EIRP were to achieve the greatest accuracy in model representation and solution, while minimizing computer resources and computational time. The computer programs that comprise J-EIRP were selected on the basis of their performance, accuracy, and flexibility to solve both simple and complex problems. These programs were intended for use on a personal computer, but include the ability to solve large problems on a mainframe or supercomputer. J-EIRP also provides the user with a tool for developing thermal design experience and engineering judgment through analysis experimentation, while using minimal computer resources. A sample jet engine cavity analysis demonstrates the procedure and capabilities within J-EIRP, and is compared to a simplified method for approximating cavity radiation. The goal is to introduce the terminology and solution process used in J-EIRP and to provide insight into the radiation heat transfer principles used in this procedure.

Baumeister, Joseph F.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Global Water Monitor: Wetland surface height dynamics for Ecology, Conservation, and Resource Management

The Global Water Monitor (GWM) offers surface water-related products for lakes, river reaches and wetland zones. The surface elevation change products are derived from satellite radar altimeters, such as the Jason/Sentinel series, and can span multiple decades. While the current instruments are profiling, they offer surface water height at specific locations, thus contributing to parallel observation of wetland surface water extent. GWM wetland products are “operational” with routine updates within 1-2days of satellite overpass. There is also assurance of product continuity to at least the end of 2030. Currently, the GWM holds products for a small selection (~40) of diverse wetlands for objectives that focus on conservation and water/fisheries resource monitoring. These sites have been requested by various organizations also looking to the effects of climate change and anthropogenic influences. Many of the current GWM wetland regions are in National Parks such as the Everglades (USA), the Wasur (Rep. Indonesia), and the Kakadu marshes (Australia). They also include coastal river deltas of the Danube, Mekong, Amazon, Orinoco and Ganges Rivers, and the internal Okavango Delta in Botswana. The preliminary set also ensures a diverse range of wetlands e.g., the shallow pot-hole lake region of the Sand Hills and the coastal Black Swamp of the USA, the peat fields of Malaysia and rice growing fields of Yilinzhen in China. Extensive wetlands in Brazil (the Pantanal), South Sudan (the Sudd Marshes) and Belarus (the Pinsk) are also featured, as are the mangrove regions of the Sundarbans (India) and the Laguna Terminos (Mexico). The Usangu wetland (Tanzania) is also included, a focus region where wetland ecology strongly competes with demands from irrigation, livestock, and the needs of downstream hydro-electric power. The nadir-pointing altimeter instruments record height variations regardless of vegetation or canopy cover, and height dynamics at 10-day or monthly resolution reveal seasonal and inter-annual variations as well as longer-term declining or re-charging trends. These products provide a unique, multi-decadal data set that can stand-alone or serve with cross-validation or image-fusion efforts.

Charon Birkett↗
DOE OSTI2013

An Uncertainty Quantification Framework for Studying the Effect of Spatial Heterogeneity in Reservoir Permeability on CO2 Sequestration

In this paper, we introduce an uncertainty quantification (UQ) software framework for carbon sequestration, focused on the effect of spatial heterogeneity of reservoir properties on CO2 migration. We use a sequential Gaussian method (SGSIM) to generate realizations of permeability fields with various spatial statistical attributes. To deal with the computational difficulties, we integrate the following ideas/approaches. First, we use three different sampling approaches (probabilistic collocation, quasi-Monte Carlo, and adaptive sampling) to reduce the number of forward calculations while trying to explore the parameter space and quantify the input uncertainty. Second, we use eSTOMP as the forward modeling simulator. eSTOMP is implemented with the Global Arrays toolkit that is based on one-sided inter-processor communication and supports a shared memory programming style on distributed memory platforms, providing a highly-scalable performance. Third, we built an adaptive system infrastructure to select the best possible data transfer mechanisms, to optimally allocate system resources to improve performance and to integrate software packages and data for composing carbon sequestration simulation, computation, analysis, estimation and visualization. We demonstrate the framework with a given CO2 injection scenario in heterogeneous sandstone reservoirs.

Carbon sequestration, uncertainty quantification, ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Sewage sludge disposal strategies for sustainable development

The main objective of the present review is to compare the existing sewage sludge management solutions in terms of their environmental sustainability. The most commonly used strategies, that include treatment and disposal has been favored within the present state-of-art, considering existing legislation (at European and national level), characterization, ecotoxicology, waste management and actual routs used currently in particular European countries. Selected decision making tools, namely End-of-waste criteria and Life Cycle Assessment has been proposed in order to appropriately assess the possible environmental, economic and technical evaluation of different systems. Therefore, some basic criteria for the best suitable option selection has been described, in the circular economy “from waste to resources” sense. The importance of sewage sludge as a valuable source of matter and energy has been appreciated, as well as a potential risk related to the application of those strategies. - Highlights: • Environmental sustainability in sewage sludge management. • Investigation of eco-innovations in wastewater treatment. • Assessment of ecological consequences of sewage sludge disposal.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Emerging trends in informal sector recycling in developing and transition countries

Highlights: • Reviewed emerging trends in Informal Sector Recycling (ISR) in developing countries. • In some countries we found that ISR is the key factor in the recycling of waste materials. • Overall impact of ISR upon the urban economy and environment is positive. • In some instances ISR subsidises large areas of the formal sector. • Ignoring the informal sector could result in unsustainable interventions. - Abstract: Optimistic estimates suggest that only 30–70% of waste generated in cities of developing countries is collected for disposal. As a result, uncollected waste is often disposed of into open dumps, along the streets or into water bodies. Quite often, this practice induces environmental degradation and public health risks. Notwithstanding, such practices also make waste materials readily available for itinerant waste pickers. These ‘scavengers’ as they are called, therefore perceive waste as a resource, for income generation. Literature suggests that Informal Sector Recycling (ISR) activity can bring other benefits such as, economic growth, litter control and resources conservation. This paper critically reviews trends in ISR activities in selected developing and transition countries. ISR often survives in very hostile social and physical environments largely because of negative Government and public attitude. Rather than being stigmatised, the sector should be recognised as an important element for achievement of sustainable waste management in developing countries. One solution to this problem could be the integration of ISR into the formal waste management system. To achieve ISR integration, this paper highlights six crucial aspects from literature: social acceptance, political will, mobilisation of cooperatives, partnerships with private enterprises, management and technical skills, as well as legal protection measures. It is important to note that not every country will have the wherewithal to achieve social inclusion and so the level of integration must be ‘flexible’. In addition, the structure of the ISR should not be based on a ‘universal’ model but should instead take into account local contexts and conditions.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

BOOTS: Bayesian Optimization for Optimal Test Selection

BOOTS is a package for optimal selection of candidate operating points in large-scale manufacturing applications. It is designed to optimally select operating points to maximize predicted values of product quality and resource efficiency according to a data-driven model. The package is based on the use of a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) Gaussian process model to describe the relationships between inputs (operating points) and outputs (product quality and resource efficiency). This package does not provide any site- or process-specific information.

Villez, Kris [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)↗
DOE OSTI2010

Renewable Energy Assessment Methodology for Japanese OCONUS Army Installations

Since 2005, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been asked by Installation Management Command (IMCOM) to conduct strategic assessments at selected US Army installations of the potential use of renewable energy resources, including solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, waste, and ground source heat pumps (GSHPs). IMCOM has the same economic, security, and legal drivers to develop alternative, renewable energy resources overseas as it has for installations located in the US. The approach for continental US (CONUS) studies has been to use known, US-based renewable resource characterizations and information sources coupled with local, site-specific sources and interviews. However, the extent to which this sort of data might be available for outside the continental US (OCONUS) sites was unknown. An assessment at Camp Zama, Japan was completed as a trial to test the applicability of the CONUS methodology at OCONUS installations. It was found that, with some help from Camp Zama personnel in translating and locating a few Japanese sources, there was relatively little difficulty in finding sources that should provide a solid basis for conducting an assessment of comparable depth to those conducted for US installations. Project implementation will likely be more of a challenge, but the feasibility analysis will be able to use the same basic steps, with some adjusted inputs, as PNNL’s established renewable resource assessment methodology.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Solar Radiometer Instrumentation Evaluation: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-16-00619)

The purpose and intent of this agreement is to evaluate newly manufactured thermopile pyranometers and spectroradiometers. The purpose also extends to provide a framework for Participant to conduct research to improve and develop new radiometric devices and application in the future. The overall objective is to provide more accurate, site-specific, long-term, continuous measurements of the solar resources needed by industry to increase the deployment and improve the operations of photovoltaic and concentrating solar power plants. This CRADA addresses the needs for proven solar irradiance measurement to validate resource assessment models and generate high quality data used for site selection, energy system design, deployment, maintenance, and operation. This work will be conducted at NREL and Participant facilities. This project will place instrumentation at the NREL Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (SRRL) in cooperation with EKO Instruments, USA. Participant instruments will be deployed for the purpose of evaluation under controlled conditions. The scope of the project will be a 3 years-long segmented comparison of the instruments vs. other NREL baseline instruments with a well-characterized history. These evaluations will include planned improvements to instruments as well as extensions of future instrument applications. The final evaluation will be a written report similar to the work done by Wilcox and Myers (see http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/44627.pdf).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluating Energy Savings Measures for Building Retrofits in an Interactive Workshop Environment

As part of the Better Buildings Summit 2025, a workshop was developed to simulate the decision process for implementing a set of energy savings measures on an existing building. As part of the workshop a "game" was created around energy savings strategies, and workshop participants selected renovation cards that provided data around the impacts of that renovation choice. Participants then were able to calculate overall savings and payback from the selected retrofit opportunities. This publication has been produced to package the resources used in the activity in an organized document so that the materials can be distributed and reused more broadly. It provides a comprehensive framework for replicating the workshop, including step-by-step instructions, retrofit "game cards" with data points, and facilitation guidance. By using these materials, readers can conduct their own version of this interactive workshop with stakeholders in their networks, such as building owners, energy managers, or policy makers. The goal is to empower users to simulate the decision-making processes for energy projects, foster collaboration, and drive meaningful discussions around cost-effective retrofit opportunities and goal-oriented outcomes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Identification of pleiotropic loci mediating structural and non-structural carbohydrate accumulation within the sorghum bioenergy association panel using high-throughput markers

Molecular characterization of diverse germplasm can contribute to breeding programs by increasing genetic gain for sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] improvement. Identifying novel marker-trait associations and candidate genes enriches the existing genomic resources and can improve bioenergy-related traits using genomic-assisted breeding. In the current scenario, identifying the genetic loci underlying biomass and carbon partitioning is vital for ongoing efforts to maximize each carbon sink’s yield for bioenergy production. Here, we have processed a high-density genomic marker (22 466 550) data based on whole-genome sequencing (WGS) using a set of 365 accessions from the bioenergy association panel (BAP), which includes ~19.7 million (19 744 726) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and 2.7 million (~2 721 824) insertion deletions (indels). A set of high-quality filtered SNP (~5.48 million) derived markers facilitated the assessment of population structure, genetic diversity, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for various traits related to biomass and its composition using the BAP. The phenotypic traits for GWAS included seed color (SC), plant height (PH), days to harvest (DTH), fresh weight (FW), dry weight (DW), brix content % (BRX), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC), and lignin content. Several novel loci and candidate genes were identified for bioenergy-related traits, and some well-characterized genes for plant height ( Dw1 and Dw2 ) and the YELLOW SEED1 locus ( Y1 ) were validated. We further performed a multi-variate adaptive shrinkage analysis to identify pleiotropic QTL, which resulted in several shared marker-trait associations among bioenergy and compositional traits. Significant marker-trait associations with pleiotropic effects can be used to develop molecular markers for trait improvement using a marker-assisted breeding approach. Significant nucleotide diversity and heterozygosity were observed between photoperiod-sensitive and insensitive individuals of the panel. This diverse bioenergy panel with genomic resources will provide an excellent opportunity for further genetic studies, including selecting parental lines for superior hybrid development to improve biomass-related traits in sorghum.

bioenergy association panel↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Systematic Review of Quantitative Resilience Measures for Water Infrastructure Systems

Over the past few decades, the concept of resilience has emerged as an important consideration in the planning and management of water infrastructure systems. Accordingly, various resilience measures have been developed for the quantitative evaluation and decision-making of systems. There are, however, numerous considerations and no clear choice of which measure, if any, provides the most appropriate representation of resilience for a given application. This study provides a critical review of quantitative approaches to measure the resilience of water infrastructure systems, with a focus on water resources and distribution systems. A compilation of 11 criteria evaluating 21 selected resilience measures addressing major features of resilience is developed using the Axiomatic Design process. Existing gaps of resilience measures are identified based on the review criteria. The results show that resilience measures have generally paid less attention to cascading damage to interrelated systems, rapid identification of failure, physical damage of system components, and time variation of resilience. Concluding the paper, improvements to resilience measures are recommended. The findings contribute to our understanding of gaps and provide information to help further improve resilience measures of water infrastructure systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1981

A moving baseline for evaluation of advanced coal extraction systems

Results from the initial effort to establish baseline economic performance comparators for a program whose intent is to define, develop, and demonstrate advanced systems suitable for coal resource extraction beyond the year 2000 are reported. Systems used were selected from contemporary coal mining technology and from conservation conjectures of year 2000 technology. The analysis was also based on a seam thickness of 6 ft. Therefore, the results are specific to the study systems and the selected seam extended to other seam thicknesses.

Bickerton, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Assessment of a satellite power system and six alternative technologies

The satellite power system is assessed in comparison to six alternative technologies. The alternatives are: central-station terrestrial photovoltaic systems, conventional coal-fired power plants, coal-gasification/combined-cycle power plants, light water reactor power plants, liquid-metal fast-breeder reactors, and fusion. The comparison is made regarding issues of cost and performance, health and safety, environmental effects, resources, socio-economic factors, and institutional issues. The criteria for selecting the issues and the alternative technologies are given, and the methodology of the comparison is discussed. Brief descriptions of each of the technologies considered are included.

Wolsko, T.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Space Shuttle Columbia views the world with imaging radar: The SIR-A experiment

Images acquired by the Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A) in November 1981, demonstrate the capability of this microwave remote sensor system to perceive and map a wide range of different surface features around the Earth. A selection of 60 scenes displays this capability with respect to Earth resources - geology, hydrology, agriculture, forest cover, ocean surface features, and prominent man-made structures. The combined area covered by the scenes presented amounts to about 3% of the total acquired. Most of the SIR-A images are accompanied by a LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MSS) or SEASAT synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) image of the same scene for comparison. Differences between the SIR-A image and its companion LANDSAT or SEASAT image at each scene are related to the characteristics of the respective imaging systems, and to seasonal or other changes that occurred in the time interval between acquisition of the images.

Ford, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The real world and lunar base activation scenarios

A lunar base or a network of lunar bases may have highly desirable support functions in a national or international program to explore and settle Mars. In addition, He-3 exported from the Moon could be the basis for providing much of the energy needs of humankind in the twenty-first century. Both technical and managerial issues must be addressed when considering the establishment of a lunar base that can serve the needs of human civilization in space. Many of the technical issues become evident in the consideration of hypothetical scenarios for the activation of a network of lunar bases. Specific and realistic assumptions must be made about the conduct of various types of activities in addition to the general assumptions given above. These activities include landings, crew consumables, power production, crew selection, risk management, habitation, science station placement, base planning, science, agriculture, resource evaluation, readaptation, plant activation and test, storage module landings, resource transport module landings, integrated operations, maintenance, Base 2 activation, and management. The development of scenarios for the activation of a lunar base or network of bases will require close attention to the 'real world' of space operations. That world is defined by the natural environment, available technology, realistic objectives, and common sense.

Schmitt, Harrison H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

NCC simulation model. Phase 2: Simulating the operations of the Network Control Center and NCC message manual

The network control center (NCC) provides scheduling, monitoring, and control of services to the NASA space network. The space network provides tracking and data acquisition services to many low-earth orbiting spacecraft. This report describes the second phase in the development of simulation models for the FCC. Phase one concentrated on the computer systems and interconnecting network.Phase two focuses on the implementation of the network message dialogs and the resources controlled by the NCC. Performance measures were developed along with selected indicators of the NCC's operational effectiveness.The NCC performance indicators were defined in terms of the following: (1) transfer rate, (2) network delay, (3) channel establishment time, (4) line turn around time, (5) availability, (6) reliability, (7) accuracy, (8) maintainability, and (9) security. An NCC internal and external message manual is appended to this report.

Benjamin, Norman M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Expected Utility Distributions for Flexible, Contingent Execution

This paper presents a method for using expected utility distributions in the execution of flexible, contingent plans. A utility distribution maps the possible start times of an action to the expected utility of the plan suffix starting with that action. The contingent plan encodes a tree of possible courses of action and includes flexible temporal constraints and resource constraints. When execution reaches a branch point, the eligible option with the highest expected utility at that point in time is selected. The utility distributions make this selection sensitive to the runtime context, yet still efficient. Our approach uses predictions of action duration uncertainty as well as expectations of resource usage and availability to determine when an action can execute and with what probability. Execution windows and probabilities inevitably change as execution proceeds, but such changes do not invalidate the cached utility distributions, thus, dynamic updating of utility information is minimized.

Bresina, John L.↗