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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 523 records · Page 29

Economic Impacts from the Boulder County, Colorado, ClimateSmart Loan Program: Using Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing

This report examines the economic impacts (including job creation) from the Boulder County, Colorado, ClimateSmart Loan Program (CSLP), an example of Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. The CSLP was the first test of PACE financing on a multi-jurisdictional level (involving individual cities as well as the county government). It was also the first PACE program to comprehensivelyaddress energy efficiency measures and renewable energy, and it was the first funded by a public offering of both taxable and tax-exempt bonds.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Optimization of Rhodium-Based Catalysts for Mixed Alcohol Synthesis -- 2010 Progress Report

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been conducting research for the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy, Biomass Program to investigate the feasibility of producing mixed alcohols from biomass-derived synthesis gas. In recent years this research has primarily involved the further development of a silica-supported catalyst containing rhodium and manganese that was selected from earlier catalyst screening tests. A major effort during 2010 was to examine alternative catalyst supports to determine whether other supports, besides the Davisil 645 silica, would improve performance. Optimization of the Davisil 645 silica-supported catalyst also was continued with respect to candidate promoters iridium, platinum, and gallium, and examination of selected catalyst preparation and activation alternatives for the baseline RhMn/SiO2 catalyst.

Mixed Alcohol Synthesis↗

R&D and Implementation Outcomes from the U.S.-India Bilateral Center for Building Energy Research and Development Program

This paper explores the role of international partnerships to facilitate low-energy building design, construction, and operations. We present the strategic approach, joint research and development outcomes, and implementation activities of a unique U.S.-India program on buildings energy efficiency, the Center for Building Energy Research and Development. We discuss the collaboration successes in both countries despite their dissimilar building contexts, implementation challenges and opportunities. We highlight a range of R&D outcomes, such as novel tools and technologies developed and tested by the joint teams, with their technical energy savings potential, as well as results of capacity building and technology demonstrations. A deep-dive into key new scientific methods around building energy monitoring and benchmarking that could have a significant impact on high-performance of buildings in both countries is also provided. Finally, in addition to joint R&D successes, pathways to deployment, and lessons learned are discussed as key takeaways.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Agricultural and Biorefinery Residues Final Report – CRADA #PNNL/277

This project was performed as a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the participants: Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM), ConocoPhillips (COP), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Funding from the federal government was provided by the Office of the Biomass Program within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy assistant secretariat as part of the Thermochemical Conversion Platform. The three-year project was initiated in August 2007 with formal signing of the CRADA (#PNNL/277) in March 3, 2008 with subsequent amendments approved in November of 2008 and August of 2009. This report describes the results of the work performed by PNNL and the CRADA partners ADM and COP. It is considered Protected CRADA Information and is not available for public disclosure. The work conducted during this project involved developing process technology at PNNL for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of agricultural and biorefinery residues and catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) of the aqueous byproduct from the liquefaction step. Related work performed by the partners included assessment of aqueous phase byproducts, hydroprocessing of the bio-oil product and process analysis and economic modeling of the technology.

biomass↗

Scale model performance test investigation of exhaust system mixers for an Energy Efficient Engine /E3/ propulsion system

A scale model performance test was conducted as part of the NASA Energy Efficient Engine (E3) Program, to investigate the geometric variables that influence the aerodynamic design of exhaust system mixers for high-bypass, mixed-flow engines. Mixer configuration variables included lobe number, penetration and perimeter, as well as several cutback mixer geometries. Mixing effectiveness and mixer pressure loss were determined using measured thrust and nozzle exit total pressure and temperature surveys. Results provide a data base to aid the analysis and design development of the E3 mixed-flow exhaust system.

Kuchar, A. P.↗

The Energy Efficient Engine /E3/ - Advancing the state of the art

The NASA-sponsored Energy Efficient Engine (E3) Program, intended to develop and demonstrate the technology for reducing fuel consumption in future environmentally acceptable turbofan engines, is presented. The development of the flight propulsion system design is outlined and the resulting preliminary design is presented. Component design and subcomponent supporting technology verification work in progress is discussed, with attention given to fabrication development, the transition duct, mixer design, the fan, the high-pressure compressor, the combustor, and the high-pressure turbine. It is noted that the detailed design of the core components is essentially complete and fabrication of the hardware has begun, with the program on schedule toward testing in 1982.

Gardner, W. B.↗

Advanced Aerodynamics. Selected NASA Research

This Conference Publication contains selected NASA papers that were presented at the Fifth Annual Status Review of the NASA Aircraft Energy Efficiency (ACEE) Energy Efficient Transport (EET) Program held at Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California on September 14 to 15, 1981. These papers describe the status of several NASA in-house research activities in the areas of advanced turboprops, natural laminar flow, oscillating control surfaces, high-Reynolds-number airfoil tests, high-lift technology, and theoretical design techniques.

Source record↗

Computational Study of Modeling Fully-coupled Combustor-Turbine Interactions by the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC)

We investigate the flow fields inside the combustor and the high-pressure turbine including the stator and moving rotors, from the Energy Efficient Engine (E3) program. We then compare the fully-coupled simulations results with the prior results from the sequential approach, where key performance metrics for the combustor and HPT are compared. The results will provide one example of the impact of performing fully-coupled combustor/HPT simulations relative to sequential (one-way coupled) combustor and HPT simulations.

CFD↗

Computational Study of Modeling Fully-coupled Combustor-Turbine Interactions by the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC)

We investigate the flow fields inside the combustor and the high-pressure turbine including the stator and moving rotors, from the Energy Efficient Engine (E3) program. We then compare the fully-coupled simulations results with the prior results from the sequential approach, where key performance metrics for the combustor and HPT are compared. The results will provide one example of the impact of performing fully-coupled combustor/HPT simulations relative to sequential (one-way coupled) combustor and HPT simulations.

CFD↗

Numerical Study of Combustor-Turbine Interactions Using Open-National Combustion Code (OpenNCC)

We investigate the flow fields inside the combustor and the high-pressure turbine including the stator and moving rotors, from the Energy Efficient Engine (E3) program. We then compare the fully-coupled simulations results with the prior results from the sequential approach, where key performance metrics for the combustor and HPT are compared. The results will provide one example of the impact of performing fully-coupled combustor/HPT simulations relative to sequential (one-way coupled) combustor and HPT simulations.

CFD↗

Numerical Study of Combustor-Turbine Interactions Considering a Two-Stage High-Pressure Turbine

In this study, preliminary results are presented from the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC) applied to the two-stage high-pressure turbine (HTP) from the energy efficient engine (E3) program. Although the combustor is designed for efficient fuel–air mixing and a relatively uniform exit temperature profile, temporal and spatial variation in combustor exit conditions inevitably lead to hot-streaks in the HPT. These hot streaks can cause local hot spots on the HPT blade surfaces that reduce blade life. To improve understanding of these effects and the overall design of combustor and HPT, we are developing a fully-coupled combustor-turbine computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capability. Previous work has simulated the E^3 combustor at the simulated Sea-Level Take-off (SLTO) condition (P(41) = 2.4 [atm]) with and without the first-stage HPT stator included. This work addresses HPT simulations using inflow conditions based on previous simulation results of the E^3 combustor, as well as investigating the effects of spatial and temporal temperature non-uniformity of the combustor-exit flow on the HPT performance for a more realistic SLTO (P(41) = 27.4 [atm])). First, we analyze existing results from the combustor and the HPT 1st-stage stator simulation, where the unsteady hot gas coming out of the combustor exit travels between the stationary stators and then directly exits the computational domain (i.e., no effect from the rotors). Second, we simulate the HPT including the 1st and 2nd stage stators and rotors with the time-averaged, spatially-nonuniform inflow to the HPT taken from the combustor (with HPT 1st-stage stators) solution. Differences in simulations results for the flow field in the 1st-stage stator region are presented. The results of these two simulations (combustor and HPT simulated in a sequential manner) will be compared to a fully-coupled EEE combustor/HPT simulation to understand the impacts of fully-coupled simulations on combustor and HPT performance for two different operating conditions.

LES↗

Numerical Study of Combustor-Turbine Interactions Considering a Two-Stage High-Pressure Turbine

In this study, preliminary results are presented from the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC) applied to the two-stage high-pressure turbine (HTP) from the energy efficient engine (E3) program. Although the combustor is designed for efficient fuel–air mixing and a relatively uniform exit temperature profile, temporal and spatial variation in combustor exit conditions inevitably lead to hot-streaks in the HPT. These hot streaks can cause local hot spots on the HPT blade surfaces that reduce blade life. To improve understanding of these effects and the overall design of combustor and HPT, we are developing a fully-coupled combustor-turbine computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capability. Previous work has simulated the E3 combustor at the simulated Sea-Level Take-off (SLTO) condition (P41 = 2.4 [atm]) with and without the first-stage HPT stator included. This work addresses HPT simulations using inflow conditions based on previous simulation results of the E3 combustor, as well as investigating the effects of spatial and temporal temperature non-uniformity of the combustor-exit flow on the HPT performance for a more realistic SLTO (P41 = 27.4 [atm])). First, we analyze existing results from the combustor and the HPT 1st-stage stator simulation, where the unsteady hot gas coming out of the combustor exit travels between the stationary stators and then directly exits the computational domain (i.e., no effect from the rotors). Second, we simulate the HPT including the 1st and 2nd stage stators and rotors with the time-averaged, spatially-nonuniform inflow to the HPT taken from the combustor (with HPT 1st-stage stators) solution. Differences in simulations results for the flow field in the 1st-stage stator region are presented. The results of these two simulations (combustor and HPT simulated in a sequential manner) will be compared to a fully-coupled EEE combustor/HPT simulation to understand the impacts of fully-coupled simulations on combustor and HPT performance for two different operating conditions.

LES↗

Computational Study of Modeling Fully-Coupled Combustor-Turbine Interactions by the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC)

In this study, preliminary results are presented from the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC) applied to the two-stage high-pressure turbine (HTP) from the energy efficient engine (E3) program. Although the combustor is designed for efficient fuel–air mixing and a relatively uniform exit temperature profile, temporal and spatial variation in combustor exit conditions inevitably lead to hot-streaks in the HPT. These hot streaks can cause local hot spots on the HPT blade surfaces that reduce blade life. To improve understanding of these effects and the overall design of combustor and HPT, we proposed a sequential approach: Step 1 (combustor _ 1st stage stator), Step 2 (HPT) and Step 3 (fully-coupled EEE combustor/HPT). In this presentation, we would like to discuss the recent numerical results at two different operating conditions: the simulated Sea-Level Take-off (SLTO) condition (P41 = 2.4 [atm]) and a more realistic SLTO (P41 = 27.4 [atm])).

LES↗

Numerical Investigation of Combustor-Turbine Interactions with a Two-Stage High-Pressure Turbine Including Cooling Airflows

Combustor–turbine interactions (CTIs) are investigated by performing three-dimensional unsteady simulations using a realistic combustor and high-pressure turbine (HPT) configurations from the Energy Efficient Engine (E3) program. To understand CTIs, we compare the numerically predicted flow fields from single-component simulations (Step 1: the combustor + the first-stage stator of turbine; Step 2: the two-stage HPT imposing the time-averaged flow solution from Step 1 as the inflow boundary condition) and a fully coupled combustor–turbine simulation (Step 3) at the sea-level takeoff (SLTO) condition. In addition to three previous simulations where the cooling airflows inside the HPT had been neglected for all Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3, two new simulations of Step 2 and Step 3 take into account the cooling airflows using the source team approach. In this approach, to mimic the cooling airflows, we impose the source term at a specific area of a cooling airflow hole at the solid surfaces without making a mesh of each hole. The objective of this study is twofold. One is to investigate the effect of the presence of the cooling airflows on the aerodynamics of the combustor and HPT as well as the HPT performance. The second is to perform a detailed comparison among the calculated flowfields by two different numerical schemes, the central-difference with the standard Jameson–Schmidt–Turkel (CD-JST) scheme and the AUSM scheme. There is a noticeable difference in the hot-streak distributions at the first-stage stator. In addition, depending on the choice of the numerical scheme and the presence of the cooling airflows, an occurrence of shock waves appearing at the first-stage stator is greatly influenced. Thus, this has a noticeable impact on the HPT performance. It is shown that the estimated turbine efficiencies from Step 3 are about 7 % less than the ones from Step 2.

Combustor-turbine interaction↗

Fuel from wastewater : harnessing a potential energy source in Canada through the co-location of algae biofuel production to sources of effluent, heat and CO2.

Sandia National Laboratories is collaborating with the National Research Council (NRC) Canada and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a decision-support model that will evaluate the tradeoffs associated with high-latitude algae biofuel production co-located with wastewater, CO2, and waste heat. This project helps Canada meet its goal of diversifying fuel sources with algae-based biofuels. The biofuel production will provide a wide range of benefits including wastewater treatment, CO2 reuse and reduction of demand for fossil-based fuels. The higher energy density in algae-based fuels gives them an advantage over crop-based biofuels as the 'production' footprint required is much less, resulting in less water consumed and little, if any conversion of agricultural land from food to fuel production. Besides being a potential source for liquid fuel, algae have the potential to be used to generate electricity through the burning of dried biomass, or anaerobically digested to generate methane for electricity production. Co-locating algae production with waste streams may be crucial for making algae an economically valuable fuel source, and will certainly improve its overall ecological sustainability. The modeling process will address these questions, and others that are important to the use of water for energy production: What are the locations where all resources are co-located, and what volumes of algal biomass and oil can be produced there? In locations where co-location does not occur, what resources should be transported, and how far, while maintaining economic viability? This work is being funded through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and is part of a larger collaborative effort that includes sampling, strain isolation, strain characterization and cultivation being performed by the NREL and Canada's NRC. Results from the NREL / NRC collaboration including specific productivities of selected algal strains will eventually be incorporated into this model.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DER Cybersecurity R&D

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted more than 30 assessments for utilities across the United States with a cybersecurity assessment tool based on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and focused on business process. With funding from the DOE Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Federal Energy Management Program, NREL modified the current cyber governance assessment tool to include an assessment process specifically for distributed energy resources (DERs). The Distributed Energy Resources Cybersecurity Framework (DER-CF) was developed to help federal agencies mitigate gaps in their cybersecurity posture for distributed energy systems.

cybersecurity valuation↗

Automatic generation and simulation of urban building energy models based on city datasets for city-scale building retrofit analysis

Buildings in cities consume 30–70% of total primary energy, and improving building energy efficiency is one of the key strategies towards sustainable urbanization. Urban building energy models (UBEM) can support city managers to evaluate and prioritize energy conservation measures (ECMs) for investment and the design of incentive and rebate programs. This paper presents the retrofit analysis feature of City Building Energy Saver (CityBES) to automatically generate and simulate UBEM using EnergyPlus based on cities’ building datasets and user-selected ECMs. CityBES is a new open web-based tool to support city-scale building energy efficiency strategic plans and programs. The technical details of using CityBES for UBEM generation and simulation are introduced, including the workflow, key assumptions, and major databases. Also presented is a case study that analyzes the potential retrofit energy use and energy cost savings of five individual ECMs and two measure packages for 940 office and retail buildings in six city districts in northeast San Francisco, United States. The results show that: (1) all five measures together can save 23–38% of site energy per building; (2) replacing lighting with light-emitting diode lamps and adding air economizers to existing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are most cost-effective with an average payback of 2.0 and 4.3 years, respectively; and (3) it is not economical to upgrade HVAC systems or replace windows in San Francisco due to the city's mild climate and minimal cooling and heating loads. Furthermore, the CityBES retrofit analysis feature does not require users to have deep knowledge of building systems or technologies for the generation and simulation of building energy models, which helps overcome major technical barriers for city managers and their consultants to adopt UBEM.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗