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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 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Expected Improvements in Work Truck Efficiency Through Connectivity and Automation

This presentation focuses on the potential impact of connected and automated technologies on commercial vehicle operations. It includes topics such as the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficient Mobility Systems (EEMS) program and the Systems and Modeling for Accelerated Research in Transportation (SMART) Mobility Initiative. It also describes National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) research findings pertaining to the potential energy impacts of connectivity and automation and stresses the need for integration and optimization to take advantage of the benefits offered by these transformative technologies while mitigating the potential negative consequences.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Better Buildings NW Ohio

When the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority (TLCPA) filed for the Department of Energy EECBG grant in late 2009, it was part of a strategic and Board backed objective to expand the organization’s economic development and financing programs into alternative energy and energy efficiency. This plan was filed with the knowledge and support of the areas key economic development agencies. The City of Toledo was also a key partner with the Mayor designating a committee to develop a Strategic Energy Policy for the City. This would later give rise to a Community Sustainability Strategic Plan for Toledo, Lucas County and the surrounding region with energy efficiency as a key pillar. When the TLCPA signed the grant documents with the DOE in June of 2010, the geographic area was severely distressed economically, in the early stages of a recovery from over a 30% drop in business activity and high unemployment. The TLCPA and its partners began identifying potential project areas well before the filing of the application, continuing to work diligently before the formal award and signing of the grant documents. Strong implementation and actions plans and business and financing models were developed and revised throughout the 3 year grant period with the long term goal of creating a sustainable program. The TLCPA and the City of Toledo demonstrated early leadership by forming the energy improvement district and evaluating buildings under their control including transportation infrastructure and logistics, government services buildings and buildings which housed several for profit and not for profit tenants while completing significant energy efficiency projects that created public awareness and confidence and solid examples of various technologies and energy savings. As was stated in the DOE Award Summary, the undertaking was focused as a commercial program delving into Alternative Energy Utility Districts; what are referred to in Ohio Statute as Energy Special Improvement Districts or ESIDs and what is nationally known as Property Assessed Clean Energy or PACE districts and PACE financing. The project methodology followed the identify, develop, implement, monitor and measure format. These districts began in Toledo and adjoining areas and are expanding to TLCPA’s 28 county financing agency geographic footprint. What began as the Toledo Ohio Advanced Energy Improvement Corporation is now doing business as the Northwest Ohio Advanced Energy Improvement District recognizing it expansion into creating and financing other districts in NW Ohio. The program has been sought out as an advisor by major communities and states in the process of developing similar legislation and programs and has become one of the largest most successful PACE energy improvement and financing districts in the US. The program and the energy district focused on transforming energy use, delivery, conservation and renewable energy as “options of first choice”. The significant energy savings paid for many of the improvements and created a financially viable program well beyond the grant period. The program has become a model within the State of Ohio and Nationally on how to implement and finance projects in broad energy districts including how to evolve and integrate several financing methodologies. It is a unique utilization of revolving loan funds and energy bond pooling with revenue backing primarily from energy improvement special assessments on commercial properties along with some power purchase agreement (PPA) and loan agreement revenue. The program has also incorporated Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds, State of Ohio Energy Loans (SEP), utility rebates, solar and renewable energy certificates, renewable tax incentives and grants, and owner funded equity as additional program leverage and funding. Other keys to this success have been a continual simplification and refinement of the application and documentation process to make funding available easily and quickly to building owners when they are prepared to commit to the project as well as act as a trusted facilitator and advisor to both building owners and other stakeholders. Taking a flexible and pragmatic approach to project evaluation and implementation that matches time and expense to the complexity of the project has been another key learning. To date the program has closed 3 energy bond issues through the TLCPA sponsored and managed NW Ohio Bond Fund totaling $16.54 million (of which $3.34 million were QECB qualified). The program has turned over its $3.0 million revolving loan fund twice as construction financing in advance of bond issuance and currently has issued $1.25 million in revolving term loans. The program has $1.66 million of remaining capacity for QECB qualified bonds. The program can issue an additional $13.46 million in energy bonds continuing to utilize its DOE EECBG loan loss reserves. In addition, the program has available $3.6 million of loan loss reserves from the State of Ohio, as an eligible Port Authority, that can back the issuance of an additional $7.2 to $14.4 million of energy bonds. This does not include additional bond capacity is available from the NW Ohio Bond Fund. The program is the master escrow agent for $18 million of loan loss reserves from the State of Ohio for eligible Port Authorities that can be utilized to assist the formation of energy districts and financing programs in major metropolitan areas and regions around the State of Ohio. Other leveraged funds now total $10 million; placing the total project value completed and financed at over $30 million. In addition that program has generated an active pipeline of projects in various stages that total $25 – $30 million.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2017

Innovation Incubator: Whisker Labs Technical Evaluation

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is a program to foster and accelerate startup companies with commercial building energy-efficiency and demand management technologies. The program is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Whisker Labs, an Oakland, California-based company, was one of four awardees in the first IN2 cohort and was invited to participate in the program because of its novel electrical power sensing technology for circuit breakers. The stick-on Whisker meters install directly on the front face of the circuit breakers in an electrical panel using adhesive, eliminating the need to open the panel and install current transducers (CTs) on the circuit wiring.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Customer enrollment and participation in building demand management programs: A review of key factors

Increasing the efficiency and flexibility of electricity demand is necessary for ensuring a cost-effective and reliable transition to zero-carbon electricity systems. Such demand-side management (DSM) resources have been procured by utilities for decades via energy efficiency and demand response programs; however, the key drivers of program enrollment and customer participation levels remain poorly understood — even as governments and grid planners seek to scale up the deployment of DSM assets to meet climate targets. Here we systematically review the evidence on multiple factors that may influence customer enrollment and participation in building DSM programs, focusing primarily on residential and commercial buildings. We examine the contexts in which relationships between DSM factors and outcomes are most often explored and with which methods; we also score the strength, direction, and internal consistency of each factor's reported impact on the enrollment and participation outcomes. We find that studies most commonly assess the effects of economic incentives for load flexibility on program participation levels, often using simulation-based methods in lieu of measured data. Few studies focus on program enrollment outcomes or regulatory drivers of either enrollment or participation, and gaps are also evident in the coverage of emerging DSM opportunities like load electrification. Removal of structural barriers (e.g., the lack of controls infrastructure) and the use of third party services (e.g., load aggregators) are the factors with the largest positive impacts on DSM outcomes, but no single factor emerges as clearly most impactful. For a given factor, the range of reported impacts typically varies widely across the relevant studies reviewed. Our findings provide a snapshot of the state of knowledge about building DSM and customer decision-making, and they expose key gaps in understanding that must be filled if building DSM is to expand as a critical resource for operating clean power grids.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of occupant behavior on peak cooling and dehumidification loads in typical and high-efficiency homes

Residential building codes and voluntary labeling programs are continually increasing the energy efficiency requirements of residential buildings. Improving a building's thermal enclosure, installing the ductwork in conditioned space, and improving the building's airtightness results in significant reductions in externally-driven sensible and latent cooling loads. As a building's efficiency is improved, occupant-related internal gains become a larger portion of the building sensible and latent loads. Additionally, internal gains are highly uncertain compared to other load components. In this study, we use a stochastic approach to simulate occupant-related internal gains and compare the internal gains to other sensible and latent heat sources in four house efficiency levels in 10 U.S. climates using whole-building energy simulation software. We compare the expected range in occupant-related internal gains to other building characteristics such as cooling set point, air infiltration rate, and mechanical ventilation rate. We show that in high-efficiency homes, sensible internal gains vary from less than 10% to greater than 40% of the building sensible load under peak total cooling conditions depending on climate and internal gain profile. Likewise, latent internal gains vary from less than 10% to more than 60% of the building latent load under peak total cooling and peak dehumidification conditions depending on climate and internal gain profile.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Implementation Strategy - Efficiency Standards and Labeling Programs in Uganda

In 2016, the development of an Energy Efficiency Roadmap (USAID, 2017) undertaken by Agency for International Development (USAID) showed that an energy-saving potential of 310 MW by 2030 was possible at a cost lower than the current supply of electricity. However, the energy efficiency potential is spread out across many technologies and requires the establishment of enabling policies to stimulate efficient use of energy. Chief among these is the establishment of energy- efficiency standards and labeling (EESL) for electric equipment as indicated by Uganda national energy policy legislation (MEMD, 2002). This report first includes an assessment of energy consumption in the residential sector to identify priority products of focus for the EESL program followed by an assessment of the legal and administrative capacity needs of Ugandan institutions to operate and enforce Uganda’s EESL program.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Fort Bragg Embraces Groundbreaking Heat Pump Technology

The U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement solutions to build new, low-energy buildings that are at least 50% below Standard 90.1-2007 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) Program.

eem↗
DOE OSTI2013

Whole Foods Market Retrofits Multiple Building Systems for Big Savings

Whole Foods Market partnered with U.S. the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement solutions to reduce annual energy consumption in existing stores by at least 30% versus pre-retrofit energy use at its store in Edgewater, New Jersey, as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnership (CBP) program.

eem↗
DOE OSTI2013

Grand Valley State University Checks Out Energy Savings at New Mary Idema Pew Library

Grand Valley State University (GVSU) partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement solutions to build new, low-energy buildings that are at least 50% below Standard 90.1-2007 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) Program.

eem↗
DOE OSTI2024

Best Practices for Resilience in Smart Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) supports federal agencies' energy decisions with information and guidance on design, funding, and operations to ensure federal buildings are efficient and resilient. The modernization of building infrastructure and the evolution of buildings to support decarbonization involves complex implementation of multiple components across several systems. This includes energy-efficient equipment, on-site energy generation and storage systems, and control systems. These systems have operational modes that can operate more efficiently if they are able to behave responsively to the conditions of the electrical grid. These grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB) allow facilities to manage power demand according to operational constraints and market signals issued by grid operators. With proper design and planning, these same capabilities have the potential to enable building and facility resilience - coordinating with microgrids, maintaining power on critical circuits to sustain essential operations, and monitoring building health and safety status during an outage. By managing the load of buildings, GEBs can also reduce the cost of backup generation and make better use of renewable power sources on site. This document outlines some of the processes and considerations to guide the design and operation of GEBs in ways that promote facility resilience.

building decarbonization↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sandia’s Liquid-Cooled Data Center Boosts Efficiency and Resiliency

The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) encourages federal agencies and organizations to improve data center energy efficiency, which can offer tremendous opportunities for energy and cost savings. In this success story, a novel liquid cooling system provides reliable, resilient, and energy-efficient cooling for high performance computing (HPC) systems at Sandia National Laboratories.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Building a Diverse and Inclusive STEM Workforce: The JUMP into STEM Program: Preprint

The JUMP into STEM program is a DOE-funded initiative jointly run by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National La-boratory. Through this program, students from historically underrepresented backgrounds are engaged in the science of building energy-efficient infrastruc-ture. Through program stages, students have opportunity to compete in chal-lenges, competitions, and internship opportunities. We have conducted a study of past participants in the program. We find that 1) the program has been effec-tive at engaging a diverse array of participants from a variety of backgrounds, including historically underrepresented backgrounds, and 2) the program has been effective at promoting career paths in STEM, and more specifically, in en-ergy efficiency.

DEI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Results: Smart Labs Accelerator

This fact sheet highlights the results of DOE's Better Buildings Smart Labs Accelerator, which was a 3-year partnership between DOE and 17 volunteer partners to promote and implement energy efficiency and Smart Labs Programs in laboratory environments. The results review the savings achieved by participants and assess how well the Accelerator performed against its original goals.

laboratory, smart labs, smart laboratories, energy↗
DOE OSTI2012

Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program: Program Overview and Philadelphia Project Highlight [Fact Sheet]

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) recently launched the Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program (WIPP) to accelerate innovations in whole-house weatherization and advance DOE’s goal of increasing the energy efficiency and health and safety of homes of low-income families. Since 2010, WIPP has helped weatherization service providers as well as new and nontraditional partners leverage non-federal financial resources to supplement federal grants, saving taxpayer money. WIPP complements the Weatherization Assistance program (WAP), which operates nation-wide, in U.S. territories and in three Native American tribes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2015

Existing Whole-House Solutions Case Study: Greenbelt Homes, Inc. Pilot Retrofit Project

In the fall of 2010, a multiyear pilot energy efficiency retrofit project was undertaken by Greenbelt Homes, Inc., (GHI) a 1,566 home cooperative of circa 1930 and 1940 homes in Greenbelt, Maryland. GHI established this pilot project to serve as a basis for decision making for the rollout of a community-wide upgrade program that will incorporate energy efficiency improvements to the building envelope and mechanical equipment. With the community upgrade fully funded by the cooperative through their membership without outside subsidies, this project presents a unique opportunity to evaluate and prioritize the wide range of benefits of high-performance retrofits based on member experience with and acceptance of the retrofit measures implemented during the pilot project. Addressing the complex interactions between benefits, trade-offs, construction methods, project management implications, realistic upfront costs, financing, and other considerations, serves as a case study for energy retrofit projects that include high-performance technologies based on the long-term value to the homeowner. The pilot project focused on identifying the added costs and energy-savings benefits of improvements. Phase 1—baseline evaluation for a representative set of 28 homes sited in seven buildings; Phase 2—installation of the building envelope improvements and continued monitoring of the energy consumption for the heating season; Phase 3—energy simulations supporting recommendations for HVAC and water heating upgrades.

Attic↗
DOE OSTI2023

Computational Requirements in Clean Energy and Manufacturing: Summary report of the virtual workshop held on June 28-29, 2021

On June 28–29, 2021, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program in the Office of Science convened a workshop with the Energy Efficiency and Renew able Energy (EERE) program offices to assess the future need for advanced computing resources in the areas of clean energy and advanced manufacturing. In part, this discussion served as an update to earlier workshops and townhalls. ASCR is guided by DOE mission needs as it develops research programs, computers, and networks at the leading edge of technologies. As the exascale computing era dawns, technology changes are creating new opportunities for those who must use high-performance computing (HPC) and data systems effectively. The ASCR computing facilities are augmenting their strategy to adapt to changing science needs and emerging technologies and to leverage the utility of exascale computing across the federal government.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Energy Efficiency and Infrastructure Upgrades on Nuclear Clean-up Sites: The Hanford Experience - 18641

The Hanford site, located in southeastern Washington, produced much of our nation's weapons-grade plutonium for the Defense nuclear weapons program. This production lasted the better part of four decades with production ending in 1987. Since 1987, the focus of the Hanford site has turned to clean-up activities. Mission Support Alliance (MSA) is the integrator of the multi-contractor effort to clean up the Hanford site. MSA collaborates with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and all Hanford site contractors in finding and implementing new, cost-saving, safe and practical solutions to cleanup challenges with a continual focus on innovative processes and technologies that reduce costs, energy use and bring safety improvements to the site. Support Services include environmental integration and land management; fleet and road maintenance; water/electric and utilities; cyber security and information management as well as the preservation of the site's cultural artifacts. This paper describes the process, challenges, and focus on infrastructure upgrade and energy efficiency projects in the context of a multi-contractor nuclear clean-up site. Project development and new technology deployment at Hanford has long been plagued with economic challenges. For example, despite extensive auditing, analysis, and project development, most of the energy-related projects on the Hanford site have gone unfunded due to the low cost of electricity, the relatively high cost of labor, and costs associated with detailed safety and cultural reviews. - The Hanford site is a direct-service customer of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and has a marginal electricity rate of $0.033/kWh. - Labor costs on the Hanford site track high because of the requirements associated with the safety and security necessary to operate a legacy nuclear weapons complex. - In partnership with three federally recognized and other affected Native American tribes (Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Nez Perce Tribe, and Wanapum People), most activities on the Hanford site are afforded in-depth cultural reviews. To work within these constraints, the MSA Energy Management team has embarked on a three-pronged approach to energy project development: Program Visibility: The MSA Energy Management team has promoted both project opportunities and requirements across the Hanford site. This information comes in the form of site-wide newsletters, group meetings, e-mails, success stories, and recognition of staff. Single-point Analysis: To by-pass the inevitable duplications of effort, learning curve issues, and to improve project consistency/delivery, the MSA Energy Management team serves as the single resource to the site for energy project analysis. This resource includes initial assessment, engineering analysis, efficiency calculation and project recommendations. Contractor/utility Interface: In addition to the infrastructure under its own purview, MSA provides all support services for the contractor/utility interface. These activities include formulation and submission of incentive-based efficiency projects, project tracking, and incentive awards. All incentive awards are forwarded to the relevant contractor and then highlighted in the visibility campaign. Successful energy efficiency projects at Hanford have included high efficiency heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems, interior and exterior lighting/lighting control systems, pump and motor systems, and the right-sizing of transformers and area-wide electrical distribution systems. Prior to the initiation of this program and structure (roughly 3 years ago) the average annual energy efficiency incentive applied for and received was under $10,000, with an annual energy savings of approximately 36,000 kilowatt hours (kWh). In fiscal year 2017, the annual incentive received was over $419,000, with identified energy savings of over 1.3 million kWh. Details and case studies of the major project accomplishments are included. The success of this program can be traced to an understanding of the constraints, the development of a program to address these constraints, and good communication/coordination across DOE and the multiple contractors serving the Hanford site. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗