Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “developing countries”

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.

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

At least 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1981

Highlights of NASA/DOE photovoltaic market assessment visit to Morocco

A broad range of agricultural, rural development, and other power applications in various regions of Morocco were examined to determine the potential market for photovoltaic products in Moroccan development. The primary focus of the study was the agriculture sector which accounts for approximately 17% of the country's GNP. The country has a clear need for reliable remote power systems, but does not have the financial resources to invest in the relatively high capital cost PV equipment. A modest potential for PV use was identified in nonagricultural rural services, such as refrigerators for rural clinics and rural radio-telephones. The main potential for PV in Morocco in the next five years lies mainly in the telecommunications sector. Applications include rural TV sets, TV repeater stations, microwave relay stations, and railroad, marine, and airline signalling. Market size estimates were derived from development and expansion plans. At an average customer cost for complete installed systems from $18/Wp to $30/Wp the total potential market value is estimated in the range of $6.6 to $11 million over the 1981-1986 period.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2023

National Campaign Development Test Executive Summary

NASA’s vision for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is to provide safe, sustainable, accessible, and affordable aviation for transformational local and intraregional missions and includes the transportation of passengers and cargo as well as aerial work missions, such as infrastructure inspection or search and rescue operations. NASA’s technical expertise, intergovernmental relationships, and high level of public trust will help this technology come to market concurrent with infrastructure readiness, public acceptance, and constructive regulation. By advising and integrating disparate AAM efforts across the country and working collaboratively with the FAA, the National Campaign (NC) objective is to motivate industry progress and support the development of policy, regulatory, and technical standards in a manner that best ensures public safety and benefit to the American people. NC began with the Dry Run and Developmental Test (NC-DT), which served as a pathfinder for collaboration and direct involvement with industry partners in integrated simulation exercises and flight tests. NC-DT culminated with an acoustics-gathering flight test in September 2021 with industry partner Joby’s prototype S4 2.0 air vehicle, which delivered the first foundational baseline of noise levels present in Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles. Through the DT phase, the NC team built and tested the airspace and range infrastructure while assessing the readiness level of industry partners leading up to future NC events. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of NC-DT.

National Campaign↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cooperation or Rivalry? Impact of alternative development pathways on India's long-term electricity generation and associated water demands

The world has witnessed a significant shift in the last decade in the way countries interact with each other. A cooperation based international paradigm is being challenged by countries engaging in rivalry with each other in the name of their national interests. What developmental pathway the world charts in the future is going to be path defining for global energy and emissions use. India, expected to play a critical role in the emissions mitigation debate, would contribute to and would be impacted by these pathways. In India specific literature, however, little attention has been paid to development pathways related uncertainties and their impact on energy futures. We seek to address this gap by modelling India's electricity futures and associated water demands under different development pathways. Our analysis shows that alternative development pathways would have significantly different implications for the energy access, electricity generation mix, associated water withdrawals, and carbon dioxide emissions in India. We conclude by arguing that energy, emissions and water policies should be conceived with an explicit understanding of uncertainties related to potential development pathways that the world and India can chart.

India, Electricity-Water Nexus, Development Pathwa↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reliability and Integrity Management Program Implementation Approach

Nuclear energy is the most reliable and environmentally sustainable energy source available today. In the United States, nuclear-generated power accounts for approximately 20% of total electricity and over 55% of clean energy. New advanced reactors have enormous potential to help further decarbonize the energy market, enhance grid resiliency, create new jobs, and build a stronger economy. More than 50 new reactors are being developed in the United States, and the federal government realizes an urgent need to deploy nuclear technologies to meet the country’s energy, environmental, and national security goals. As such, the U.S. Department of Energy launched multiple programs to support advanced reactor deployment. The research described in this paper explores implementation strategies for the Reliability and Integrity Management Program that directly supports the U.S. Department of Energy goal to enable the near-term deployment of the advanced reactor technologies. The project is conducted under the Regulatory Development Program for advanced reactors sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Achieving Cooperative Community Equitable Solar Sources (ACCESS) (Final Technical Report)

Since 2011, solar has grown from a niche technology to a widely accessible source of power for homes and businesses across the United States and has become a fundamental part of the modern grid. There are still challenges, however, in learning how to integrate and use PV most effectively and how to make PV universally available. Most low- and moderate-income (LMI) customers cannot currently afford PV; capital costs and financing costs are too high to drive significant penetration. Providing access to LMI individuals and communities is a critical and immediate priority, and the focus of this project. The overall objective of the Achieving Cooperative Community Equitable Solar Sources (ACCESS) project is to explore and amplify the use of innovative, cost-effective energy access programs to serve co-ops’ LMI members1. ACCESS will research at least three financing mechanisms and at least six LMI program designs including LMI engagement strategies to maximize participation for these hard-to-reach audiences. ACCESS evaluated the financial mechanisms and program designs from field tests sited at diverse co-ops that provide recognizable models for the broader co-op community to identify optimal solutions for small utilities. The research with these cooperatives allowed testing of concepts and development of models and tools for other utilities to adapt to their own program designs and expansions. ACCESS published results and developed an “ACCESS Solar Access Toolkit” consisting of program designs, LMI engagement strategies, how-to guidance, and other tools to facilitate replication at small utilities across the country. Through the dissemination practices of the ACCESS project team, all NRECA member co-ops (~900) were made aware of the “ACCESS Solar Access Toolkit” and all other ACCESS resources. NRECA and its partners developed innovations to expand co-ops’ solar energy offerings to provide all of a co-op’s members—especially those who struggle to pay their bills—with cost-effective options that meet their needs. ACCESS specifically explored utility financing mechanisms and program designs that, independently or used in combination, increase solar access for rural electric cooperatives’ LMI members/ratepayers and that reduce LMI member/ratepayers’ electricity costs by at least 10%. LMI engagement strategies focused on maximizing the number of members who receive benefits and on the cost savings to LMI participants.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Comparing Transformation Pathways Across Major Economies

This paper aims at providing an overview of the transformation pathways for the seven largest greenhouse-gas (GHG) emitting regions and countries in the world, in line with their contributions to limiting global average temperature increase to well below 2oC as compared to pre-industrial levels. We introduce the methodology for developing these pathways by initially discussing the iterative process by which global integrated assessment models (IAMs) initiated discussions by suggesting boundary conditions in the form of carbon budgets for different regions and countries. The carbon budgets subsequently agreed upon were then used in eleven different regional and national energy-economy models and IAMs for deriving low-carbon pathways in line with a well-below-2oC world. We present a comparative assessment of the resulting regional and national pathways, and of the challenges and opportunities associated with them.

Schaeffer, Roberto↗
DOE OSTI2023

Identifying Potential Candidates for Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) in Bangladesh

Bangladesh faces several hurdles to achieving its renewable energy objectives, such as land availability and transmission congestion. Renewable Energy Zones (REZ), which are geographic areas with high-quality utility-scale renewable resources, suitable land topography, and commercial interest, can help address these challenges and support long-term generation and transmission planning. This study focuses on solar PV (fixed-tilt) and onshore wind, leveraging recently developed high temporal and spatial resolution resource data. In the moderate land exclusion scenario, large "study areas" are identified in Bangladesh with capacity factors in the top 25% for the entire country - 5 for wind and 8 for solar. Within these study areas, 19 candidates for REZ are identified based on the overlap between these study areas and upazilas (i.e., administrative subdivisions) containing economic development zones. Four of the identified candidate zones are opportunities for priority development, given the combination of strong wind and solar resources and the presence of economic zones. Furthermore, the geographic diversity of wind and solar resources in Bangladesh could help increase grid resilience by not concentrating all renewable energy development in the same region. Finally, pairing REZ with economic zones can bolster economic development, take advantage of large electricity demand, and leverage existing infrastructure investments.

Bangladesh↗
DOE OSTI2024

Waste management strategies for military-generated waste in the United States

Sustainable and energy efficient municipal solid waste (MSW) management is vital for the health and performance of deployed soldiers, as they play an important role in the safety and dignity of a country. As the United States targets net-zero carbon-free emission goals, research and development are essential to surpassing current practices for management of MSW at military installations, both at home and abroad. To achieve this, it is important to act upon and implement the policies and instructions set by government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DoD). Understanding the composition of waste and disposal methods that are in use at military installations is a crucial step to success. Here, the authors show this through analyzed data from trusted sources, such as government agencies, reports, magazines, journals, and other publications on MSW management techniques. By defining these challenges, possible solutions can be better understood for improved management of MSW at military installations in the United States. Finally, an integrated approach with deployable units capable of waste-to-energy technology using waste reduction, diversion, and recycling strategies shows to be an effective pathway for MSW conversion into energy and other useful products.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Enhanced Safeguards Approach for Accelerator Driven Systems utilized to Close the Fuel Cycle

Further to our previous safeguards approach for Accelerator Driven Systems, which focused on estimates of fissile material production using relevant proton accelerator systems and corresponding safeguards needs for fuel storage, the subcritical reactor, and spent fuel storage material balances areas, this report is more expansive and considers utilization of ADS for either burning of transuranics or breeding of fissile materials. We find that the recycled fuels likely intended for ADS will be thermally and radioactively hot to such a degree that it is likely reprocessing and fuel fabrication will have to be co - located with the ADS reactor facility to avoid impractical hot fuel transportation issues. As such, we consider in detail the full ADS system to include material balance areas for spent fuel receiving, reprocessing, storage & cooling, fuel fabrication, subcritical reactor area, and waste storage & handling. Furthermore, aqueous - based separation methods like PUREX cannot tolerate the intense heat of the ADS fuels, so pyroprocessing will likely be required. With these considerations, we developed an Enhanced Safeguards Approach for ADS beyond the work done in our first report, and conclude that significant diagnostic development is needed , a nd provide safeguards recommendations. We have also included an appendix regarding some country programs, in particular the Chinese ADANES burner/breeder program a nd the Indian thorium - based breeder program.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS1985

Microwave remote sensing from space

Spaceborne microwave remote sensors provide perspectives of the earth surface and atmosphere which are of unique value in scientific studies of geomorphology, oceanic waves and topography, atmospheric water vapor and temperatures, vegetation classification and stress, ice types and dynamics, and hydrological characteristics. Microwave radars and radiometers offer enhanced sensitivities to the geometrical characteristics of the earth's surface and its cover, to water in all its forms - soil and vegetation moisture, ice, wetlands, oceans, and atmospheric water vapor, and can provide high-resolution imagery of the earth's surface independent of cloud cover or sun angle. A brief review of the historical development and principles of active and passive microwave remote sensing is presented, with emphasis on the unique characteristics of the information obtainable in the microwave spectrum and the value of this information to global geoscientific studies. Various spaceborne microwave remote sensors are described, with applications to geology, planetology, oceanography, glaciology, land biology, meteorology, and hydrology. A discussion of future microwave remote sensor technological developments and challenges is presented, along with a summary of future missions being planned by several countries.

Carver, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Growing plant in space

Space agencies in several countries are planning for the culture of plants in long duration space bases. The challenge of developing crop production procedures suitable for space projects will result in a new approach of problems we may meet today or in the near future in our common production systems. You may keep in mind subjects as: minimizing wastes or pollution problems, saving materials, introductions robotic helps. Discussion between scientists involved with food production for space programmes and protected horticultural cultivation may open new perspectives.

NASA Program CELSS↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA's Space Launch System Progress Report

Exploration beyond Earth will be an enduring legacy for future generations, confirming America's commitment to explore, learn, and progress. NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is responsible for designing and developing the first exploration-class rocket since the Apollo Program's Saturn V that sent Americans to the Moon. The SLS offers a flexible design that may be configured for the MultiPurpose Crew Vehicle and associated equipment, or may be outfitted with a payload fairing that will accommodate flagship science instruments and a variety of high-priority experiments. Both options support a national capability that will pay dividends for future generations. Building on legacy systems, facilities, and expertise, the SLS will have an initial lift capability of 70 metric tons (mT) and will be evolvable to 130 mT. While commercial launch vehicle providers service the International Space Station market, this capability will surpass all vehicles, past and present, providing the means to do entirely new missions, such as human exploration of asteroids and Mars. With its superior lift capability, the SLS can expand the interplanetary highway to many possible destinations, conducting revolutionary missions that will change the way we view ourselves, our planet and its place in the cosmos. To perform missions such as these, the SLS will be the largest launch vehicle ever built. It is being designed for safety and affordability - to sustain our journey into the space age. Current plans include launching the first flight, without crew, later this decade, with crewed flights beginning early next decade. Development work now in progress is based on heritage space systems and working knowledge, allowing for a relatively quick start and for maturing the SLS rocket as future technologies become available. Together, NASA and the U.S. aerospace industry are partnering to develop this one-of-a-kind asset. Many of NASA's space centers across the country will provide their unique expertise to the Space Launch System endeavor. Unique infrastructure to be used includes the Michoud Assembly Facility for tank manufacturing, Stennis Space Center for engine testing, and Kennedy Space Center for processing and launch. As this panel will discuss, the SLS team is dedicated to doing things differently-from applying lean oversight/insight models to smartly using legacy hardware and existing facilities. Building on the foundation laid by over 50 years of human and scientific space flight--and on the lessons learned from the Apollo, Space Shuttle, and Constellation Programs-the SLS team has delivered both technical trade studies and business case analyses to ensure that the SLS architecture will be safe, affordable, reliable, and sustainable.

Singer, Joan A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Validation and Independent Uncertainty Analysis of the MIX-SOL-THERM-003 ICSBEP Benchmark

The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) was started in 1992 by the United States Department of Energy and later in 1995 became an international project with contributions from 22 countries. The project is now organized by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). In its most recent iteration, the ICSBEP handbook contains over five thousand evaluations of critical, near-critical, and subcritical experiments conducted in facilities all around the world. These benchmarks serve as valuable information for criticality safety engineers who can use them to validate calculation techniques and establish minimum subcritical margins for operations with fissionable materials. The benchmarks in the handbook are categorized by their fissile material composition, material form (oxide, solution, or metal), and fission energy spectra. This is especially useful for those looking for benchmarks similar to a system they are working on to compare methods and identify trends. The ICSBEP Handbook Uncertainty Guide is document outlining recommended practices and methods for determining uncertainties in these benchmarks. Quantifying these uncertainties thoroughly is crucial as it allows a higher degree of confidence that data used from them is valid and relevant. The guide stresses the importance of a thorough and well documented uncertainty analysis when evaluating an experiment. All measured values of a system, whether they be dimensions or material compositions, have a certain amount of uncertainty associated with them and can be analyzed one by one to determine their effects on the system. Many evaluated benchmarks in the handbook present this in detail, however some do not, mostly earlier evaluations performed in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Recently at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the Nuclear Criticality Safety Division (NCSD) of LANL has been validating MCNP6.2 ® input files of criticality benchmarks for use by Whisper, a criticality safety code developed at LANL. This effort is also part of the OECD NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) Subgroup 45, also known as Validation of Nuclear Data Libraries (VaNDaL). The goal of VaNDaL is to compile a set of validated simulation inputs for use in validating nuclear data and simulation codes. As part of these efforts, one of the benchmarks reviewed was the MIX SOL-THERM-003 ICSBEP benchmark. This paper provides an independent uncertainty analysis of this benchmark experiment.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

All Hands On Deck: Raising the Bar on Whole Building Performance-Based Code Compliance and Above-Code Programs

In 2019 a large-scale national effort was launched with support from U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA). The project aimed to develop a long-term vision and a roadmap for achieving a practical application of whole building performance-based code and above code program compliance in commercial buildings. The work was aided by engaging over 70 stakeholders across the country representing jurisdictions, above-code programs such as LEED and ENERGY STAR Multifamily Program, members of the ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and other Standard committees, IBPSA and software developers. The performance path requires whole building energy modeling and is gaining momentum. Many see it as the future of the commercial energy codes and the main pathway for achieving zero energy buildings. The paper describes the findings from a stakeholder survey funded by NEEA on the current state of performance-based path, its market penetration, trends, implementation practices and adoption challenges. It discusses the patterns revealed by experience of the states with decades-long history of performance-based compliance such as Florida and California and opportunities for taking advantage of the synergies between code and above-code programs. In addition, the paper provides an overview of the tools and resources developed as part of the effort including the compliance form for ASHRAE Standard 90.1 Section 11 and Appendix G, modeling submittal review manual, and modeler and reviewer qualification requirements. The tools and resources would help remove market barriers, deliver immediate benefits to jurisdictions and rating authorities, and achieve energy efficiency through whole-building performance path.

TSPR, Performance Based Complinace, Washington Sta↗
NASA NTRS2018

Bayesian Geostatistical Modelling of PM10 and PM2.5 Surface Level Concentrations in Europe Using High-Resolution Satellite-Derived Products

Air quality monitoring across Europe is mainly based on in situ ground stations which are too sparse to accurately assess the exposure effects of air pollution for the entire continent. The demand for precise predictive modelsthat estimate gridded geophysical parameters of ambient air at high spatial resolution has rapidly grown. Here, we investigate the potential of satellite derived products to improve particulate matter (PM) estimates. Bayesiangeostatistical models addressing confounding between the spatial distribution of pollutants and remotely sensed predictors were developed to estimate yearly averages of both, fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM10) surface PM concentrations at 1 sq.km spatial resolution over 46 European countries and were compared to geostatistical, geographically weighted and land-use regression formulations. Rigorous model selection identified the Earth observation data which contribute most to pollutants' estimation. Geostatistical models outperformed the predictive ability of the frequently employed land-use regression. The resulting estimates of PM10 and PM2.5, which represent the main air quality indicators for the urban Sustainable Development Goal, indicate that in 2016, 66.2% of the European population was breathing air above the WHO Air Quality Guidelines thresholds. Our estimates are readily available to policy makers and scientists assessing the effects of long-term exposure to pollution on human and ecosystem health.

Beloconi, Anton↗
DOE OSTI2024

Well‐to‐wheels analysis of greenhouse gas emissions for passenger vehicles in Middle East and North Africa

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are widely considered a pathway to achieve low carbon mobility. BEVs emit zero emissions from the tailpipe, but their life cycle carbon reduction compared to gasoline vehicles varies based on primary energy sources, electricity generation, and use efficiency. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is an area rich in fossil fuels, meriting a detailed comparison between the emissions from BEV and other powertrains. We developed a MENA‐specific life cycle model that estimates well‐to‐wheel (WTW) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from passenger transport with internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug‐in hybrid electric vehicles, and BEVs. MENA's average WTW GHG emissions for all supply chain steps including combustion emissions from vehicle operation are 767 g/kWh and 84 g CO 2 eq/MJ for electricity and gasoline, respectively, but are highly variable due to heterogeneity in upstream supply chains. The use of hybrid gasoline ICEVs provides the largest emission reduction opportunity for existing vehicle fleets in 9 of the 16 MENA countries. For these nine countries, replacing gasoline ICEVs with HEVs could, on average, reduce country‐level life cycle GHG emissions by 47%. There is a similar emission reduction opportunity for 14 of the 16 MENA countries when normalizing vehicle efficiencies irrespective of the powertrain shares and other trends in existing vehicle fleets. Future scenario analysis shows that BEVs would have the lowest WTW GHG emissions among all powertrains in most MENA countries only if significantly reduced electricity transmission losses and cleaner grid mix are realized, although a high cost of infrastructure developments is expected.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1999

JANNAF 28th Propellant Development and Characterization Subcommittee and 17th Safety and Environmental Protection Subcommittee Joint Meeting

This volume contains 37 unclassified/unlimited-distribution technical papers that were presented at the JANNAF 28th Propellant Development & Characterization Subcommittee (PDCS) and 17th Safety & Environmental Protection Subcommittee (S&EPS) Joint Meeting, held 26-30 April 1999 at the Town & Country Hotel and the Naval Submarine Base, San Diego, California. Volume II contains 29 unclassified/limited-distribution papers that were presented at the 28th PDCS and 17th S&EPS Joint Meeting. Volume III contains a classified paper that was presented at the 28th PDCS Meeting on 27 April 1999. Topics covered in PDCS sessions include: solid propellant rheology; solid propellant surveillance and aging; propellant process engineering; new solid propellant ingredients and formulation development; reduced toxicity liquid propellants; characterization of hypergolic propellants; and solid propellant chemical analysis methods. Topics covered in S&EPS sessions include: space launch range safety; liquid propellant hazards; vapor detection methods for toxic propellant vapors and other hazardous gases; toxicity of propellants, ingredients, and propellant combustion products; personal protective equipment for toxic liquid propellants; and demilitarization/treatment of energetic material wastes.

Cocchiaro, James E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

An approach to developing the market for space shuttle payloads: Business/public policy issues and international marketing considerations

The business and public policies were assessed that were determined to be important for NASA to consider in the design of a program for stimulating use of the space transportation system (STS) among potential users in the U.S. private sector and in foreign countries, in preparation for operations of the space shuttle in the early 1980's. Salient factors related to international cooperation in space are identified for special consideration in the development of user potential of the STS.

Krebs, W. A. W.↗