Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Energy Policy”

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 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Emerging Pathways to Upgrade the US Housing Stock: A Review of the Home Energy Upgrade Literature

The residential buildings sector is responsible for about 20% of total US energy use. In order to achieve climate goals, we need ways to reduce carbon emissions and energy use in this sector. In addition, resiliency, electric grid stability, emergency survivability and other energy and building-related issues are becoming increasingly important challenges. New homes in most of the US meet various energy codes and are reasonably energy efficient. However, the vast majority of energy use is from existing homes that were not required to conform to energy performance requirements. It is becoming imperative to reach as many of these existing homes as possible and find ways to improve their energy-related performance. This must be done in such a way that it meets the needs and desires of homeowners and building occupants, as well as those of the contractors and design professionals engaged in doing the upgrades themselves. Energy retrofits of homes started in the 1970’s in response to the energy crisis, however, these retrofits were very limited in scope and relatively few homes were upgraded. Those homes that have been upgraded generally still have much scope for improvement. A huge effort is needed to get to scale to address the energy use in housing. The target population is effectively every home in the country, whether a large suburban single-family home, or a small downtown apartment. In order to provide a framework for analysis and the basis for plans to get to large-scale retrofits of homes, this literature review summarizes the state-of-the art in the US buildings industry. It identifies where more research, engineering, or technology is needed, as well as relevant industry trends, such as electrification, one-stop shop program design and others. It also examines other key topics, such as availability of financing, minimizing household disruption, and engaging home owners and occupants. This literature review builds on a similar review from several years ago (Less and Walker, 2014). The current review focuses on efforts in the intervening years. This literature review is part of a larger DOE study of deep energy upgrades that includes industry surveys and development of cost-stack analyses. For this review, we gathered data not just from the published literature, but also from practitioners in conjunction with other aspects of the larger DOE study. In some cases, we refer to comments from specific individuals or companies, or refer to specific products by name. This is not intended as an endorsement, but rather to provide clarity on sources of information and examples of relevant technologies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Federal Fleet Resilience Planning

Federal fleet operations span the diverse geography of the country as the vehicles provide services in support of equally diverse agency missions. Fleets face the potential for disruption of services from natural disasters, infrastructure failures, and human threats. This report reviews some of the hazards, threats, and disruptions that fleets may face, describes an approach to fleet management that incorporates resilience, and provides an overview of fleet resilience considerations. While this report is not comprehensive, it describes considerations for integrating resilience into fleet management organizational priorities.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

U.S. ESCO Industry: Industry Size and Recent Market Trends

This study is the latest in a series of LBNL research into U.S. ESCO industry characteristics and market trends. The research is based on interviews with ESCO industry executives conducted during the fall of 2019 and the first half of 2020. Nearly all companies that identified themselves as ESCOs were contacted as part of this project. We find that after a period of little growth (2011-2014), industry revenues reached an estimated $6 billion in 2018, or a 3.4% annual average growth rate from 2015-2018. ESCOs primarily serve the public an institutional sectors (e.g., federal, state, and local governments; university and colleges; and K-12 schools). In 2018, project investments by public and institutional organizations accounted for over 90% of industry revenue, which is consistent with previous industry studies. ESCO activity in the Middle Atlantic, East North Central, and Pacific regions in the U.S. delivered the highest share of revenue in 2018, which is also consistent with earlier research. ESCOs reported that a majority of their customers use energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) primarily for facility capital improvement needs and resilience rather than utility savings. In addition, the importance of non-energy benefits (e.g., water savings, avoided operations and maintenance costs, and avoided capital costs) accounted for in the project savings guarantee reportedly increased in all markets during 2016-2018 compared to previous time periods. The study found that the ESCO industry faces several key challenges, including: (1) increasing project development times due to more complex projects and other factors; (2) difficulty finding qualified subcontractors in some regions, including minority- women- and disadvantaged population-owned small business enterprises; and (3) difficulty accessing project documents and quickly fulfilling customer requests to justify project payments several years into the performance period of a project.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Energy Management Information Systems Technical Resources Report

Guide supports federal facility staff in understanding, designing, procuring, and implementing Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS) as a valuable component of their portfolio-level energy and water planning and management strategies. As a broad and rapidly evolving family of tools that monitor, analyze, and control building energy use and system performance, EMIS tools present significant opportunities for federal sector energy savings and improved operational performance. EMIS are at the forefront of transforming energy management best practices by providing building owners and operators with well-organized building performance and energy consumption data, enabling a host of analytic capabilities. These capabilities include portfolio-wide energy benchmarking, data visualization, and key performance indicator tracking; automated fault detection and diagnostics (AFDD); artificial intelligence for predictive analytics and control; automated measurement and verification of energy conservation measures; and supervisory control enabling automated system optimization and demand management.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Technoeconomic Analysis for Power Generation from Coal Water Slurry Using Modular Staged-OMB Gasifier

Trimeric performed a technoeconomic analysis for a proposed 5 MWe gross modular gasification power generation facility. The cost estimate was used to determine the economic advantages of the proposed modular, staged-OMB gasifier in comparison to other modular gasifier designs. The project, Staged OMB for Modular Gasifier/Burner, is led by The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) and supported by East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) and Trimeric Corporation. A high-level summary of the findings from this project are presented below.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Annual Technology Baseline: The 2021 Electricity Update [Slides]

Consistent cost and performance data for various electricity generation technologies can be difficult to find and may change frequently for certain technologies. With the Annual Technology Baseline (ATB), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory annually provides an organized and centralized set of such cost and performance data. The ATB uses the best information from the Department of Energy national laboratories' renewable energy analysts. The ATB has been reviewed by experts and it includes the following electricity generation technologies: land-based wind, offshore wind, utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV), commercial-scale solar PV, PV plus storage, residential-scale solar PV, concentrating solar power, geothermal power, hydropower, utility-scale battery storage, coal, and natural gas. EIA data for nuclear and conventional biopower are included for reference. This webinar presentation introduces the 2021 update to the ATB Electricity data and documentation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Energy Management Information Systems Technical Resources Report

This report illustrates how energy management information systems (EMIS) can enable federal agencies to improve energy performance, reduce costs, and meet energy goals. The guide discusses how to identify and implement needed EMIS functions and capabilities, covering the entire EMIS life cycle including system design, procurement, implementation, and ongoing maintenance.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

sCO 2 Brayton Energy Conversion Customer Discovery

All energy production systems need efficient energy conversion systems. Current Rankine cycles use water to generate steam at temperatures where efficiency is limited to around 40%. As existing fossil and nuclear power plants are decommissioned due to end of effective life and/or societies’ desire for cleaner generation options, more efficient energy conversion is needed to keep up with increasing electricity demands. Modern energy generation technologies, such as advanced nuclear reactors and concentrated solar, coupled to high efficiency sCO 2 conversion systems provide a solution to efficient, clean energy systems. Leading R&D communities worldwide agree that the successful development of sCO 2 Brayton power cycle technology will eventually bring about large-scale changes to existing multi-billion-dollar global markets and enable power applications not currently possible or economically justifiable. However, all new technologies face challenges in the path to commercialization and the electricity sector is distinctively risk averse. The Sandia sCO 2 Brayton team needs to better understand what the electricity sector needs in terms of new technology risk mitigation, generation efficiency, reliability improvements above current technology, and cost requirements which would make new technology adoption worthwhile. Relying on the R&D community consensus that a sCO 2 power cycle will increase the revenue of the electrical industry, without addressing the electrical industry’s concerns, significantly decreases the potential for adoption at commercial scale. With a clear understanding of the market perspectives on technology adoption, including military, private sector, and utilities customers, the Sandia Brayton Team can resolve industry concerns for smoother development and faster transition to commercialization. An extensive customer discovery process, similar to that executed through the NSF’s I-Corp program, is necessary in order to understand the pain points of the market and articulate the value proposition of Brayton systems in terms that engage decision makers and facilitate commercialization of the technology.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

High-Dimensional Data-Driven Energy Optimization for MultiModal Transit Agencies

Transportation accounts for 28% of the total energy use in the United States and as such, it is responsible for immense environmental impact, including urban air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and may pose a severe threat to energy security. As we encourage mode shift from personal vehicles to public transit, it is important to consider that public transit systems still require substantial amounts of energy; for example, public bus transit services in the U.S. are responsible for at least 19.7 million metric tons of CO 2 emission annually. As such it is absolutely crucial that we study the bottlenecks to energy efficiency in public transit and develop new algorithms that can help the public transit agencies, especially those that are still operating mixed fleets, which may consist of Electric vehicles (EVs), hybrids (HEVs), and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), optimize the operations by deciding which vehicles are assigned to serving which transit trips.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Financing Federal Microgrids [Slides]

A microgrid can enhance a site’s electrical power system during normal operations, as well as provide reliable backup power to critical loads when electric utility power is interrupted. When components of a microgrid (and potentially the entire system) can be justified economically and paid for out of energy savings or avoided costs, implementation by one of several privately financed federal procurement mechanisms is possible. However, it is typically difficult to achieve enough savings and avoided costs to cover the design, equipment, and installation of certain microgrid components that are required to integrate the system. This presentation explores procurement options and agreements that may be useful to federal agencies interested in implementing microgrids at their sites. This information will be most useful to agencies when they are exploring electric energy system resilience options and/or considering different procurement options to meet their needs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Analysis Program Annual Progress Report (FY2020)

During fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020), the U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funded analysis projects supportive of VTO’s goals to pursue early stage research in vehicle and mobility system technologies to reduce petroleum dependence, increase energy reliability and security, improve transportation affordability, and promote economic growth. VTO analysis projects result in a foundation of data, analytical models, and applied analyses that provide insights into critical transportation energy problems and assist in research investment prioritization and portfolio planning. This document presents a brief overview of VTO analysis efforts and progress for projects funded in FY 2020. Each of the progress reports includes project objectives, approach, and highlights of the technical results that were accomplished during the fiscal year.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Achieving Energy Savings in Small- and Medium-Sized Public Facilities: A Strategic Approach to Prioritizing and Financing

This resource is for state, local government, and K-12 school staff managing small- and medium-sized facilities. Readers will learn to address the unique challenges of smaller energy-saving projects and make informed decisions about financing. Section 1 provides tools for obtaining the information required to prioritize potential energy upgrades. Section 2 presents financing options for energy upgrades, as well as insights that will help decision makers select the right financing model for their project and jurisdiction. Section 3 summarizes key takeaways and highlights additional resources for small- and medium-sized public facilities.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Federal Resilience Resources for State Energy Offices

The Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office, through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has compiled federally funded and publicly available qualitative and quantitative resources that support energy resilience and disaster mitigation planning. This handout is accompanied by the downloadable Resilience Valuation Tools Table that offers more detailed specifications on each quantitative tool.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Research and Development of a Ventilation-Integrated Comfort System

From an indoor air quality perspective, the best residential ventilation strategies include filtering outdoor air and distributing that air to all occupied parts of a home. From an energy standpoint, it's desirable that energy be transferred from the exhaust air to the incoming outdoor air to limit heating and cooling impacts. Heat or energy recovery ventilation systems (HRVs or ERVs) can provide these functions, but researchers have seen many poor installations related to design, installation, and operation and maintenance. More robust ventilation systems may involve an ERV with a dedicated duct distribution system and controls. Such a duct system can be costly to install, and many builders reduce these costs by connecting an ERV to a central heating and cooling duct system. While this can sometimes be done effectively, researchers have seen consistent challenges with low, inconsistent, or imbalanced flow rates; high electricity consumption; and - of greatest concern - outdoor air short-circuiting or not being delivered to occupied spaces at all. Most ERVs are designed to operate with their own duct system; they are not designed as an add-on to much larger HVAC systems. With support from the US DOE Building Technologies Office, Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (SWA) partnered with Mitsubishi Electric Trane US, CORE Energy Recovery Solutions, and Therma-Stor LLC to design and test VICS prototypes. A conceptual diagram is shown in Figure 1, and the latest prototype (shown in Figure 2) was manufactured by Therma-Stor and tested in SWA's facility in Norwalk, CT. The ERV heat exchanger was provided by CORE, and the VICS was installed in conjunction with a 1-ton, inverter heat pump provided by Mitsubishi.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Energy Savings Performance Contracting for Small Projects

Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) is a budget-neutral approach to make building improvements that reduce energy and water use and increase operational efficiency. ESPC can help public-sector planners use tomorrow’s energy savings to fund today's facility and infrastructure upgrades. This resource highlights strategies and case studies for implementing ESPC in smaller towns, rural counties, and small school districts to complete energy upgrades and maximize energy and cost savings.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tariff Setting in the District Heating Sector: Recommendations Based on International Experience

Ukraine’s district heating (DH) system is an essential resource for the country and has the potential to provide efficient, local, and renewable energy to a large share of the population. However, inefficient regulation and management have caused the sector to experience a vicious cycle of financial, operational, and technological problems. Overcoming these challenges and building a sustainable DH system requires comprehensive reforms, which could attract significant investment, improve the quality of services, and increase the efficiency of DH. One of the key elements of a comprehensive reform program should be a comprehensive reform of the tariff system. The purpose of this report is to provide analysis of European models for tariff regulation and recommendations for reforms to Ukraine’s DH tariff system. The report presents several case studies from European countries, followed by analysis of the current tariff system in Ukraine and barriers to effective regulation. Based on these findings, the report proposes actions Ukraine could take to improve the tariff regulatory system and promote a sustainable DH sector.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗