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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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DOE OSTI2020

Building Tune-Up Accelerator Program (Final Technical Report)

In 2016, the City of Seattle passed a mandatory Building Tune-Up requirement for all commercial buildings 50,000 square feet (SF) and larger as part of its Climate Action strategy. The requirement is phased in by size with large buildings (greater than 200,000 SF) required first. This allowed Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE) to offer the Building Tune-Up Accelerator (TUA) Program to the “mid-size” building market (less than 100,000 SF) to meet the requirements early. With funding from the US DOE, a package of technical and financial support was developed for building owners and energy service providers to encourage this hard-to-reach market to participate in the tune-up—and even go beyond requirements for greater energy savings. Seattle City Light, the municipal electric utility, offered participants a simple per square foot financial incentive. Partners at the University of Washington Integrated Design Lab, Smart Buildings Center and Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) offered service provider trainings, analytical tools and technical support. This final technical report summarizes the program, projected energy and emissions savings and lessons learned from program development to implementation to final evaluation for the 102 buildings that participated.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Vehicle Residual Value Analysis by Powertrain Type and Impacts on Total Cost of Ownership

Vehicle depreciation is a key factor in determining the total cost of vehicle ownership and consumer purchase behavior. This report examines how light-duty-vehicle residual values have evolved over time for conventional and advanced vehicle technologies, accounting for important factors such as market segment, size class, and country of assembly. Although plug-in vehicles have historically depreciated faster than conventional vehicles, advancements in electric vehicle technology have led to plug-in vehicles exhibiting depreciation curves similar to those of conventional vehicles. This report compares two methods for determining depreciation trends (snapshot method and time-series method) in order to identify potential impacts on calculating vehicle total cost of ownership given differing data availability.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

NASA NTRS1975

The development of a portable cardiac ultrasonoscope

This paper describes a new, portable, battery powered echocardioscope developed at the NASA-Ames Research Center in cooperation with the Stanford University School of Medicine. This instrument has three major advantages over existing equipment. First, it is compact and light weight for easy portability. Second, its DC operation makes it safer to use in remote settings where AC power is unavailable or in intensive care and neonatal units where AC instruments could present electrical hazards for the patient. Third, its design and packaging should enable it to sell for several thousand dollars less than presently marketed ultrasonoscopes. The cooperative development of this instrument, its principles of operation, and the significance of its unique features are presented.

Schmidt, G.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Advancements of the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and Transceiver (LISA-T) Small Spacecraft System

This paper describes recent advancements of the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and Transceiver (LISA-T) currently being developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The LISA-T array comprises a launch stowed, orbit deployed structure on which thin-film photovoltaic (PV) and antenna devices are embedded. The system provides significant electrical power generation at low weights, high stowage efficiency, and without the need for solar tracking. Leveraging high-volume terrestrial-market PVs also gives the potential for lower array costs. LISA-T is addressing the power starvation epidemic currently seen by many small-scale satellites while also enabling the application of deployable antenna arrays. Herein, an overview of the system and its applications are presented alongside sub-system development progress and environmental testing plans/initial results.

Russell, Tiffany↗

NASA NTRS2015

Advancements of the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and Transceiver (LISA-T) Small Spacecraft System

Lockett, Tiffany Russell↗

NASA NTRS2018

Concept Vehicles for VTOL Air Taxi Operations

Concept vehicles are presented for air taxi operations, also known as urban air mobility or on-demand mobility applications. Considering the design-space dimensions of payload (passengers and pilot), range, aircraft type, and propulsion system, three aircraft are designed: a single passenger (250-lb payload), 50-nm range quadrotor with electric propulsion; a six-passenger (1200-lb payload), 4x50 = 200-nm range side-by-side helicopter with hybrid propulsion; and a fifteen-passenger (3000-lb payload), 8x50 = 400-nm range tiltwing with turbo-electric propulsion. These concept vehicles are intended to focus and guide NASA research activities in support of aircraft development for emerging aviation markets, in particular VTOL air taxi operations. Research areas are discussed, illustrated by results from the design of the concept vehicles.

Concept↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Novel eVTOL Aircraft Automation Concepts

As new electric propulsion technologies have matured, many new electric propulsion Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft concepts have been proposed. These new aircraft concepts enable the creation of new aviation markets including Urban Air Mobility (UAM) but also pose new challenges in safety assurance. One early challenge is the evaluation of the diverse aircraft configurations and accompanying advanced control systems and automation designed to aid controllability. This paper describes a research activity to propose candidate means of evaluation for the aircraft concepts and automation in the context of UAM operations. The research activity proposes the adaptation of an evaluation design standard used by the military for advanced rotorcraft along with proposed descriptions and definitions to support evaluation of diverse automated concepts in the civilian eVTOL community.

AAM↗

DOE OSTI2021

Distributed Solar and Storage Adoption Modeling

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is analyzing the rapidly increasing role of energy storage in the electrical grid through 2050 through its Storage Futures Study. In one phase of the study, NREL used the laboratory's Distributed Generation Market (dGen) model to examine the various future distributed storage capacity adoption scenarios, results, and implications.

agent-based modeling↗

DOE OSTI2022

Robust Combined Heat and Hybrid Power (CHHP) for High Electrical Efficiency Cogeneration

According to the U.S. Department of Energy Combined Heat and Power Installation Database, approximately 80 GW of electrical power is produced in the United States using combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Studies have also shown that a potential market for CHP applications is larger than the existing market. Since fuel consumption is the most significant part of the operating cost for a CHP plant, higher efficiency translates to increased power output for the same quantity of fuel.

CHHP, LHV, CHP↗

DOE OSTI2023

Ultra-Efficient CHP with High Power/Heat Ratio Using a Novel Argon Power Cycle

APC, CHP, RICE↗

NASA NTRS1982

Solar thermal technologies benefits assessment: Objectives, methodologies and results for 1981

The economic and social benefits of developing cost competitive solar thermal technologies (STT) were assessed. The analysis was restricted to STT in electric applications for 16 high insolation/high energy price states. Three fuel price scenarios and three 1990 STT system costs were considered, reflecting uncertainty over fuel prices and STT cost projections. After considering the numerous benefits of introducing STT into the energy market, three primary benefits were identified and evaluated: (1) direct energy cost savings were estimated to range from zero to $50 billion; (2) oil imports may be reduced by up to 9 percent, improving national security; and (3) significant environmental benefits can be realized in air basins where electric power plant emissions create substantial air pollution problems. STT research and development was found to be unacceptably risky for private industry in the absence of federal support. The normal risks associated with investments in research and development are accentuated because the OPEC cartel can artificially manipulate oil prices and undercut the growth of alternative energy sources.

Gates, W. R.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Activating Opportunity Zones for Rapid Solar+Storage Deployment in Low Income Communities (Final Report)

Millions of Texans choose their own power provider, giving them the option to have low-cost and even renewable energy delivered through their retail electric plan. However, Texans with less disposable income often pay more for electricity and have limited access to green energy and emergency backup power even though the costs of solar and wind power are at record lows and continue to decline. The Powered for Good initiative aimed to help deliver clean, affordable, 100% renewable electricity to low-income households in Texas’s Competitive Retail Areas, where households can choose their electricity provider. Objectives: The primary goal of this project was to develop and validate one or more affordable solar+storage products (i.e., priced less than of $0.14/kWh) that Retail Electricity Providers (REP) can offer to LI households. The team achieved three objectives: 1. Investigate how to best reduce electricity costs and increase availability of emergency power for LI customers; 2. Build momentum for, and facilitate an approach to, a Texas-based pilot deployment of such solar+storage products, with a goal of greatly expanding this approach to a large segment of the LI population in Texas; 3. Provide the structural framework, finance model, and roadmap to potentially increase investment of solar+storage projects in LI communities across U.S. states when modified to meet their state-specific laws and regulations. The team evaluated the market of viable solutions for low-income Texans through interviews and focus groups with professionals and residents with lived experience. The team then piloted a low-cost retail electric product. Following the pilot, the team developed educational materials, including fact sheets, a Go Green Save Green interactive guide, and an Electricity Bill Analysis Tool. The team is now working to increase power resilience and reduce energy insecurity with micro solar and storage in partnership with local entities in the Harris County area. Key Findings: Informed by Powered for Good research, including the experiences on Texas residents and electricity system experts, the Powered for Good team developed a pilot that was implemented by Energy Well Texas, a new company formed in late 2020. The pilot featured a combination of a 100% clean residential energy offering delivered through the electrical grid plus a selection of batteries, lights and a solar panel that provided participants with varying levels of backup power. For the 8 customers who submitted previous bills, the Energy Well Texas pilot reduced energy bills by about 30%. In Houston, residents earning less than 30% of Area median Income (AMI) spend an average 13% of their income on energy or about $1,555 per year. Repeating the pilot results for these residents could yield $466 in savings per customer or about 4% of their income. While this will not end energy poverty, it is a big step toward that goal. The Powered for Good and Energy Well Texas teams are currently planning their post-pilot phase of service offerings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Validated model of a thermoelectric heat pump clothes dryer using secondary pumped loops

The energy associated with clothes drying makes up 4% of the total residential electrical energy consumption in the US. The cost is high since most clothes dryers use electric resistance heating which is inexpensive but also energy inefficient. State-of-the-art vapor-compression heat pump clothes dryers offer significant energy savings but have limited market penetration in the US. Here, a new configuration of clothes dryer was studied that utilizes a solid-state thermoelectric heat pump with pumped secondary water loops and conventional fin-and-tube water-to-air heat exchangers. Experimental results are presented for the thermoelectric dryer prototype with a combined energy factor of 6.89 lb BDW /kWh (specific moisture extraction rate of 1.71 kg w /kWh) and a dry time of 84 min for a standard load size of 8.45 lb (3.83 kg) with 57.5% starting moisture content. This is a 85% energy efficiency improvement over baseline electric resistance dryers. The efficiency and drying time results achieved are similar to vapor compression heat pump dryers. Compared to previous air-based thermoelectric clothes dryers, the energy efficiency has been increased by 6%, but drying time has been reduced by as much as 47% using secondary pumped loops and separate heat exchangers, which represents a significant advancement in the technology. In addition to the experimental prototype, a model was also developed to study the performance. The model was validated against experimental prototype data and used to identify the range of performance (dry time and efficiency) that could be expected of the design.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2022

Robust bidding strategy for aggregation of distributed prosumers in flexiramp market

Distributed prosumers (DPs) are the grid customers that own energy production/storage assets. Due to the flexibility and fast response of their assets, they can procure ancillary service products (ASP) in the wholesale market. An appealing ASP offered by California ISO in the real-time market (RTM) is flexiramp for which market participants do not submit direct offers, and the compensation is based on their energy opportunity costs. Here in this report, we propose a bidding strategy model for DP aggregator participation in the RTM considering energy and flexiramp. First, we develop a risk-averse optimization to determine the optimal energy and reserve product to trade in day-ahead market while considering proper amounts of flexiramp to trade in the RTM. In the RTM, to obtain optimal amounts of energy and flexiramp, the aggregator must submit hourly multi-level price-quantity energy bids for multiple RTM intervals with 15 min time-steps. On this basis, we propose a robust hourly economic bidding strategy model that determines the optimal energy bids in the RTM. We develop an adjustable robust counterpart of the model to address the RTM energy and flexiramp price uncertainties. The simulation results justify the efficacy of our proposed framework in gaining profits from the wholesale market.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS2002

An economic analysis of space solar power and its cost competitiveness as a supplemental source of energy for space and ground markets

Economic Growth has been historically associated with nations that first made use of each new energy source. There is no doubt that Solar Power Satellites is high as a potential energy system for the future. A conceptual cost model of the economics value of space solar power (SSP) as a source of complementary power for in-space and ground applications will be discussed. Several financial analysis will be offered based on present and new technological innovations that may compete with or be complementary to present energy market suppliers depending on various institutional arrangements for government and the private sector in a Global Economy. Any of the systems based on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, natural gas, and synthetic fuels share the problem of being finite resources and are subject to ever-increasing cost as they grow ever more scarce with drastic increase in world population. Increasing world population and requirements from emerging underdeveloped countries will also increase overall demand. This paper would compare the future value of SSP with that of other terrestrial renewable energy in distinct geographic markets within the US, in developing countries, Europe, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

electric power inter-regional electricity trading↗

DOE OSTI2022

The value of in-reservoir energy storage for flexible dispatch of geothermal power

Geothermal systems making use of advanced drilling and well stimulation techniques have the potential to provide tens to hundreds of gigawatts of clean electricity generation in the United States by 2050. With near-zero variable costs, geothermal plants have traditionally been envisioned as providing “baseload” power, generating at their maximum rated output at all times. However, as variable renewable energy sources (VREs) see greater deployment in energy markets, baseload power is becoming increasingly less competitive relative to flexible, dispatchable generation and energy storage. Herein we conduct an analysis of the potential for future geothermal plants to provide both of these services, taking advantage of the natural properties of confined, engineered geothermal reservoirs to store energy in the form of accumulated, pressurized geofluid and provide flexible load-following generation. We develop a linear optimization model based on multi-physics reservoir simulations that captures the transient pressure and flow behaviors within a confined, engineered geothermal reservoir. We then optimize the investment decisions and hourly operations of a power plant exploiting such a reservoir against a set of historical and modeled future electricity price series. Further, we find that operational flexibility and in-reservoir energy storage can significantly enhance the value of geothermal plants in markets with high VRE penetration, with energy value improvements of up to 60% relative to conventional baseload plants operating under identical conditions. Across a range of realistic subsurface and operational conditions, our modeling demonstrates that confined, engineered geothermal reservoirs can provide large and effectively free energy storage capacity, with round-trip storage efficiencies comparable to those of leading grid-scale energy storage technologies. Optimized operational strategies indicate that flexible geothermal plants can provide both short- and long-duration energy storage, prioritizing output during periods of high electricity prices. Sensitivity analysis assesses the variation in outcomes across a range of subsurface conditions and cost scenarios.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Power allocation by load aggregator with heterogeneous loads using weighted projection

With the recently increasing adoption of transactive energy markets, the role of a load aggregator is becoming increasingly important. Among the many tasks of an aggregator, the task of managing the electricity consumption among a group of grid-interactive efficient buildings according to the demand on the grid is taken up. Specifically, here, the task of allocating a certain amount of power among the participating customers while respecting their preferences and comfort is considered. Modeling this as an aggregate flexibility, the virtual battery conditions that are employed to verify the feasibility of a candidate power profile are derived. A feasible power profile, when allocated, satisfies specified comfort bands. To determine the ideal power requirement of the loads, the model-free control method is employed. The feasible power profile is allocated by embedding the customers’ preferences through weights, posing the power constraint as a hyperplane, and employing a weighted projection from the ideal power requirements onto the constraint plane to solve the considered task. The proposed method is computationally efficient and scalable to any number of heterogeneous thermostatically controlled loads in buildings.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Life Cycle Emissions and Health Cost Impacts of Producing Ethanol and Electricity from Willow and Switchgrass in the Riparian Buffers of Mid-Atlantic United States

The United States (US Mid-Atlantic Region (MAR) has the potential to grow a variety of perennial feedstocks such as switchgrass and shrub willow to increase domestic energy production. These cellulosic feedstocks have also shown improved ecosystem services, such as soil carbon sequestration, nitrate leaching reduction, and flood mitigation along rivers and streams as partially harvested riparian buffers. To examine the effects on greenhouse gases (GHGs) and criteria air pollutants (CAPs) from using these feedstocks to produce ethanol or electricity, we conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) and estimated the impact on human health costs when land use is changed from corn production for ethanol. Results indicate up to 54% reduced GHG per hectare from using willow and switchgrass feedstock sources to produce ethanol instead of corn. However, there was a trade-off in terms of CAP emission, as grass-based energy emitted more NO x and SO x compared to the corn ethanol pathway, except for SO X emissions from willow-based electricity. Electricity from cellulosic biomass had higher particulate matter (PM) emission compared to that from corn ethanol. Estimates for health cost to society ranged from $2498 ha –1 for electricity from switchgrass to a net benefit of $448 ha –1 for ethanol production from willow, depending on varying biomass yield under different market scenarios. Although using cellulosic feedstocks to produce bioenergy has great potential to reduce GHG emissions, CAP control measures are needed to manage CAP-induced health costs.

Bioenergy↗