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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 OSTI2017

Federal New Buildings Handbook for Net Zero Energy, Water, and Waste

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) defined zero energy buildings as "an energy-efficient building where, on a source energy basis, the actual annual delivered energy is less than or equal to the on-site renewable exported energy." This document is focused on applying EERE’s definition of zero energy buildings to federal sector new buildings. However, it is not intended to replace, substitute, or modify any statutory or regulatory requirements and mandates.

federal new buildings↗
DOE OSTI2017

Federal Existing Buildings Handbook for Net Zero Energy, Water, and Waste

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) defined zero energy buildings as "an energy-efficient building where, on a source energy basis, the actual annual delivered energy is less than or equal to the on-site renewable exported energy." This handbook is focused on applying the EERE definition of zero energy buildings to existing buildings in the federal sector. However, it is not intended to replace, substitute, or modify any statutory or regulatory requirements and mandates.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2010

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( ARRA) FEMP Technical Assistance, U.S. General Services Administration - Project 194 U.S. Custom Cargo Inspection Facility, Detroit, MI

This report documents the findings of an on-site audit of the U.S. Customs Cargo Inspection Facility (CIF) in Detroit, Michigan. The federal landlord for this building is the General Services Administration (GSA). The focus of the audit was to identify various no-cost or low-cost energy-efficiency opportunities that, once implemented, would reduce electrical and gas consumption and increase the operational efficiency of the building. This audit also provided an opportunity to identify potential capital cost projects that should be considered in the future to acquire additional energy (electric and gas) and water savings to further increase the operational efficiency of the building.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Low-e Storm Windows: Market Assessment and Pathways to Market Transformation

Laboratory and field studies sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) demonstrate that the use of low-emissivity (low-e) storm windows can lead to significant heating and cooling energy savings in homes. This report examines the market for low-e storm windows based on market data, case studies, and recent experience with weatherization deployment programs. It uses information from interviews conducted with DOE researchers and industry partners involved in case studies and early deployment efforts related to low-e storm windows. In addition, this study examines potential barriers to market acceptance, assesses the market and energy savings potential, and identifies opportunities to transform the market for low-e storm windows and overcome market adoption barriers. Based on laboratory testing, case studies, and climate-based modeled energy savings, the installation of low-e storm windows is estimated to reduce heating and cooling consumption by 12 to 33% in residential homes. Individual home savings would depend on the overall condition of existing windows and home as well as climate conditions. Based on these heating and cooling saving ranges, low-e storm windows have a technical potential energy savings – that is, the energy savings that would result if all low-performing windows were covered with low-e storm windows – ranging from 0.7 to 1.96 quadrillion Btus primary (source) energy. Of this technical potential, this study estimates that market adoption of low-e storm windows could reasonably achieve savings of 140 trillion Btus of primary energy annually by 2025, assuming DOE implements a number of market transformation activities directed toward low-e storm window market adoption. To assess the marketability and market adoption potential of low-e storm windows, this study examines and characterizes the benefits and costs of the technology, the size and characteristics of likely target markets, the potential pathways to reach these markets, possible market barriers, and the likelihood of overcoming these barriers. A number of promising market transformation pathways are identified including existing weatherization assistance programs, utility energy-efficiency incentive programs, federally sponsored energy efficiency retrofit programs, standards and rating organizations, and federal building energy-efficiency mandates and programs. By working with storm window manufacturers, installers, energy-efficiency consortiums, and the Federal Energy Management Program, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program could implement a number of targeted outreach, education, and technical assistance programs to help effectively transform the market for low-e storm windows and have a measurable impact on reducing residential energy consumption over time.

Building America↗
DOE OSTI2020

Delivering Energy Efficiency and Grid Services for Commercial Buildings on an IoT-Platform: Field Evaluation Plan

In FY20, the Commercial Buildings Integration Program (CBI) within Building Technologies Office (BTO) has funded PNNL to conduct field evaluation of the AIRCx and intelligent load control (ILC) using an Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform, VOLTTRON. The primary goal of the project is to show that software solutions deployed and delivered through an IoT-platform can identify energy efficiency opportunities and manage peak load in commercial buildings. There are also two secondary goals: 1) show that the energy efficiency solutions will result in identification of significant savings (10% to 30%) opportunities as well as energy cost reductions (10% to 15%) by managing the peak load in commercial buildings, and 2) show that an IoT-based software solution is more cost-effective in meeting the Re-tuning mandates than traditional retro commissioning (RCx) and there is a pathway for broader adoption of this approach. This report details how the field evaluation will be conducted, including what enhancements will be made to the software technologies, how PNNL will recruit energy service providers, types of buildings where the technology will be evaluated, metric of success for the field evaluation, and how the metric of success will be measured.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

A methodology for generating reduced-order models for large-scale buildings using the Krylov subspace method

Developing a computationally efficient but accurate building energy simulation (BES) model is important for many purposes. Model order reduction (MOR) methods are attractive and much more reliable than identification approaches, since it directly extract a lower-dimensional model from a detailed physics-based model without any pre-simulations. However, because of computational and data storage requirements, there are challenges of applying these methods to a large-scale building. To overcome the problem, this work introduces the Krylov subspace method to the building science field. Technical issues of applying the method to building applications are addressed and a suitable algorithm that overcomes those challenges is presented. Furthermore, to demonstrate the reliability of the algorithm, comparisons between the resulted reduced-order model (ROM) and a high-fidelity model from a commercial BES software for a 60-zone case study building are provided. The ROM was a factor of 100 faster than the high fidelity model but with high accuracy.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

How Do Electricity Pricing Programs Impact the Selection of Energy Efficiency Measures? - A Case Study with U.S. Medium Office Buildings

Building owners usually select energy efficiency measures (EEMs) by referring to return on investment (ROI). Current studies tend to apply static energy price to estimate ROI. However, more and more buildings are adopting dynamic electricity pricing programs. To understand how electricity pricing programs impact the selection of EEMs, this paper presents an analysis of the ROIs of EEMs under different pricing programs using U.S. medium office buildings as an example. Eight EEMs in four typical cities are selected as case studies. Considering five electricity pricing programs scenarios (one static program and four dynamic programs), EEMs are selected based on their ROIs. The main findings are: (1) The ROIs of EEMs change under different pricing programs. (2) In Honolulu, Buffalo, and Denver, replacing interior fixtures with higher-efficiency fixtures has a significantly higher ROI than the rest EEMs under all five pricing programs. However, the ROI of this EEM in Honolulu ranges from 28% to 47% for different pricing programs. (3) Similarly, in Fairbanks, replace heating coil with higher-efficiency coil produce higher ROI than the rest under all five pricing programs. (4) For other EEMs, their ROI rankings vary according to electricity pricing programs.

demand response↗
DOE OSTI2016

Transactional network: Improving efficiency and enabling grid services for buildings

This paper describes the transactional network concept, the platform and two example agents/applications within VOLTTRON™ that improve operational efficiency and enable grid services for packaged air conditioners and heat pumps (RTUs). It also describes the results from testing the concept on some demonstration sites.

Katipamula, Srinivas↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optimizing Price-Informed Operation of a Battery Storage System in an Office Building

New prescriptive efficiency requirements amended to US model energy codes historically have been evaluated using an average, blended electricity rate, which obscures demand charges. Post 2019, new measures can be evaluated using a representative time-of-use (TOU) tariff yet more sophisticated analysis methods are needed to consider a variety of TOU tariffs and assess price-informed control. To address these needs, this study couples building prototype simulation model with varying-in-sophistication battery storage operating strategies for different electricity TOU tariffs. The analysis compares the impact of operating a battery storage system following simpler rule-of-thumb methods versus a semi-optimized priced-informed heuristic approach. The investigation demonstrates that the heuristic approach results in greater electricity cost savings and is practical to implement.

Lei, Xuechen↗
DOE OSTI2015

Assessing Energy Efficiency Opportunities in US Industrial and Commercial Building Motor Systems

In 2002, the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) published an energy efficiency assessment of U.S. industrial sector motor systems titled United States Industrial Electric Motor Systems Market Opportunities Assessment. The assessment advanced motor system efficiency by providing a greater understanding of the energy consumption, use characteristics, and energy efficiency improvement potential of industrial sector motor systems in the U.S. Since 2002, regulations such as Minimum Energy Performance Standards, cost reductions for motor system components such as variable frequency drives, system-integrated motor-driven equipment, and awareness programs for motor system energy efficiency have changed the landscape of U.S. motor system energy consumption. To capture the new landscape, the USDOE has initiated a three-year Motor System Market Assessment (MSMA), led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The MSMA will assess the energy consumption, operational and maintenance characteristics, and efficiency improvement opportunity of U.S. industrial sector and commercial building motor systems. As part of the MSMA, a significant effort is currently underway to conduct field assessments of motor systems from a sample of facilities representative of U.S. commercial and industrial motor system energy consumption. The Field Assessment Plan used for these assessments builds on recent LBNL research presented at EEMODS 2011 and EEMODS 2013 using methods for characterizing and determining regional motor system energy efficiency opportunities. This paper provides an update on the development and progress of the MSMA, focusing on the Field Assessment Plan and the framework for assessing the global supply chain for emerging motors and drive technologies.

Rao, Prakash↗
DOE OSTI2016

Recommendations on Implementing the Energy Conservation Building Code in Visakhapatnam, AP, India

Visakhapatnam can play an important role in improving energy efficiency in its buildings by implementing ECBC. This document seeks to capture stakeholder recommendations on a road map for implementation, which can help all market players plan for implementation. Visakhapatnam also has an opportunity to serve as a role model for other Smart Cities and cities in general in India. The road map and steps that VUDA adopts to implement ECBC can provide helpful examples to these other cities.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Ammonia Capture within Isoreticular Metal–Organic Frameworks with Rod Secondary Building Units

The efficient removal, capture, and recycling of ammonia (NH 3 ) constitutes a demanding process; thus, the development of competent adsorbent materials is highly desirable. The implementation of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), known for their tunability and high porosity, has attracted much attention for NH3 adsorption studies. Here, we report three isoreticular porphyrin-based MOFs containing aluminum (Al-PMOF), gallium (Ga-PMOF), and indium (In-PMOF) rod secondary building units with Brønsted acidic bridging hydroxyl groups. NH 3 sorption isotherms in Al-PMOF demonstrated reversibility in isotherms. In contrast, the slopes of the adsorption isotherms in Ga-PMOF and In-PMOF were much steeper than those of Al-PMOF in lower pressure regions, with a decrease of NH 3 adsorbed amounts observed between first cycle and second cycle measurements. Here, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) suggested that the strength of the Brønsted acidic –OH sites was controlled by the identity of the metal, which resulted in stronger interactions between ammonia and the framework in Ga-PMOF and In-PMOF compared to Al-PMOF.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Measuring Impact: Evaluating Thermal Zoning Simplification on Energy Efficiency Measures Analysis

Building Energy Modeling (BEM) is a versatile tool for designing, retrofitting, ensuring code compliance, obtaining certifications, qualifying for incentives, and enabling real-time building control. However, capturing all the details of building geometry for thermal zoning can be time-consuming, costly, and sometimes computationally challenging. As a result, modelers have been applying zoning simplification based on factors such as space functions and internal loads, as well as relying on their experience and judgment while adhering to zoning rules outlined in industry standards. Despite the prevalence of this common practice, a notable gap exists in the literature regarding studies quantifying the influence of simplified thermal zoning on the evaluation of Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs). Recognizing this gap, this paper seeks to contribute to the field by enhancing the understanding of how the simplification of thermal zoning influences the evaluation of EEMs against a baseline design. The study utilized a medium office prototype model with a detailed floor plan featuring over 20 zones per floor covering diverse functional spaces with varying internal loads and occupancy schedules. A standard thermal zoning strategy outlined in ASHRAE Standard 90.1 Appendix G was employed as the simplified zoning method. This strategy condenses the zoning into a core zone and four perimeter zones per floor. It was compared with the detailed zoning approach, which involves one zone per space. Common Energy EEMs, such as enhanced envelope, high-efficiency appliances and equipment, and HVAC controls, were individually implemented and evaluated. The results indicate that the performance comparison between the two zoning methods varies depending on the type of measures considered. Basic measures, such as adding wall insulation, demonstrate similar energy impacts, while advanced HVAC control measures, such as static pressure reset, exhibit a more substantial difference that cannot be overlooked.

Xie, Jiarong↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Guide for Creating a Building-Level Action Plan to Improve Energy Efficiency and Reduce Carbon Emissions

Action plans are tools for commercial building owners to create pathways for reducing energy use and decarbonize, hence reducing carbon emissions. This template and associated direction manual provides a method for creating an action plan. Originally created for the Better Buildings Low Carbon Pilot, it can also be applied to the Better Buildings Climate Challenge and for any building owner striving towards lower carbon footprints.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2015

2015 IECC: Energy Savings Analysis

Section 304(a) of the Energy Conservation and Production Act, as amended, requires the Secretary of Energy to make a determination each time a revised edition of the 1992 Model Energy Code (MEC), or any successor thereof, is published with respect to whether the revised code would improve energy efficiency in residential buildings. The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), as administered by the International Code Council (ICC), establishes the national model code for energy efficiency requirements for residential buildings. The latest edition of the IECC, the 2015 IECC, was published on June 3, 2014 and forms the basis of this analysis. To meet these statutory requirements, as well as to assist states and adopting entities in understanding associated savings, the DOE Building Energy Codes Program and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) conduct analyses to evaluate the differences between the latest edition of the IECC and its immediate predecessor. A qualitative analysis is conducted, identifying all changes made to the previous edition of the IECC, and characterizing these changes in terms of their anticipated impact on residential building energy consumption. A quantitative analysis is then modeled through building energy simulation to estimate the resulting energy impacts. This report documents the technical analysis used to evaluate whether residential buildings constructed to meet the requirements of the 2015 IECC would result in energy efficiency improvements over residential buildings constructed to meet the requirements of the previous edition, the 2012 IECC. PNNL considered all code change proposals approved for inclusion in the 2015 IECC during the ICC code development cycle, and evaluated their combined impact on a suite of prototypical residential building energy models across all U.S. climate zones.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Photoinduced non-adiabatic energy transfer pathways in dendrimer building blocks

The efficiency of the intramolecular energy transfer in light harvesting dendrimers is determined by their well-defined architecture with high degree of order. After photoexcitation, through-space and through-bond energy transfer mechanisms can take place, involving vectorial exciton migration among different chromophores within dendrimer highly branched structures. Their inherent intramolecular energy gradient depends on how the multiple chromophoric units have been assembled, subject to their inter-connects, spatial distances, and orientations. Herein, we compare the photoinduced nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations performed on a set of different combinations of a chain of linked dendrimer building blocks composed of two-, three-, and four-ring linear polyphenylene chromophoric units. The calculations are performed with the recently developed ab initio multiple cloning-time dependent diabatic basis implementation of the Multiconfigurational Ehrenfest (MCE) approach. Despite differences in short time relaxation pathways and different initial exciton localization, at longer time scales, electronic relaxation rates and exciton final redistributions are very similar for all combinations. Unlike the systems composed of two building blocks, considered previously, for the larger 3 block systems here we observe that bifurcation of the wave function accounted by cloning is important. In all the systems considered in this work, at the time scale of few hundreds of femtoseconds, cloning enhances the electronic energy relaxation by ~13% compared to that of the MCE method without cloning. Thus, accurate description of quantum effects is essential for understanding of the energy exchange in dendrimers both at short and long time scales.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

Zero Energy Is an A+ for Education: Discovery Elementary

Currently experiencing a population boom, Arlington County is facing massive growth in the next decade and is seeking to add half a million square feet in educational facilities. During competitive design procurement, one of the teams suggested a zero energy goal could be accomplished within the given budget. Proponents at the district level who had been championing energy efficiency were receptive because sustainability was a core value of the project from the start, but they were skeptical that it could be done within the budget aimed at LEED Silver. Not only did the project end up coming under budget, including the solar array, but the building is more efficient than the originally predicted. Now Discovery saves $100,000 per year in utility costs, enough to cover the salaries of two teachers.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗