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At least 1,081 records · Page 60

Carrots and Sticks: A Comprehensive Business Model for the Successful Achievement of Energy Efficiency Resource Standards Environmental Energy Technologies DivisionMarch 2011

Energy efficiency resource standards (EERS) are a prominent strategy to potentially achieve rapid and aggressive energy savings goals in the U.S. As of December 2010, twenty-six U.S. states had some form of an EERS with savings goals applicable to energy efficiency (EE) programs paid for by utility customers. The European Union has initiated a similar type of savings goal, the Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive, where it is being implemented in some countries through direct partnership with regulated electric utilities. U.S. utilities face significant financial disincentives under traditional regulation which affects the interest of shareholders and managers in aggressively pursuing cost-effective energy efficiency. Regulators are considering some combination of mandated goals ('sticks') and alternative utility business model components ('carrots' such as performance incentives) to align the utility's business and financial interests with state and federal energy efficiency public policy goals. European countries that have directed their utilities to administer EE programs have generally relied on non-binding mandates and targets; in the U.S., most state regulators have increasingly viewed 'carrots' as a necessary condition for successful achievement of energy efficiency goals and targets. In this paper, we analyze the financial impacts of an EERS on a large electric utility in the State of Arizona using a pro-forma utility financial model, including impacts on utility earnings, customer bills and rates. We demonstrate how a viable business model can be designed to improve the business case while retaining sizable ratepayer benefits. Quantifying these concerns and identifying ways they can be addressed are crucial steps in gaining the support of major stakeholder groups - lessons that can apply to other countries looking to significantly increase savings targets that can be achieved from their own utility-administered EE programs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

FY 2011 Second Quarter: Demonstration of New Aerosol Measurement Verification Testbed for Present-Day Global Aerosol Simulations

The regional-scale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is being used by a DOE Earth System Modeling (ESM) project titled “Improving the Characterization of Clouds, Aerosols and the Cryosphere in Climate Models” to evaluate the performance of atmospheric process modules that treat aerosols and aerosol radiative forcing in the Arctic. We are using a regional-scale modeling framework for three reasons: (1) It is easier to produce a useful comparison to observations with a high resolution model; (2) We can compare the behavior of the CAM parameterization suite with some of the more complex and computationally expensive parameterizations used in WRF; (3) we can explore the behavior of this parameterization suite at high resolution. Climate models like the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) being used within the Community Earth System Model (CESM) will not likely be run at mesoscale spatial resolutions (10–20 km) until 5–10 years from now. The performance of the current suite of physics modules in CAM5 at such resolutions is not known, and current computing resources do not permit high-resolution global simulations to be performed routinely. We are taking advantage of two tools recently developed under PNNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) projects for this activity. The first is the Aerosol Modeling Testbed (Fast et al., 2011b), a new computational framework designed to streamline the process of testing and evaluating aerosol process modules over a range of spatial and temporal scales. The second is the CAM5 suite of physics parameterizations that have been ported into WRF so that their performance and scale dependency can be quantified at mesoscale spatial resolutions (Gustafson et al., 2010; with more publications in preparation).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Climate Research Facility Operations Quarterly Report April 1–June 30, 2011

Individual raw datastreams from instrumentation at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility fixed and mobile sites are collected and sent to the Data Management Facility (DMF) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for processing in near real-time. Raw and processed data are then sent approximately daily to the ARM Archive, where they are made available to users. For each instrument, we calculate the ratio of the actual number of processed data records received daily at the Archive to the expected number of data records. The results are tabulated by (1) individual datastream, site, and month for the current year and (2) site and fiscal year (FY) dating back to 1998.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Data Mining in Earth System Science (DMESS 2011)

From field-scale measurements to global climate simulations and remote sensing, the growing body of very large and long time series Earth science data are increasingly difficult to analyze, visualize, and interpret. Data mining, information theoretic, and machine learning techniques - such as cluster analysis, singular value decomposition, block entropy, Fourier and wavelet analysis, phase-space reconstruction, and artificial neural networks - are being applied to problems of segmentation, feature extraction, change detection, model-data comparison, and model validation. The size and complexity of Earth science data exceed the limits of most analysis tools and the capacities of desktop computers. New scalable analysis and visualization tools, running on parallel cluster computers and supercomputers, are required to analyze data of this magnitude. This workshop will demonstrate how data mining techniques are applied in the Earth sciences and describe innovative computer science methods that support analysis and discovery in the Earth sciences.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

FY 2011 4th Quarter Metric: Estimate of Future Aerosol Direct and Indirect Effects

The global and annual mean aerosol direct and indirect effects, relative to 1850 conditions, estimated from CESM simulations are 0.02 W m-2 and -0.39 W m-2, respectively, for emissions in year 2100 under the IPCC RCP8.5 scenario. The indirect effect is much smaller than that for 2000 emissions because of much smaller SO2 emissions in 2100; the direct effects are small due to compensation between warming by black carbon and cooling by sulfate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility Operations Quarterly Report July 1–September 30, 2011

Individual raw datastreams from instrumentation at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility fixed and mobile sites are collected and sent to the Data Management Facility (DMF) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for processing in near real-time. Raw and processed data are then sent approximately daily to the ARM Archive, where they are made available to users. For each instrument, we calculate the ratio of the actual number of processed data records received daily at the Archive to the expected number of data records. The results are tabulated by (1) individual datastream, site, and month for the current year and (2) site and fiscal year (FY) dating back to 1998.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Forecast of Standard Atomic Weights for the Mononuclidic Elements – 2011

In this short report, I will provide an early warning about potential changes to the standard atomic weight values for the twenty mononuclidic and the so-called pseudo-mononuclidic ({sup 232}Th and {sup 231}Pa) chemical elements due to the estimated changes in the mass values to be published in the next Atomic Mass Tables within the next two years. There have been many new measurements of atomic masses, since the last published Atomic Mass Table. The Atomic Mass Data Center has released an unpublished version of the present status of the atomic mass values as a private communication. We can not update the Standard Atomic Weight Table at this time based on these unpublished values but we can anticipate how many changes are probably going to be expected in the next few years on the basis of the forthcoming publication of the Atomic Mass Table. I will briefly discuss the procedures that the Atomic Weights Commission used in deriving the recommended Standard Atomic Weight values and their uncertainties from the atomic mass values. I will also discuss some concern raised about a proposed change in the definition of the mole. The definition of the mole is now connected directly to the mass of a {sup 12}C isotope (which is defined as 12 exactly) and to the kilogram. A change in the definition of the mole will probably impact the mass of {sup 12}C.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

U.S. Department of Energy Best Practices Workshop onFile Systems & Archives San Francisco, CA September 26-27, 2011 Position Paper

This position paper discusses issues of usability of the large parallel file systems in the Livermore Computing Center. The primary uses of these file systems are for storage and access of data that is created during the course of a simulation running on an LC system. The Livermore Computing Center has multiple, globally mounted parallel file systems in each of its computing environments. The single biggest issue of file system usability that we have encountered through the years is to maintain continuous file system responsiveness. Given the back end storage hardware that our file systems are provisioned with, it is easily possible for a particularly I/O intensive application or one with particularly inefficiently coded I/O operations to bring the file system to an apparent halt. The practice that we will be addressing is one of having an ability to indentify, diagnose, analyze and optimize the I/O quickly and effectively.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

RISK COMMUNICATION FOR ES&H PROFESSIONALS AND LINE SUPERVISORS PARTICIPANT MANUAL COURSE NUMBER 004111 REV 0.1 JULY 2011

This course will help you successfully apply risk communication principles when interacting with workers regarding work hazards. What Is the Difference Between a Risk and a Hazard? In many cases, the terms 'risk' and 'hazard' are incorrectly used interchangeably. A hazard is a physical condition or practice with the potential for causing harm/adverse effects. A risk is the probability of harm/adverse effects occurring from an exposure to a hazard. It is modified by the severity of harm (the consequence). Once a hazard is identified, a risk assessment is conducted to determine the severity of the risk. It uses scientific methods and rigorous tests to determine the effects of the risk on people and the environment. Risk Management takes data from the risk assessment and writes policies to help protect people and the environment against the risk. Risk communication is an ongoing process that starts soon after a hazard is identified and continues through the writing of policies. In the past, governing agencies did not do a good job of communicating risk; they would only communicate about risk after studies had been conducted and policies written.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

ARM Climate Research Facility Quarterly Value-Added Product Report Fourth Quarter: July 01–September 30, 2011

The purpose of this report is to provide a concise status update for value-added products (VAP) implemented by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility. The report is divided into the following sections: (1) new VAPs for which development has begun, (2) progress on existing VAPs, (3) future VAPs that have been recently approved, (4) other work that leads to a VAP, and (5) top requested VAPs from the archive. New information is highlighted in blue text. New information about processed data by the developer is highlighted in red text.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

2011 Chemical Reactions at Surfaces Gordon Research Conference

The Gordon Research Conference on Chemical Reactions at Surfaces is dedicated to promoting and advancing the fundamental science of interfacial chemistry and physics by providing surface scientists with the foremost venue for presentation and discussion of research occurring at the frontiers of their fields.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

2011 RENEWABLE ENERGY: SOLAR FUELS GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE

The conference will present and discuss current science that underlies solar fuels production, and will focus on direct production pathways for production. Thus, recent advances in design and understanding of molecular systems and materials for light capture and conversion of relevance for solar fuels will be discussed. An important set of topics will be homogeneous, heterogeneous and biological catalysts for the multi-electron processes of water oxidation, hydrogen production and carbon dioxide reduction to useful fuels. Also, progress towards integrated and scalable systems will be presented. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program.

08 HYDROGEN↗

2011 GASEOUS IONS GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE

The Gaseous Ions: Structures, Energetics and Reactions Gordon Research Conference will focus on ions and their interactions with molecules, surfaces, electrons, and light. The conference will cover theory and experiments, and systems ranging from molecular to biological to clusters to materials. The meeting goal continues to be bringing together scientists interested in fundamentals, with those applying fundamental phenomena to a wide range of practical problems. Each of the ten conference sessions will focus on a topic within this spectrum, and there will also be poster sessions for contributed papers, with sufficient space and time to allow all participants to present their latest results. To encourage active participation by young investigators, about ten of the poster abstracts will be selected for 15 minute 'hot topic' talks during the conference sessions. Hot topic selection will be done about a month before the meeting. Funds should be available to offset the participation cost for young investigators.

08 HYDROGEN↗

2011 Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism, & Function Gordon Research Conference

This is the second Gordon Research Conference on 'Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism & Function'. It covers current topics in lipid structure, metabolism and function in eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms including seed plants, algae, mosses and ferns. Work in photosynthetic bacteria is considered as well as it serves the understanding of specific aspects of lipid metabolism in plants. Breakthroughs are discussed in research on plant lipids as diverse as glycerolipids, sphingolipids, lipids of the cell surface, isoprenoids, fatty acids and their derivatives. The program covers nine concepts at the forefront of research under which afore mentioned plant lipid classes are discussed. The goal is to integrate areas such as lipid signaling, basic lipid metabolism, membrane function, lipid analysis, and lipid engineering to achieve a high level of stimulating interaction among diverse researchers with interests in plant lipids. One Emphasis is on the dynamics and regulation of lipid metabolism during plant cell development and in response to environmental factors.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗