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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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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Value of Nuclear Energy to the Reliability of the North American Power System: Results for Western and Eastern Interconnections

This report documents the fulfillment of a milestone for the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: completing a baseline study of regional impact of nuclear power plants and hydrogen production in maintaining grid services and power quality. Models have been comprehensively demonstrated for the Western Interconnection, or Western Electric Coordinating Council area, and in the Eastern Interconnection for scenarios representative of past extreme events (e.g., drought and heat waves). Understanding the impact on the reliability of the bulk electric system of any reduction in generation capacity from nuclear power, for any reason, is the motivation of this work. Factors that might lead to the premature or unplanned closure of nuclear plants, extended outages, or repurposing of nuclear power include: • Aging infrastructure: Many nuclear power plants in the U.S. are nearing the end of their designed operating lives. Upgrading aging infrastructure can be expensive, and some utilities may choose to retire plants rather than invest in costly upgrades. • Low wholesale electricity prices: The deregulation of the electricity market in many states has led to increased competition and driven down wholesale electricity prices, causing nuclear power operators to seek other revenue sources for their heat and power such as clean hydrogen production. • Renewables growth: The rapid growth of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power is posing a challenge to traditional generation sources like nuclear. While many see renewables as a key part of the clean energy transition, their intermittent nature requires additional grid solutions for reliable power supply. • The potential for regulatory decisions to be in conflict: In its 2021 rulemaking, EPA rule (86 FR 880), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a compliance date for the ban on processing and distribution in commerce of Decabromodiphenyl Ether (DecaBDE). Since DecaBDE is in many components, particularly wiring, of nuclear power plants which are deemed safety-related or important to safety, three plants would not have been able to restart after their 2023 spring outages, and numerous others would have faced issues in the near future. Fortunately, in this case, the EPA provided relief to the nuclear energy industry. The report provides a summary of the significant role nuclear energy plays in the United States’ power generation mix, supplying around 20% of the nation’s electricity generation, spread across 28 U.S. states. Nuclear power is reliable, mostly unaffected by weather and seasonal changes, and provides a consistent source of baseload power. In terms of capacity, nuclear power plants account for as much as 26% of balancing area power generation capacity. Nuclear power also provides a substantial contribution (e.g., 10% of the inertia in the Eastern Interconnection) of the synchronous spinning mass/inertia that buffers the rate at which frequency changes when a load and generation imbalance occurs (e.g., a large plant trips or a load is suddenly shed due to a transmission outage). This contribution is critical for maintaining grid stability during sudden changes in load or generation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Increasing Diversity in Energy Efficiency Professions: JUMP into STEM

A long-term approach to achieving equity in the energy efficiency industry is to increase the overall diversity of the professionals who work in the field. Building science professionals have a direct impact on energy efficiency policy and programs, as many become leaders within the industry. Buildings are used every day by almost all members of U.S. society, so diversity in building science professionals is critical to better understanding the behaviors and needs of the full spectrum of building occupants. Many groups of people, including minorities and women, are underrepresented in the industry. The industry needs to attract a wide range of current college and university students to careers in building science, so that many perspectives are included in the clean energy transition. The JUMP into STEM student competition addresses this need by inspiring students from diverse backgrounds to use creative ideation to solve real-world building science problems. Student teams - comprising an interdisciplinary mix of majors and underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) - respond to one of three buildings-related challenges. Diversity is encouraged through challenge design, competition guidelines, and evaluation criteria for the submission. Winners of the competition are awarded paid building science internships, a gateway to a career in this field. The competition has an advisory panel of diversity experts and a professor team that includes representation from minority-serving institutions. This paper presents the JUMP into STEM approach to fostering diversity and creative ideation on technical challenges and discusses outcomes from the 2019 and 2020 competitions.

buildings↗
DOE OSTI2022

Grand Challenges in the Science of Making Torque from Wind: Then and Now

Shifting the electricity supply to renewable sources within the next two decades is the first step in decarbonizing the energy sector, and wind energy will play a central role in enabling this rapid energy transition to clean energy. The international wind energy research community - including NREL researchers - has determined that for wind power to fulfill its expected role as a major global supplier of carbon-free energy, critical challenges around the design, development, and deployment of wind energy must be addressed - quickly. Paul Veers and other NREL researchers joined 100 worldwide wind energy experts in writing a series of 10 articles for publication in Wind Energy Science. With the support and guidance of the European Academy of Wind Energy Publications Committee, the articles synthesize and clarify the most critical wind energy science needs. This presentation introduces the concept of the Grand Challenges and its 10 articles.

decarbonization↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Sustainable Decarbonization Challenge

Many countries have decarbonization plans that include transitioning to clean energy. Because of this, PV deployment is projected to at least double or triple in the next ten years. As we ramp up manufacturing and deployment, we aim to sustainably establish secure and just supply chains while reducing environmental impacts. This talk presents our analysis of the virgin material demands, addresses waste concerns regarding quantity and toxicity, and establishes sustainability actions that the PV community can take to ensure sustainability. The takeaway actions are prioritizing reliable, high-quality, and long-lived PV modules and enabling the fast deployment needed for decarbonization via more research and effective communication.

circular economy↗
DOE OSTI2024

EverGREEN 2045: An Energy mix to Decarbonize Washington State

The Clean Energy Transformation Act transitions Washington State to 100% clean energy by 2045. As the future resource mix will likely include intermittent renewables, hydropower, and new, carbon-free, flexible technologies including advanced nuclear reactors and enhanced geothermal systems, we assess the cost and feasibility of the future resource mix with proprietary cost data from our industry partners for new technologies. For plausible future resource mix scenarios, we find that revenues are sufficient to cover variable operations and maintenance costs for most technologies, but capacity payments or power purchase agreements will be necessary for new, flexible resources to participate in the future resource mix.

clean energy, energy policy, energy transition, re↗
DOE OSTI2024

Onsite Energy Program: Technical Assistance to Adopt Clean Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnerships help industrial and other large energy users transition to clean energy, lower costs, reduce emissions, and contribute to a clean energy economy.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Net Zero World Initiative: Accelerating Global Energy System Decarbonization

The United States, partner countries and philanthropies are joining forces to accelerate the transition to clean, secure energy systems and build a Net Zero World. The Net Zero World Initiative leverages expertise across U.S. government agencies and Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, in partnership with other governments and philanthropies, to accelerate the decarbonization of global energy systems. This whole-of-government approach supports countries committed to raising their climate ambitions by creating and implementing highly tailored, actionable technical and investment strategies that put net zero within reach. The Net Zero World Initiative enables country partners to harness the power and technical expertise of U.S. and international industry, think tanks, and universities.

clean energy investment strategies↗
DOE OSTI2021

Resilience in an Age of Increasing Electrification

The purpose of this paper is to outline considerations of global electrification trends that include the resultant system-wide and nation-wide impacts. How we incorporate resilience into the electrification plans that transition a nation from conventional energy sources to secure clean energy sources can impact the success of those transitions. Electrification of energy systems has the potential to impact power system planning, emissions, and security; however, little research has been done on comprehensive solutions for incorporating resilience into the electrification process. Research has been conducted on aspects of the energy system and electrification, but not holistically across disciplines and related to the interdependencies of different components of the grid system. This gap in research provides an opportunity for more analysis and a collection of best practices to incorporate resilience into electrification plans. Although clean energy is the goal of an increasing number of nations worldwide, there are many considerations in designing clean energy transitions and increased electrification. Resilience must be factored into clean energy transitions from planning, market design, and policies to modernized grid structures and new, location-specific dispersed energy and energy storage technologies.

clean energy↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advancing Clean Energy Equity

This year’s Financial Innovations Roundtable (June 16-17, 2022) focused on advancing clean energy equity and was co-hosted by the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Clean energy technologies are better than ever, with costs continuing to decline. Yet the low-income and under-resourced communities – particularly communities of color, Native communities, and other traditionally marginalized populations – that are disproportionately impacted by climate and severe weather-related events lag in clean energy investments. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have a long track record of providing access to capital to low- and moderate-income communities nationwide. Green Banks, established at state and local levels, use innovative financing to attract private capital and incentivize investments in clean and renewable energy. Together, the nation's network of more than 1,300 CDFIs and 21 Green Banks have the financing expertise and deep market understanding and relationships to finance a transition to clean energy. This event explored how Green Banks and CDFIs can funnel creditworthy projects to market and efficiently raise capital for them. Building on the Carsey School White Paper, Clean Energy Project Development for Low-Income Communities: Strengthening the Ecosystem for Delivering Solar Energy and Deep Efficiency Retrofits (Hangen, 2022), the FIR sought to identify options and create opportunities for Green Banks, CDFIs, and impact investors to collaborate in offering a range of products, approaches, and tools to better serve communities and individuals who have thus far been left out of the transition to clean energy. The event had 101 participants from a variety of sectors including CDFIs, Green Banks, mission-driven clean energy organizations, government agencies, banks, and impact investment professionals.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reducing Current and Future Risks to Energy Security

As global communities transition to clean energy technologies, the threat landscape for energy security is more complex than ever before. While broad adoption of clean energy technologies has progressed across the world, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been researching how to reduce risks and the value renewable energy technologies bring to improved energy security, today and decades into the future. Continuing adoption of technologies to meet clean energy and climate mitigation goals requires consideration of energy security, making NREL's risk reduction and mitigation research increasingly important.

clean energy↗
DOE OSTI2023

Modeling Systems’ Disruption and Social Acceptance—A Proof-of-Concept Leveraging Reinforcement Learning

As the need for a just and equitable energy transition accelerates, disruptive clean energy technologies are becoming more visible to the public. Clean energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaics and wind power, can substantially contribute to a more sustainable world and have been around for decades. However, the fast pace at which they are projected to be deployed in the United States (US) and the world poses numerous technical and nontechnical challenges, such as in terms of their integration into the electricity grid, public opposition and competition for land use. For instance, as more land-based wind turbines are built across the US, contention risks may become more acute. This article presents a methodology based on reinforcement learning (RL) that minimizes contention risks and maximizes renewable energy production during siting decisions. As a proof-of-concept, the methodology is tested on a case study of wind turbine siting in Illinois during the 2022–2035 period. Results show that using RL halves potential delays due to contention compared to a random decision process. This approach could be further developed to study the acceptance of offshore wind projects or other clean energy technologies.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

JUST-R metrics for considering energy justice in early-stage energy research

We report achieving sustainable decarbonization of the energy sector requires implementing and improving energy technologies while simultaneously managing sources of social inequity in the energy system. Centering energy justice, which has "the goal of achieving equity in both the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remediating social, economic, and health burdens on those historically harmed by the energy system," in the transition to clean energy has become an increasingly urgent priority for social scientists, policymakers, and community activists alike. However, late-stage consideration of social impacts of energy technologies may result in identifying inequities only after substantial time, money, and effort have been expended on research and development (R&D). This issue is exemplified by concerns over environmental and human health impacts related to cobalt in lithium-ion batteries, which has spurred research into alternatives only after decades of R&D and the establishment of supply chains, infrastructure, and markets for cobalt-containing chemistries. Other examples include issues with land use and resource consumption related to first-generation biofuel feedstocks as well as occupational hazards and pollution associated with photovoltaics manufacturing. In all these cases, subsequent R&D to improve technologies or processes cannot undo the effects already experienced. Incorporating energy justice from the earliest stage of R&D will enable more just technology implementation, but integrating justice considerations into early-stage research is a challenge due to a lack of tools to assess and manage them. To fill this gap, we center early-stage research to develop the Justice Underpinning Science and Technology Research (JUST-R) metrics framework - energy justice metrics specifically targeted at early-stage researchers to assess their work on an immediate timescale. By applying these metrics to a case study focused on materials for next-generation photovoltaics, we highlight potential benefits and barriers to implementing this framework in early-stage research and discuss necessary institutional and individual actions needed for researchers to effectively leverage the tool to incorporate justice-focused criteria into R&D decision making.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental flow-through a single fracture with monolayer proppant at reservoir conditions: A case study on Caney Shale, Southwest Oklahoma, USA

Global energy systems are undergoing a crucial transition to clean energy sources, thereby moving away from fossil-fuel based energy with the ultimate aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It is essential to continue to advance in exploring and developing shale gas resources as this will underpin the global supply of natural gas that is needed to support the energy transition. The challenge hereby is that the slow fluid flow of the shale matrix due to its very low permeability requires large-scale volume fracturing to produce a conductive fracture network that enhances the connectivity between the shale formation and the wellbore. This work examines the influence of a thin proppant layer on a single fracture using a flow-through experiment, and also explores whether proppant embedment in the Caney shale is affected by the rock mineralogy, surface roughness, fluids, confining stress, time, temperature and bedding. The experiment was conducted for a duration of nine days (216 h), experimental temperature was varied from ambient temperature to reservoir temperature of 125 °C (257 °F) and confining stress was varied from 367 psi (2.53MPa) to a maximum of 4011.82 psi (27.66 MPa). Here, we find that the conductivity of the fracture is primarily influenced by the layer of proppant used, surface roughness, mineralogy, fluids, temperature and closure stress.

Caney shale↗
DOE OSTI2022

High-Energy Solid-State Lithium Batteries with Organic Cathode Materials (Final Report)

Organic materials made from abundant elements via low-energy processes are emerging as sustainable and low-cost alternatives to transition metal oxides as the electrode materials for high- energy batteries in the wake of supply chain and environmental issues associated with critical materials during the transition to clean energy. Organic insertion materials (OIMs) offer material- level energy comparable to transition metal oxides, but they have durability difficulties owing to dissolving in common liquid electrolytes. Combining ceramic-based solid electrolytes with organic electrode materials is one intriguing solution. The goal of this project is to design and synthesize high-energy OIMs, to understand the chemical dynamics and mechanical properties at the OIM-sulfide interface during electrochemical cycling, and to develop methods for constructing the optimum cathode microstructure, which will lead to improved electrochemical performance. The project team has accomplished the following over the last four years: (a) demonstrating that the mechanical softness of organic electrode materials is uniquely beneficial in suppressing crack formation at the electrode-electrolyte interface during cell operation; (b) understanding the interaction between cathode microstructure and the mechanical properties of individual components; and (c) establishing predictive control of cathode microstructure by tuning the mechanical properties of solid electrolytes and OIMs; (d) determining the chemical combability of sulfide electrolyte with high-energy OIMs and finally (f) laying out a road map toward a specific energy of 500 Wh kg -1 for solid-state lithium batteries. 14 publications resulted from this project.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electricity demand in South Asia – data gaps and pathways for research and modeling

South Asia is one of the fastest growing regions - economically and energy-wise in the world. However, there are significant uncertainties in how the energy demand would grow given the rapidly rising incomes, urbanization, industrialization, access to energy, warming climate and technological change. The transition to clean energy in the region is a priority and is critical to limiting emissions in the region and increasing regional energy security. The power sector will play an important role in decarbonization of energy systems, lowering emissions in other sectors through electrification. However, as existing end uses are scaled up more and new end uses are electrified, the temporal and spatial patterns of electricity consumption could change. These changes have implications for the magnitude, shape, and timing of peak demand, which in turn affects the power sector’s investments and operations, and ability to provide reliable power. In this report, we outline key uncertainties in demand growth that South Asian countries would face in the near to medium term, along with summarizing insights from stakeholder consultations we held over the past 6 months.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Clean Energy and Microgrid Opportunities to Make Electricity Affordable, Reliable, and Clean in New Orleans

The City of New Orleans, Louisiana, is participating in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Communities Local Energy Action Program (LEAP) Pilot, which is supporting 24 communities across the United States in their efforts to transition to clean energy to improve energy reliability, lower energy costs, and strengthen local economies. Communities LEAP is specifically open to low-income, energy-burdened communities that are also experiencing either direct environmental justice impacts, or direct economic impacts from a shift away from historical reliance on fossil fuels.

Communities LEAP↗
DOE OSTI2024

RAFT: Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting

Diversifying the energy harvesting portfolio is crucial to achieving the ambitious goal of transitioning to clean energy by 2030. Marine hydrokinetic energy has garnered renewed interest due to its high harvesting potential in the U.S., and the resource's reliability and predictability—remaining relatively constant on a daily basis and available 24/7. However, there are currently few commercial devices capable of harnessing the energy from flowing water. This project aims to bridge that gap by designing and evaluating a novel hydrokinetic turbine concept that can efficiently harvest energy from both rivers and tidal streams. The RAFT (Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines) concept introduces a duct surrounding the turbine rotor and creates an array of small 5-kW units. The duct serves two primary purposes: (1) it enhances hydrodynamic efficiency by accelerating flow to the rotor, and (2) it functions as a structural component, facilitating the formation of modular arrays that lower costs. This project focuses on demonstrating this concept and validating these benefits through simulations and scaled prototype testing. The project team includes 8 faculty members and over 20 students from 3 universities, organized into three core areas: hydrodynamics, electrical systems, and structural analysis, with additional teams dedicated to system integration, environmental assessment and risk management, and tech-to-market strategy. The team successfully demonstrated the increased hydrodynamic efficiency of a ducted turbine compared to an unducted version using high-fidelity simulations and prototype tests. Moreover, design optimization efforts led to surpassing the SHARKS program's goal of 60% reduction of the levelized cost of energy with a significant margin.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

WBS 1.2.3.405 - Life Cycle Assessment of Storage Technologies

Recent commitments by the Biden administration have established targets to achieve a net-zero energy system by 2050. Meeting these targets will spur a rapid transition to clean energy technologies and a commensurate need to develop and deploy energy storage technologies at scale. Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) is expected to be part of this solution because its ability to provide grid flexibility and stability and enable the dispatching of disparate variable renewable energy technologies. Despite PSH being a mature technology with a history of deployment dating back several decades, there is very little information on the greenhouse gas (GHG) implications of PSH as compared to other storage technologies. The objective of this project is to perform a full lifecycle assessment (LCA) of new PSH projects in the U.S. This LCA includes all project phases (resource extraction, construction, operation, maintenance, end-of-life). The functional unit for this study is 1 kWh electricity delivered by system to grid substation connection point and the estimated lifetime for our base case is 80 years. Data used in this study are based on over 30 potential PSH projects that are in preliminary planning phases and are represent a wide range of potential closed-loop PSH systems in terms of location, technology, and capacity. The project approach, data sources, and modeling assumptions have been informed by a technical review committee of stakeholders that include experts from academia, national and international government, industry, and utilities. The GHGs and energy return on investment (EROI) from PSH will be compared to other storage technologies (e.g., stationary battery storage). Results from this project will improve the PSH community's understanding of the environmental impacts and sustainability of new PSH projects and how PSH compares to other storage technologies. The approach used in this project relies on open-source programming. The analysis framework (source code and data) and will be made publicly available at the end of the project. In addition to reporting results for the base case, we will perform rigorous sensitivity analysis to identify the major drivers, understand impacts of different configurations, and future energy markets. Results from this project will be published in a suitable journal.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,HYDRO ENERGY↗