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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 1,405 records · Page 78
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Compute-Efficient Deep Learning: Algorithmic Trends and Opportunities

Although deep learning has made great progress in recent years, the exploding economic and environmental costs of training neural networks are becoming unsustainable. To address this problem, there has been a great deal of research on algorithmically-efficient deep learning, which seeks to reduce training costs not at the hardware or implementation level, but through changes in the semantics of the training program. In this paper, we present a structured and comprehensive overview of the research in this field. First, we formalize the algorithmic speedup problem, then we use fundamental building blocks of algorithmically efficient training to develop a taxonomy. Our taxonomy highlights commonalities of seemingly disparate methods and reveals current research gaps. Next, we present evaluation best practices to enable comprehensive, fair, and reliable comparisons of speedup techniques. To further aid research and applications, we discuss common bottlenecks in the training pipeline (illustrated via experiments) and offer taxonomic mitigation strategies for them. Finally, we highlight some unsolved research challenges and present promising future directions.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Improving deep learning model performance under parametric constraints for materials informatics applications

Abstract Modern machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques using high-dimensional data representations have helped accelerate the materials discovery process by efficiently detecting hidden patterns in existing datasets and linking input representations to output properties for a better understanding of the scientific phenomenon. While a deep neural network comprised of fully connected layers has been widely used for materials property prediction, simply creating a deeper model with a large number of layers often faces with vanishing gradient problem, causing a degradation in the performance, thereby limiting usage. In this paper, we study and propose architectural principles to address the question of improving the performance of model training and inference under fixed parametric constraints. Here, we present a general deep-learning framework based on branched residual learning (BRNet) with fully connected layers that can work with any numerical vector-based representation as input to build accurate models to predict materials properties. We perform model training for materials properties using numerical vectors representing different composition-based attributes of the respective materials and compare the performance of the proposed models against traditional ML and existing DL architectures. We find that the proposed models are significantly more accurate than the ML/DL models for all data sizes by using different composition-based attributes as input. Further, branched learning requires fewer parameters and results in faster model training due to better convergence during the training phase than existing neural networks, thereby efficiently building accurate models for predicting materials properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

A thermodynamic analysis of a novel bidirectional district heating and cooling network

In this study, we evaluate an ambient, bidirectional thermal network, which uses a single circuit for both district heating and cooling. When in net more cooling is needed than heating, the system circulates from a central plant in one direction. When more heating is needed, the system circulates in the opposite direction. A large benefit of this design is that buildings can recover waste heat from each other directly. We analyze the thermodynamic performance of the bidirectional system. Because the bidirectional system represents the state-of-the-art in design for district systems, its peak energy efficiency represents an upper bound on the thermal performance of any district heating and cooling system. However, because any network has mechanical and thermal distribution losses, we develop a diversity criterion to understand when the bidirectional system may be a more energy-efficient alternative to modern individual-building systems. We show that a simple model of a low-density, high-distribution loss network is more efficient than aggregated individual buildings if there is at least 1 unit of cooling energy per 5.7 units of simultaneous heating energy (or vice versa). We apply this criterion to reference building profiles in three cities to look for promising clusters.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Examination of the technical potential of near-infrared switching thermochromic windows for commercial building applications

Current thermochromic windows modulate solar transmission primarily within the visible range, resulting in reduced space-conditioning energy use but also reduced daylight, thereby increasing lighting energy use compared to conventional static, near-infrared selective, low-emittance windows. To better understand the energy savings potential of improved thermochromic devices, a hypothetical near-infrared switching thermochromic glazing was defined based on guidelines provided by the material science community. In this paper, EnergyPlus simulations were conducted on a prototypical large office building and a detailed analysis was performed showing the progression from switching characteristics to net window heat flow and perimeter zone loads and then to perimeter zone heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) and lighting energy use for a mixed hot/cold climate and a hot, humid climate in the US. When a relatively high daylight transmission is maintained when switched (Tsol=0.10–0.50 and Tvis=0.30–0.60) and if coupled with a low-e inboard glazing layer (e=0.04), the hypothetical thermochromic window with a low critical switching temperature range (14–20 °C) achieved reductions in total site annual energy use of 14.0–21.1 kW h/m2-floor-yr or 12–14% for moderate- to large-area windows (WWR≥0.30) in Chicago and 9.8–18.6 kW h/m 2 -floor-yr or 10–17% for WWR≥0.45 in Houston compared to an unshaded spectrally-selective, low-e window (window E1) in south-, east-, and west-facing perimeter zones. Finally, if this hypothetical thermochromic window can be offered at costs that are competitive to conventional low-e windows and meet esthetic requirements defined by the building industry and end users, then the technology is likely to be a viable energy-efficiency option for internal load dominated commercial buildings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Occupant-Centric key performance indicators to inform building design and operations

Building performance indicators are widely used to guide building design and track and benchmark operational performance. Traditional building performance indicators mostly focus on the energy efficiency perspective. As occupants are the primary building service recipients in residential and most commercial buildings, their comfort and wellbeing are crucial. As such, this study first identified significant attributes of occupant-centric key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyzed the diverse factors that should be considered in formulating an occupant-centric KPI. Then a suite of occupant-centric KPIs were synthesized from the review and enhancement of existing occupant-related performance metrics. The proposed occupant KPIs represent the occupant lens on three integrative aspects of building performance: resource use (including energy and water), indoor environmental quality, and human–building interactions. A simulation-based case study was conducted to demonstrate how occupant-centric KPIs can be used to quantify the impacts of building operation changes from the occupants’ point of view. Highlights: Occupant-centric metrics are currently ad hoc and limited, yet crucial to inform building design and operations. Literature was reviewed to reveal the state-of-the-art and gaps of occupant-centric metrics. A suite of occupant-centric key performance indicators (KPIs) covering five groups of building services were synthesized. Proposed occupant KPIs represent three aspects of performance: resource use and demand, occupant comfort and health, and human–building interactions. A case study using whole building simulation was conducted to demonstrate the use of occupant-centric KPIs in evaluating building operations during a power outage.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1995

Preliminary large-eddy simulations of flow around a NACA 4412 airfoil using unstructured grids

Large-eddy simulation (LES) has matured to the point where application to complex flows is desirable. The extension to higher Reynolds numbers leads to an impractical number of grid points with existing structured-grid methods. Furthermore, most real world flows are rather difficult to represent geometrically with structured grids. Unstructured-grid methods offer a release from both of these constraints. However, just as it took many years for structured-grid methods to be well understood and reliable tools for LES, unstructured-grid methods must be carefully studied before we can expect them to attain their full potential. In the past two years, important building blocks have been put into place making possible a careful study of LES on unstructured grids. The first building block was an efficient mesh generator which allowed the placement of points according to smooth variation of physical length scales. This variation of length scales is in all three directions independently, which allows a large reduction in points when compared to structured-grid methods, which can only vary length scales in one direction at a time. The second building block was the development of a dynamic model appropriate for unstructured grids. The principle obstacle was the development of an unstructured-grid filtering operator. In the past year, some of the new filters developed by Jansen have been implemented into a highly parallelized finite element code based on the Galerkin/least-squares finite element method. We have chosen the NACA 4412 airfoil at maximum lift as the first simulation for a variety of reasons. First, it is a problem of significant interest since it would be the first LES of an aircraft component. Second, this flow has been the subject of three experimental studies. The third reason for considering this flow is the variety of flow features which provide an important test of the dynamic model. Only the dynamic model can be expected to perform satisfactorily in this variety of situations: from the laminar regions where it must not modify the flow at all to the turbulent boundary layers and wake where it must represent a wide variety of subgrid-scale structures. The flow configuration we have chosen is that of Wadcock (1987) at Reynolds number based on chord Re(sub c) = u(sub infinity)c/v = 1.64 x 10(exp 6), Mach number M = 0.2, and 12 deg angle of attack.

Jansen, Kenneth↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy Saving Estimation of ASHRAE Guideline 36 Supervisory Setpoint Reset Controls in a Commercial Large Office Building

Designing, commissioning, and retrofitting HVAC control systems for energy efficiency is crucial, but the use of ad-hoc control sequences by designers and contractors, based on scattered information, results in diverse and sub-optimal sequences. ASHRAE Guideline 36 (G36) addresses the challenge by providing standardized, rule-based HVAC control sequences that prioritize energy efficiency. However, there is limited evaluation of their energy performance at the building level, with only a few studies primarily focused on HVAC airside systems in small-to-medium-sized commercial buildings. In this study, the energy performance of ASHRAE Guideline 36 control sequences was assessed using a large office building emulator in Chicago. The emulator features a central plant system with multiple chillers and boilers as well as multiple variable air volume (VAV) systems with terminal reheat. To achieve a high-fidelity representation, we developed a Spawn-of-EnergyPlus-based model for the large office building, maintaining the DOE prototype large office building setup but substituting the HVAC system with its Modelica counterpart. This substitution ensures that the building thermal load, HVAC system's dynamics, and detailed control sequences are all accurately represented. The study involved evaluating and implementing control strategies outlined in ASHRAE Guideline 36-2021 to replace conventional controls. These strategies include the demand-based supply air temperature and duct static pressure setpoint reset and the request logic for demand-based reset of chilled/hot water supply temperature setpoints and pipe static pressure setpoints. Energy performance was evaluated under various load conditions, including cooling, heating, and transitional seasons, both for individual control strategies and in combination. The results indicate that the collective control strategies retrofit yield greater energy savings than the sum of individual strategies, highlighting the synergistic benefits of incorporating both airside and plant-side control retrofits. Additionally, energy savings of up to 41% in the heating season, 18% in the shoulder season, and 20 % in the cooling season were observed compared to baseline control while maintaining the thermal comfort level.

ASHRAE Guideline 36, Commercial buildings, Control↗
DOE OSTI2012

Recovery Act: Training Program Development for Commercial Building Equipment Technicians (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

The overall goal of this project has been to develop curricula, certification requirements, and accreditation standards for training on energy efficient practices and technologies for commercial building technicians. These training products will advance industry expertise towards net-zero energy commercial building goals and will result in a substantial reduction in energy use. The ultimate objective is to develop a workforce that can bring existing commercial buildings up to their energy performance potential and ensure that new commercial buildings do not fall below their expected optimal level of performance. Commercial building equipment technicians participating in this training program will learn how to best operate commercial buildings to ensure they reach their expected energy performance level. The training is a combination of classroom, online and on-site lessons. The Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) developed curricula using subject matter and adult learning experts to ensure the training meets certification requirements and accreditation standards for training these technicians. The training targets a specific climate zone to meets the needs, specialized expertise, and perspectives of the commercial building equipment technicians in that zone. The combination of efficient operations and advanced design will improve the internal built environment of a commercial building by increasing comfort and safety, while reducing energy use and environmental impact. Properly trained technicians will ensure equipment operates at design specifications. A second impact is a more highly trained workforce that is better equipped to obtain employment. Organizations that contributed to the development of the training program include TEEX and the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) (both members of The Texas A&M University System). TEES is also a member of the Building Commissioning Association. This report includes a description of the project accomplishments, including the course development phases, tasks associated with each phase, and detailed list of the course materials developed. A summary of each year's activities is also included.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bias Correction and Statistical Downscaling of Future Solar Irradiance Projections Using the NSRDB

Assessing renewable energy resources under future climate scenarios has been highlighted to understand potential impacts of future climate change in renewable generation on the power sector. Climate model projection has been recognized by the renewable energy community as a useful data set to analyze the impacts of future climate change on renewable resources. However, future climate projections generated from general circulation models (GCMs) contain inherent biases that need to be corrected for accurate analysis of future projections of climate variables. In addition, the coarse spatiotemporal resolution of GCMs needs to be improved for regional climate studies. In this work, we develop statistical methods to downscale future projections of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) in a computationally efficient way. Our approach builds statistical downscaling models that correct bias of climate projection of GHI and downscale the future GHI projection from daily-scale to hourly-scale. The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) is used to calibrate the statistical models and validate the downscaled GHI projections across the contiguous United State (CONUS). Preliminary results show that the statistical approach efficiently downscales climate projections of GHI with a nBIAS of 3%, nMAE of 34 % and nRMSE of 46% calculated against NSRDB for CONUS. This study describes the implemented methodology and initial results as well as future research to create high-resolution climate data sets for solar energy applications.

analytical models↗
DOE OSTI2011

Achieving Energy Efficiency Through Real-Time Feedback

Through the careful implementation of simple behavior change measures, opportunities exist to achieve strategic gains, including greater operational efficiencies, energy cost savings, greater tenant health and ensuing productivity and an improved brand value through sustainability messaging and achievement.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

Assess The Water Resistance And Thermal Performance Of Pre-flashing Methods When Adding Continuous Insulation During Re-siding (AIRS)

Retrofitting existing buildings by adding continuous insulation during re-siding projects has become a popular method for enhancing energy efficiency, especially given the aging building stock and stricter energy codes. When properly integrated with existing window systems, continuous insulation can significantly improve thermal performance, but it also presents challenges related to water resistance and building envelope integrity. Research indicates that the interface between windows and wall assemblies is critical as improper installation or sealing can lead to water intrusion, materials deterioration, and energy loss. Moreover, studies show that fully integrating the windows with the insulation layer can reduce window heat loss by up to 40%, emphasizing the importance of optimizing window placement and sealing during retrofitting to ensure both energy efficiency and structural performance. In this study, we conducted experimental tests to evaluate the water penetration and thermal performance of two window types: an aluminum window with a 2-inch installation fin and a wood window, representing typical mid-20th century designs. Using the Heat, Air, and Humidity (HAM) chamber at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), we assessed bulk water penetration and performed COMSOL analysis for thermal flux and examined the effectiveness of different pre-flashing methods, i.e., standard self-adhered flashing tape and high-performance flashing tape with low-expansion foam, to enhance water resistance. The results indicate that applying proper flashing techniques and moisture management strategies can mitigate these risks, improving the overall performance and durability of retrofitted buildings. Additionally, proper sealing during retrofitting is essential, as improper installation can lead to moisture issues that compromise both energy efficiency and structural integrity.

Shen, Zhenglai [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2020

Peak load reduction and load shaping in HVAC and refrigeration systems in commercial buildings by using a novel lightweight dynamic priority-based control strategy

Reducing peak power demand in a building can reduce electricity expenses for the building owner and contribute to the efficiency and reliability of the electrical power grid. For the building owner, reduced expenses come from the reduction or elimination of peak power charges on electricity bills. For the power system operator, reducing peak power demand leads to a more predictable load profile and reduces stress on the electric grid system. Herein we present a computationally inexpensive, dynamic, and retrofit-deployable control strategy to effect peak load reduction and load shaping. The effectiveness of the control strategy is examined in a simulation with 80 air-conditioning units and 40 refrigeration units. The results show that a peak demand reduction of 60 kW can be achieved relative to peak demand in a typical set point–based approach. The proposed strategy was deployed in a gymnasium building with four rooftop HVAC units, where it showed over 15% peak demand (kW) reduction savings while maintaining or lowering energy consumption (in kilowatt-hours) relative to the set point–based thermostat controls.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Methodology to Create Prototypical Building Energy Models for Existing Buildings: A Case Study on U.S. Religious Worship Buildings

Prototypical building energy models are of great significance because they are the starting point in conducting analyses for various applications, such as building energy saving potential analysis, building design, building energy market evaluation, and building energy policy-making. However, current prototypical building energy models only represent limited types of buildings in certain countries. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a methodology to systematically create prototypical building energy models. First, a six-step methodology is introduced: model input identification, data collection, data cleaning, data conversion, model simulation, and model calibration. Then, the methodology is demonstrated by a case study of creating 30 prototypical energy models for U.S. religious worship buildings, representing buildings in 15 climate zones and 2 vintages (pre- and post-1980). Finally, to show the applications of the models, the building energy saving potentials from six efficiency measures are analyzed for pre-1980 U.S. religious worship buildings in three ASHRAE Climate Zones. The results show that the maximum energy saving potentials are approximately 30% for the religious worship buildings in all three climate zones investigated.

prototype building model, building simulation, Bui↗
DOE OSTI2016

Regulation and Levels of the Thylakoid K + /H + Antiporter KEA3 Shape the Dynamic Response of Photosynthesis in Fluctuating Light

Crop canopies create environments of highly fluctuating light intensities. In such environments, photoprotective mechanisms and their relaxation kinetics have been hypothesized to limit photosynthetic efficiency and therefore crop yield potential. Here, we show that overexpression of the Arabidopsis thylakoid K + /H + antiporter KEA3 accelerates the relaxation of photoprotective energy-dependent quenching after transitions from high to low light in Arabidopsis and tobacco. This, in turn, enhances PSII quantum efficiency in both organisms, supporting that in wild-type plants, residual light energy quenching following a high to low light transition represents a limitation to photosynthetic efficiency in fluctuating light. This finding underscores the potential of accelerating quenching relaxation as a building block for improving photosynthetic efficiency in the field. Additionally, by overexpressing natural KEA3 variants with modification to the C-terminus, we show that KEA3 activity is regulated by a mechanism involving its lumen-localized C-terminus, which lowers KEA3 activity in high light. This regulatory mechanism finetunes the balance between photoprotective energy dissipation in high light and maximum quantum yield in low light, likely to be critical for efficient photosynthesis in fluctuating light conditions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

A New State of the Art: Zero Energy Modular Multifamily Construction

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office (BTO) launched the Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Initiative. This initiative aimed to integrate energy efficiency into high-production construction practices. One focus area of the initiative is off-site construction, an approach that may achieve scalable, efficient, and high-performing construction buildings through process standardization. This report presents the findings and recommendations from our ABC Initiative project: A New State of the Art: Zero-Energy Modular Multifamily Construction System. The objectives of the BTO-funded project are to: 1) Achieve energy performance 50% better than the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). 2) Achieve this level of energy performance at no additional cost VEIC worked with Louisiana State University (LSU), National Renewal Energy Lab (NREL), [the project team], and industry partners at the Mod Coach, KBS, and Solar Home Factory to identify and analyze multifamily business designs and modular construction practices. These designs and processes hold the promise of achieving the goals set out by the DOE.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

50% Advanced Energy Design Guides: Preprint

This paper presents the process, methodology, and assumptions for the development of the 50% Energy Savings Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDGs), a design guidance document that provides specific recommendations for achieving 50% energy savings above the requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004 in four building types: 1. Small to medium office buildings, 2. K-12 school buildings, 3.Medium to big box retail buildings, 4. Large hospital buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗