Results for “consumption” — Page 84

DOE OSTI2011

Novel Membranes and Processes for Oxygen Enrichment

The overall goal of this project is to develop a membrane process that produces air containing 25-35% oxygen, at a cost of $25-40/ton of equivalent pure oxygen (EPO2). Oxygen-enriched air at such a low cost will allow existing air-fueled furnaces to be converted economically to oxygen-enriched furnaces, which in turn will improve the economic and energy efficiency of combustion processes significantly, and reduce the cost of CO{sub 2} capture and sequestration from flue gases throughout the U.S. manufacturing industries. During the 12-month Concept Definition project: We identified a series of perfluoropolymers (PFPs) with promising oxygen/nitrogen separation properties, which were successfully made into thin film composite membranes. The membranes showed oxygen permeance as high as 1,200 gpu and oxygen/nitrogen selectivity of 3.0, and the permeance and selectivity were stable over the time period tested (60 days). We successfully scaled up the production of high-flux PFP-based membranes, using MTR's commercial coaters. Two bench-scale spiral-wound modules with countercurrent designs were made and parametric tests were performed to understand the effect of feed flow rate and pressure, permeate pressure and sweep flow rate on the membrane module separation properties. At various operating conditions that modeled potential industrial operating conditions, the module separation properties were similar to the pure-gas separation properties in the membrane stamps. We also identified and synthesized new polymers [including polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) and polyimides] with higher oxygen/nitrogen selectivity (3.5-5.0) than the PFPs, and made these polymers into thin film composite membranes. However, these membranes were susceptible to severe aging; pure-gas permeance decreased nearly six-fold within two weeks, making them impractical for industrial applications of oxygen enrichment. We tested the effect of oxygen-enriched air on NO{sub x} emissions using a Bloom baffle burner at GTI. The results are positive and confirm that oxygen-enriched combustion can be carried out without producing higher levels of NOx than normal air firing, if lancing of combustion air is used and the excess air levels are controlled. A simple economic study shows that the membrane processes can produce O{sub 2} at less than $40/ton EPO{sub 2} and an energy cost of 1.1-1.5 MMBtu/ton EPO{sub 2}, which are very favorable compared with conventional technologies such as cryogenics and vacuum pressure swing adsorption processes. The benefits of integrated membrane processes/combustion process trains have been evaluated, and show good savings in process costs and energy consumption, as well as reduced CO{sub 2} emissions. For example, if air containing 30% oxygen is used in natural gas furnaces, the net natural gas savings are an estimated 18% at a burner temperature of 2,500 F, and 32% at a burner temperature of 3,000 F. With a 20% market penetration of membrane-based oxygen-enriched combustion in all combustion processes by 2020, the energy savings would be 414-736 TBtu/y in the U.S. The comparable net cost savings are estimated at $1.2-2.1 billion per year by 2020, calculated as the value of fuel savings subtracted from the cost of oxygen production. The fuel savings of 18%-32% by the membrane/oxygen-enriched combustion corresponds to an 18%-32% reduction in CO{sub 2} emissions, or 23-40 MM ton/y less CO{sub 2} from natural gas-fired furnaces by 2020. In summary, results from this project (Concept Definition phase) are highly promising and clearly demonstrate that membrane processes can produce oxygen-enriched air in a low cost manner that will lower operating costs and energy consumption in industrial combustion processes. Future work will focus on proof-of-concept bench-scale demonstration in the laboratory.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2012

Energy Efficiency Strategies for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facilities

Water and wastewater systems are significant energy consumers with an estimated 3%-4% of total U.S. electricity consumption used for the movement and treatment of water and wastewater. Water-energy issues are of growing importance in the context of water shortages, higher energy and material costs, and a changing climate. In this economic environment, it is in the best interest for utilities tofind efficiencies, both in water and energy use. Performing energy audits at water and wastewater treatment facilities is one way community energy managers can identify opportunities to save money, energy, and water. In this paper the importance of energy use in wastewater facilities is illustrated by a case study of a process energy audit performed for Crested Butte, Colorado's wastewater treatment plant. The energy audit identified opportunities for significant energy savings by looking at power intensive unit processes such as influent pumping, aeration, ultraviolet disinfection, and solids handling. This case study presents best practices that can be readily adopted by facility managers in their pursuit of energy and financial savings in water and wastewater treatment. This paper is intended to improve community energy managers' understanding of the role that the water and wastewater sector plays in a community's total energy consumption. The energy efficiency strategies described provide information on energy savings opportunities, which can be used as a basis for discussing energy management goals with water and wastewater treatment facility managers.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2012

Advanced Production Surface Preparation Technology Development for Ultra-High Pressure Diesel Injection

In 2007, An Ultra High Injection Pressure (UHIP) fueling method has been demonstrated by Caterpillar Fuel Systems - Product Development, demonstrating ability to deliver U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 4 Final diesel engine emission performance with greatly reduced emissions handling components on the engine, such as without NOx reduction after-treatment and with only a through-flow 50% effective diesel particulate trap (DPT). They have shown this capability using multiple multi-cylinder engine tests of an Ultra High Pressure Common Rail (UHPCR) fuel system with higher than traditional levels of CEGR and an advanced injector nozzle design. The system delivered better atomization of the fuel, for more complete burn, to greatly reduce diesel particulates, while CEGR or high efficiency NOx reduction after-treatment handles the NOx. With the reduced back pressure of a traditional DPT, and with the more complete fuel burn, the system reduced levels of fuel consumption by 2.4% for similar delivery of torque and horsepower over the best Tier 4 Interim levels of fuel consumption in the diesel power industry. The challenge is to manufacture the components in high-volume production that can withstand the required higher pressure injection.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2011

Geothermal Academy: Focus Center for Data Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination

Geothermal Academy: A Pathway for Confirmation of Ground-Source Heat Pumps in the United States. In 2008, Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued a report on geothermal heats pumps (GHPs) focused on the market status, barriers to adoption, and actions to overcome these barriers (Hughes 2008). Of the barriers raised in this report, of the most pressing is the lack of performance and energy usage data for GHPs. Further, an associated barrier is a lack of a fair comparison of the energy usage of conventional heating and cooling systems for the same building. Because of these barriers, we are not able to say how much energy is used by well-designed GHP systems on a long-term basis, nor are we able to say how better their energy usage is compared to conventional systems. The need for a fair comparison with conventional systems is particularly relevant as modern versions of conventional air conditioners, gas furnaces, and boilers have also incorporated energy saving technologies. As a first step to address this barrier, the Geothermal Academy has developed a framework for data collection. This framework has already been applied to several geothermal installations in Colorado (Nakagawa etal. 2010). The framework classifies data into different categories based on the relevance of the dat to understanding the energy consumption of a GHP system. The categories are: direct energy consumption data, heat exchange performance data, and GHP design parameter data. The main recommendation of this project is to include a minimal data collection system on each heat pump installed in the U.S., capable of measuring the electrical energy consumed, the entering/exiting fluid temperatures, and circulation rates. This is a viable and cost effective solution which will provide performance data, as data collection systems are only a fraction of the cost of a GHP unit and modern GHP units already incorporate sensors to monitor energy usage and the entering and exiting fluid temperatures. Specifically, these sensors are used to control the GHP unit to provide the heat exchange required to provide a desired temperature within a building. Accordingly, it is straightforward for this operational data to be collected to start building a database of GHP performance such that can provide statistically relevant comparison with other heating and cooling systems. In addition to collecting the data, such a system could be easily implemented with a wireless transmitter so that data could be sent to a home PC where it could be transmitted to a central database. Display of the data on a user's PC would provide feedback on the performance of their system which could perhaps refine their use of the system to reach their personal energy goals. Although a system such as that described above has yet to be incorporated directly into commercial GHP systems, it is straightforward and inexpensive to outfit a GHP with a data acquisition system and supplemental sensors. A secondary recommendation is to consider funding a pilot effort that will collect the energy and performance time series data from a representative sample of installations. A preliminary pilot effort was undertaken by the Geothermal Academy at a middle school in Ft. Collins, Colorado, which demonstrated the feasibility and ease of such an effort. A full-scale pilot effort would be most suited to evaluate the performance of GHP installations in different climate settings, preferably focusing on residential, commercial, and public buildings. If a full-scale pilot effort were to be undertaken, it is recommended to also identify large buildings which may incorporate a back-up conventional heating and cooling system in order to provide statistically relevant comparison data to assess the improvement in GHP energy usage over other heating and cooling technologies. Such a data collection system would provide several benefits to the different sectors of society (consumers, installers, policy makers, researchers, utility companies, government regulators) which are concerned with GHP technology and implementation.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2012

Energy Savings Modeling of Standard Commercial Building Re-tuning Measures: Large Office Buildings

Today, many large commercial buildings use sophisticated building automation systems (BASs) to manage a wide range of building equipment. While the capabilities of BASs have increased over time, many buildings still do not fully use the BAS's capabilities and are not properly commissioned, operated or maintained, which leads to inefficient operation, increased energy use, and reduced lifetimes of the equipment. This report investigates the energy savings potential of several common HVAC system retuning measures on a typical large office building prototype model, using the Department of Energy's building energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. The baseline prototype model uses roughly as much energy as an average large office building in existing building stock, but does not utilize any re-tuning measures. Individual re-tuning measures simulated against this baseline include automatic schedule adjustments, damper minimum flow adjustments, thermostat adjustments, as well as dynamic resets (set points that change continuously with building and/or outdoor conditions) to static pressure, supply air temperature, condenser water temperature, chilled and hot water temperature, and chilled and hot water differential pressure set points. Six combinations of these individual measures have been formulated - each designed to conform to limitations to implementation of certain individual measures that might exist in typical buildings. All of these measures and combinations were simulated in 16 cities representative of specific U.S. climate zones. The modeling results suggest that the most effective energy savings measures are those that affect the demand-side of the building (air-systems and schedules). Many of the demand-side individual measures were capable of reducing annual HVAC system energy consumption by over 20% in most cities that were modeled. Supply side measures affecting HVAC plant conditions were only modestly successful (less than 5% annual HVAC energy savings for most cities for all measures). Combining many of the retuning measures revealed deep savings potential. Some of the more aggressive combinations revealed 35-75% reductions in annual HVAC energy consumption, depending on climate and building vintage.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2013

Final Scientific/Technical Report: Context-Aware Smart Home Energy Manager (CASHEM)

Because of growing energy demands and shortages, residential home owners are turning to energy conservation measures and smart home energy management devices to help them reduce energy costs and live more sustainably. In this context, the Honeywell team researched, developed, and tested the Context Aware Smart Home Energy Manager (CASHEM) as a trusted advisor for home energy management. The project focused on connecting multiple devices in a home through a uniform user interface. The design of the user interface was an important feature of the project because it provided a single place for the homeowner to control all devices and was also where they received coaching. CASHEM then used data collected from homes to identify the contexts that affect operation of home appliances. CASHEM's goal was to reduce energy consumption while keeping the user's key needs satisfied. Thus, CASHEM was intended to find the opportunities to minimize energy consumption in a way that fit the user's lifestyle.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2016

Role of Solar Water Heating in Multifamily Zero Energy Homes

Solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems have been installed on buildings for decades, but because of relatively high costs they have not achieved significant market penetration in most of the country. As more buildings move towards zero net energy consumption, however, many designers and developers are looking more closely at SDHW. In multifamily buildings especially, SDHW may be more practical for several reasons: 1) When designing for zero net energy consumption, solar water heating may be part of the lowest cost approach to meet water heating loads; 2) Because of better scale, SDHW systems in multifamily buildings cost significantly less per dwelling than in single-family homes; 3) Many low-load buildings are moving away from fossil fuels entirely. SDHW savings are substantially greater when displacing electric resistance water heating; and 4) In addition to federal tax incentives, some states have substantial financial incentives that dramatically reduce the costs (or increase the benefits) of SDHW systems in multifamily buildings. With support from the U.S. DOE Building America program, the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) worked with a developer in western Massachusetts to evaluate a SDHW system on a 12-unit apartment building. Olive Street Development completed construction in spring of 2014, and CARB has been monitoring performance of the water heating systems since May 2014.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2018

Final Report: TIP-337 Home Battery System for Cybersecure Energy Efficiency and Demand Response

Many challenges related to energy use and grid participation face the residential building sector and utilities that serve our homes today. To reduce energy consumption, increase grid service participation, and improve homeowner benefits, a solution is needed that can adapt itself to each home and homeowner/occupant, that can deliver both building and grid services with reliability and high availability, that can automate these operations to minimize cost and complexity of deployment, and that can provide both home data privacy and grid cybersecurity. We hypothesize that customer-oriented home automation can mutually satisfy home occupant/owner needs, reduce energy consumption, and deliver reliable grid services. This project seeks to develop innovative technology solutions that prove this hypothesis. The Home Battery System (HBS) is a technology package comprised of connected 'smart' appliances, rooftop solar photovoltaics, a home battery, and a coordinating smart controller. This system is envisioned, developed and demonstrated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Bosch, ESCRYPT and Colorado State University (CSU). It is the result of three years of research by our diverse team. NREL developed the home automation controller, and performed simulation and laboratory evaluations of the HBS. Bosch developed and delivered most of the connected appliances used in the project, and provided technical and commercialization guidance. ESCRYPT led cybersecurity analysis and developed the cybersecurity layer. CSU provided leadership on preference elicitation methodologies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2021

High-dimensional Data-driven Energy optimization for Multi-Modal Transit Agencies (HD-EMMA) (Final Technical Report)

Public bus transit services in the U.S. are responsible for at least 19.7 million metric tons of CO 2 emission annually. Electric vehicles (EVs) can have a much lower environmental impact than comparable internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), especially in urban areas. Unfortunately, EVs are also much more expensive than ICEVs. As a result, many public transit agencies can afford only mixed fleets of transit vehicles, consisting of EVs, hybrids (HEVs), and ICEVs. Transit agencies that operate such mixed fleets of vehicles face a challenging optimization problem: these agencies need to decide which vehicles are assigned to serving which transit trips. Since the advantage of EVs over ICEVs varies depending on the route and time of day (e.g., the benefit of EVs is higher in slower traffic with frequent stops and lower on highways), the assignment can have a significant effect on energy use and, hence, environmental impact. Through this project, we have developed reference data about energy collections and constructed a set of machine learning models that can accurately predict the energy consumption for the whole fleet at the level of each trip. We have used these models to develop a scheduling and assignment strategy that can rotate the different vehicle types across the transit agencies’ routes. The optimization algorithm ensures that the vehicles are matched to trips considering weather patterns, expected congestion, and road gradients to minimize the overall energy usage. We list the key observations from our project for other practitioners below. Details are available in the report, and the list of source code and our publications are included in the appendix. 1. We have demonstrated the feasibility of collecting, merging and analyzing large volumes of high-resolution real-world telemetry data from a mixed vehicle fleet. To mitigate the inherent noise of the recorded GPS points, the team developed an algorithm that filters data and maps the points onto a street. The algorithm considers previous and subsequent location measurements and different characteristics of nearby streets to determine how likely the vehicle travels on them. Then, the team segmented the time series into disjoint contiguous samples based on adjacent road segments and repeated the outlier detection and removal. For each data point, the team added features corresponding to elevation changes within the samples, weather features, such as temperature, and traffic data, such as speed ratio between actual speed and free-flow speed. 2. We have developed two forms of machine learning models that be used to understand and analyze the energy operations of a mixed vehicle transit fleet. The micro prediction model provides estimates of instantaneous energy prediction for all types of buses (diesel, hybrid, and electric). Such a model is important in evaluating the energy impacts of real-time bus operation strategies, but it is challenging due to diversified driving cycles of transit buses. The model can help the drivers understand the impact of their driving behaviors and short-term congestions. The macro prediction models estimate average energy consumption across the whole trip considering the features: distance traveled, various road-type features, elevation change, day of the week, time of day, various weather features (temperature, humidity, etc.), and traffic features (speed ratio and jam factor). 3. We have demonstrated that it is possible to transfer the machine learning models we have developed in this project to other teams and cities by using inductive transfer learning. We also showed that the performance of the macro energy prediction models can be improved using a multi-task learning approach where the learning parameters are shared between the models being developed for different vehicle types. The advantage of this approach is improved learning performance as the models can exploit common spatio-temporal and environmental characteristics. 4. Finally, we have developed trip and vehicle assignment and scheduling algorithms that use the energy prediction models and develop a trip to vehicle type (diesel, electric, hybrid) assignment for the whole operation to reduce overall emissions and cost. We have shown through simulations that the proposed algorithms can save $\$$ 48,910 in energy costs and 175 metric tons of CO 2 emission annually for CARTA.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in the Evansville and Shawnee National Forest Area: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in Small Urban Areas in the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in San Antonio to Waco: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in the Greater Gulf Coastal Plains: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in Northern Arizona and Washington County, Utah: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in the Rural Midwest North Area: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in the Tulsa to Wichita Falls I-44 Corridor: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in the Central Gulf Coast Area: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Commercial Building Energy Use in the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth Area: Building Stock Segmentation for Retrofit Planning

This report is part of the second phase of a publication series focusing on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides characteristic features and energy data for commercial buildings in a specific area to help policy makers at the city, county, and state level better understand building energy use and emissions. This report breaks down the energy consumption and emissions of the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 2 by building type, building size, end use, energy consumption, emissions, and segment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗