SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
This is an example of how to file for alternative compliance annual report under the US DOE's Energy Policy Act (EPAct).
This is a guidance document of how to request an exemption from Standard Compliance (SC) under the US DOE's Energy Policy Act (EPAct).
This is a guidance document on how to use the compliance reporting tool under the US DOE's Energy Policy Act (EPAct).
This is a guidance document on EPAct Section 707 emergency repair and restoration vehicle exclusions under the US DOE's Energy Policy Act (EPAct).
This is a guidance document on submitting the standard compliance annual report under the US DOE's Energy Policy Act (EPAct).
This is an example of how to file for alternative compliance waiver application under the US DOE's Energy Policy Act (EPAct).
Presentation to February 2024 DOE Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) Meeting regarding interrelationship between gas and electric. The EAC is a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committee. The purpose of the EAC is to provide advice to the U.S. Department of Energy in implementing the Energy Policy Act of 2005, executing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and modernizing the nation's electricity delivery infrastructure.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) was enacted in part to reduce the nation's dependence on imported petroleum. Provisions of EPAct require certain fleets to acquire alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). The U.S. Department of Energy administers these requirements through its State and Alternative Fuel Provider Fleet Program, Federal Fleet Requirements, and Alternative Fuel Designation Authority. This report summarizes activities under the program during model year 2023.
This presentation presents an overview of the extent to which the Federal government's fleet of motor vehicles is shown as compliant with a requirement in the Energy Policy Acts of 1992 and 2005 that the Federal government acquire alternative fuel vehicles for fleet use, causes behind the recent decrease in compliance, and a proposed change to how the fleet data collected through the Federal Automotive Statistical Tool might be used by the US Department of Energy to arrive at a more correct characterization of compliance. The presentation is intended for delivery at the February 12, 2020 meeting of the DOE-sponsored INTERFUEL working group.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) regulates covered state government and alternative fuel provider fleets, pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), as amended. For model year (MY) 2018, the compliance rate with this program for the more than 311 reporting fleets was 100%. Fleets used either Standard Compliance or Alternative Compliance reporting methods.
This presentation presents an overview of the coming changes to how federal agencies with motor vehicles and which are subject to requirements for alternative fuel use under Energy Policy Act of 2005 Section 701 will request waivers, if needed, from that requirement. The presentations provides an overview of the requirement, how those waivers have been requested in recent history, why the process is changing, and the implications of those changes for relevant federal agencies. The presentation is intended for delivery via WebEx at the June 10, 2020 meeting of the DOE-sponsored INTERFUEL working group.
Self-determination has been an on-going effort for Native American people and gained much traction with the passing of The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which included the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act. Congress passed this act to assist Native American tribes and Alaska Native villages with planning, development, and assistance to achieve their energy goals. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT) has relied on oil and natural gas for economic support the last 70 years. Burning fossil fuels, along with oil and gas development, decreases the quality of air and leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Subsequently, the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy is now more costly than many renewable energy sources, including solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Environmental stewardship, along with the need to maintain revenue generation, has led UMUT’s efforts to achieve energy self-determinism employing PV and exploring other technology. In the past, the tribe completed a 1 megawatt PV project near Towaoc, Colorado, which serves as a case study on the tribe’s energy goals: a future where renewables will dominate their energy landscape. This paper explores UMUT’s past and on-going efforts toward energy independence and how it relates to the broader landscape of Native American energy sovereignty.
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 supports biofuel production expansion through the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit, replacing previous 40A and 40B credits. This follows on the Renewable Fuel Standard from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and its expansion in 2007. States like California, Oregon, and Washington also offer clean fuel credits. Meanwhile, federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy, have advanced alternative fuel technologies through research and development funding. The surging interest in the biofuel industry has spurred the demand for biofuel supplies in the markets, although achieving profitability for advanced biofuels and low-carbon e-fuels remains challenging. This study aims to track U.S. alternative fuel production capacity expansion plans over the next 10 years and estimate impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By tracking built capacity and industry announcements of planned expansion, this study complements other studies which use models to predict changes in energy technologies and the associated GHG implications. Modeled projections of future technologies are often criticized for over or underestimating the cost and potential role of new technologies. The study focuses on sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel, ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable natural gas. Using facility-level data, we conducted a bottom-up analysis linking biofuel production pathways with corresponding pathways and parameterizations in the Argonne R&D GREET model. Results indicate that biofuel capacity could reach 3.8 exajoules in 2035, potentially reducing U.S. GHG emissions by 179 million tonnes, including the full life cycle. This corresponds to a 20% reduction in transportation and 5% in industry sector emissions by 2035, or a 3.6% reduction in economy-wide emissions. Overall, this study shows that while biofuel production capacity in the U.S. is expanding, the capacities remain limited compared to fuel demand. Uncertainty regarding the durability and extension of incentives may be dampening the pace of growth. Meanwhile, demonstrating the commercial potential for alternative fuels and climbing the learning curve for new technologies could lead to an increased pace of expansion in later years. This study offers insights for bioenergy stakeholders, highlighting biofuel technologies' contribution to U.S. energy system and emissions reduction over time based on producers' plans.
NREL/DOE has been funding research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects to facilitate the deployment of alternative fuels into the marketplace in order to achieve three objectives: 1) enhance the reduction of mobile source emissions in California and the U.S.; 2) increase U.S. competitiveness and economic prosperity; and 3) preserve the environment through the reduction of emissions and toxins from the motor vehicle population. The Lewis-Presley Air Quality Management Act requires the South Coast Air Quality Management District to establish a program to encourage participation in projects to increase the utilization of clean-burning fuels. The parties seek to collaborate on a joint RD&D project to perform a field test on a small vehicle fleet operating on Fischer-Tropsch synthetic diesel fuel. Recently the 106th U.S. Congress designated "gas-to-liquid" (GTL) transportation fuels that are produced from domestic products as alternative fuels under the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT). Niche markets could develop quickly for these fuel products, perhaps especially for the use of Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels in centrally fueled vehicle fleets in California. NREL and its project partners from the U.S. Department of Energy and West Virginia University have recently conducted what we believe to be the first-ever controlled tests of Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels in heavy vehicles. These tests have shown that Fischer-Tropsch fuels can be substituted in unmodified trucks and buses without any detectable loss in drivability and performance. Compared to a California diesel fuel baseline, neat Shell Fischer-Tropsch fuel emitted about 12% lower NOx and 24% lower particulate matter over a five-mile driving route while maintaining the same fuel economy on an energy equivalent basis. Whereas these exhaust emissions reductions from these previous studies have been impressive, far greater exhaust emissions reductions can be achieved if the vehicles are retrofitted with emissions control technologies that are enabled by Fischer-Tropsch fuels. For this program, a test fleet would be selected and retrofitted with continuously regenerating traps (CRT’s) or diesel particulate filters (DPF's). The University of West Virginia, under a separate subcontract to SCAQMD will have the responsibility to test and measure the emissions from the test fleet of vehicles.
This analysis, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), models potential geothermal deployment on BLM and USFS land for the years 2025, 2030, 2035, and 2050 under various scenarios using the Renewable Energy Potential (reV) model and the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model. This report identifies potential future high opportunity geothermal leasing areas (i.e., Best, Middle, and Least identified opportunities) based on available data for geothermal resource potential, natural resource conflicts, and transmission access. In addition, this analysis considers the impacts of the Energy Policy Act of 2005's (EPAct 2005's) default competitive leasing provisions, specifically the impact this may have had on geothermal resource discovery outside of known geothermal resource areas.
Section 701 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) requires Federal agencies to use alternative fuel in dual-fueled vehicles when it is reasonably available and not unreasonably more expensive than gasoline (42 U.S.C. Section 6374(a)(3)(E)). Since 2007, Federal agencies have requested waivers for vehicles from the Section 701 requirements as part of a June data call for the subsequent fiscal year (FY). The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) has reviewed those waiver requests and granted or denied them prior to the subsequent FY. At the end of each FY, DOE FEMP has reviewed each Federal agency's covered alternative fuel use and compared it to total fuel use in non-waivered vehicles to determine compliance. This guidance provides two different processes through which DOE will begin evaluating waiver requests for FY 2021 (beginning with the FY 2020 data call): Automated reporting in the Federal Fleet Sustainability Dashboard (FleetDASH), and waiver requests in FAST.
Section 707 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) amended section 301(9)(E) of EPAct 1992 by adding to the list of vehicles excluded from the definition of "fleet" a new subcategory of emergency motor vehicles, i.e., "vehicles directly used in the emergency repair of transmission lines and in the restoration of electricity service following power outages, as determined by the Secretary." Like other excluded vehicles, these light-duty vehicles (LDVs) do not count (1) when determining whether a fleet is covered under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) State and Alternative Fuel Provider Fleet Program (Program), and (2) for fleets that are covered under the Program, when calculating annual alternative fuel vehicle (AFV)-acquisition requirements. If AFV models of excluded vehicles are acquired, however, a fleet may count them toward their acquisition requirement by including them in the calculation of the number of AFVs acquired. Exclusion Process.
State government and alternative fuel provider fleets covered under the State and Alternative Fuel Provider Fleet Program (Program) established pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) may use the Compliance Reporting Tool to track and report on several compliance activities. These activities include, but are not limited to, completing Standard Compliance annual reports, Alternative Compliance notices of intent, and exemption requests. Covered fleets can access the Compliance Tool through the Program's website at https://epact.energy.gov/users/sign_in. Covered fleet points of contact should bookmark the Compliance Reporting Tool for future access. This user guide addresses how to complete and submit Standard Compliance annual reports, including getting started with reporting, submitting annual reports, submitting exemption requests, and viewing annual reports.