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At least 19 records

Blowdown Recovery System for Cooling Tower Water Treatment

From 2014-2017, the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA's) average nationwide water rates increased 41%. Rapidly escalating costs, mandated water-reduction targets, and the fact that an average of 28% of commercial office building water use is associated with heating and cooling led the GSA Green Proving Ground program to select alternative water treatment technologies for in-field validation. This report summarizes the latest alternative water treatment evaluation completed in 2022 - a Blowdown Recovery System for Cooling Tower Water Treatment. This Green Proving Ground program project assessed the performance of an alternative water treatment system provided by Aqualogix for treating cooling tower blowdown at the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

High Performance Circulator Pump Demonstration

In commercial buildings, smaller circulator pumps are typically overlooked for energy efficiency upgrades due to their smaller size (typically less than 2.5 hp) and due to the lack of commercially available products that can simultaneously provide a combination of integrated controls and variable speed operation that is required to achieve acceptable energy savings and life cycle cost effectiveness. This General Services Administration (GSA) Green Proving Ground (GPG) project assessed the performance of a new high performance circulator pump (HPCP) at one heating hot water (HHW) application and two domestic hot water (DHW) application at the Denver Federal Center in Denver, Colorado.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Plug Load Management System Field Study: Wireless Meter and Controls

This presentation offers background on GSA's Green Proving Ground (GPG) and DOE's High Impact Technology (HIT) Catalyst work, and a field study that assessed a plug load management (PLM) system in two commercial building applications. The Ibis InteliNetwork (TM) PLM system enables users to measure and analyze device energy use and identify opportunities for reduction of plug load energy use, and set times for individual devices (or groups of devices) to turn off when not in use. The presentation gives an overview of the PLM demonstration project, its results, and lessons learned.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Field Validation of a Building Operating System Platform

The U.S General Services Administration's (GSA's) Green Proving Ground program, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. completed a large pilot study of an Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS) with Automated System Optimization (ASO). Four test bed facilities, each with different building characteristics and systems, were chosen for the implementation of cloud-based EMIS with ASO. Depending on functionality, this tool can be extremely effective in energy management and energy optimization in buildings. The capabilities evaluated in the pilot ranged from energy savings and energy consumption predictions to evaluations of user acceptance, operability, and ease of installation. This report presents the methodology, lessons learned and best practices, and deployment recommendations for the GSA's portfolio of commercial office space, comprising more than 8,500 properties.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Wood Pellet-Fired Biomass Boiler Project at the Ketchikan Federal Building

Biomass boiler systems have existed for many years, but the technology has advanced in recent decades and can now provide automated and efficient operation for a relatively modest investment. Key advances in system monitoring and control allow for lower operating costs, since the control systems run all aspects of the boiler, including feed, load reduction and even tube cleaning. These advances have made such systems economical on a small scale in situations where inexpensive fuels like natural gas are not available. This creates an opportunity for building operators in remote, cold-climate locations to reduce the use of expensive fuels for heating buildings. GSA Region 10 installed the system at the federal building in Ketchikan, Alaska and submitted the project to the Green Proving Ground (GPG) program. GSA's GPG program contracted with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to assess the installation and the technology. The system serves as a demonstration to assess actual system efficiencies, as well as operating characteristics and financial benefits. In addition to installation and operational issues, the project team/researchers examined other issues, including fuel transportation costs, building energy savings, and overall economics.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Electrochromic Window Demonstration at the John E. Moss Federal Building, 650 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, California

Dynamic windows have the potential to provide real-time optimization of perimeter zone energy use, peak demand, comfort, amenity, and cost criteria on a seasonal or even minute-to- minute basis in response to weather, occupant or regional grid demands. Electrochromic (EC) windows, a type of dynamic window, have the ability to adjust their tint dynamically in response to a small applied voltage. In previous studies, they have shown potential to reduce heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) energy consumption and increase occupant satisfaction. This technology is available in the U.S. as a commercial product from multiple vendors with high-capacity manufacturing facilities, and could be broadly deployed if successful in a pilot test. This Green Proving Ground (GPG) program study examines the energy and comfort performance of EC windows in south-facing perimeter zones of a typical U.S. General Services Administration GSA office building.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Linear LED Lighting Retrofit Assessment

This report is GSA Green Proving Ground M&V study that assesses the performance of Linear LED Retrofit products for fluorescent lighting troffers. The study evaluates describes energy efficiency, photometric performance, economic analysis, occupant satisfaction and recommendations for broad implementation within GSA facilities.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Downlight LED Lighting Form-Factor Assessment

This report provides information about the evaluation of a field installation of a one-for-one Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamp replacement that uses the existing fluorescent ballast. The evaluation was part of a study conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the Green Proving Ground program (GPG). The evaluation includes field-collected energy data, light-level data, and occupant and system installer survey responses. The report also provides recommendations based on the data collected during this field evaluation as well as other research-based sources, for applying this technology to other locations.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Field Validation of a Grid-Interactive Efficient Building Software Solution

The U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA's) Green Proving Ground (GPG) program, in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), completed a field study of a Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEB) software solution. The study focused on a single testbed facility to test the GEB functionality of the software solution, along with other features. The testbed facility - a courthouse - is a common building type in GSA's vast building portfolio, offering potentially impactful findings on a scalable level. The study evaluated Prescriptive Data's technology, Nantum OS, a connected building operating system ("GEB Solution") which aggregates multiple sources of previously siloed building data and combines that data with external sources, such as weather information or utility signals, into a single integrated platform. A GEB Solution is a type of Energy Management Information System (EMIS). EMIS is defined as a system of devices, data services, and software applications that communicates with any building system or third-party data source to aggregate and transform data into new capabilities to aid in the optimization of energy use at the building, campus, or agency level. This specific GEB Solution is an EMIS with ASO, automated system optimization, offering supervisory control of certain aspects of the Building Automation System (BAS). Multiple features were evaluated including, but not limited to, Continuous Demand Management to avoid setting new monthly kilowatt (kW) peaks, energy efficiency for reduction of kilowatt hours (kWh) and natural gas consumption, and automated demand response (ADR) for purposes of lowering demand during a utility called Demand Response (DR) event. The testbed facility was the Foley Federal Building and US Courthouse ("Foley Federal Building") located in Las Vegas, NV. This is a 209,496 sq. ft. building constructed in the 1960s with major renovations in 2004. The facility was a good candidate due to the large prevalence of office and courthouse spaces in the GSA portfolio of buildings. It also has many features which allow integration into and control of the building and a strong facilities team to assist with the study. Quantitative and qualitative performance objectives were developed using GSA's GPG GEB project template along with input from the vendor and building facility staff; these are outlined in Table 1. The quantitative performance objectives focused on continuous demand management, energy efficiency, and automated demand response. The qualitative performance objectives focused on the ease of installation and commissioning as well as the operability of the GEB solution. Other performance metrics that are reported on include carbon reduction, cost effectiveness, and occupant acceptance.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Operational use of the AIRS Total Column Ozone Retrievals along with the RGB Airmass Product as Part of the GOES-R Proving Ground

The Red, Green, Blue (RGB) Air Mass product has been demonstrated in the GOES ]R Proving Ground as a possible decision aid. Forecasters have been trained on the usefulness of identifying stratospheric intrusions and potential vorticity (PV) anomalies that can lead to explosive cyclogenesis, genesis of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), or the transition of tropical cyclones to extratropical cyclones. It has also been demonstrated to distinguish different air mass types from warm, low ozone air masses to cool, high ozone air masses and the various interactions with the PV anomalies. To assist the forecasters in understanding the stratospheric contribution to high impact weather systems, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Total Column Ozone Retrievals have been made available as an operational tool. These AIRS retrievals provide additional information on the amount of ozone that is associated with the red coloring seen in the RGB Air Mass product. This paper discusses how the AIRS retrievals can be used to quantify the red coloring in RGB Air Mass product. These retrievals can be used to diagnose the depth of the stratospheric intrusions associated with different types of weather systems and provide the forecasters decision aid tools that can improve the quality of forecast products.

Folmer, M.↗

High Performance Flat Plate Solar Thermal Collector Evaluation

This report was prepared for the General Services Administration by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Honeycomb Solar Thermal Collector (HSTC) is a flat plate solar thermal collector that shows promising high efficiencies over a wide range of climate zones. The technical objectives of this study are to: 1) verify collector performance, 2) compare that performance to other market-available collectors, 3) verify overheat protection, and 4) analyze the economic performance of the HSTC both at the demonstration sites and across a matrix of climate zones and utility markets.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Landsat classification of Argentina summer crops

A Landsat MSS and TM classification approach based on three features derived from the greenness profile has proved very effective in separating and identifying corn, soybeans, and other ground cover classes in the U.S. The objective of this study is to investigate the separation of summer crops in Argentina, one of the most important commodity exporters, using the same greenness profile features that have proved effective in the U.S. Corn Belt. The area chosen for study is a more complex cropping practice area located in the north-west corner of Buenos Aires province in Pampa Humeda, where corn, soybean, sorghum, sunflower, and pastures are cultivated. It is shown that the profile features can provide very effective separation, except in the case of corn from sorghum. Separation between corn and soybeans was found to be greater than in the U.S. This study suggests that the automatic, unsupervised classification approach developed in the U.S., with relatively minor modification, can be used for summer crop area estimation in Argentina.

Badhwar, G. D.↗

The Unusual Evolution of Hurricane Arthur 2014

Hurricane Arthur (2014) was an early season hurricane that had its roots in a convective complex in the Southern Plains of the U.S. As the complex moved into northern Texas, a Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV) formed and drifted towards the east of the southern U.S. for a few days before emerging over the southwest Atlantic near South Carolina. The MCV drifted south and slowly acquired tropical characteristics, eventually becoming a Category 2 hurricane that would affect much of eastern North Carolina prior to the 4th of July holiday weekend. Arthur continued up the coast, brushing portions of southeast New England and merged with an upper-level low, completing a full tropical to extratropical-transition in the process, producing damaging wind gusts in portions of the Canadian Maritimes. As part of the GOES-R and JPSS Satellite Proving Grounds, multiple proxy and operational products were available to analyze and forecast this complex evolution. The Storm Prediction Center had products available to monitor the initial severe thunderstorm aspect, while the National Hurricane Center and Ocean Prediction Center were able to monitor the tropical and extratropical transition of Arthur using various convective and red, green, blue (RGB) products that have been introduced in recent years. This paper will discuss Arthur's evolution through the eyes of the various Satellite Proving Ground demonstrations.

Folmer, Michael↗

Classification of corn and soybeans using multitemporal Thematic Mapper data

The multitemporal classification approach based on the greenness profile derived from Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) spectral bands has proved successful in effectively separating and identifying corn, soybean, and other ground cover classes. Features derived from these profiles have been shown to carry virtually all the information contained in the original data and, in addition, have been shown to be stable over a large geographic area of the United States. The objective of this investigation was to determine if the same features derived from multitemporal Thematic Mapper (TM) data would also prove effective in separating these two crop types, and, in fact, if algorithms developed for MSS could be directly applied to TM. It is shown that this is indeed the case. In addition, because of greater spatial and spectral resolution, the accuracy of TM classifications is better than in MSS.

Badhwar, G. D.↗

Development of a moon-based magnetospheric and coronal imager using a large broadband array

The 'Missions to and from Planet Earth' mandated by President Bush in 1989 provide a unique opportunity for magnetospheric and coronal plasma physicists to cooperate with low frequency radio astronomers in the development of an advanced experiment designed for the lunar surface. A large active lunar based array would sound the Earth's magnetosphere at VLF frequencies and the solar corona at decametric wavelengths allowing plasma physicists to map both the Earth's magnetosphere and those regions in the solar corona that trigger precursors to solar flares. With the transmitter silent, the array would become the ideal low frequency radio telescope, examining both geospace emissions such as auroral kilometric radiation and extraterrestrial signals from the planets, pulsars, supernova remnants, and active galactic nuclei. Both experiments satisfy requirements mandated in both 'Mission to Planet Earth' and in 'Mission from Planet Earth.' By proposing a cooperative effort both communities (plasma physicists and radio astronomers) stand to benefit. Jim Green, Director of the NASA Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at GSFC; Tony Phillips, Research Fellow at California Institute of Technology; T. D. Carr, Director of the University of Florida Radio Observatory (UFRO) and the author are enlisting the cooperation of the scientific community in defining the system specifications. Some components, such as the receivers, will be standard 'off-the-shelf' items, and hence will require little developmental research. However, the individual antenna elements and the phasing and matching networks will require some R&D to satisfy the frequency requirements (20 KHz-40 MHz). By flying the experiment in Earth orbit first, Dr. Green proposes to gather valuable magnetospheric data as well as to prove the principle of the large moon based experiment. He claims that funding for the preliminary ground based studies at the UFRO may be available as early as FY-92.

Lebo, George↗

Quantification of MagLIF Morphology using the Mallat Scattering Transformation

The morphology of the stagnated plasma resulting from Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) is measured by imaging the self-emission x-rays coming from the multi-keV plasma, and the evolution of the imploding liner is measured by radiographs. Equivalent diagnostic response can be derived from integrated rad-MHD simulations from programs such as Hydra and Gorgon. There have been only limited quantitative ways to compare the image morphology, that is the texture, of simulations and experiments. We have developed a metric of image morphology based on the Mallat Scattering Transformation (MST), a transformation that has proved to be effective at distinguishing textures, sounds, and written characters. This metric has demonstrated excellent performance in classifying ensembles of synthetic stagnation images. We use this metric to quantitatively compare simulations to experimental images, cross experimental images, and to estimate the parameters of the images with uncertainty via a linear regression of the synthetic images to the parameter used to generate them. This coordinate space has proved very adept at doing a sophisticated relative back-ground subtraction in the MST space. This was needed to compare the experimental self emission images to the rad-MHD simulation images. We have also developed theory that connects the transformation to the causal dynamics of physical systems. This has been done from the classical kinetic perspective and from the field theory perspective, where the MST is the generalized Green's function, or S-matrix of the field theory in the scale basis. From both perspectives the first order MST is the current state of the system, and the second order MST are the transition rates from one state to another. An efficient, GPU accelerated, Python implementation of the MST was developed. Future applications are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗