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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

United States Early Career Researchers in Collider Physics input to the European Strategy for Particle Physics Update

This document represents a contribution of the United States early career collider physics community to the 2025--2026 update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics. Preferences with regard to different future collider options and R&D priorities were assessed via a survey. The early career community was defined as anyone who is a graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, untenured faculty member, or research scientist under 40 years of age. In total, 105 participants responded to the survey between February and March 10th, 2025. Questions were formulated primarily to gauge the enthusiasm and preferences for different collider options in line with the recommendations of the United States' P5 report, relevant to the European Strategy Update.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Community RNA-Seq: multi-kingdom responses to living versus decaying roots in soil

Abstract Roots are a primary source of organic carbon input in most soils. The consumption of living and detrital root inputs involves multi-trophic processes and multiple kingdoms of microbial life, but typical microbial ecology studies focus on only one or two major lineages. We used Illumina shotgun RNA sequencing to conduct PCR-independent SSU rRNA community analysis (“community RNA-Seq”) and simultaneously assess the bacteria, archaea, fungi, and microfauna surrounding both living and decomposing roots of the annual grass, Avena fatua. Plants were grown in 13CO2-labeled microcosms amended with 15N-root litter to identify the preferences of rhizosphere organisms for root exudates (13C) versus decaying root biomass (15N) using NanoSIMS microarray imaging (Chip-SIP). When litter was available, rhizosphere and bulk soil had significantly more Amoebozoa, which are potentially important yet often overlooked top-down drivers of detritusphere community dynamics and nutrient cycling. Bulk soil containing litter was depleted in Actinobacteria but had significantly more Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. While Actinobacteria were abundant in the rhizosphere, Chip-SIP showed Actinobacteria preferentially incorporated litter relative to root exudates, indicating this group’s more prominent role in detritus elemental cycling in the rhizosphere. Our results emphasize that decomposition is a multi-trophic process involving complex interactions, and our methodology can be used to track the trajectory of carbon through multi-kingdom soil food webs.

Nuccio, Erin E. (ORCID:000000030189183X)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Large-scale Hydrogen Storage Risk Assessment

This project investigated risks involved in deploying a large-scale hydrogen storage system at the Port of Seattle (hereafter, the Port) for its on-terminal and maritime applications in an urban industrial setting. Alongside, the project attempted to address some of the barriers to risk assessment such as need for an exact system design for a systematic investigation, direct access to surrounding communities to gauge their perceptions, and an integrated software required to undertake a full-fledged risk assessment. These barriers were overcome using illustrative reference station designs, engaging with community-facing agencies through Port support, and pooling national laboratory capabilities available for risk assessments. The project identified relevant public safety risk metrics, compared various hydrogen carriers, engaged with community-facing agencies, and explored potential gaps in existing safety codes and standards. The primary impacts of this project include the development of risk assessment guidance for ports and utilities, informing them of the trade-offs in the choice of hydrogen carriers, and the ability to increase public capacity for dialog and engagement. This paves the way toward decarbonization of the Port activities, bringing about awareness around jobs in the market for risk assessments, and the need to ramp up community engagement long before any hydrogen system deployment is undertaken.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2023

Seasonality regulates the structure and biogeochemical impact of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities across environmentally divergent neotropical dry forests

Abstract Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbioses support forest functioning globally, yet both the structure and function of ECM fungal communities in seasonally dry neotropical forests (SDTFs), known for extreme heterogeneity in vegetation and edaphic properties, remain under characterized. Here, we evaluated the relative influences of seasonal versus spatial variation in ECM fungal community structure in soils from four environmentally divergent SDTFs. We also assessed the importance of biotic and abiotic drivers of SDTF ECM fungal community structure at regional scales, as well as ECM impacts on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. ECM fungal frequency, relative abundance and richness all increased in the wet season, but spatial rather than seasonal effects explained more variation in community composition. Across the four SDTFs investigated, differences in tree communities drove ECM fungal community turnover more than geographic distances, site abiotic conditions or soil chemistry. Although soil moisture and ECM tree basal area were stronger predictors of soil biogeochemistry, incorporating ECM fungal community composition and relative abundance added explanatory power to models of soil C and N cycling in the wet season. Synthesis : Our results highlight the importance of seasonality and plant community composition in shaping different aspects of SDTF ECM fungal community structure and diversity as well as the potential for both the plant and fungal components of ECM symbioses to impact soil functioning across heterogenous SDTFs. Furthermore, our findings suggest that alterations in SDTF plant community composition due to climate or land‐use change will have important consequences for ECM fungal diversity and associated effects on soil biogeochemical cycling.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Exploring the Consistency of Water Scarcity Inferences between Large-Scale Hydrologic and Node-Based Water System Model Representations of the Upper Colorado River Basin

Water resources model development and simulation efforts have seen rapid growth in recent decades to aid evaluations and planning around water scarcity and allocation. Models are typically developed by two distinct communities: (1) large-scale hydrologic modelers emphasizing hydroclimatological processes, and (2) water systems modelers emphasizing environmental, infrastructural, and institutional features that shape water scarcity at the local basin level. This study assesses whether two representative models from these communities produce consistent insights when evaluating the water scarcity vulnerabilities in the Upper Colorado River Basin within the state of Colorado. Results showed that although the regional-scale model [model for scale adaptive river transport (MOSART)—water management (WM)] can capture the aggregate effect of all water operations in the basin, it underestimates the subbasin-scale variability in specific user’s vulnerabilities. The basin-scale water systems model [State of Colorado’s Stream Simulation Model (StateMod)] suggests a larger variance of scarcity across the basin’s water users due to its more detailed accounting of local water allocation infrastructure and institutional processes. This model intercomparison highlights potentially significant limitations of large-scale studies in seeking to evaluate water scarcity and actionable adaptation strategies, as well as ways in which basin-scale water systems model’s information can be used to better inform water allocation and shortage when used in tandem with larger-scale hydrological modeling studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Assessing the Sensitivity of the Tropical Cyclone Boundary Layer to the Parameterization of Momentum Flux in the Community Earth System Model

Recent studies have demonstrated that high-resolution (~25 km) Earth System Models (ESMs) have the potential to skillfully predict tropical cyclone (TC) occurrence and intensity. However, biases in ESM TCs still exist, largely due to the need to parameterize processes such as boundary layer (PBL) turbulence. Building on past studies, we hypothesize that the depiction of the TC PBL in ESMs is sensitive to the configuration of the PBL parameterization scheme, and that the targeted perturbation of tunable parameters can reduce biases. The Morris one-at-a-time (MOAT) method is implemented to assess the sensitivity of the TC PBL to tunable parameters in the PBL scheme in an idealized configuration of the Community Atmosphere Model, version 6 (CAM6). The MOAT method objectively identifies several parameters in an experimental version of the Cloud Layers Unified by Binormals (CLUBB) scheme that appreciably influence the structure of the TC PBL. We then perturb the parameters identified by the MOAT method within a suite of CAM6 ensemble simulations and find a reduction in model biases compared to observations and a high-resolution, cloud-resolving model. Importantly, we demonstrate that the high-sensitivity parameters are tied to PBL processes that reduce turbulent mixing and effective eddy diffusivity, and that in CAM6 these parameters alter the TC PBL in a manner consistent with past modeling studies. In this way, we provide an initial identification of process-based input parameters that, when altered, have the potential to improve TC predictions by ESMs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Environmental life cycle impacts of small wastewater treatment plants: Design recommendations for impact mitigation

The objective of this study was to quantify potential mitigation of environmental impacts from the operation and construction of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) from implementing specific design recommendations. The study investigated small WWTPs, many of which are serving slow growing or declining populations. Life Cycle Assessment methodology was used to evaluate and compare the inventory and environmental impacts of nine small WWTP case studies. Detailed inventory data was collected from the facilities’ engineering design plans and utility bills. One recommended practice was to avoid significant overdesign by planning for no lower than a 75% capacity utilization by the facilities’ end-of-life. A theoretical correction to a 75% capacity utilization was estimated to mitigate 0.4% of lifetime electricity usage and 1% of secondary process concrete for every 1% reduction in design average flow rate. Relatedly, a 0.4% mitigation in the Carcinogenic and Global Warming impacts could be achieved for every 1% reduction in design average flow toward a 75% capacity utilization. Other suggested practices were focused on conveyance, namely, to minimize non-process facility area and to use polyvinyl chloride pipe instead of ductile iron pipe where possible. Furthermore, the latter practice was estimated to mitigate between 1.1 and 4.8% of the Carcinogenic impact in the nine case studies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Crewmember microbiome may influence microbial composition of ISS habitable surfaces

The International Space Station (ISS) is a complex built environment physically isolated from Earth. Assessing the interplay between the microbial community of the ISS and its crew is important for preventing biomedical and structural complications for long term human spaceflight missions. In this study, we describe one crewmember’s microbial profile from body swabs of mouth, nose, ear, skin and saliva that were collected at eight different time points pre-, during and post-flight. Additionally, environmental surface samples from eight different habitable locations in the ISS were collected from two flights. Environmental samples from one flight were collected by the crewmember and samples from the next flight were collected after the crewmember departed. The microbial composition in both environment and crewmember samples was measured using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and processed using the Livermore Metagenomics Analysis Toolkit. Ordination of sample to sample distances showed that of the eight crew body sites analyzed, skin, nostril, and ear samples are more similar in microbial composition to the ISS surfaces than mouth and saliva samples; and that the microbial composition of the crewmember’s skin samples are more closely related to the ISS surface samples collected by the crewmember on the same flight than ISS surface samples collected by other crewmembers on different flights. In these collections, species alpha diversity in saliva samples appears to decrease during flight and rebound after returning to Earth. This is the first study to compare the ISS microbiome to a crewmember’s microbiome via shotgun metagenomic sequencing. We observed that the microbiome of the surfaces inside the ISS resemble those of the crew’s skin. These data support future crew and ISS microbial surveillance efforts and the design of preventive measures to maintain crew habitat onboard spacecraft destined for long term space travel.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Applying Social Science Methods to Assess and Improve Program Outcomes: A Case Study on the Gap Region Outreach Project

This paper outlines a replicable framework for assessing gaps, reach, and the impact of technical assistance (TA) programs, using the Energy to Communities (E2C) Gap Region Outreach Project as a case study. By applying qualitative social science methods, this framework provides tools for effectively engaging with underrepresented regions, identifying barriers to participation, and tailoring solutions to local needs. The study highlights the importance of leveraging stakeholder insights to address disparities in program engagement and participation, offering actionable recommendations to enhance program responsiveness and optimize resource allocation. This approach serves as a guide for practitioners seeking to expand the reach and effectiveness of federally funded TA programs while ensuring alignment with community priorities and capacity needs.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ahtna Tribal Energy Planning and Technical Assistance Project (Final Report)

Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission (AITRC) provided technical assistance and capacity building activities for eight (8) tribal communities in the Ahtna region to: 1. reduce energy costs; 2. improve community wildfire readiness and biomass utilization; 3. provide local food security; and 4. reduce unemployment, poverty and outmigration in the Ahtna villages. AITRC provided community education on energy needs, conservation and efficiency, issues and options, assisted the tribes in identifying appropriate renewable energy systems, and increased their capacity to implement successful energy projects that employed local tribal members. AITRC also successfully assisted the member Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations in pursuing additional funding to advance their energy goals and projects, including Tribal Resiliency Planning, community biomass heating and wood resource assessment projects, and hydroelectric.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Thermal Adaptation of Enzyme‐Mediated Processes Reduces Simulated Soil CO2 Fluxes Upon Soil Warming

Abstract Understanding factors influencing carbon effluxes from soils to the atmosphere is important in a world experiencing climatic change. Two important uncertainties related to soil organic carbon (SOC) stock responses to a changing climate are (a) whether soil microbial communities acclimate or adapt to changes in soil temperature and (b) how to represent this process in SOC models. To further explore these issues, we included thermal adaptation of enzyme‐mediated processes in a mechanistic SOC model (ReSOM) using the macromolecular rate theory. Thermal adaptation is defined here to encompass all potential responses of soil microbes and microbial communities following a change in temperature. To assess the effects of thermal adaptation of enzyme‐mediated processes on simulated SOC losses, ReSOM was applied to data collected from a 13‐year soil warming experiment. Results show that a model omitting thermal adaptation of enzyme‐mediated processes substantially overestimates observed CO 2 effluxes during the initial years of soil warming. The bias against observed CO 2 effluxes was lower for models including thermal adaptation of enzyme‐mediated processes. In addition, for a simulated linear 3°C soil warming over 100 years, models including thermal adaptation of enzyme‐mediated processes simulated SOC losses of a factor of three smaller than models omitting this process. As thermal adaptation of microbial community characteristics is generally not included in models simulating feedback between the soil, biosphere and atmosphere, we encourage future studies to assess the potential impact that microbial adaptation has on soil carbon – climate feedback representations in models. Plain Language Summary A major uncertainty in projecting how much soil organic carbon (SOC) will be converted to CO 2 as a consequence of climate change is related to how soil microbes may adapt to increasing soil temperatures. While this “microbial thermal adaptation” has been shown to occur in short‐term lab incubation experiments, its effect on SOC cycling on a decadal timescale is not clear. To address this knowledge gap, a mechanistic SOC model was used to simulate data collected from a 13‐year soil warming experiment, to assess how microbial thermal adaptation affects predicted SOC losses upon soil warming. The model results show that incorporating microbial thermal adaptation into the model led to reduced CO 2 effluxes from the soil to the atmosphere compared to the common approach of omitting this mechanism. Our results imply that projected SOC losses for the decades to come may be reduced when this mechanism is incorporated in land models. We therefore advocate for more research on the mechanisms controlling microbial thermal adaptation, and how to implement this mechanism in SOC models. Key Points A crucial aspect of soil organic carbon (SOC) models is the representation of soil microbes Predicted soil CO 2 fluxes upon soil warming are reduced when accounting for microbial thermal adaptation On a centennial time scale, this thermal adaptation results in up to a factor of three lower predicted SOC loss

Van de Broek, Marijn↗
DOE OSTI2021

Microbial Community Characteristics Largely Unaffected by X-Ray Computed Tomography of Sediment Cores

X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning is used to study the physical characteristics of soil and sediment cores, allowing scientists to analyze stratigraphy without destroying core integrity. Microbiologists often work with geologists to understand the microbial properties in such cores; however, we do not know whether CT scanning alters microbial DNA such that DNA sequencing, a common method of community characterization, changes as a result of X-ray exposure. Our objective was to determine whether CT scanning affects the estimates of the composition of microbial communities that exist in cores. Sediment cores were extracted from a salt marsh and then submitted for CT scanning. We observed a minimal effect of CT scanning on microbial community composition in the sediment cores either when the cores were examined shortly after recovery from the field or after the cores had been stored for several weeks. In contrast, properties such as sediment layer and marsh location did affect microbial community structure. While we observed that CT scanning did not alter microbial community composition as a whole, we identified a few amplicon sequence variants (13 out of 7,037) that showed differential abundance patterns between scanned and unscanned samples among paired sample sets. Our overall conclusion is that the CT-scanning conditions typically used to obtain images for geological core characterization do not significantly alter microbial community structure. We stress that minimizing core exposure to X-rays is important if cores are to be studied for biological properties. Future investigations might consider variables, such as the length and energy of radiation exposure, the volume of the core, or the degree, to which microbial communities are stressed as important factors in assessing the impact of X-rays on microbes in geological cores.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effects of antibacterial peptide-producing Bacillus subtilis, gallic acid, and cellulase on fermentation quality and bacterial community of whole-plant corn silage

In the current study, we assessed the effects of antibacterial peptide-producing Bacillus subtilis (BS), gallic acid (GA) and cellulase (CL) on the fermentation quality and bacterial community of various varieties of whole-plant corn silage. Three different varieties of whole-plant corn (Yuqing386, Enxiai298, and Nonghe35) were treated with 0.02% BS (fresh material basis), 0.2% GA (fresh material basis) and 0.02% CL (fresh material basis), after which 45 days of anaerobic fermentation were conducted. With the exception of its low dry matter content, the results showed that Yuqing386’s crude protein, water-soluble carbohydrate, and lactic acid contents were significantly higher than those of the other two corn varieties. However, its acid detergent fiber and cellulose contents were significantly lower than those of the other two corn varieties. Among the three corn variety silages, Yuqing386 had the highest relative abundance of Lactobacillus at the genus level and the biggest relative abundance of Firmicutes at the phylum level. In addition, the three additives markedly enhanced the quantity of dry matter and crude protein as compared to the control group. The application of GA considerably decreased the level of neutral detergent fiber while significantly increasing the content of lactic acid and water-soluble carbohydrates. Even though all additives enhanced the structure of the bacterial community following silage, the GA group experienced the greatest enhancement. On a phylum and genus level, the GA group contains the highest relative abundance of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus , respectively. Overall, of the three corn varieties, Yuqing386 provides the best silage qualities. GA has the biggest impact among the additions employed in this experiment to enhance the nutritional preservation and fermentation quality of whole-plant corn silage.

Zhang, Zhiheng↗
DOE OSTI2022

Offshore Wind Technology: Above the Water

WINDExchange will produce an Offshore Wind Technology: Above the Water Webinar. The webinar will explore the technology involved in offshore wind above the water including wind farm technology, turbine technology, and wind resource assessments and modeling to provide foundational technical information to communities and interested stakeholders.

above the water↗
DOE OSTI2026

Shelter Island, New York, Energy Reliability Assessment and Local Generation Options

Shelter Island's Green Options Committee (GOC), an all-volunteer committee tasked with considering all environmental conservation issues, requested technical assistance under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP). The primary goals of this technical assistance project included: 1. Informing the GOC about energy use trends within the community as well as distributed solar, wind and storage opportunities; 2. Providing additional resources and technical feasibility information for geothermal, agrivoltaics and tidal energy; 3. Supporting the development of a community engagement plan; and 4. Supporting collaboration between the GOC and PSEG in order to find mutually beneficial follow-on projects. Assistance from NLR to help the GOC meet these overall project goals was provided through the following primary tasks: 1. Collaborate with the local utility in order to collect energy use data and inform the community on energy use patterns through a baseline assessment; 2. Technical analysis of distributed renewable and resiliency opportunities (solar, wind and storage) that best align with the community's energy priorities; 3. Provide high level feasibility support for future renewable energy scenarios that include agrivoltaic solutions, tidal energy, and geothermal projects on Shelter Island, and 4. Integrate all findings into a Community Outreach presentation to help the GOC engage with community stakeholders to build support and awareness of chosen resilience strategies.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Incorporating energy justice into utility-scale photovoltaic deployment: A policy framework

Utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations made up 77 GW (6%) of installed capacity in the United States, as of the end of 2021. This will grow to more than 500 GW by 2050 under a mid-case projection or more than 800 GW if solar costs decline more rapidly. While utility-scale PV is projected to grow rapidly, to date, unlike energy efficiency or distributed PV, utility-scale PV has not been used to provide substantial financial benefits to underserved communities, either through ownership, financing of assets, or direct electricity bill reduction. We assess two mechanisms through which utility-scale PV could benefit underserved communities. We find that while a framework for direct electricity bill reduction can be meaningful to customers, this mechanism falls short of providing restorative justice via wealth creation for minority-owned businesses. In contrast, we find that a framework for procurement of utility-scale PV by public and private entities from PV projects that are financed, owned, and/or developed by minority-owned businesses can provide this restorative justice benefit, and thereby facilitate an equitable energy transition. We conclude with concrete recommendations for new policies and programs to ensure that the benefits of utility-scale PV systems are distributed to underserved communities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

New Mobility Technology Assessment - Benefits, Risks, and Safety

The age of vehicle automation is upon us. The fundamental perception and control technology is maturing as we speak (and write) with robo-taxis proliferating in select US cities. The news cycle is no longer filled with technological skepticism, but rather societal commentary on our collective response and use of the technology. This maturing of the technology is also accompanied by a renaissance in new types of urban movement technology to more effectively link people with goods, services, and employment, particularly in dense development areas where vehicle congestion (even automated vehicles) prevents high quality mobility. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, through the DOE Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program has worked with two jurisdictions to assess the benefits, risks, and safety concerns for a new product offering based on suspended cable technology which is fully automated and proposes an aerial network of self-propelled gondolas. The recognized need, independent of the technology, is to fairly assess the benefits of the proposed transportation system, assess its technical maturity, as well as risks and safety concerns. Using this new technology as an example, a technology represented by Swyft Cities, NREL developed a succession of mini-studies that characterized the technical maturity level, assessed the proposed benefits for Greenville, SC, examined the risks involved in moving forward with an emerging mobility technology, and determined the governing safety protocols and standards that are applicable to the space. These mini-case studies, though centered on Swyft Cities aerial automated gondola technology, are highly transferable to any type of new mobility technology and lays out a repeatable process for assessing new technology within an city or community context.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Projected income data under different shared socioeconomic pathways for Washington state

Abstract High-resolution income projections under different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) are essential for the climate change research communities to devise climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. To generate income projections for Washington state, we obtain state-level GDP per capita projections and convert them into projected annual household income. The resulting state-level income projections are subsequently downscaled to the census block-level based on the Longitudinal Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) dataset. For accuracy assessment, we downscale historical income data from state- level to block- and block group-level and compare the downscaled results against the actual income data from LODES. County-level accuracy assessment is also conducted based on American Community Survey. The results demonstrate a good agreement (Average R 2 of 0.67, 0.8, and 0.99 for block-, block group-, and county-level, respectively) between the downscaled income data and the reference data, thereby validating the methodology employed. Our approach is applicable to other states for income projections, which can be utilized by a broader audience, including those involved in demographic analysis, economic research, and urban planning.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗