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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 OSTI2024

Hydrogen Sustainable Infrastructure Guidelines (H2SIG)

Infrastructure interacts with major global challenges inclusive of climate change, resilience, equity and social justice, environmental protection and biodiversity, public health, and economic recovery. This effort directly addresses how to apply sustainability assessments to the unique aspects of hydrogen (H2) infrastructure projects using the Envision® sustainability framework developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI). Envision is a flexible system of criteria and performance objectives to aid decision makers and help project teams identify sustainable approaches during planning, design and construction of infrastructure projects that will continue throughout the project’s operations, maintenance, and end-of-life phases. The goal of this work is to support those interested in conducting sustainability assessments for hydrogen infrastructure projects. Through this work the team has developed hydrogen-specific guidelines and best practices to assist project developers, investors and regulators in straightforward application of the Envision framework to systematically enhance clarity and increase objectivity across hydrogen projects. Subject matter experts from 20 different organizations (industry, non-profits, municipalities, emissions regulators, national labs) were engaged through 7 focus groups to discuss the H2-prioritized Envision requirements and elements to be included in the guidelines. In addition to these guidelines, the team conducted case studies as a way of demonstrating and informing the guidelines and providing examples or ideas for implementing sustainability in future projects. Through this study, the authors found that hydrogen infrastructure projects can incorporate many sustainable practices including reducing GHG emissions affecting climate change, reducing air pollutant emissions affecting the health of communities, synergistically handling waste byproducts, integrating into existing infrastructure, incorporating renewable energy, and addressing equity and environmental justice. Additionally, hydrogen infrastructure projects could benefit from 2-way communication engagement and collaborative planning with stakeholders, educational awareness of hydrogen technology, tracking and reporting on water use and water quality, and including monetized environmental and social benefits in life-cycle cost estimates. This document is the final technical report for the Hydrogen Sustainability Assessment Methods for Project Development project. While the main focus of the report is to provide guidelines for applying sustainability to hydrogen infrastructure, there are sections within the appendix providing completed project tasks and methodology.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Curation of a list of chemicals in biosolids from EPA National Sewage Sludge Surveys & Biennial Review Reports

Section 405(d) of the Clean Water Act requires the US Environmental Protection Agency to review sewage sludge regulations every two years to identify any additional pollutants that may occur in biosolids and to set regulations for pollutants identified in biosolids if sufficient scientific evidence shows they may harm human health or the environment. To date, EPA has conducted eight biennial reviews to identify chemical and microbial pollutants and three national sewage sludge surveys to identify pollutants and obtain concentration data for chemicals found in biosolids. Prior to 2021, there was inconsistent reporting of chemicals identified and EPA did not cumulatively track chemicals in biosolids. Through the efforts presented here, EPA produced a list of 726 chemicals and structure-based classes found in biosolids based on biennial reviews and national sewage sludge surveys. Summary statistics of concentration data are also reported for the 484 chemicals found in the three national sewage sludge surveys. The creation of the Biosolids List supports EPA in assessing the potential risk of chemical pollutants found in biosolids.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cost Impacts of Risk-Based Methods for Defining AoR and PISC Duration of a CO 2 Storage Project Using NRAP Tools and FE/NETL CO 2 Saline Storage Cost Model

The purpose of this analysis is to assess the fiscal impact of using risk-based methods to define the area of review (AoR) and post-injection site care (PISC) duration for a geologic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage project. The Office of Fossil Energy (FE)/National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) CO 2 Saline Storage Cost Model (“cost model”) was utilized to evaluate CO 2 storage economics in this study. The cost model is a widely used tool for evaluating CO 2 storage costs in geologic settings. It estimates costs for storage operations conducted under compliance to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI regulations. This analysis evaluates and compares the costs of storage (on a first-year break-even dollar per tonne [2018$] basis) at the proposed FutureGen 2.0 site as a case study storage location by implementing different approaches to determine AoR and PISC given the prevailing geologic conditions and injection volume and duration considerations. The approaches include the use of 1) risk-based methods to define AoR and PISC duration, 2) an EPA-approved AoR and PISC documented in the FutureGen 2.0 UIC Class VI permit applications, and 3) cost model default settings that utilize uncertainty multipliers to estimate CO 2 plume and pressure front extent as part of AoR determination, as well as a 50-year PISC default. From all three sources, the AoR and PISC specified in the Class VI permit applications for FutureGen 2.0 were the largest and longest relative to the other two sources.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Examining Daily Temporal Characteristics of Oil and Gas Methane Emissions in the Delaware Basin Using Continuous Tower Observations

Top-down studies have found consistent underestimations in the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methane emissions inventory from the oil and gas (O&G) sector. Many of these studies use observations that bias toward hours when worktime activity occurs. In this study, we analyze over 2 years of methane measurements from a tower network in the Delaware basin to analyze hourly temporal emission patterns. Inversion results suggest a range in emissions from 137 Mg/hr at night to 197 Mg/hr during the day, present during both weekdays and weekends. If these results are applicable to other basins, daytime-influenced methodologies may overestimate daily emission rates by up to 27%. This bias does not reconcile the more than 200% difference between the EPA inventory and top-down estimates in the Delaware basin. This study demonstrates how continuous measurement networks can be combined with detailed activity data to improve bottom-up inventories.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Long-Term Methane Emissions Rate Quantification and Alert System for Natural Gas Storage Wells and Fields

The Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and other critical stakeholders (e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), state regulators, and industry) seek to more accurately characterize and quantify methane emissions from natural gas storage wells. These efforts will reduce uncertainties in estimates of these emissions in USEPA’s current Green House Gas Inventory (GHGI) under their Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP; EPA, 2016). Emission factors currently used to estimate methane emissions from gas storage wells are the same factors used for onshore natural gas production wells (USEPA, 2016). This study has developed a robust and representative dataset of emissions from disaggregated gas station wellhead components and related emission factors that will inform future enhancements to the GHGI and GHGRP. Extensive methane emissions measurements and meteorological data were collected from three active storage facilities representing two of the three types of storage facilities (i.e., depleted gas reservoir and salt cavern) to support development of emissions factors specifically for gas storage wells and associated components. Methane emissions were quantified from both above-ground components (e.g., pipe fittings and valves) and seepage from the ground surface in proximity to gas storage wellheads.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Analysis of the Frequency of Extreme Precipitation Events at Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Environmental Protection and Compliance (EPC) Storm Water Permitting and Compliance Program is currently updating its stormwater compliance standards for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Engineering Standards Manual (2015) and is addressing the required current meteorological data needed for storm water applications. Information on the frequency of extreme precipitation events at LANL is needed. In response to this request, LANL Meteorology & Air Quality (MAQ) was tasked to estimate the frequency of extreme precipitation events. An earlier study by Foley (2012) which estimated extreme precipitation rates at LANL for a set of duration periods and average recurrence intervals (return periods) was evaluated. However, it was determined that this study would not be helpful since its technical support documentation was unavailable and the meteorological data and the methodology employed were not well understood. This led to the need to develop a new peer-reviewed methodology. This report documents the development of the new methodology and the application of a temporally representative precipitation dataset from February 1990 through December 2018, monitored at the official LANL meteorological station, Technical Area (TA)-6, to develop the frequency of extreme precipitation events.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Industry Partnerships & Their Role In Reducing Natural Gas Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Phase 2

This analysis is the product of collaboration between Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future) and the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). This analysis is an update to Phase 1 of the collaboration between ONE Future and NETL. Phase 1 had three objectives: 1. Calculate a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile representative of ONE Future’s supply chain, including methane (CH 4 ) emission rates. 2. Compare ONE Future’s emission profile to the emission profile for the U.S. natural gas supply chain. 3. Evaluate specific emission reduction opportunities. Phase 2 has two key enhancements over Phase 1: 1. The reporting year of the data is updated from 2016 to 2017. 2. The emission profiles and the specific emission reduction opportunities are regionalized for the ONE Future supply chain. The ONE Future supply chain is based on data provided by ONE Future members for all their U.S. onshore assets. ONE Future’s data are mostly representative of their participation in the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is supplemented by ONE Future facilities that are not required to report to GHGRP. The U.S. scenario is based on NETL’s life cycle analysis (LCA) of natural gas extraction and power generation, which also uses data from the GHGRP (but does not include non-GHGRP facilities). In addition to the data from these sources, NETL accounted for uncertainty due to data variability, data limitations, and variability in liquids unloading frequency and event duration. This report is a re-issue of the 2020 study (published on July 28, 2020). It revises the device count in the mitigation strategy “pipeline pump-down before maintenance” in the Marginal Abatement Cost (MAC) Analysis section of the report (Section 7). Please see the addendum for more details on this revision and resultant changes. This revision does not change most of our conclusions and recommendations. It only changes the total methane reduced from all the mitigation opportunities (low cost and high cost) from 6.5 Bcf CH 4 /yr to 4.8 Bcf CH 4 /yr.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Retrofitting Holcim Ste. Genevieve Cement Plant with CO2 Capture Plant Using Air Liquide Cryocap™ FG Technology

The global cement manufacturing industry is a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. The International Energy Agency's "Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario" identifies CCS as a major strategy for meeting that goal. This project is among the first attempts to transfer capture technology developed at coal-fired power plants to the cement industry. The main objective of the project is to execute and complete a front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for commercial-scale, carbon capture projects that separates 95% of the total CO2 emissions at the Holcim (US) Ste. Genevieve cement manufacturing facility using Air Liquide’s Pressure Swing Adsorption system (PSA) assisted Cryocap™ technology. The Holcim Ste. Genevieve cement plant in Missouri, US, boasts one of the largest single cement production lines in the world, with a capacity of approximately 12,000 t/day. The plant currently uses traditional fuels, namely coal and petcoke. The captured CO2 will be pipeline and geological storage grade. The industrial host site emits approximately 3.0 million tonne CO2/yr. Air Liquide’s Cryocap™ technology has been developed over the last 18+ years for CO2 capture applications. It has been shown to be applicable to a variety of industrial applications (e.g., steel, cement, SMR, Fluidized Catalytic Crackers (FCCs)). Cryocap™ FG consists of a Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) unit coupled with a Cryogenic System. The PSA pre-concentrates the CO2 from the flue gas, while the cryogenic unit enables the CO2 purity to be increased to the desired level. The project team is led by the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The tasks include: complete FEED study for retrofitting the industrial facility with a carbon capture system to support developing a detailed cost estimate; business case analysis outlining the anticipated revenue and credits if projects was built and operated; technoeconomic analysis (TEA) outlining how capture system achieves DOE capture goals; and life cycle (LCA) analysis demonstrating zero net carbon emissions. The FEED study was successfully completed. This includes completing the process basis of design; preliminary engineering; outside battery limits (OSBL) detailed engineering including a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) wastewater treatment system; inside battery limits (ISBL) detailed engineering [1]. An overall project capital cost estimate within a -20%/+30% accuracy was developed. The major contributors to the Total Plant Cost (TPC), by system, are the costs associated with the Outside Battery Limit (OSBL) section of the plant which includes a new river water intake structure and a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system. By cost category, the major contributors to the TPC are equipment and subcontractor costs, followed closely by engineering, construction management, home office and contractor fees. The TEA has been created to reflect the findings of the project. It analyzes the economic performance of the Cryocap™ technology by reviewing the estimated capital costs, operating cost, and revenue. The Cost of Capture (COC) associated with the Cryocap™ technology for 95% CO2 capture, when considering NETL 2018 economic assumptions (42/58 debt/equity ratio, 5.15% interest on debt and 1.42% return on equity in real dollars) and 2022 economic assumptions (42/58 debt/equity ratio, 8.82% interest on debt and 4.90% return on equity in real dollars) was found to be much lower than that for the DOE-NETL’s base-line cases. The highest contributors to the COC are annualized capital expenditures (CAPEX) and electricity consumption which can be offset by using lower cost renewable sources. The LCA was conducted using OpenLCA which is an open-source software that is recommended by NETL. The database utilized for this study was a modified version of TRACI 2.1 (developed by the US. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory and modified by NETL). The Cryocap™ FG technology does not consume fuels in significant quantities and does not utilize specialized chemical solvents subject to decomposition, such as those utilized in amine-based carbon capture systems. The Cryocap™ FG technology mainly utilizes electricity as its energy input; hence, its calculated emissions are mainly associated with the generation of electricity offsite and are dependent on the energy matrix of the grid at the time of project implementation. The water consumption impact of the Cryocap™ FG is mostly for makeup of the water lost by evaporation in the cooling tower; however, the carbon capture plant will be equipped with a ZLD system to avoid effluent streams and minimize water consumption. The successful construction and operation of this plant based on this study results will provide a means to demonstrate an economically attractive and transformational capture technology that can be used to retrofit existing plants and be deployed at new plants.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Waste management strategies for military-generated waste in the United States

Sustainable and energy efficient municipal solid waste (MSW) management is vital for the health and performance of deployed soldiers, as they play an important role in the safety and dignity of a country. As the United States targets net-zero carbon-free emission goals, research and development are essential to surpassing current practices for management of MSW at military installations, both at home and abroad. To achieve this, it is important to act upon and implement the policies and instructions set by government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DoD). Understanding the composition of waste and disposal methods that are in use at military installations is a crucial step to success. Here, the authors show this through analyzed data from trusted sources, such as government agencies, reports, magazines, journals, and other publications on MSW management techniques. By defining these challenges, possible solutions can be better understood for improved management of MSW at military installations in the United States. Finally, an integrated approach with deployable units capable of waste-to-energy technology using waste reduction, diversion, and recycling strategies shows to be an effective pathway for MSW conversion into energy and other useful products.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Jackson, L., Johnson, M.B., Latrach, A., Grimes, D., Martinez, C., and Mclaughlin, J.F., 2024, Multidisciplinary geotechnical data collection, curation, and analysis for conformity with the regulatory framework for geologic carbon storage in Wyoming, USA: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 5, 2024, doi: 10.1130/abs/2024AM-405024

Title: Multidisciplinary Geotechnical Data Collection, Curation, and Analysis for Conformity with the Regulatory Framework for Geologic Carbon Storage in Wyoming, USA. Text: Construction and operation of wells for geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide necessitate that they are permitted under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Underground Injection Control Class VI requirements. Class VI wells conform to stringent requirements to ensure long-term safety and integrity of the storage site and the protection of Underground Sources of Drinking Water. Entities pursuing Class VI permitting must provide comprehensive geologic site characterization, including regional geologic structure and stratigraphy, aquifer information, reservoir and confining unit geomechanical properties, geochemical analyses, assessment of trapping capacity and mechanisms, and a variety of other of multidisciplinary geotechnical data. The Wyoming Class VI Site Characterization Database Project is focused on developing a geologic site characterization database of geotechnical information, which has been compiled and verified from established, public databases/entities and scientific literature to expedite Class VI permitting in Sweetwater County within the Greater Green River Basin of southern Wyoming. The preliminary suite of compiled data from 14,000 wells includes 8,000 wells with logs and 7,250 wells with formation tops, ~70 wells with core data (e.g., X-Ray diffraction, petrographic, and petrophysical data), ~2,500 water analyses, ~740 seismic events data, and ~520 bottom-hole temperature measurements. Future work on—and stemming from—this project will include new core analyses, calculation and interpolation of subsurface temperature gradients, mechanical earth models, geochemical simulations, storage capacity estimation, stratigraphic column generation and correlation, and construction of subsurface maps. Finally, this work will help to inspire and facilitate subsurface data compilation and curation beyond Sweetwater County, Wyoming.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Heavy-Duty Vehicle Activity Updates for MOVES Using NREL Fleet DNA and CE-CERT Data

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) is a publicly available tool used by researchers and policymakers to help understand motor vehicle emission sources at a national, county, and project level. Estimates of heavy-duty activity in the most recent version of the model at the time this work was conducted, MOVES2014, was identified as an area in need of improvement. The start activity in MOVES2014 is based on a limited and dated data set. In addition, MOVES2014 relies on drive cycles that represent on-network activity but do not account for idling activity that occurs on off-network roads, such as at a distribution center, while the truck is queuing or during loading and unloading. As a result, MOVES2014 may currently underestimate the number of starts and idle and soak time for heavy-duty trucks in real-world operation. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has previously leveraged its expansive Fleet DNA database of heavy-duty vehicles to idle and start activity for six of the nine heavy-duty vehicle source types of classes in the MOVES model. The data available in Fleet DNA from 416 conventional, diesel-powered vehicles provided activity estimates from more than 120,000 hours of operation throughout 14,682 vehicle days between October 2006 and January 2016. NREL calculated start fraction, starts per day, soak fraction, and idle fraction by hour of the day for each vehicle type, state, and vocation, and provided results in .CSV files that can be translated to MOVES table inputs. The idle and start activity from this initial analysis of Fleet DNA data was used to develop default idle and start data for heavy-duty vehicles in MOVES3. Satisfied with the results from the Fleet DNA data used for MOVES3, the EPA asked NREL to extend this start/soak/idle analysis using additional data from a larger number of vehicles for a potential future update to the MOVES model. Such a data set was achieved from a project led by the University of California at Riverside, College of Engineering, Center for Environmental Research & Technology (CE-CERT) and funded by California Air Resources Board. Specifically, this data set consists of 90 heavy-duty vehicles operated mainly in California, which can be separated into five of the nine heavy-duty vehicle classes in the MOVES model. In addition, the heavy-duty activity database collected by CE-CERT provided activity estimates from more than 44,000 hours of operation throughout 4,724 vehicle days between November 2014 and September 2016. This report details the analysis of the heavy-duty activity database collected from the University of California at Riverside by providing graphical analysis and context for the start, soak, and idle distributions. The comparison of the related results from both the Fleet DNA and CE-CERT data sets are documented as well.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Oak Ridge National Laboratory EPA Approval Letters and Historical Documentation for a Modification in Applying 40 CFR Part 61 Appendix D

Appendix D of Title 40 Part 61, “Methods for Estimating Radionuclide Emissions,” of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) provides a procedure that US Department of Energy (DOE) facility owners and operators can use to estimate radionuclide emissions to the atmosphere for dose calculations instead of measuring emissions for minor sources under 40 CFR Part 61, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities.” The procedure assumes that any radioactive material heated above 100°C is completely vaporized and emitted to the atmosphere. In 1991, the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation (DOE-ORR) requested approval to use different release fractions (RFs) for uranium because of its high melting and boiling points (1,132°C and 3,818°C, respectively). In response to the request, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IV approved the use of modified RFs for elemental uranium provided no reaction had taken place to alter its chemical form. In 2015, DOE-ORR requested approval to use different RFs for radioactive tungsten, also because of its high melting and boiling points (3,410°C and 5,660°C, respectively). EPA Region IV approved the use of modified RFs for heated radioactive tungsten metal. In accordance with the two precedents set for heating uranium and radioactive tungsten metals, in 2016, DOE-ORR requested approval to use modified RFs in similar fashion for other radioactive solid metals and compounds with melting and boiling points above 500°C that might be heated above 100°C in future research projects and experiments, and again, the EPA Region IV granted approval to use modified RFs for the list of compounds. This document contains the EPA approval letters and historical documentation used in the process to obtain approval for the use of alternative Appendix D emission factors. The approval to DOE-ORR allows modifying the existing regulatory RFs to 1 when radioactive solid metals and compounds are heated to temperatures greater than or equal to the boiling point of the solid, to 10 -3 when radioactive solid metals and compounds are heated to temperatures greater than or equal to 90% of the melting point and less than the boiling point of the solid, and to 10 -6 when radioactive solid materials are heated to temperatures above ambient air temperature but below 90% of the melting point of the solid.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Identifying priority ecosystem services in tidal wetland restoration

Classification systems can be an important tool for identifying and quantifying the importance of relationships, assessing spatial patterns in a standardized way, and forecasting alternative decision scenarios to characterize the potential benefits (e.g., ecosystem services) from ecosystem restoration that improve human health and well-being. We present a top-down approach that systematically leverages ecosystem services classification systems to identify potential services relevant for ecosystem restoration decisions. We demonstrate this approach using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Ecosystem Service Classification System Plus (NESCS Plus) to identify those ecosystem services that are relevant to restoration of tidal wetlands. We selected tidal wetland management documents from federal agencies, state agencies, wetland conservation organizations, and land stewards across three regions of the continental United States (northern Gulf of Mexico, Mid-Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest) to examine regional and organizational differences in identified potential benefits of tidal wetland restoration activities and the potential user groups who may benefit. We used an automated document analysis to quantify the frequencies at which different wetland types were mentioned in the management documents along with their associated beneficiary groups and the ecological end products (EEPs) those beneficiaries care about, as defined by NESCS Plus. Results showed that a top combination across all three regions, all four organizations, and all four tidal wetland types was the EEP naturalness paired with the beneficiary people who care (existence). Overall, the Mid-Atlantic region and the land steward organizations mentioned ecosystem services more than the others, and EEPs were mentioned in combination with tidal wetlands as a high-level, more general category than the other more specific tidal wetland types. Certain regional and organizations differences were statistically significant. Those results may be useful in identifying ecosystem services-related goals for tidal wetland restoration. This approach for identifying and comparing ecosystem service priorities is broadly transferrable to other ecosystems or decision-making contexts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Illinois Storage Corridor - CarbonSAFE Phase III: Policy, Regulatory, Legal and Permitting Characteristics; Subtask 5.5

The Illinois Storage Corridor (ISC) project aims to advance the commercial development and implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies within a region in Illinois of suitable geology for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage in deep saline aquifers. The project partners have annual emissions greater than 6.5 million tonnes per year; storage hubs are being explored at two sites—one near the One Earth Energy facility in east-central Illinois, and one near the Prairie State Generating Company campus in southwest Illinois. To implement the technology, legal, policy, and economic considerations must be explored. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) administers the Underground Injection Control (UIC) program and is responsible for issuing Class VI permits to construct and operate CO 2 injection wells, i.e., a UIC Class VI well permit is required to inject CO 2 into the subsurface for geologic sequestration. The largest consideration of the Class VI well requirements is to protect underground sources of drinking water (USDWs). Additionally discussed are considerations for Class VI permits relating to public engagement. Besides permitting, property rights to storage sites, subsurface pore spaces, and areas for pipeline transportation must be secured. Pore space rights is still a novel concept being explored and not yet addressed by the Illinois legislature. It is believed that surface property rights are required for the subsurface pore space below, so long as there is not a separated mineral estate in the subsurface. Illinois legislature has addressed securing rights-of-way for CO 2 transportation, allowing for easements and the exercise of eminent domain to secure such rights. Economically, the incentives for CCS are ever-expanding. Recently, the federal government broadened the availability and increased the dollar-amounts for the § 45Q tax credits for geological storage of carbon oxides. Congress has also authorized the Advanced Industrial Facilities Development Program which allocates billions of dollars in funds to installing technology at industrial facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On the state level, Illinois has had its own incentives for CCS projects since 2009 and expanded its emission-related goals again in 2021. The law enacted in 2021 specifically creates a commission to explore implementing CCS at Prairie State Generating Company, a partner on the Illinois Storage Corridor project.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Bishop Paiute Single Family Solar Home Project: Phase 4 (Final Technical Report)

The Bishop Paiute Tribe is committed to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental protection and has a vision to install solar energy systems on all buildings on the Reservation where technically feasible. Through completion of the Bishop Paiute Tribe Residential Solar Program – Phase 4, Bishop Paiute Tribe continued its successful model partnering with non-profit solar installer GRID Alternatives to advance its vision and build energy self-sufficiency on the Bishop Paiute Reservation. The Bishop Paiute Tribe Residential Solar Program – Phase IV deployed 67 kW-AC of new clean, renewable energy through grid-tied, net-metered rooftop solar electric systems installed on a total of 20 (one more than the planned 19) existing owner-occupied, single-family homes for low-income families on the Reservation. This represents nearly 14% of the Reservation’s total “unsolarized” homes. These systems were provided at no cost to the homeowners, who will also receive energy efficiency education to further reduce energy consumption and lower electric bills. GRID led a solar installation for three (3) of the homes where Tribal/community members, were given an opportunity in participating in on-the-roof trainings to gain new skills while installing solar for their low-income community members. Subcontractors through GRID Sub Contractor Partnership Program (GRID SPP) led solar installations for seventeen (17) of the homes. Each installation provided paid employment for a solar trainee trainees hired by the SPP subcontractors as entry level solar installers. It is estimated that the installed 67 kW-AC of solar will produce at least 120,000 kWh/year, displacing at least 30-75% of the 20 homes’ total electricity use for a combined system lifetime electricity cost savings for the low-income homeowners of about $\$$500,000. It is further estimated that the installed renewable energy systems installed will prevent greenhouse gases by about 1,000 tons, equivalent to planting approximately 25,000 trees. Following the successful completed installations, it is expected that the Reservation and surrounding communities will benefit from improved air quality via reduced wood stove use for heating. Cumulatively with other initiatives, the project will result in nearly 40% of the Reservation’s solarizable homes being solarized. Overall, the triple impact of the phase 4 of the Bishop Paiute Tribe Residential Solar Program – Phase 4 is: 1) affordable energy for low-income families; 2) on-site clean energy production, 3) hands on training and paid solar installation work for local tribal/community workers. These impacts will support and grow the Tribe’s energy, economic, environmental, and social self-sufficiency and sovereignty amongst the neediest on the Reservation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Rogers Quarry Special Studies Report 2024

Rogers Quarry (RQ) has a history of elevated selenium (Se) concentrations in water and fish caused by inputs from the Y-12 National Security Complex Filled Coal Ash Pond (FCAP). Selenium is acutely toxic at high concentrations, and chronic toxicity occurs at low aqueous concentrations because Se bioaccumulates in fish tissues. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently developed water quality criteria for Se that include fish tissue as well as aqueous Se concentrations. The water column concentration criterion is 1.5 µg L -1 for lentic ecosystems and 3.1 µg L -1 for lotic ecosystems. The fish tissue criteria include both an egg/ovary concentration (15.1 µg/g dry weight) and a concentration for whole-body (8.5 µg/g dry weight) or fish muscle (11.3 µg/g dry weight). The egg/ovary criterion supersedes the fillet and aqueous concentrations if measured because Se toxicity manifests via reproductive effects in birds and fish. It is maternally transferred through eggs, leading to teratogenicity (i.e., deformities, developmental effects) in young fish. Historical bioaccumulation data suggest that Se is likely the primary contaminant of concern in RQ, but more recent sampling shows that aqueous As concentrations have been elevated in upper McCoy Branch (MB) leading to RQ. More recently, Se concentrations in fish collected from upper MB were found to be above the tissue criterion for Se for whole-body fish. In FY 2019, actions were taken to deepen the constructed wetland just downstream of the FCAP to increase its ability to remove coal ash particulates from the water column before water enters MB. Sampling was conducted throughout MB in FY 2020-2024 to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken in the FCAP wetland and to measure Se concentrations in biota throughout the watershed. The methods and results from a water and fish field collection campaign in April 2024 are presented in this report.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

A multi-criteria land suitability assessment of field allocation decisions for switchgrass

With the goal of evaluating biomass resource availability in certain regions in the United States, the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, national laboratories, and Forest Service research laboratories, together with academic and industry collaborators, performed a resource analysis study, 2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy, Volume 1: Economic Availability of Feedstocks, using POLYSYS model to estimate biomass potential. The study provided county- and state-level biomass potential projections, with biomass feedstock production estimates and suitability assessment of lands acreage likely to transition to energy crops. For this analysis, we estimate biomass supply by year 2028, more specifically, lands acreage transition to switchgrass in the Midwest of the United States, across 50 counties in 3 states (Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado). We propose a multi-criteria site suitability framework, to determine the potential acreage and production for switchgrass, at the field level. Site selection criteria span agronomic and ecosystem services such as previous land cover, crop rotation, soil water holding capacity, crop productivity, field efficiency, topography, soil organic matter, soil leaching propensity, distance to surface water bodies, and soil erosivity. Efficient agricultural field selection for dedicated energy crops field allocation is critical to evaluate biomass resource availability, and it is our position that estimation at the field level would provide a more accurate and useful estimation to support an emerging bioeconomy. Using field suitability scores and county-level assessments, we model land allocation decision for energy crop in the future, estimating the spatial distribution of dynamics of energy crop adoption with priority to fields scoring the highest. Additionally, compared with POLYSYS results from the report mentioned above, our method shows good performance overall, with about 2% and 1.2% of difference in switchgrass acreage allocation and crop production, respectively.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Estimating the Effects of Soil Remediation on Children’s Blood Lead near a Former Lead Smelter in Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Lead exposures from legacy sources threaten children’s health. Soil in Omaha, Nebraska, was contaminated by emissions from a lead smelter and refinery. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency excavated and replaced contaminated soil at the Omaha Lead Superfund Site between 1999 and 2016. The goal of this study was to assess the association of soil lead level (SLL) and soil remediation status with blood lead levels (BLLs) in children living near or on the site. We linked information on SLL at residential properties with children’s BLLs and assigned remediation status to children’s BLL measurements based on whether their measurements occurred during residence at remediated or unremediated properties. We examined the association of SLL and remediation status with elevated BLL (EBLL). We distinguished the roles of temporal trend and the intervention with time-by-intervention-status interaction contrasts. All analyses estimated odds ratios (ORs) with a generalized estimating equations approach to ensure robustness under the complex correlations among BLL measurements. All analyses controlled for relevant covariates including children’s characteristics. EBLL (> 5 μg/dL ) was associated with both residential SLL [e.g., OR=2.00; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.83, 2.19; > 400–800 vs. ≤ 200 ppm] and neighborhood SLL [e.g., OR=1.85 (95% CI: 1.62, 2.11; > 400–800 vs. ≤ 200 ppm)] before remediation but only with neighborhood SLL after remediation. The odds of EBLL were higher before remediation [OR 1.52 (95% CI: 1.34, 1.72)]. Similarly, EBLL was positively associated with preremediation status in our interaction analysis [interaction OR=1.18 (95%CI: 1.02, 1.37)]. Residential and neighborhood SLLs were important predictors of EBLLs in children residing near or on this Superfund site. Neighborhood SLL remained a strong predictor following remediation. Our data analyses showed the benefit of soil remediation. Results from the interaction analyses should be interpreted cautiously due to imperfect correspondence of remediation times between remediation and comparison groups. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP8657

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗