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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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At least 307 records · Page 17

Understanding Building Energy Use in Carson City, Storey, and Washoe County: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Understanding Building Energy Use in the Portland-Salem-Medford Area: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Understanding Building Energy Use in California Climate Zones 5 and 6: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Understanding Building Energy Use in California Climate Zones 14 and 15: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Bat activity at ecovoltaic solar energy developments in the Midwestern United States

As global photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity generation continues to increase, some PV sites are co-prioritizing electricity generation and ecosystem function (“ecovoltaics”) to align renewable energy development with biodiversity conservation. Thus far, positive responses of plant and insect communities to native habitats at ecovoltaic sites have been observed, but there has been little research on bat responses to ecovoltaic designs in the U.S. We conducted passive ultrasonic monitoring in 2023 and 2024 at 12 solar sites and paired reference sites (agricultural fields) to investigate bat activity responses to ecovoltaic facilities in the Midwestern U.S. We found that average weekly overall bat activity was approximately 50?% higher within ecovoltaic sites than reference sites in the first half of the monitoring season. We also found species-specific differences in bat responses to ecovoltaic sites, with Hoary Bats showing higher activity on ecovoltaic sites throughout most of the monitoring season, Big Brown Bats showing higher activity on ecovoltaic sites during the first one-third of the monitoring season, and Silver-haired Bats showing no difference in activity between ecovoltaic sites and reference sites. There were no weeks in which bat activity was statistically greater on reference sites, suggesting that bats in the Midwestern U.S. do not avoid ecovoltaic solar sites. Rather, our results suggest that ecovoltaic sites in this region may provide early season (May-June) habitat at a time of year when resources may be limited in the surrounding landscape. These findings support a growing body of evidence on the positive ecological outcomes of ecovoltaic designs. Further investigations of the types of bat calls being recorded at PV sites and relationships with insect prey abundance are needed to understand the underlying drivers of species-specific responses to PV developments.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Market Driven Residential Energy Codes: Comparing Performance in a Changing Technological Environment

The research project is undertaken to better understand the changing relationship between the two basic methods of building energy code compliance – prescriptive and performance – and how those methods relate to each other with respect to advancements in building energy computer simulation standards and capabilities. The International Energy Efficiency Code (IECC) is a model code adopted by many jurisdictions across the United States. Historically, the prescriptive compliance methodology has been preferred in most jurisdictions. The prescriptive methodology requires meeting or exceeding specific efficiency minimums for each envelope component. This tends to be a simple method to teach and verify. A more involved prescriptive alternative called the Total UA alternative is sometimes used. This method requires some multiplication, summing, and comparison to compute, so it is done with a fairly simple computer program. However, advances in computer and building energy simulation technology have resulted in increased use of more detailed performance compliance methods. The performance compliance method establishes the annual energy cost threshold via hourly simulation models. The compliance threshold is determined with a comparison building model simulation with geometry similar to the proposed home and with energy feature parameters and efficiencies as specified in the IECC. This project examines relationships between the two methods of building energy code compliance, including: • Overall annual energy use based on utility bill analysis by compliance method • Code official work processes with respect to compliance methods • Gaps and issues associated with building code compliance methods • Simulated energy use difference between compliance methods • Code compliance cost as a function of compliance method • Code compliance labeling effectiveness for high performance residences • Getting to net zero energy use and net zero greenhouse gas emissions through high performance code alternatives • Electronic code permitting and compliance alternatives

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Hard X-ray and low-energy gamma-ray spectrometers

Basic principles of operation and characteristics of scintillation and semi-conductor detectors used for solar hard X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers are presented. Scintillation materials such as NaI offer high stopping power for incident gamma rays, modest energy resolution, and relatively simple operation. They are, to date, the most often used detector in solar gamma-ray spectroscopy. The scintillator BGO has higher stopping power than NaI, but poorer energy resolution. The primary advantage of semi-conductor materials such as Ge is their high-energy resolution. Monte-Carlo simulations of the response of NaI and Ge detectors to model solar flare inputs show the benefit of high resoluton for studying spectral lines. No semi-conductor material besides Ge is currently available with adequate combined size and purity to make general-use hard X-ray and gamma-ray detectors for solar studies.

Gehrels, N.↗

The effect of residential solar on energy insecurity among low- to moderate-income households

Each year, millions of Americans experience energy insecurity, or the inability to afford enough energy to meet their basic needs. Here, this study evaluates whether residential rooftop solar can serve as a preventative solution to energy insecurity among low- to moderate-income households. Using a national, matched sample of solar and non-solar households based on detailed and address-specific data, we find that solar leads to large, robust and salient reductions in five indicators of energy insecurity. Moreover, the benefits of solar ‘spill over’ to improve a household’s ability to pay other energy bills. The results suggest that rooftop solar may be an effective tool for policymakers who seek to reduce energy insecurity.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Basic Research Needs for Transformative Manufacturing (Brochure)

Manufacturing is central to the nation’s prosperity and security. Manufacturing currently represents about 12% of the gross domestic product, provides nearly 13 million jobs, and accounts for about 25% of energy use. The nation’s economy relies heavily on wide-ranging manufacturing sectors - all of which share common challenges including data issues, lack of physics and chemistry-based models across scales, and resource constraints in a global environment. Furthermore, there are many hurdles that must be overcome to move basic science innovations to market. Addressing broad-ranging challenges demands a basic-science strategy that underpins applied research activities. This strategy would accelerate innovation and transform manufacturing. A Basic Research Needs workshop for Transformative Manufacturing was held in March 2020. The focus of the workshop was to identify the basic science research priorities that could accelerate innovation to transform manufacturing in the future. This was the first workshop of its kind to examine how basic energy science can drive manufacturing forward and innovate new ways to manufacture goods. Five Priority Research Directions were identified that address these science challenges: (1) innovative synthetic approaches to enable scalable assembly of matter, (2) computational methods and theoretical models to transform how manufacturing processes are controlled, (3) new characterization tools that can handle the necessary complexity, scales, and processing speeds to meet manufacturing needs, (4) new science to address opportunities relevant to sustainable and energy-efficient manufacturing, and (5) foundational approaches to co-design of materials, process, and products.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Theory of transition-layer emission measures and coronae

The basic equations describing the energy equilibria, the conductive heat flux, and the temperature stratifications for stellar transition layers and coronae with 'open' field lines are summarized. The temperature dependence of the emission measures for lines originating in different temperature regions of the transition zone is determined. It is found that the stellar transition regions consist of two basically different parts: the lower part where mechnical energy input is balanced by the radiative losses, and the upper part where the mechanical energy input is balanced by the divergence of the conductive flux and radiative losses. In the lower part, the temperature stratification is determined by an equilibrium between mechanical flux input and radiative energy losses. The coronal temperatures increase with increasing mechanical flux and damping length in the upper transition zone.

Bohm-Vitense, Erika↗

Net Metering Expansion on the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska Reservation (Final Technical Report)

The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, through their affiliated economic development entity Ho-Chunk, Inc; their affiliated non-profit Ho-Chunk Community Development Corporation; and an additional project partner Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems conducted a community scale renewable energy project on their reservation in Nebraska. Over the two-year project period, we installed PV Solar systems on ten tribally owned commercial/retail/office facilities, which included both six roof mounted and four pole mount installations. The project was undertaken as a part of the Tribe’s broader initiative to increase renewable energy production on the reservation, reduce the Tribe’s financial obligations for purchasing energy, and lessen our reliance upon outside sources of energy to meet our basic needs. The project enabled us to formalize and strengthen community collaborations and build our capacity to pursue additional renewable energy opportunities that will enhance our energy sovereignty.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

A framework for studying the effects of offshore wind energy development on birds and bats in the Eastern United States

Offshore wind energy development (OWED), while a key strategy for reducing carbon emissions, has potential negative effects to wildlife that should be examined to inform decision making and adaptive management as the industry expands. We present a conceptual framework to guide the long-term study of potential effects to birds and bats from OWED. This framework includes a focus on exposure and vulnerability as key determinants of risk. For birds and bats that are exposed to OWED, there are three main effects of interest that may impact survival and productivity: 1) collision mortality, 2) behavioral responses, including avoidance, displacement, and attraction, and 3) habitat-mediated effects to prey populations. If these OWED effects cause changes in survival and/or breeding success (e.g., fitness), they have the potential for population-level consequences, including changes in population size and structure. Understanding the influence of ecological drivers on exposure and effect parameters can help to disentangle the potential impacts of OWED from other stressors. We use this theoretical framework to summarize existing relevant knowledge and identify current priority research questions (n=22) for the eastern United States, where largescale development of OWED is primarily in the planning and early construction phase. We also identify recommendations for study design and further prioritization of research topics.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

An investigation of a two-dimensional propulsive lifting system

Several aspects of the nonhomogeneous flow associated with a system combining lifting and propulsive requirements of an aircraft are considered by analytical and experimental methods. The basic geometry of the problem is that of two lifting surfaces with an actuator disk located between them. The principles governing flow with energy addition are examined. Basic equations and boundary conditions are developed for the complete inviscid and incompressible analysis for the two-dimensional case. The corresponding flow singularities are discussed and the integral equations which completely specify the system are derived. The two special cases of small and large energy addition are considered in detail including solutions. A numerical procedure is developed to solve the full problem including allowance for the wake deflection. Appropriate vorticity forms are used to represent the entire system. An iterative scheme is presented which rapidly converges to a solution for the magnitude and location of the system vorticity distributions. Forces and moments are evaluated on the propulsive lift system.

Shollenberger, C. A.↗

Understanding Building Energy Use in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Sioux Falls: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Understanding Building Energy Use in the Rural Eastern Climate Zone 5A Area: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Understanding Building Energy Use in Eau Claire, La Crosse, Rochester, and Wausau: Basic Building Stock Characterization

This report is part of a publication series that focuses on approximately 100 different local geographies, or "clusters." Each report provides commercial and multifamily building characteristic and energy data for a local geography, with the intention of helping policymakers at the city, county and state levels better understand building energy use. Specifically, this report breaks down the building stock in the counties shown in Figure 1 by building type, size, energy consumption, and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗