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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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DOE OSTI2020

Domestic Supply Chain of Medical Consumables Needed During COVID-19 Pandemic

This report is an assessment of the availability, demand, and production capability of medical consumables needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus here on the ability of the supply chain to increase production to meet demand during peak pandemic conditions. In addition, we report on domestic production efforts and supply chain issues, as well as the propensity of other countries to limit export of needed medical supplies to the United States. In brief, the domestic supply chain and production capability vary greatly depending on the consumable. Some consumables, such as N95 masks or face shields, can likely be nearly fully supplied by domestic production, while other consumables, such as gloves or surgical masks, have little domestic production and thus will depend on imports to meet demand. The assessment pulls primarily from published news sources and company press releases. As such, the demand and production numbers are not precisely known, and some degree of uncertainty exists in them. The total production capability is also often difficult to ascertain from these reports especially as other industries have begun to supplement existing supply chains. In addition, local conditions (including company financial decisions, local public health issues, and political aspects) can vary throughout the pandemic which will affect future production. The report also pulls from estimates of demand and domestic production of some consumables compiled by the White House COVID-19 Supply Chain Taskforce (SCTF) presented by Rear Admiral John Polowczyk before a June 9, 2020 hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. These numbers, where applicable, are likely to be more accurate than those found in public news sources since they are more directly tied to private companies’ actual orders and actual production estimates, as opposed to publicly released estimates. Finally, we note that other issues with the supply chain, including the production of raw materials, increase demand due to industries that have not previously used PPE now using it, and increased domestic production from non-traditional suppliers, make complete picture of a rapidly changing supply chain difficult to obtain. This report attempts to produce an accurate image of the supply and estimated demand, as understood by the authors who are not experts in the medical supply chain.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Consumer Benefits of Clean Energy: Renewable Energy

Meeting national and state decarbonization goals requires a transition to clean energy technologies. Energy efficiency, demand flexibility, renewable energy and storage can reduce consumers’ electricity bills, lower total electricity system costs, and provide health and resilience benefits. Berkeley Lab developed a series of briefs that explore these consumer benefits of a clean energy transition. This brief discusses some of the possible consumer benefits of utility-scale and behind the meter renewable energy, with a focus on how these resources can contribute to a low-cost electricity system. It begins with a literature review of modeled impacts, primarily considering consumer benefits, of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Next, it discusses how utility-scale renewable energy can contribute to a low-cost electricity system (e.g., in some cases, low resource costs relative to other alternatives). It concludes with a discussion of behind-the-meter renewable energy consumer benefits (e.g., reduced host electricity bill, increased property value, resilience).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

NASA NTRS2003

Consumer Expectations of Capacity Constrains and Their Effect on the Demand for Multi-Class Air Travel

This paper argues that a consumer's decision on ticket class takes into account the expected likelihood of obtaining a seat in a particular class which, in turn, partially depends on an optimum "transaction cost". Taking into account the preferences of the consumer and the information that the consumer is endowed with, the consumer will select a ticket that includes its own optimal transaction cost. This motivates the inclusion of the capacity constraint as a proxy independent variable for these consumer expectations This then forms the basis of a model of air-travel demand with specific reference to Australia. A censored likelihood function allowing for correlation in the disturbance term across k classes is introduced. The correlation in the disturbances arises as a result of the interdependence of the capacity constraints in k different ticket classes on each flight.

Battersby, Bryn D.↗

DOE OSTI2021

How to design a zero-emissions vehicle mandate? Simulating impacts on sales, GHG emissions and cost-effectiveness using the AUtomaker-Consumer Model (AUM)

We report although numerous studies investigate the impacts of policy on zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) sales, few address the impacts of a ZEV sales mandate and its particular design features. We use the AUtomaker-consumer Model (AUM) to simulate varying designs of a ZEV mandate in Canada's light-duty vehicle sector, requiring 30% ZEV sales by 2030. Design features include: different penalties for non-compliance, different allocations of credits per ZEV type, and the allowance of banking credits across years. For each policy design, we consider impacts on ZEV adoption, GHG emissions, consumer surplus, automaker profits, and overall policy cost-effectiveness. Results demonstrate trade-offs among the policy designs. Generally, ZEV mandate designs that are more effective at increasing ZEV adoption and decreasing GHG emissions also induce larger reductions in consumer surplus and automaker profits. To achieve the ZEV sales goal, simulations show that a higher non-compliance penalty (CDN$ 10k per credit) is needed. ZEV adoption and GHG reductions are also improved by a “One credit per ZEV” scheme, rather than a “California-style” scheme that gives multiple credits per battery-electric vehicle. Further, allowing automakers to bank credits softens the policy impact on profit and increases automaker compliance in initial years. Across these different design combinations, we find that the most cost-effective design ($CDN/tonne mitigated, including consumer surplus and automaker profits impacts) utilizes a $10k non-compliance penalty and “One credit per ZEV” system that allows banking. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of various ZEV mandate design features, and the complex trade-offs involved among various policy goals.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

CHQ- SocioEmo: Identifying Social and Emotional Support Needs in Consumer-Health Questions

General public, often called consumers, are increasingly seeking health information online. To be satisfactory, answers to health-related questions often have to go beyond informational needs. Automated approaches to consumer health question answering should be able to recognize the need for social and emotional support. Recently, large scale datasets have addressed the issue of medical question answering and highlighted the challenges associated with question classification from the standpoint of informational needs. However, there is a lack of annotated datasets for the non-informational needs. We introduce a new dataset for non-informational support needs, called CHQ-SocioEmo. The Dataset of Consumer Health Questions was collected from a community question answering forum and annotated with basic emotions and social support needs. This is the first publicly available resource for understanding non-informational support needs in consumer health-related questions online. We benchmark the corpus against multiple state-of-the-art classification models to demonstrate the dataset’s effectiveness.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1973

Apollo experience report: Consumables budgeting

The procedures and techniques used in predicting the consumables usage for the Apollo mission are discussed. Because of the many interfaces and influences on the consumables system, it is impractical to document all facets of consumables budgeting; therefore, information in this report is limited to the major contributions to the formulation of a consumables budget.

Nelson, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Functional requirements for onboard management of space shuttle consumables, volume 1

A study was conducted to determine the functional requirements for onboard management of space shuttle consumables. A generalized consumable management concept was developed for application to advanced spacecraft. The subsystems and related consumables selected for inclusion in the consumables management system are: (1) propulsion, (2) power generation, and (3) environmental and life support.

Graf, P. J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Development of a Lunar Consumables Storage and Distribution Depot

NASA is in the preliminary planning stages for a future lunar base as a response to President George W. Bush's recent announcement of a new sustained exploration program beyond low earth orbit. Kennedy Space Center engineers are supporting this program by utilizing experience in Spaceport system design and operations to help develop a Lunar Consumables Depot. This depot will store propellants, life support fluids, and other consumables either transported from Earth or manufactured from In Situ resources. The depot will distribute these consumables in an energy efficient manner to end users including spacecraft, habitation modules, and rovers. This paper addresses some of the changes to lunar base architecture design as a result of advances in knowledge of lunar resources over the past 35 years, as well as technology advances in the area of In Situ Resource Utilization and consumable storage and distribution. A general system level description of the depot will be presented, including overall design philosophy and high level requirements. Finally, specific subsystem technologies that have been or will be developed by KSC will be addressed. Examples of these technologies are automated umbilicals, cryogenic refrigerators, novel storage vessels, advanced heat switches and heat exchangers, and self healing gaskets and wires.

Mueller, Robert P.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Mars ISRU for Production of Mission Critical Consumables - Options, Recent Studies, and Current State of the Art

In 1978, a ground breaking paper titled, "Feasibility of Rocket Propellant Production on Mars" by Ash, Dowler, and Varsi discussed how ascent propellants could be manufactured on the Mars surface from carbon dioxide collected from the atmosphere to reduce launch mass. Since then, the concept of making mission critical consumables such as propellants, fuel cell reactants, and life support consumables from local resources, commonly known as In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), for robotic and human missions to Mars has been studied many times. In the late 1990's, NASA initiated a series of Mars Human Design Reference Missions (DRMs), the first of which was released in 1997. These studies primarily focused on evaluating the impact of making propellants on Mars for crew ascent to Mars orbit, but creating large caches of life support consumables (water & oxygen) as a backup for regenerative life support systems for long-duration surface stays (>500 days) was also considered in Mars DRM 3.0. Until science data from the Mars Odyssey orbiter and subsequent robotic missions revealed that water may be widely accessable across the surface of Mars, prior Mars ISRU studies were limited to processing Mars atmospheric resources (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, and water vapor). In December 2007, NASA completed the Mars Human Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 study which considered water on Mars as a potential resource for the first time in a human mission architecture. While knowledge of both water resources on Mars and the hardware required to excavate and extract the water were very preliminary, the study concluded that a significant reduction in mass and significant enhancements to the mission architecture were possible if Mars water resources were utilized. Two subsequent Mars ISRU studies aimed at reexamining ISRU technologies, processing options, and advancements in the state-of-the-art since 2007 and to better understand the volume and packaging associated with Mars ISRU systems further substantiated the preliminary results from the Mars DRA 5.0 study. This paper will provide an overview of Mars ISRU consumable production options, the analyses, results, and conclusions from the Mars DRA 5.0 (2007), Mars Collaborative (2013), and Mars ISRU Payload for the Supersonic Retro Propulsion (2014) mission studies, and the current state-of-the-art of Mars ISRU technologies and systems. The paper will also briefly discuss the mission architectural implications associated with Mars resource and ISRU processing options.

Sanders, G. B.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Range cost-effectiveness of plug-in electric vehicle for heterogeneous consumers: An expanded total ownership cost approach

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) appears to have sales momentum in major personal vehicle markets but are still at the early market stage. Opportunities to accelerate PEV adoption can be discovered through comprehensive total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis. Understanding the cost-effective electric ranges of PEVs for consumers, manufacturers, and the society is critical for any discussion of PEV mass markets. This study expanded the traditional TCO approach by (1) fully considering heterogeneous consumer driving patterns, (2) quantifying the charging inconvenience and range anxiety cost of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), and (3) monetizing both tangible and intangible PEV policies. Uncertainties were handled through Monte Carlo simulation. The results suggest that BEVs with an electric range of 250–350 km have the lowest TCO in cities with government-enacted purchase limitations, and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) have the lowest TCO in cities without purchase limitations, even when considering PEV subsidies. The lowest TCO for some consumer groups is obtained by BEVs with an electric range of 400–450 km, especially in northern China, where the weather is colder. The cost-effective all-electric range for BEVs in each city in 2025 will decrease due to improved battery performance in cold environments and an expanded charging infrastructure. Finally, based on TCO, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are currently more suitable for drivers with a high average daily mileage or a large mileage variance. However, by 2025, BEVs with a long driving range may become a more cost-effective choice for these drivers.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Potting Mix with Biochar

Biochar is a co-product of advanced biofuels production from feedstocks including food, agricultural, wood wastes, or dedicated energy crops. Markets for soil amendments using biochar are emerging, but little is known about consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for these products or the depth of the products’ market potential for this product. This research provides WTP estimates for potting mix amended with 25% biochar, conditioned on consumer demographics and attitudes about product information labeling. Data were collected with an online survey of 577 Tennessee home gardeners. WTP was elicited through a referendum contingent valuation. Consumer WTP for an 8.81 L bag of 25% biochar potting mix is $8.52; a premium of $3.53 over conventional potting mix. Demographics and attitudes toward biofuels and the environment influence WTP. Biochar amounts demanded are projected for the study area’s potential market. Optimal prices, profits, and market shares are estimated across different marginal costs of producing biochar potting mix.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Total Blood Mercury Predicts Methylmercury Exposure in Fish and Shellfish Consumers

Abstract Many studies evaluating methylmercury (MeHg) toxicity rely on whole blood total mercury (THg) measurements to estimate MeHg exposure. However, whole blood THg includes other forms of mercury (Hg), such as inorganic Hg, which have different exposure sources and toxicological effects than MeHg. Therefore, estimating the whole blood MeHg/THg ratio is critical to predicting MeHg exposure and, subsequently, efforts to establish an exposure–response relationship for use in risk assessment. A large, representative dataset (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2016) was used to determine the whole blood MeHg/THg ratio among (a) self-reported fish and shellfish consumers, ≥ 15 years of age (the “full adult” population ( N = 5268 training dataset; N = 2336 test dataset)) and (b) female fish and shellfish consumers, 15–44 years of age (the “women of reproductive age” population ( N = 1285 training dataset; N = 560 test dataset)). Unadjusted and adjusted linear and spline models with direct measurements for both THg and MeHg were evaluated. The mean whole blood MeHg/THg ratio was 0.75 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74, 0.75). This ratio was significantly higher among those with higher THg concentrations. All models exhibited excellent fit (adjusted R 2 from 0.957 to 0.982). Performance was slightly improved in spline versus linear models. For the full adult population and women of reproductive age, the unadjusted spline model predicted whole blood MeHg concentrations of 5.65 µg/L and 5.55 µg/L, respectively, when the THg concentration was 5.80 µg/L. These results suggest that whole blood THg is a good predictor of whole blood MeHg among fish and shellfish consumers.

Wells, Ellen M.↗

DOE OSTI2026

Consumer safety-oriented scheduling of rotating power outages during heat waves

Extreme heat events have widespread effects on power systems, reducing available generation capacity, limiting transmission capabilities, and causing unusual demand patterns on the consumer side. As these combined effects expose bulk transmission systems to potential large-scale blackouts, utilities may be required to schedule and apply rotating outages, by temporarily and alternately disconnecting distribution substations to reduce overload. However, utilities lack mechanisms to inform these events, exacerbating the negative effects of heat waves on affected communities. This paper introduces a novel framework for scheduling rotating outages during heat waves while considering impacts on consumers’ safety. Instead of random sequential load shedding, we propose a methodology to rotate power outages considering a metric that quantifies the indoor overheating risk of groups of consumers during a power outage. The overheating risk is derived from a detailed building simulation using CityBES, where the buildings are modeled based on available data—use type, year built, floor area, number of stories, location—while presence of air conditioning and occupancy are calibrated from smart meter data. Based on the metric, an algorithm to schedule the rotating outages is applied to prioritize feeders for disconnection at each hour according to their overheating risk to meet a utility load reduction target. Applied to two substations and seven feeders in the Portland General Electric territory, the results show that this approach effectively leads to the lowest overheating risk during the resulting outage schedules, with an average 10.1% lower overheating compared to uninformed schedules.

Building thermal simulation↗

DOE OSTI2020

Dirty dishes or dirty laundry? Comparing two methods for quantifying American consumers' preferences for load management in a smart home

One challenge of transitioning to renewable energy is that household electricity use and renewable generation are often misaligned. Smart home energy management systems hold promise for shifting usage to match generation, but these systems need to be designed with the occupants’ preferences in mind. The purpose of the present research is to compare two approaches for collecting and modeling consumers’ load management preferences, both of which are amenable to use in a home energy management system. Specifically, we examine the performance of Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique Exploiting Ranks (SMARTER) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in quantifying consumers’ preferences regarding air temperature (air conditioning and heating), water heating, dishwashing, clothes washing and drying, monetary costs, environmental impacts, and comfort/convenience. Two studies are presented: Study 1 examines the SMARTER approach, and Study 2 focuses on the AHP approach. In both studies, online surveys (N SMARTER = 956 and N AHP = 1023) were conducted to elicit preferences from participants across the United States. The preferences modeled by both approaches were validated based on (a) their ability to predict participants’ choices in a Discrete Choice Experiment and (b) their convergence with previous research on load-shifting behavior. The validation procedure suggests that the SMARTER approach is superior in modeling consumers’ preferences for load management. Overall, this research lays the groundwork for designing a smart home interface capable of collecting occupants’ preferences and using those preferences to deliver improved occupant comfort, lower operating costs, reduced environmental impact, and more significant demand response than exists today.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

A consumer-centric approach to quantify efficiency of receiving goods purchased via online

Virtual participation in shopping activities has increased exponentially in the past four years compared to the last couple of decades. E-tailing or online shopping offers the convenience of goods reaching a consumer instead of a consumer traveling to a store, but it has downsides like geographical service variability and negative social externalities such as increased energy consumption and emissions. This study proposes a novel approach to quantify e-tailing efficiency from the consumers’ viewpoint. The methodology is innovative in its integration of accessibility theory with energy and cost impedance factors and consideration of delivering and picking up goods purchased via online. The methodology is implemented for the San Francisco Bay Area and is subject to scenarios that see enhancements to various facets of online shopping delivery. Results demonstrate that increasing the frequency of e-commerce deliveries helps improve e-tailing efficiency in rural locations, while improvements in energy and cost aspects of delivery modes are seen to improve e-tailing efficiencies in the central parts of the region. The approach proposed can provide valuable insights on where people have limited benefits from online shopping and how emerging delivery mechanisms can change the quality of the e-commerce experience within a city. This research offers a replicable framework for assessing e-commerce systems in diverse geographic contexts, contributing to the development of equitable and environmentally sustainable urban freight systems.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Economic evaluation of infrastructures for thermochemical upcycling of post-consumer plastic waste

Thermochemical technologies, such as pyrolysis, offer a potentially scalable pathway for upcycling diverse types of plastic waste (PW) into value-added chemicals. However, deploying these technologies in waste management infrastructures is not straightforward because such systems involve a wide range of interdependent stakeholders, processing facilities, and products. In this work, we present a holistic optimization framework that integrates value-chain analysis, techno-economic analysis, and life-cycle analysis for investigating the economic viability and environmental benefits of upcycling infrastructures that collect, sort, clean, and process post-consumer PW for producing virgin polymer resins. The framework is applied to a case study in the upper Midwest region of the US. Our analysis reveals that the infrastructures are economically viable and could activate a regional circular economy that generates over 1 billion USD in annual profit. Moreover, our analysis reveals that this economy can reduce the carbon footprint of PW incineration by half. Our framework also determines the inherent values of post-consumer PW and of derived products such as plastic bales and pyrolysis oil; we find that, in these infrastructures, PW becomes a highly valuable feedstock with a market value of 500 USD per tonne. Here, we discuss how this market value can generate incentives that foster more effective waste pre-sorting practices by consumers that can help bypass material recycling facilities and increase total system profit.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Optimization of Localized High Concentration Electrolytes (LHCE) for Li||LiCoO 2 and Si|| LiCoO 2 Batteries used in Consumer Electronics Applications (Final Report for I3T Project 75934)

This project will optimize localized high concentration electrolyte (LHCE) for Li/LCO and Si/LCO batteries for consumer electronics applications, including select the best solvent and diluent, optimize the ratios of the solvents and the salt concentration. Results will be demonstrated not only in both coin cells, but also in pouch cells, which is required for large-scale commercial applications. This work can provide better understanding that would also benefit other LMB projects, including Li/NMC and Li/S batteries for electric vehicle applications. In the history of rechargeable batteries, all batteries have been first used in small scale consumer electronics, then eventually penetrate to large scale applications such as electrical vehicle or grid. We believe this development route will also be true for LMBs. By developing the best electrolyte for Li/LCO and Si/LCO chemistry, we will not only get the early market entry in consumer electronics, but we can also accumulate experience on the practical application of LMBs which can be used to further develop other types of LMBs for EV and other large-scale applications pursued by DOE.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Grid Value and Cost of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar: Potential Implications for Consumer Electricity Bills [Slides]

Wind and solar cost declines and wholesale power price fluctuations have once again brought the “hedge value” of renewable energy to front of mind. Meanwhile, recent research has found that cost savings are the most persuasive driver of broad support for renewable energy. Yet whether consumers directly benefit from the price hedge that wind and solar can provide depends on various factors, most notably the contractual and market structures under which these generators operate. Drawing upon a vast amount of plant-level empirical data, we quantify the net market value (“net value”) of wind and solar over time and explore various factors that determine the extent to which consumers can capture and benefit from that value. The focus is on elements that may directly impact consumer electricity bills.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗