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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
NASA NTRS1973

BUILD: A community development simulation game, appendix A

The computer based urban decision-making game BUILD is described. BUILD is aimed at: (1) allowing maximum expression of value positions by participants through resolution of intense, task-oriented conflicts: (2) heuristically gathering information on both the technical and social functioning of the city through feedback from participants: (3) providing community participants with access to technical expertise in urban decision making, and to expose professionals to the value positions of the community: and (4) laying the groundwork for eventual development of an actual policy making tool. A brief description of the roles, sample input/output formats, an initial scenario, and information on accessing the game through a time-sharing system are included.

Orlando, J. A.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Sampling Approaches for Multi-Domain Internet Performance Measurement Infrastructures

The next-generation of high-performance networks being developed in DOE communities are critical for supporting current and emerging data-intensive science applications. The goal of this project is to investigate multi-domain network status sampling techniques and tools to measure/analyze performance, and thereby provide “network awareness” to end-users and network operators in DOE communities. We leverage the infrastructure and datasets available through perfSONAR, which is a multi-domain measurement framework that has been widely deployed in high-performance computing and networking communities; the DOE community is a core developer and the largest adopter of perfSONAR. Our investigations include development of semantic scheduling algorithms, measurement federation policies, and tools to sample multi-domain and multi-layer network status within perfSONAR deployments. We validate our algorithms and policies with end-to-end measurement analysis tools for various monitoring objectives such as network weather forecasting, anomaly detection, and fault-diagnosis. In addition, we develop a multi-domain architecture for an enterprise-specific perfSONAR deployment that can implement monitoring-objective based sampling and that adheres to any domain-specific measurement policies.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

An agent-based modeling tool supporting bioenergy and bio-product community communication regarding cellulosic bioeconomy development

The emergence of the cellulosic bioeconomy requires not only adequate technological, economic, and policy advances, but also effective communication and coordination among the multiple stakeholders in the bioeconomy community. Aiming to facilitate stakeholder communication and collaboration for cellulosic bioeconomy growth, an agent-based model is developed as a community communication tool in this study. The tool simulates the behaviors and interactions of key stakeholders, as well as the responses and interactions between the stakeholders and biophysical, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions. The agent behavior rules are developed and validated based on behavior and economic theories and information attained from a stakeholder focus group study and a land use survey. A pilot study in a Central Illinois watershed shows stakeholder synergies, i.e., positive feedback loops across multiple stakeholders. The modeling tool's role in facilitating community communication is demonstrated via the focus group study. A comparison of policy scenarios suggests that the cellulosic bioeconomy development is fastest under a portfolio of policies combining the views of the multiple stakeholders. Critically, subsidy for small-scale bio-facilities is essential as it rapidly initializes an early market for cellulosic feedstocks and the adoption of Miscanthus. As a result, the communication tool is applied to bringing stakeholders and researchers together to develop shared visions, assess barriers, and explore solution portfolios to initialize and speed up the regional cellulosic bioeconomy.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A National Framework for Energy Audit Ordinances

A handful of U.S. cities have begun to incorporate energy audits into their building energy performance policies. Cities are beginning to recognize an opportunity to use several information tools to bring to real estate markets both motivation to improve efficiency and actionable pointers on how to improve. Care is necessary to combine such tools as operational ratings, energy audits, asset ratings, and building retro-commissioning in an effective policy regime that maximizes market impact. In this paper, the authors focus on energy audits and consider both the needs of the policies' implementers in local governments and the emerging standards and federal tools to improve data collection and practitioner engagement. Over the past two years, we have compared several related data formats such as New York City's existing audit reporting spreadsheet, ASHRAE guidance on building energy auditing, and the DOE Building Energy Asset Score, to identify a possible set of required and optional fields for energy audit reporting programs. Doing so revealed tensions between the ease of data collection and the value of more detailed information, which had implications for the effort and qualifications needed to complete the energy audit. The resulting list of data fields is now feeding back into the regulatory process in several cities currently working on implementing or developing audit policies. Using complementary policies and standardized tools for data transmission, the next generation of policies and programs will be tailored to local building stock and can more effectively target improvement opportunities through each building's life.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Decision Support Tool for Solar Energy Cybersecurity Policy and Regulation

The Decision Support Tool helps users address four discrete challenges: (1) complex requirements of relevant codes and standards, (2) technical complexity of solar assets, (3) undefined cyber risk severity, and (4) unclear roles and responsibilities. Content includes an analysis of cyber vulnerability risks, a decision support resource for policymakers to mitigate cyber risks to solar photovoltaic systems, and background resources for informing policy development. A key component of this tool is the Probable Risk Assessment (PRA), based on established, formal variables, models, and consequences, which helps users understand the determined risk and assigned ownership of the physical components. It helps states draw logical lines between vulnerabilities and mitigative solutions, of which some have been further detailed as Cybersecurity Advisory Team for State Solar (CATSS) tools.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of Tools Training and Outreach to Address Solar Glare and Flux-Related Avian Impacts

Millions of dollars and significant resources are being spent by developers of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants to address federal and local requirements regarding glare and avian hazards. Solar glare can occur from the glass surfaces of PV modules and from mirrors in CSP systems, which can produce safety and health risks for pilots, motorists, and residents located near these systems. In addition, concentrated solar flux at CSP plants has the potential to singe birds as they fly through regions of high solar flux. This work will develop tools to characterize and mitigate these potential hazards, which will address regulatory policies and reduce costs and efforts associated with the proposed deployment of gigawatts of solar energy systems throughout the nation. The development of standardized and publicly available tools to address these regulatory policies and ensure public and environmental safety is an appropriate role for the government.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

The need for health impact assessment in China: Potential benefits for public health and steps forward

Health impact assessment (HIA) is a useful tool to predict and estimate the potential health impact associated with programs, projects, and policies by comprehensively identifying relevant health determinants and their consequences. China is undergoing massive and rapid socio-economic changes leading to environment and population health challenges such as a large increase in non-communicable diseases, the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases, new health risks associated with environmental pollutants and escalating health inequality. These health issues are affected by multiple determinants which can be influenced by planned policies, programs, and projects. This paper discusses the needs for health impact assessment in China in order to minimize the negative health consequences from projects, programs and policies associated with rapid social and economic development. It first describes the scope of China's current impact assessment system and points out its inadequacy in meeting the requirements of population health protection and promotion. It then analyses the potential use of HIA and why China needs to develop and apply HIA as a tool to identify potential health impacts of proposed programs, projects and policies so as to influence decision-making early in the planning process. Thus, the paper recommends the development of HIA as a useful tool in China to enhance decision-making for the protection and promotion of population health. For this to happen, the paper outlines steps necessary for the establishment and successful implementation of HIA in China: beginning with the establishment of a HIA framework, followed by workforce capacity building, methodology design, and intersectoral collaboration and stakeholder engagement.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Assessment of health risks of policies

The assessment of health risks of policies is an inevitable, although challenging prerequisite for the inclusion of health considerations in political decision making. The aim of our project was to develop a so far missing methodological guide for the assessment of the complex impact structure of policies. The guide was developed in a consensual way based on experiences gathered during the assessment of specific national policies selected by the partners of an EU project. Methodological considerations were discussed and summarized in workshops and pilot tested on the EU Health Strategy for finalization. The combined tool, which includes a textual guidance and a checklist, follows the top-down approach, that is, it guides the analysis of causal chains from the policy through related health determinants and risk factors to health outcomes. The tool discusses the most important practical issues of assessment by impact level. It emphasises the transparent identification and prioritisation of factors, the consideration of the feasibility of exposure and outcome assessment with special focus on quantification. The developed guide provides useful methodological instructions for the comprehensive assessment of health risks of policies that can be effectively used in the health impact assessment of policy proposals. - Highlights: • Methodological guide for the assessment of health risks of policies is introduced. • The tool is developed based on the experiences from several case studies. • The combined tool consists of a textual guidance and a checklist. • The top-down approach is followed through the levels of the full impact chain. • The guide provides assistance for the health impact assessment of policy proposals.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Methodology Description for the Policy Analysis Modeling System (PAMS)

The Policy Analysis Modeling System is a spreadsheet tool developed to provide an estimate of costs and benefits of appliance efficiency standard and labeling programs. PAMS is a self-contained spreadsheet model that provides both a consumer-oriented analysis and a national cost-benefit analysis in the style of the analysis performed for U.S. appliance efficiency standards. The tool allows policy analysts from many countries to produce a first-cut analysis of appliance efficiency program costs and benefits, examine the sensitivities of the analysis with respect to different policy parameters and assumptions, and continually refine the analysis as more data becomes available. The methodology is a bottom-up approach, using technical specifications for particular products in estimating the increased cost to the consumer resulting from implementation of particular energy-saving designs. It is designed to operate for the widest possible variety of countries, and with as little need as possible for detailed input data. For more accurate results, it can be easily customized to use the most reliable country-specific data inputs. In addition to consumer financial impacts, the tool provides national primary energy savings and estimates of carbon emissions mitigation resulting from the program.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Snowmass 2021 Computational Frontier CompF03 Topical Group Report: Machine Learning

The rapidly-developing intersection of machine learning (ML) with high-energy physics (HEP) presents both opportunities and challenges to our community. Far beyond applications of standard ML tools to HEP problems, genuinely new and potentially revolutionary approaches are being developed by a generation of talent literate in both fields. There is an urgent need to support the needs of the interdisciplinary community driving these developments, including funding dedicated research at the intersection of the two fields, investing in high-performance computing at universities and tailoring allocation policies to support this work, developing of community tools and standards, and providing education and career paths for young researchers attracted by the intellectual vitality of machine learning for high energy physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

RE Data Explorer: Informing Variable Renewable Energy Grid Integration for Low Emission Development

The RE Data Explorer, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is an innovative web-based analysis tool that utilizes geospatial and spatiotemporal renewable energy data to visualize, execute, and support analysis of renewable energy potential under various user-defined scenarios. This analysis can inform high-level prospecting, integrated planning, and policy making to enable low emission development.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS2008

2008 NASA Range Safety Annual Report

Welcome to the 2008 edition of the NASA Range Safety Annual Report. Funded by NASA Headquarters, this report provides a NASA Range Safety overview for current and potential range users. This year, along with full length articles concerning various subject areas, we have provided updates to standard subjects with links back to the 2007 original article. Additionally, we present summaries from the various NASA Range Safety Program activities that took place throughout the year, as well as information on several special projects that may have a profound impact on the way we will do business in the future. The sections include a program overview and 2008 highlights of Range Safety Training; Range Safety Policy; Independent Assessments and Common Risk Analysis Tools Development; Support to Program Operations at all ranges conducting NASA launch operations; a continuing overview of emerging Range Safety-related technologies; Special Interests Items that include recent changes in the ELV Payload Safety Program and the VAS explosive siting study; and status reports from all of the NASA Centers that have Range Safety responsibilities. As is the case each year, contributors to this report are too numerous to mention, but we thank individuals from the NASA Centers, the Department of Defense, and civilian organizations for their contributions. We have made a great effort to include the most current information available. We recommend that this report be used only for guidance and that the validity and accuracy of all articles be verified for updates. This is the third year we have utilized this web-based format for the annual report. We continually receive positive feedback on the web-based edition, and we hope you enjoy this year's product as well. It has been a very busy and productive year on many fronts as you will note as you review this report. Thank you to everyone who contributed to make this year a successful one, and I look forward to working with all of you in the years to come.

Lamoreaux, Richard W.↗
DOE OSTI2010

Energy-Water Nexus

Conclusions of this presentation are: (1) energy and water are interconnected; (2) new energy sources will place increased demands on water supplies; (3) existing energy sources will be subjected to increasing restrictions on their water use; and (4) integrated decision support tools will need to be developed to help policy makers decide which policies and advanced technologies can address these issues.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Developing energy flexibility in clusters of buildings: A critical analysis of barriers from planning to operation

This paper examines building energy flexibility at an aggregated level and addresses the main barriers and research gaps for the development of this resource across three design and development phases: market and policy, early planning and design, and operation. We review methodologies and tools and discuss barriers, challenges, and opportunities, incorporating policy, economic, technical, professional, and social perspectives. Although various legal and regulatory frameworks exist to foster the development of energy flexibility for small buildings, financing mechanisms are limited with a significant number of perceived risks undermining private investment. For the early planning and design phase, planners and designers lack appropriate tools and face interoperability challenges, which often results in insufficient consideration of demand response programs. The review of the operational phase highlighted the socio-technical challenges related to both the complexity of deployment and communication, as well as privacy and acceptability issues. Finally, the paper proposes a number of targeted research directions to address challenges and promote greater energy flexibility deployments, including capturing building demand side dynamics, improving baseline estimations and developing seamless connectivity between buildings and districts.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Monitoring and evaluation of green public procurement programs

Effective procurement policies can help governments save considerable amounts of money while also reducing energy consumption. Additionally, private sector companies which purchase large numbers of energy-consuming devices can benefit from procurement policies that minimize life-cycle energy costs. Both public and private procurement programs offer opportunities to generate market-transforming demand for energy efficient appliances and lighting fixtures. In recent years, several governments have implemented policies to procure energy efficient products and services. When deploying these policies, efforts have focused on developing resources for implementation (guidelines, energy efficiency specifications for tenders, life cycle costing tools, training, etc.) rather than defining monitoring systems to track progress against the set objectives. Implementation resources are necessary to make effective policies; however, developing Monitoring and Evaluation (M and E) mechanisms are critical to ensure that the policies are effective. The purpose of this article is to provide policy makers and procurement officials with a preliminary map of existing approaches and key components to monitor Energy Efficient Procurement (EEP) programs in order to contribute to the improvement of their own systems. Case studies are used throughout the paper to illustrate promising approaches to improve the M and E of EEP programs, from the definition of the system or data collection to complementary instruments to improve both the monitoring response and program results.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Integrated Modeling Approach for Optimal Management of Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus

We report that water, energy and food (WEF) are inextricably interrelated. Effective planning and management of limited WEF resources to meet current and future socioeconomic demands for sustainable development is challenging. WEF production/delivery may also produce environmental impacts; as a result, green-house-gas emission control will impact WEF nexus management as well. Nexus management for WEF security necessitates integrated tools for predictive analysis that are capable of identifying the tradeoffs among various sectors, generating cost-effective planning and management strategies and policies. To address these needs, we have developed an integrated model analysis framework and tool called WEFO. WEFO provides a multi-period socioeconomic model for predicting how to satisfy WEF demands based on model inputs representing productions costs, socioeconomic demands, and environmental controls. WEFO is applied to quantitatively analyze the interrelationships and trade-offs among system components including energy supply, electricity generation, water supply-demand, food production as well as mitigation of environmental impacts. WEFO is demonstrated to solve a hypothetical nexus management problem consistent with real-world management scenarios. Model parameters are analyzed using global sensitivity analysis and their effects on total system cost are quantified. Lastly, the obtained results demonstrate how these types of analyses can be helpful for decision-makers and stakeholders to make cost-effective decisions for optimal WEF management.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2018

NREL Tools Help Identify and Evaluate Renewable Energy Projects

NREL offers no-cost, publicly available web tools that can be used throughout the development of behind-the-meter renewable energy projects. These tools help gauge initial project potential, optimize system sizing, and refine project economics. This flyer compares four tools that can be used at various stages of project development: Economic Site Analysis (ESA) Tool, PVWatts Calculator, REopt (TM) Lite, and System Advisor Model (SAM).

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2015

A Policymaker's Guide to Scaling Home Energy Upgrades

There has never been a better time to launch initiatives to promote residential energy efficiency savings. Over the past several decades, residential retrofit programs have demonstrated that energy efficiency measures contribute to achieving multiple benefits, including but not limited to reductions in home energy consumption, stabilization improvements for the grid by shaving peak loads, saving consumers millions on utility bills, and significantly reducing carbon emissions. Although a number of barriers to widespread uptake of home energy upgrades persist, the lessons learned as a result of the 2009 stimulus funding1 have resulted in a set of policy approaches that create new strategies for taking residential energy efficiency to scale.2 The identification of these approaches is well timed; energy efficiency is often the least expensive and most cost effective way to comply with a variety of federal, state and local policies. This Guide is designed to help state and local policymakers to take full advantage of new policy developments by providing them with a comprehensive set of tools to support launching or accelerating residential energy efficiency programs. It is written primarily for state and local policymakers, including state and local executives, legislators, public utility commissioners, and the staff who advise them.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗