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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 OSTI2021

Phenomenon Identification and Ranking Table Analysis for Thermal Energy Storage Technologies Integration with Advanced Nuclear Reactors

This report provides an overview of the Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) analysis of thermal energy storage (TES) systems for possible integration with various types of advanced nuclear power plants (NPPs). Advanced NPPs will potentially need to operate in environments where power generation flexibility is more highly valued than the stability or baseload generation capability for conventional demand curves. TES systems would enable NPPs to respond nimbly to market variability and could also position advanced NPPs to participate differently in restructured markets, thus further enhancing their economic competitiveness. TES systems could also benefit the electric grid by eliminating the need for peaking plants, as well as by improving the economic performance of baseload NPPs. While TES technologies afford a unique opportunity to address many of these challenges, the applicability of these systems is also complicated by the fact that various advanced NPPs are designed differently, each with its own temperature range, size, operating fluids, and operating conditions. Hence, TES systems face significant barriers to investment, as more information on their compatibility and performance metrics is needed to quantify the advantages provided by each, as well as the challenges these technologies might face if coupled with a particular type of advanced NPP. This report explores the possibility of integrating a wide variety of TES technologies with various categories of advanced NPPs, based on their operating characteristics. To help users and developers decide which TES technology is best suited to a particular category of advanced NPPs, this research developed a PIRT of 10 TES systems that could potentially be coupled with advanced NPPs, which themselves are divided into nine categories based on their operating conditions. Each advanced NPP category is evaluated for compatibility with the 10 TES systems by assembling and discussing a database of information concerning 10 engineering questions (defined herein in as figures of merit [FOMs]), such as: technology readiness level (TRL), temperature compatibility, energy density, size, cycle frequency, ramp time, realignment frequency, geographic needs, environmental impact, and interventions. By assembling a database of information concerning the TES technologies’ compatibility with various advanced NPP systems, this study can help developers acquaint themselves with a particular TES technology before choosing to build a new integrated installation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between National Energy Technology Laboratory and Gas Technology Institute (Abstract)

Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors, and credible and open-source protocols are needed to vet the environmental credibility of a specific production pathway, given the variability even among the same technologies. Stakeholders and markets lack consistent, transparent, technical tools and protocols to assess the carbon intensity of hydrogen production at the asset level. Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and S&P Global Platts have launched the Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI), a new collaboration focused on brining industry within the hydrogen marketplace together to provide further transparency into the environmental greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of hydrogen production. As part of this initiative, GTI has invited NETL to participate in the effort because of NETL’s deep expertise and capabilities in Life Cycle Analysis. Therefore, NETL is joining forces with the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) to build a measurement tool, accompanying protocols, and confidence score of the quality of the measurement. This CRADA effort provides the technical research collaboration support with GTI that will be used in the broader Open Hydrogen Initiative that can provide stakeholders the technical tools and protocols to decarbonize energyintensive sectors.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2024

Computer Vision on Edge Devices for the Short Term Prediction of Cloud Cover

Edge Computing and IoT are important pieces of today's technological landscape. Here, we build a low-cost IoT sensor for sky imaging and program it using AWS GreenGrass, one of the leading IoT platforms. We demonstrate remote reprogramming of this device to load software that predicts sun shading events through the linear advection method, which is a baseline algorithm that can be used to benchmark algorithmic improvements in future work. Some future directions for sky imaging research are enumerated.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Applying Mechanistic Co-Design Towards Room-Temperature Organic, Optical, and Multiple-Center Molecular Qubits

The next generation of qubits, the building blocks of quantum technologies, are designed using molecules. Molecular qubits have natural advantages over solid-state equivalents in biological and chemical sensing. Chemistry allows the properties of molecular qubits to be fine-tuned, such as the ability of multiple qubits to work together using qubit-qubit coupling. Molecules and structures containing multiple qubits, made from both inorganic and organic elements, are developed in this work to bring quantum technologies closer to room-temperature operation. The goal is achieved by understanding how the core of the qubit, known as spin, interacts with the vibrating parts of the molecule, other spins, and the surrounding environment. A combined approach involving theory, spectroscopy, and synthesis is used to achieve the design goal.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Clean Cities and Communities Partnership 2024 Activity Report

Clean Cities and Communities (CC&C) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) partnership that fosters collaboration and innovation to advance transportation energy choices nationwide. More than 75 DOE-designated CC&C coalitions work in urban, suburban, and rural areas to deliver objective technical expertise based on a unique understanding of local markets. As partners with DOE's Transportation Technologies Office (TTO), coalitions build bridges between national priorities and local needs to create transportation energy systems that are affordable, reliable, and secure. Together, coalitions create compounding impacts nationwide that support locally driven energy choices and benefit regional economic development and job growth. This report summarizes the success and impact of partnership activities based on data and information provided in their annual reports.

2024↗
DOE OSTI2025

AFC Metal Fuel Workshop Presentations

Compilation of PowerPoint slide decks from presentations given at the 3rd Annual AFC Metal Fuels Workshop. The purpose of this workshop is to bring the national metallic fuel stakeholders together to discuss status and needs of metallic fuel and review the DOE AFC Metal Fuel R&D. Desired Outcomes - Advance Metallic Fuel Technology: 1. Stakeholder Community Building 2. National Program R&D Accountability, Planning Support, and Increased Stakeholder Advocation.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Online Calculator to Evaluate the Impact of Airtightness on Residential Building Energy Consumption and Moisture Transfer

Energy consumption in residential buildings is primarily driven by space conditioning applications. Space heating and cooling, on average, consume approximately 50% of the energy in the residential buildings in the U.S. The primary energy use due to infiltration is more than 2.8 Quads, which is 29% of primary energy consumption attributable to fenestration and building envelope components in residential buildings in US in 2010. There are advanced air barrier technologies and construction practices to reduce air leakage in buildings, which are currently available in the market. However, the lack of adequate information on their impact on energy consumption and the durability of buildings has caused the slow adoption of these technologies and methods. In the past, the authors developed an online calculator that estimates the potential energy and cost savings in major U.S., Canadian and Chinese cities from improvement in airtightness in commercial buildings. In 2018–2019, the calculator was expanded to add moisture transfer calculations, given that air leakage through the building envelope can have a significant impact on moisture transfer. The calculator is again being expanded by adding residential and additional commercial building data. In this paper, we present the impact of airtightness in residential buildings on energy consumption and moisture transfer. The study includes the analysis of airtightness in 52 major cities in the U.S. and five cities in Canada on a residential building that includes a crawlspace and has a gas furnace.

Kunwar, Niraj↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development and Implementation of Fault-Correction Algorithms in Fault Detection and Diagnostics Tools

A fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) tool is a type of energy management and information system that continuously identifies the presence of faults and efficiency improvement opportunities through a one-way interface to the building automation system and the application of automated analytics. Building operators on the leading edge of technology adoption use FDD tools to enable median whole-building portfolio savings of 8%. Although FDD tools can inform operators of operational faults, currently an action is always required to correct the faults to generate energy savings. A subset of faults, however, such as biased sensors, can be addressed automatically, eliminating the need for staff intervention. Automating this fault “correction” can significantly increase the savings generated by FDD tools and reduce the reliance on human intervention. Doing so is expected to advance the usability and technical and economic performance of FDD technologies. This paper presents the development of nine innovative fault auto-correction algorithms for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning pi(HVAC) systems. When the auto-correction routine is triggered, it overwrites control setpoints or other variables to implement the intended changes. It also discusses the implementation of the auto-correction algorithms in commercial FDD software products, the integration of these strategies with building automation systems and their preliminary testing.

field testing↗
DOE OSTI2022

U.S. Building Stock Characterization Study: A National Typology for Decarbonizing U.S. Buildings

To support the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Collaborative, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been tasked with characterizing the U.S. building stock and developing a national typology of buildings. The potential use cases of such a typology are flexible and evolving, but in this initial phase, the primary intention is to help identify technology requirements and engineering solutions for moving the U.S. building stock toward a zero-carbon future by mid-century. This typology will also support the development of appropriate ABC research goals for existing buildings, such as cost targets for new technology development, and in a later phase, the typology can be used to support the implementation of ABC solutions by informing market aggregation and business model development. The ABC Initiative invests in new technologies that enable high building performance, can be deployed quickly with minimal onsite construction time, and are affordable and appealing to building owners, investors, and occupants. Funding awardees use many innovations, including new building materials, 3D printing, offsite manufacturing, robotics, and digital art-to-part. Although the goals of ABC cover a broad range of objectives around energy, comfort, and health, the primary ABC-related application of this national building characterization study is the development of retrofit packages that can be applied to reduce thermal loads in buildings. Retrofit packages will be determined collaboratively by the DOE and the ABC Collaborative. We anticipate a range of upgrade measures covering envelope-, HVAC-, and water-heating-related loads.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Experiences with Mobile Units for Liquid RAW Management in Slovak and Czech Nuclear Power Plants - 20089

In Nuclear Power Plants VVER 440, Russian type of reactor there was designed auxiliary building where according to basic design all operational liquid radioactive waste (RAW) should be stored in large capacity tanks during the whole operational period. That's why there are in the auxiliary building several types of large storage tanks with different internal volume from 110 m{sup 3}, 460 m{sup 3} to 550 m{sup 3}. Storage tanks are usually situated in rooms with limited access and minimal handling space. Operational waste was here transported by the system of pipes from the reactor building. There is possibility to handle with the waste and set the pipeline in to the chosen storage tanks. Nobody takes care about the quality of waste in the storage tanks and waste waits for the period of decommissioning when it should be treated. The storage capacity was designed for the whole lifetime of nuclear power plant. Currently the life time of Nuclear Power Plant's (NPP) is extended and there is necessity to retrieve and treat the RAW in advance. Another reason why the stakeholder, who operates the NPPs, decides to treat the operational RAW during the operational period of NPP, is that there are still new requirements from safety point of view which need to have free available space for example because of potential accident. So treating the operational RAW during the life time of NPP is present issue. Because in basic design nobody cares how the RAW will be retrieved and treated in the future, there is usually no technology for that in existing NPP. Some of the NPPs build an additional building with suitable technologies for treatment or hire the company which offer mobile technology for retrieving the waste from the storage tanks. Wood Nuclear Slovakia PLC provides all activities within liquid RAW management projects by its own staff including management, design, construction and deployment of equipment, engineering support, as well as all RAW retrieval and solidification activities. We offer RAW management as a service without any significant changes in existing NPP's buildings and technology. It is always a technical challenge to conduct successful retrieval, pumping and treatment of RAW. The complex RAW retrieval system can be designed as tailored solution for any RAW storage according to known boundary conditions and specific needs. These systems are based on years of experience with RAW manipulation, processing and treatment and the whole RAW management knowledge by Wood Nuclear Slovakia LTD. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

DIRAC current, upcoming and planned capabilities and technologies

DIRAC is the interware for building and operating large scale distributed computing systems. It is adopted by multiple collaborations from various scientific domains for implementing their computing models. DIRAC provides a framework and a rich set of ready-to-use services for Workload, Data and Production Management tasks of small, medium and large scientific communities having different computing requirements. The base functionality can be easily extended by custom components supporting community specific workflows. DIRAC is at the same time an aging project, and a new DiracX project is taking shape for replacing DIRAC in the long term. This contribution will highlight DIRAC’s current, upcoming and planned capabilities and technologies, and how the transition to DiracX will take place. Examples include, but are not limited to, adoption of security tokens and interactions with Identity Provider services, integration of Clouds and High Performance Computers, interface with Rucio, improved monitoring and deployment procedures.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Integration of Wi-Fi Location-Based Services to Optimize Energy Efficient Commercial Building Operations

This project investigated and demonstrated the use of Wi-Fi Location-Based Services (LBS) to perform occupancy sensing in commercial buildings. Wi-Fi LBS can be used to detect the presence of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices and laptops that accompany occupants as they move through the building. These signals can be used to determine occupant presence, head count, and location. When integrated with the building automation system, this emerging technology approach can be used to manage other connected systems such as lighting and HVAC to reduce energy usage in the building and improve occupant comfort. An open source location detection algorithm was developed, which uses data collected from three or more Wi-Fi access points to determine the presence and estimate the location of mobile devices and laptops. Access points can detect Wi-Fi enabled devices even if they are not connected to the existing Wi-Fi network. Building occupancy is determined based on the presence, location, and movement of these devices through the space. From lab and small-scale in-situ testing, the Location Detection Algorithm (LDA) was found to be accurate to within 10 feet and could be further refined by tuning the algorithm for the specific space characteristics such as layout and obstructions (walls, furniture, etc.). An open source method to integrate the occupancy data with existing building automations systems was investigated. The Wi-Fi occupancy sensing approach was then demonstrated and validated at commercial buildings located in Saint Paul, MN; Madison, WI; New York City; and Fort Worth, TX.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Using Wi-Fi Location-Based Services (LBS) for Commercial Building Occupancy Sensing

From May 2019 through October 2022, this DOE-funded project investigated and demonstrated the use of Wi-Fi Location-Based Services (LBS) to perform occupancy sensing in commercial buildings. Wi-Fi LBS can be used to detect the presence of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices and laptops that accompany occupants as they move through the building. These signals can be used to determine occupant presence, head count, and location. When integrated with the building automation system, this emerging technology approach can be used to manage other connected systems such as lighting and HVAC to reduce energy usage in the building and improve occupant comfort. An open source location detection algorithm was developed, which uses data collected from three or more Wi-Fi access points to determine the presence and estimate the location of mobile devices and laptops. Access points can detect Wi-Fi enabled devices even if they are not connected to the existing Wi-Fi network. Building occupancy is determined based on the presence, location, and movement of these devices through the space. From lab and small-scale in-situ testing, the Location Detection Algorithm (LDA) was found to be accurate to within 10 feet and could be further refined by tuning the algorithm for the specific space characteristics such as layout and obstructions (walls, furniture, etc.). An open source method to integrate the occupancy data with existing building automations systems was investigated. The Wi-Fi occupancy sensing approach was then demonstrated and validated at two commercial buildings located in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantifying and simulating the weather forecast uncertainty for advanced building control

Weather forecast uncertainty is unavoidable despite technological advancements. Accurately quantifying and modelling this uncertainty is essential for developing and comparing advanced building controllers. In this study, we present a structured approach using a first-order autoregressive model (AR(1)) to model uncertainty in ambient temperature and global solar irradiation (GHI) forecasts. We analyzed weather data from four cities and employed Jensen–Shannon divergence (JSD) to evaluate the similarity between synthetic and actual forecast errors. The average JSD values for temperature are 0.027 (Berkeley), 0.021 (Leuven), 0.018 (Berlin), and 0.008 (Oslo), and for GHI, the average JSD values are 0.016 (Berkeley), 0.058 (Leuven), and 0.013 (Berlin). The low JSD values indicate a high similarity between the synthetic and real forecast error distributions. Further, our approach successfully generates synthetic weather forecasts that mirror the statistical properties of actual forecasts. The implementation of our method for uncertain forecast generation is being added to the BOPTEST framework.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Phase II Cost-Benefit Analysis: Economic Impact Assessment For Indonesia Building Sector Whole-Building Cooling Solutions

The Net Zero World (NZW) Initiative Collaborative Work Program with the Government of Indonesia (GoI) includes technical assistance and investment mobilization facilitation to accelerate deployment of energy efficiency technologies and solutions for the building sector. A February 2023 US–Indonesia Joint Workshop on Decarbonizing the Building Sector yielded a NZW Indonesia Building Decarbonization Working Group (NZW IBDWG) with four sub working groups (SWGs): SWG-A National Center, SWG-B Capacity Building, SWG-C Investment and Financing, and SWG-D Pilot Projects.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pathways to a Sustainable Aviation Ecosystem: Flight DNA: An Anonymized Aviation Data Tool and Repository

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has deep experience developing secure, national data repositories, which it augments with analysis, technology and market expertise, high-performance computing, and innovative data visualization. By adapting the architecture of existing mobility databases (i.e., Fleet DNA, the Transportation Secure Data Center, the National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center), NREL can build a powerful aviation data clearinghouse - Flight DNA - that helps stakeholders navigate the web of pitfalls and possibilities generated by new aviation technologies.

aviation↗
DOE OSTI2020

Assessing Cost-Optimal Battery Energy and Solar-Plus-Storage Systems for Federal Customers: A Nationwide Assessment: Preprint

Prior research has identified that the financial viability of behind-the-meter battery energy storage systems is heavily dependent on technology cost, utility rate structure, energy consumption patterns, and co-deployment with synergistic technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV), among other factors. This study builds on existing research by comprehensively evaluating the economics of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and solar-plus-storage systems for a reference office building at 755 reference sites under 834 utility rates, and four storage capital cost scenarios. Results indicate that even with dramatic cost reductions, BESS is likely to be cost-effective only under utility rates that include demand charges, and possibly include time-of-use (TOU) pricing as well. Even under these utility rates, BESS systems provide marginal savings, and office building operators are unlikely to deploy the technology for cost savings alone. Solar-plus-storage systems provide more savings than BESS and allow for larger economic storage capacities. Solar-plus-storage provides compelling savings opportunities at baseline prices, and even at capital costs 25% higher than baseline. Solar-plus-storage is most effective where there are demand charges and energy pricing schemes include TOU pricing, or where electricity is expensive (at least $0.30/kWh). Our case studies illustrate that the presence of demand charges, even at similar energy costs, can be the deciding factor in BESS and solar-plus-storage viability. The findings and maps from this assessment may be of use to planners, building owners, and developers looking for potentially economic storage opportunities.

battery energy storage systems↗
DOE OSTI2020

Characterization of Connected Lighting System Potential for Grid Services Under Real-Time Pricing

Increasingly over the last decade, the management of end-use electricity demand has been examined as a potential source of services for the electric power grid beyond contracts with large commercial and industrial customers. Lighting represents about 17\% of U.S. commercial building annual electricity consumption; however, its potential rapid speed of response may position it to uniquely contribute to services that improve the reliability and resilience of the grid. Connected lighting systems (CLS), which build upon solid-state lamp technology, can change state by adjusting power demand more quickly than most other building electricity end uses and could be used as a platform to monitor lighting electricity use and space conditions. But the potential of CLS to provide grid services has not been extensively studied. In this paper, we describe initial research to evaluate the potential of CLS for grid services. We develop a model for CLS using a set of parameters to represent operation behaviors and constraints: maximal power, minimal power, nominal power, ramp rate, and time delay. Parameter values are generated for representative building types. CLS demand curves are constructed, indirectly capturing building occupant preferences for lighting as functions of electricity price. The CLS model and the demand curves are incorporated into a Transactive Control and Coordination (TCC) Platform to simulate CLS providing grid services. Previous research has shown TCC to be a powerful tool to enable end uses to provide grid services through a hybrid economic-control approach. Initial quantitative results will be provided for CLS grid services potential.

Wang, Peng↗