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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 757 records · Page 42

FinalReport-DOE BES DMSE-UNR-QLi

The primary goal of this project is to explore the fundamental deformation and failure mechanisms for magnesium with a hexagonal close packed (HCP) crystal structure. It is critical to perform this project for a number of reasons. First, magnesium is the lightest structural metal and its application in various structural components can save the final component weight. Second, the weight reduction from the usage of magnesium-based structural components in transportation vehicles such as automobiles and aircrafts can improve fuel efficiency and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. Third, structural components often experience dynamic loading such as cyclic loading conditions. Fourth, magnesium with a HCP crystal structure generally has its special deformation responses under loading conditions. This project investigated magnesium based materials (magnesium single crystal, pure polycrystalline magnesium, and some magnesium alloys) under various loading conditions, and also explored some processing routes to manipulate the microstructure and mechanical properties of magnesium. The research results were published in a number of articles and also disseminated through presentations in various conferences such as TMS annual meetings, MRS meetings, the international Plasticity conferences, the Pacific Rim International Congress on Advanced Materials and Processing, and AeroMat. In addition to the contribution to the research/academic community, this project is also beneficial to the general public. With the actual usage of magnesium in the passenger cars, the weight reduction and fuel consumption reduction will save the fuel bill of individual owners.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Evaluation of Modeled and Measured Energy Savings in Existing All Electric Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest

This project analyzes the cost effectiveness of energy savings measures installed by a large public housing authority in Salishan, a community in Tacoma Washington. Research focuses on the modeled and measured energy usage of the first six phases of construction, and compares the energy usage of those phases to phase 7. Market-ready energy solutions were also evaluated to improve the efficiency of affordable housing for new and existing (built since 2001) affordable housing in the marine climate of Washington State.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

National Center of Excellence for Energy Storage Technology 168.10 (Final Report for Period 10/1/2010-12/31/2011)

This report documents the performance of the Ohio State University (OSU) and Edison Welding Institute (EWI) in the period from 10/1/2010 to 12/31/2012. The objective of the project is to establish a Center of Excellence that leverages the strengths of the partners to establish a unique capability to develop and transfer energy storage industries to establish a unique capability in the development and transfer of energy storage system technology through a fundamental understanding of battery electrical and thermal performance, damage and aging mechanisms, and through the development of reliable, high-speed processes for joining substrates in battery cell, module and pack assemblies with low manufacturing variability. During this period, the OSU activity focused on procuring the equipment, materials and supplies necessary to conduct the experiments planned in the statement of project objectives. In detail, multiple laboratory setups were developed to enable for characterizing the open-circuit potential of cathode and anode materials for Li-ion batteries, perform experiments on calorimetry, and finally built multiple cell and module battery cyclers to be able to perform aging campaign on a wide variety of automotive grade battery cells and small modules. This suite of equipment feeds directly into the development, calibration of battery models ranging from first principle electrochemical models to electro-thermal equivalent circuit models suitable for use in control and xEV vehicle simulations. In addition, it allows to develop and calibrate ‘aging’ models for Li-ion batteries that enable the development of diagnostics and prognostics tools to characterize and predict battery degradation from automotive usage under a wide array of environmental and usage scenarios. The objective of the EWI work scope is to develop improved processes for making metal-tometal joints in advanced battery cells and packs. It will focus on developing generic techniques for making functional (electrically conductive and mechanically robust) metal-to-metal joints between thin substrates. Joints with multiple layers and bimetallic constituents will be investigated. During the current period of performance, EWI has defined the test matrix to evaluate the application of different welding technologies (laser welding, ultrasonic welding, resistance welding) to specific components of battery cells and modules, such as foils-to-tabs, tabs-to-tabs, and tabs-to-bus bars. The test matrix also includes a range of substrates (aluminum 1145 and 1100, copper 110 and nickel 200 as substrates). Furthermore, a set of procedures was defined to perform mechanical and electrical testing of the samples, including metallography, and non-destructive evaluations. Both on the OSU and EWI, this project enabled to leverage very significant industrial collaborations with a wide array of companies ranging from battery manufacturers and pack integrator all the ways to Tier 1 automotive suppliers and OEMs during the period of exercise of the project, and in the future for years to come.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

State Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: Design, Status, and Impacts

An energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) is a policy that requires utilities or other entities to achieve a specified amount of energy savings through customer energy efficiency programs within a specified timeframe. EERSs may apply to electricity usage, natural gas usage, or both. This paper provides an overview of the key design features of EERSs for electricity, reviews the variation in design of EERSs across states, and provides an estimate of the amount of savings required by currently specified EERSs in each state. As of December, 2013, 23 states have active and binding EERSs for electricity. We estimate that state EERSs will require annual electricity savings of approximately 8-11% of total projected demand by 2020 in states with EERSs, however the level of savings targeted by the policies varies significantly across states. In addition to the variation in targeted savings, the design of EERSs varies significantly across states leading to differences in the suite of incentives created by the policy, the flexibility of compliance with the policy, the balance of benefits and costs of the policy between producers and consumers, and the certainty with which the policy will drive long-term savings.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Residential Lighting End-Use Consumption Study: Estimation Framework and Initial Estimates

The U.S. DOE Residential Lighting End-Use Consumption Study is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Solid-State Lighting Program that aims to improve the understanding of lighting energy usage in residential dwellings. The study has developed a regional estimation framework within a national sample design that allows for the estimation of lamp usage and energy consumption 1) nationally and by region of the United States, 2) by certain household characteristics, 3) by location within the home, 4) by certain lamp characteristics, and 5) by certain categorical cross-classifications (e.g., by dwelling type AND lamp type or fixture type AND control type).

End-Use Consumption↗

U.S. Residential Miscellaneous Refrigeration Products: Results from Amazon Mechanical Turk Surveys

Amazon Mechanical Turk was used, for the first time, to collect statistically representative survey data from U.S. households on the presence, number, type and usage of refrigerators, freezers, and various “miscellaneous” refrigeration products (wine/beverage coolers, residential icemakers and non-vapor compression refrigerators and freezers), along with household and demographic information. Such products have been poorly studied to date, with almost no information available about shipments, stocks, capacities, energy use, etc. A total of 9,981 clean survey responses were obtained from five distinct surveys deployed in 2012. General refrigeration product survey responses were weighted to demographics in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2009 dataset. Miscellaneous refrigeration product survey responses were weighted according to demographics of product ownership found in the general refrigeration product surveys. Model number matching for a portion of miscellaneous refrigeration product responses allowed validation of refrigeration product characteristics, which enabled more accurate estimates of the penetrations of these products in U.S. households. We estimated that there were 12.3±1.0 million wine/beverage coolers, 5.5(–3.5,+3.2) million residential icemakers and 4.4(–2.7,+2.3) million non-vapor compression refrigerators in U.S. households in 2012. (All numerical results are expressed with ranges indicating the 95% confidence interval.) No evidence was found for the existence of non-vapor compression freezers. Moreover, we found that 15% of wine/beverage coolers used vapor compression cooling technology, while 85% used thermoelectric cooling technology, with the vast majority of thermoelectric units having capacities of less than 30 wine bottles (approximately 3.5 cubic feet). No evidence was found for the existence of wine/beverage coolers with absorption cooling technology. Additionally, we estimated that there were 3.6±1.0 million hybrid refrigerator-wine/beverage coolers and 0.9±0.5 million hybrid freezer-wine/beverage coolers in U.S. households. We also obtained estimates of miscellaneous refrigeration product capacities, lifetimes, purchase and installation costs, repair frequencies and costs, and maintenance costs. For wine/beverage coolers, we also obtained information on the penetration of built-in units, AC/DC operating capability, the use of internal lights, and distributions of door opening frequencies. This information is essential to develop detailed estimates of national energy usage and life-cycle costs, and would be helpful in obtaining information on other plug-load appliances. Additional information not highlighted in the main report was presented in Appendices.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Recovery - Strategy to Accelerate U.S. Transition to Electric Vehicles

The objective of this project was to develop Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) advanced propulsion technology and demonstrate a fleet of 146 Volt EREVs to gather data on vehicle performance and infrastructure to understand the impacts on commercialization while also creating or retaining a significant number of jobs in the United States. This objective was achieved by developing and demonstrating EREVs in real world conditions with customers in several diverse locations across the United States and installing, demonstration and testing charging infrastructure while also continuing development on second generation EREV technology. The project completed the development of the Chevrolet Volt and placed the vehicle in the hands of consumers in diverse locations across the United States. This demonstration leveraged the unique telematics platform of OnStar, standard on all Chevrolet Volts, to capture the operating experience that lead to better understanding of customer usage. The project team included utility partners that installed, demonstrated and tested charging infrastructure located in home, workplace and public locations to understand installation issues, customer usage and interaction with the electric grid. Development and demonstration of advanced technologies such as smart charging, fast charging and battery to grid interface were completed. The recipient collected, analyzed and reported the data generated by the demonstration. The recipient also continued to advance the technology of the Chevrolet Volt technology by developing energy storage system enhancements for the next-generation vehicle. Information gathered from the first generation vehicle will be utilized to refine the technology to reduce cost and mass while also increasing energy storage capacity to enhance adoption of the second generation technology into the marketplace. The launch of the first generation Chevrolet Volt will provide additional opportunities to further enhance the RESS (Rechargeable Energy Storage System) with each additional generation. Lessons learned from the launch of the first generation RESS will be demonstrated in the second generation to enhance adoption into the marketplace.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

U.S. Residential Miscellaneous Refrigeration Products: Results from Amazon Mechanical Turk Surveys

Amazon Mechanical Turk was used, for the first time, to collect statistically representative survey data from U.S. households on the presence, number, type and usage of refrigerators, freezers, and various “miscellaneous” refrigeration products (wine/beverage coolers, residential icemakers and non-vapor compression refrigerators and freezers), along with household and demographic information. Such products have been poorly studied to date, with almost no information available about shipments, stocks, capacities, energy use, etc. A total of 9,820 clean survey responses were obtained from four distinct surveys deployed in 2012. General refrigeration product survey responses were weighted to demographics in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2009 dataset. Miscellaneous refrigeration product survey responses were weighted according to demographics of product ownership found in the general refrigeration product surveys. Model number matching for a portion of miscellaneous refrigeration product responses allowed validation of refrigeration product characteristics, which enabled more accurate estimates of the penetrations of these products in U.S. households. We estimated that there were 12.3±1.0 million wine/beverage coolers, 5.5(–3.5,+3.2) million residential icemakers and 2.9(–2.5,+4.5) million non-vapor compression refrigerators in U.S. households in 2012. (All numerical results are expressed with ranges indicating the 95% confidence interval.) No evidence was found for the existence of non-vapor compression freezers. Moreover, we found that 15% of wine/beverage coolers used vapor compression cooling technology, while 85% used thermoelectric cooling technology, with the vast majority of thermoelectric units having capacities of less than 30 wine bottles (approximately 3.5 cubic feet). No evidence was found for the existence of wine/beverage coolers with absorption cooling technology. Additionally, we estimated that there were 3.6±1.0 million hybrid refrigerator-wine/beverage coolers and 0.9±0.5 million hybrid freezer-wine/beverage coolers in U.S. households. We also obtained estimates of miscellaneous refrigeration product capacities, lifetimes, purchase and installation costs, repair frequencies and costs, and maintenance costs. For wine/beverage coolers, we also obtained information on the penetration of built-in units, AC/DC operating capability, the use of internal lights, and distributions of door opening frequencies. This information is essential to develop detailed estimates of national energy usage and life-cycle costs, and would be helpful in obtaining information on other plug-load appliances. Additional information not highlighted in the main report was presented in Appendices.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Development of a Computer-based Benchmarking and Analytical Tool: Benchmarking and Energy & Water Savings Tool in Dairy Plants (BEST-Dairy) (Final Report)

The overall goal of the project is to develop a computer-based benchmarking and energy and water savings tool (BEST-Dairy) for use in the California dairy industry - including four dairy processes - cheese, fluid milk, butter, and milk powder. BEST-Dairy tool developed in this project provides three options for the user to benchmark each of the dairy product included in the tool, with each option differentiated based on specific detail level of process or plant, i.e., 1) plant level; 2) process-group level, and 3) process-step level. For each detail level, the tool accounts for differences in production and other variables affecting energy use in dairy processes. The dairy products include cheese, fluid milk, butter, milk powder, etc. The BEST-Dairy tool can be applied to a wide range of dairy facilities to provide energy and water savings estimates, which are based upon the comparisons with the best available reference cases that were established through reviewing information from international and national samples. We have performed and completed alpha- and beta-testing (field testing) of the BEST-Dairy tool, through which feedback from voluntary users in the U.S. dairy industry was gathered to validate and improve the tool's functionality. BEST-Dairy v1.2 was formally published in May 2011, and has been made available for free downloads from the internet (i.e., http://best-dairy.lbl.gov). A user's manual has been developed and published as the companion documentation for use with the BEST-Dairy tool. In addition, we also carried out technology transfer activities by engaging the dairy industry in the process of tool development and testing, including field testing, technical presentations, and technical assistance throughout the project. To date, users from more than ten countries in addition to those in the U.S. have downloaded the BEST-Dairy from the LBNL website. It is expected that the use of BEST-Dairy tool will advance understanding of energy and water usage in individual dairy plants, augment benchmarking activities in the market places, and facilitate implementation of efficiency measures and strategies to save energy and water usage in the dairy industry. Industrial adoption of this emerging tool and technology in the market is expected to benefit dairy plants, which are important customers of California utilities. Further demonstration of this benchmarking tool is recommended, for facilitating its commercialization and expansion in functions of the tool. Wider use of this BEST-Dairy tool and its continuous expansion (in functionality) will help to reduce the actual consumption of energy and water in the dairy industry sector. The outcomes comply very well with the goals set by the AB 1250 for PIER program.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Experimental Design and Comparative Testing of a Hybrid-Cooled Computer Cluster [Thesis}

With water cooling becoming an affordable option both at home and at scale, it is important to consider the possible benefits over air cooling. There are several methods of liquid cooling, notables include: immersion, cold water cooling, and warm water cooling. The total cost of ownership is difficult to determine with these options as each has a different impact on the data center. Considering retrofit, over a new data center, introduces unforeseen variables that make cost analysis a challenge. Besides the added costs of additional infrastructure, and the cost to remove old, the upfront costs could be daunting. Therefore a cost analysis would be a study of its won. This study however hopes to reveal the resulting tradeoffs in temperature, performance, and power usage presented in the case between classical airflow based heat sink mechanisms to water provided directly at the heatsink. Having control over a discrete chiller will provide answers to the CPU temperatures, power usage, and performance at various inlet water temperatures. To water or to air?

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Evaluation of Modeled and Measured Energy Savings in Existing All Electric Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest

This project analyzes the cost effectiveness of energy savings measures installed by a large public housing authority in Salishan, a community in Tacoma Washington. Research focuses on the modeled and measured energy usage of the first six phases of construction, and compares the energy usage of those phases to phase 7. Market-ready energy solutions were also evaluated to improve the efficiency of affordable housing for new and existing (built since 2001) affordable housing in the marine climate of Washington State.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Environmental Emissions Nonenergy Benefits Working Paper: ARRA Period

Weatherization reduces energy usage by low-income households, and thereby reduces the environmental impacts of the production and consumption of energy and reduces the social costs associated with those environmental impacts. The nonenergy benefits study conducted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) evaluation focused on measuring the emissions reductions resulting from WAP program energy usage reductions and estimating the societal value of those emission reductions. While there are other environmental impacts associated with the WAP program, this study focused on emissions impacts because the 2010 National Research Council (NRC) report Hidden Costs of Energy: The Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use recommended that Congress focus on emissions costs because they have the highest documented social impact costs

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Development of advanced manufacturing technologies for low cost hydrogen storage vessels

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) defined a need for low-cost gaseous hydrogen storage vessels at 700 bar to support cost goals aimed at 500,000 units per year. Existing filament winding processes produce a pressure vessel that is structurally inefficient, requiring more carbon fiber for manufacturing reasons, than would otherwise be necessary. Carbon fiber is the greatest cost driver in building a hydrogen pressure vessel. The objective of this project is to develop new methods for manufacturing Type IV pressure vessels for hydrogen storage with the purpose of lowering the overall product cost through an innovative hybrid process of optimizing composite usage by combining traditional filament winding (FW) and advanced fiber placement (AFP) techniques. A numbers of vessels were manufactured in this project. The latest vessel design passed all the critical tests on the hybrid design per European Commission (EC) 79-2009 standard except the extreme temperature cycle test. The tests passed include burst test, cycle test, accelerated stress rupture test and drop test. It was discovered the location where AFP and FW overlap for load transfer could be weakened during hydraulic cycling at 85°C. To design a vessel that passed these tests, the in-house modeling software was updated to add capability to start and stop fiber layers to simulate the AFP process. The original in-house software was developed for filament winding only. Alternative fiber was also investigated in this project, but the added mass impacted the vessel cost negatively due to the lower performance from the alternative fiber. Overall the project was a success to show the hybrid design is a viable solution to reduce fiber usage, thus driving down the cost of fuel storage vessels. Based on DOE’s baseline vessel size of 147.3L and 91kg, the 129L vessel (scaled to DOE baseline) in this project shows a 32% composite savings and 20% cost savings when comparing Vessel 15 hybrid design and the Quantum baseline all filament wound vessel. Due to project timing, there was no additional time available to fine tune the design to improve the load transfer between AFP and FW. Further design modifications will likely help pass the extreme temperature cycle test, the remaining test that is critical to the hybrid design.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Orange County Photovoltaic Project & Educational COmponent

The purpose of this report is to discuss the projects implemented, utilizing Department of Energy grant funds, to support the use and understanding of renewable energy in Orange County, Florida and the Greater Orlando Area. Orange County is located in the State of Florida and is most popularly referred to as Orlando. The greater Orlando area’s current population is 1,225,267 and in 2015 was the first destination to surpass 60 million visitors. Orange County utilized grant funds to add to the growing demand for access to charging stations by installing one level 2 dual NovaCharge CT4021 electric vehicle charging station at the Orange County/University of Florida Cooperative Extension Center. The charging station is considered a “smart” charger connected to a central network operated by a third party. Data collected includes the number of charging sessions, session start and end times, the electricity usage, greenhouse gases saved and other pertinent data used for reporting purposes. Orange County continues to support the use of electric vehicles in Metro Orlando and this project continues to bring awareness to our public regarding using alternative vehicles. Additionally, we offer all visitors to the Orange County/University of Florida Cooperative Extension Center free charges for their electric vehicles 24 hours a day. Since the operation of the charging station there have been 52 unique driver users, a total of 532.2258 kg of greenhouse gas savings and 159.03 gallons of gasoline savings. The installation of the additional electric vehicle charging station is part of a county-wide goal of promoting implementation of renewable energy technologies as well as supporting the use of electric vehicles including the Drive Electric Orlando & Florida programs. http://driveelectricorlando.com/ & ; http://www.driveelectricflorida.org/ . Grant funds were also used for Outreach and Educational efforts. Educational efforts about renewable energy were accomplished through the continued support as well as a proposed expansion and potential relocation of the Climate Change Education Center. The growth of the Climate Change Education Center focused on 2 educational subsectors. The first educational sector focused on an apprenticeship with university students. The second sector Orange County partnered with a hospitality college that held seminars to educate students in sustainability best practices that would influence the industry as a whole as students take jobs around the U.S. and other parts of the world. Orange County completed five of the originally proposed six educational seminars. The first seminar focused on community based social marketing techniques for driving sustainable behavior changes. The second seminar held was a green team workshop. The third seminar focused on urban sustainability planning. The fourth and fifth seminars held were Florida Energy Code workshops for building inspectors. A sixth transit oriented development seminar in partnership with Rollins College was explored, but was not conducted because the proposed on campus venue was not accessible for an extended period of time due to renovations. Additionally, an ENERGY STAR training program was conducted with students from the University of Central Florida; three of the five buildings assessed received ENERGY STAR ratings; one student completed the training and received their certification as an ENERGY STAR Specialist. Background: Location: Orange County is located in the central region of the State of Florida and is most popularly known for including the City of Orlando. The greater Orlando area’s current population is 1,225,267 and is home to large corporations such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, Ritz Carlton, Darden Restaurants, and the nation’s second largest convention center. Opportunities Identified: Encouraging Sustainability in Major Sectors: The Central Florida economy is largely dependent on the hospitality industry and in 2015 it was the first destination to surpass 60 million visitors. With over 60 million visitors each year, 120,000 hotel rooms, 4,000 restaurants, and 75 theme parks and attractions, the local hospitality industry provided a wealth of opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through building energy efficiency and renewable energy. Accordingly, Central Florida is an ideal training ground for teaching best practices for sustainability focused on the hospitality industry. Meeting the Growing Demand for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure: According to the 2014 U.S Clean Tech Leadership Index Report, nationwide electric vehicle ownership in the top 50 largest metro areas increased sharply in 2013; the Orlando Metro Area was ranked #5 in the nation in in terms of electric vehicle charging stations per one million people. Additionally, the Orange County 2014-2015 Annual Sustainable Orange County Report indicated there are 300 electric vehicle charging stations in Central Florida (roughly 300 charging stations within ~70 mile radius available to our residents of Orange County). By increasing and improving access to charging stations, Orange County supports the growing demand for renewable energy technologies. Project Achievements/Accomplishments: Installed an Electric Charging Station: Orange County utilized grant funds to install one level 2 dual NovaCharge CT4021 electric vehicle charging station at the Orange County/University of Florida Cooperative Extension Center. The charging station is considered a “smart” charger connected to a central network operated by a third party that monitors the number of charging sessions, session start and end times, the electricity usage, greenhouse gases saved and other pertinent data. During the six months of operation of the charging station there have been 52 unique driver users of the charging station; a total of 532.2258 kg of greenhouse gas savings and 159.03 gallons of gasoline savings. Operation and Potential Relocation of the Orange County Climate Change Education Center: The Climate Change Education Center, originally located within the Orange County Convention Center, served as a central place to inform and educate commercial and residential sectors of environmental, health, and economic benefits of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Grant funds were used to pay for the rent required to maintain a lease at the Convention Center, conduct five educational workshops, and for planned upgrades to the Center displays highlighting a number of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects implemented at the Orange County Convention Center and Downtown Orange County. An initial design concept for an upgraded Climate Change Education Center and educational displays was proposed. However, after the Convention Center determined the space occupied by the Climate Change Education Center; a feasibility study for relocation to the proposed area was conducted in October 2013. In December 2013, it was determined that the desired location of the for the Climate Change Education Center at the Orange County Extension Education Center provided too many construction challenges for relocation with too many building retrofits and access problems, including lack of access for loading and unloading exhibits as well as roof drainage relocations and sewer service connection issues. Another suitable location for relocating the Climate Change Education Center could not be located so the project was terminated. The Climate Change Education Center is no longer in existence in Orange County and has been eliminated. Grant funds were used to pay for marketing services for a state wide marketing program including solar & other renewable energy technologies for rebranding and developing marketing materials including web site design and updating. A website was maintained and updated the www.PowerUpGreenEnergy.com website (no longer in service). Sustainability Training for the Hospitality Industry and Major Sectors: To introduce energy efficiency and renewable energy concepts to the hospitality industry, Orange County partnered with a hospitality college that held seminars to educate students in sustainability best practices that would influence the industry as a whole as students take jobs around the U.S. and other parts of the world. Orange County completed five of the originally proposed six education seminars. Seminar topics included: driving sustainable behavior change through community based social marketing; green team programs; urban sustainability planning; and Florida Energy Code workshops for building inspectors. In partnership with Rollins College, a sixth seminar focused on transit-oriented development was explored, but was not conducted due to extended renovations at the proposed on-campus venue. Green Job Training Development: To promote green industry development and on-the-job training in occupations that encourage energy efficiency and resource reduction, Orange County piloted an ENERGY STAR training and apprenticeship program with students from the University of Central Florida; three students applied for the program; one student completed the training and received their certification as an ENERGY STAR specialist; three of the five buildings assessed received ENERGY STAR Ratings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Insights from Smart Meters. Ramp-up, dependability, and short-term persistence of savings from Home Energy Reports

Smart meters, smart thermostats, and other new technologies provide previously unavailable high-frequency and location-specific energy usage data. Many utilities are now able to capture real-time, customer specific hourly interval usage data for a large proportion of their residential and small commercial customers. These vast, constantly growing streams of rich data (or, “big data”) have the potential to provide novel insights into key policy questions about how people make energy decisions. The richness and granularity of these data enable many types of creative and cutting-edge analytics. Technically sophisticated and rigorous statistical techniques can be used to pull useful insights out of this high-frequency, human-focused data. In this series, we call this “behavior analytics.” This kind of analytics has the potential to provide tremendous value to a wide range of energy programs. For example, disaggregated and heterogeneous information about actual energy use allows energy efficiency (EE) and/or demand response (DR) program implementers to target specific programs to specific households; enables evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) of energy efficiency programs to be performed on a much shorter time horizon than was previously possible; and may provide better insights into the energy and peak hour savings associated with EE and DR programs (e.g., behavior-based (BB) programs). The goal of this series is to enable evidence-based and data-driven decision making by policy makers and industry stakeholders, including program planners, program administrators, utilities, state regulatory agencies, and evaluators. We focus on research findings that are immediately relevant.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Increasing EDV Range through Intelligent Cabin Air Handling Strategies: Annual Progress Report

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of a Ford Focus Electric demonstrated that a split flow heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system with rear recirculation ducts can reduce cabin heating loads by up to 57.4% relative to full fresh air usage under some conditions (steady state, four passengers, ambient temperature of -5 deg C). Simulations also showed that implementing a continuous recirculation fraction control system into the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) HVAC system can reduce cabin heating loads by up to 50.0% relative to full fresh air usage under some conditions (steady state, four passengers, ambient temperature of -5 deg C). Identified that continuous fractional recirculation control of the OEM system can provide significant energy savings for EVs at minimal additional cost, while a split flow HVAC system with rear recirculation ducts only provides minimal additional improvement at significant additional cost.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

High Performance Computing Facility Operational Assessment 2015: Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) continues to surpass its operational target goals: supporting users; delivering fast, reliable systems; creating innovative solutions for high-performance computing (HPC) needs; and managing risks, safety, and security aspects associated with operating one of the most powerful computers in the world. The results can be seen in the cutting-edge science delivered by users and the praise from the research community. Calendar year (CY) 2015 was filled with outstanding operational results and accomplishments: a very high rating from users on overall satisfaction that ties the highest-ever mark set in CY 2014; the greatest number of core-hours delivered to research projects; the largest percentage of capability usage since the OLCF began tracking the metric in 2009; and success in delivering on the allocation of 60, 30, and 10% of core hours offered for the INCITE (Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment), ALCC (Advanced Scientific Computing Research Leadership Computing Challenge), and Director’s Discretionary programs, respectively. These accomplishments, coupled with the extremely high utilization rate, represent the fulfillment of the promise of Titan: maximum use by maximum-size simulations. The impact of all of these successes and more is reflected in the accomplishments of OLCF users, with publications this year in notable journals Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Chemistry, Nature Physics, Nature Climate Change, ACS Nano, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Physical Review Letters, as well as many others. The achievements included in the 2015 OLCF Operational Assessment Report reflect first-ever or largest simulations in their communities; for example Titan enabled engineers in Los Angeles and the surrounding region to design and begin building improved critical infrastructure by enabling the highest-resolution Cybershake map for Southern California to date. The Titan system provides the largest extant heterogeneous architecture for computing and computational science. Usage is high, delivering on the promise of a system well-suited for capability simulations for science. This success is due in part to innovations in tracking and reporting the activity on the compute nodes, and using this information to further enable and optimize applications, extending and balancing workload across the entire node. The OLCF continues to invest in innovative processes, tools, and resources necessary to meet continuing user demand. The facility’s leadership in data analysis and workflows was featured at the Department of Energy (DOE) booth at SC15, for the second year in a row, highlighting work with researchers from the National Library of Medicine coupled with unique computational and data resources serving experimental and observational data across facilities. Effective operations of the OLCF play a key role in the scientific missions and accomplishments of its users. Building on the exemplary year of 2014, as shown by the 2014 Operational Assessment Report (OAR) review committee response in Appendix A, this OAR delineates the policies, procedures, and innovations implemented by the OLCF to continue delivering a multi-petaflop resource for cutting-edge research. This report covers CY 2015, which, unless otherwise specified, denotes January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Insights from Smart Meters: Ramp-Up, Dependability, and Short-Term Persistence of Savings from Home Energy Reports

Smart meters, smart thermostats, and other new technologies provide previously unavailable high-frequency and location-specific energy usage data. Many utilities are now able to capture real-time, customer-specific hourly interval usage data for a large proportion of their residential and small commercial customers. These vast, constantly growing streams of rich data (or big data) have the potential to provide novel insights into key policy questions about how people make energy decisions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗