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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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DOE OSTI2020

Pushing Green: Leveraging Home Energy Score to Promote Deep-Energy Retrofits in Portland, Oregon

In the United States, 39% of total energy is consumed by the building sector, 20% of which is attributed to residential buildings. Older homes, built before 1992 when the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program was established, represent approximately 68% of residential building stock in the country and often have significant air leakage, inadequate insulation and inefficient heating & cooling systems. These older homes have long been the elephant in the room: how can programs effectively increase efficiency in all of the homes in need? Developed by DOE, the Home Energy Score was established to provide homeowners, buyers, and renters a comparable score measuring a home's energy use. Much like the MPG rating of automobiles, the Home Energy Score provides an overview of a residential building’s energy efficiency. In 2016, the City of Portland passed an ordinance requiring all residential properties to receive a Home Energy Score before being listed for sale, a mandate that was implemented January 1, 2018. Since 2018, more than 22,000 homes throughout the Portland Metro area have received Home Energy Scores (amounting to over 10% of Portland's single-family homes). This paper explores the sample of Home Energy Scores throughout Portland, including at the neighborhood level, identifies trends in efficiency measures, describes how the data has been used to date and proposes ways program administrators can use the Home Energy Score to increase the impact of energy efficiency programs on a city-scale.

Antonopoulos, Chrissi A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impacts of Climate Change on Energy Systems in Global and Regional Scenarios

A growing number of studies report the impact of climate change on the supply, demand, transport, and cost of energy. However, there is lack of comprehensive overview and understanding of climate change impacts on energy across technologies and scales. Here, we conduct a systematic assessment of results from 186 papers on potential impacts of climate change on energy. Results show that increased cooling demand and decreased heating demand is anticipated globally. Similarly, increases in bio-energy and hydro power and a possible decrease in thermal electricity supply is projected. Overall changes in heating and cooling demand, increased thermal cooling, and reduced hydropower supply in Europe, India and Latin America are projected 35 at the regional scale. Furthermore, our review revealed that studies use a wide range of inconsistent methods and data sources. To move forward, the study proposes a consistent multi-model assessment framework for a comprehensive understanding of climate impacts on energy.

Yalew, Seleshi G.↗
DOE OSTI2022

An independent analysis of bias sources and variability in wind plant pre-construction energy yield estimation methods

The wind resource assessment community has long had the goal of reducing the bias between wind plant pre-construction energy yield assessment (EYA) and the observed annual energy production (AEP). This comparison is typically made between the 50% probability of exceedance (P50) value of the EYA and the long-term corrected operational AEP (hereafter OA P50), and is known as the P50 bias. The industry has critically lacked an independent analysis of bias reduction investigated across multiple consultants to identify the greatest sources of uncertainty and variance in the EYA process and the best opportunities for uncertainty reduction. The present study addresses this gap by benchmarking consultant methodologies against each other and against operational data at a scale not seen before in industry collaborations. We consider data from 10 wind plants and evaluate discrepancies between eight consultancies in the steps taken from estimates of gross to net energy. Consultants tend to overestimate the gross energy produced at the turbines and then compensate by further overestimating downstream losses, leading to a mean P50 bias near zero, still with significant variability among the individual wind plants. Within our data sample, we find that consultant estimates of all loss categories, except environmental losses, tend to reduce the project-to-project variability of the P50 bias. The disagreement between consultants, however, remains flat throughout the addition of losses. Finally, we find that differences in consultants’ estimates of project performance can lead to differences up to $10/MWh in the levelized cost of energy for a wind plant.

Todd, Austin C.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Becoming a 10: A Closer Look at the U.S. Department of Energy Home Energy Score's Updates, Improvements, and Expansion

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Home Energy Score provides homeowners, buyers, and renters directly comparable and credible information about a home's estimated energy use and costs. Certified Qualified Assessors conduct low-cost assessments to provide each home a 1-10 score alongside a set of cost-effective upgrades to improve the score. As of February 2022, hundreds of assessors have delivered over 175,000 scores to homes across the country. Originally released in 2012 using DOE2.1e as the modeling backend, after years of effort, a new version of Home Energy Score was released in 2021 utilizing DOE's flagship energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. The updated architecture leverages modeling advancements and enables new building technologies to be added to the Scoring Tool. The new release represents a leap forward in harmonizing modeling assumptions across DOE and industry programs. In this paper we discuss the rigorous approach to model comparison with DOE2 undertaken prior to the update, utilizing test homes and real homes from the Home Energy Score database to strike a balance between consistency and more accurate energy predictions. We also discuss additional new capabilities, including improvements made to the upgrade recommendations methodology, the inclusion of an energy cost estimate metric based on ResStock analysis for use in home appraisals, and improved data analysis for quality assurance. Finally, we look at the impact Home Energy Score has had over the last decade and its future potential as its uptake in state energy plans, local ordinances, utility programs, and real estate data continues to grow.

building energy modeling↗
DOE OSTI2020

Applying Non-Energy Impacts from Other Jurisdictions in Cost-Benefit Analyses of Energy Efficiency Programs: Resources for States for Utility Customer-Funded Programs

Avoided energy and capacity costs are the primary yardstick utilities use to determine which energy efficiency programs are cost-effective for their customers. But sometimes "non-energy impacts" — not commonly recognized as directly associated with energy generation, transmission and distribution — represent substantial benefits, such as improving comfort, air quality and public health. Considering whether and how to include non-energy impacts is an important part of cost-benefit analyses for these programs. This report offers practical considerations for deciding which non-energy impacts to include and how to apply values or methods from other jurisdictions. Researchers reviewed studies quantifying non-energy impacts used in 30 states and applied a five-point system to indicate transferability of a value or method from each study for 16 categories of non-energy impacts: Water resource costs and benefits; Other fuels costs and benefits; Avoided environmental compliance costs; Environmental impacts; Productivity; Health and safety; Asset value; Energy and/or capacity price suppression effects; Avoided costs of compliance with Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements; Avoided credit and collection costs; Avoided ancillary services; Comfort; Economic development and job impacts; Public health impacts; Energy security impacts; Increased reliability. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office supported this work.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project Strategic Energy Plan for Washington County, Maine

This Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) for Washington County, Maine was developed through the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to address local challenges related to electricity reliability, affordability, and safety. Grounded in a "relational infrastructure" approach, the plan recognizes that improved energy outcomes depend not only on physical grid investments but also on strengthened coordination and trust between utilities and communities. Using utility-provided reliability data, public datasets, and community input, the plan identifies key risks, including vegetation-related outages, high energy burden, and vulnerability among elderly and medically dependent populations. The SEP establishes three priority areas: hazard mitigation for energy infrastructure, outage safety and emergency readiness, and energy assistance and thermal safety. It outlines community-driven actions designed to complement utility-led system improvements, including targeted outreach, municipal coordination, and expanded access to energy programs. The plan also situates local conditions within broader state policy, market dynamics, and funding opportunities. Intended as a living document, this SEP provides a scalable framework for collaborative action to improve resilience, safety, and affordability in rural energy systems.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Energy Costs of Dewatering Feedstock Microalgae Species Using Conventional Implementations of Ultrasonic and Crossflow Filtration Technologies

The use of microalgae as a feedstock for biofuels and other products continues to be explored, but large-scale biomass production faces persistent high costs. One major cost contributor is the energy required for harvesting and dewatering, a challenge resulting from the dilute nature of microalgae cultures as well as the properties of microalgae cells. This study investigated the energy demands of concentrating three diverse microalgae species (Nannochloropsis salina, Scenedesmus obliquus, and Chlorella luteoviridis) exhibiting different settling velocities, a key harvesting property, using conventional ultrasonic and crossflow membrane filtration. Membrane-free ultrasonic filtration removed 60-80% of the microalgae largely in steady-state operations, increasing concentrations 20-100 times, while consuming 1-6 kWh/m3 - similar to centrifugation. In contrast, crossflow membrane filtration retained nearly 100% of the microalgae, increasing concentrations over 20-fold, but consumed 158 kWh/m3 - over 10 times the energy of centrifugation. Both approaches exceeded the 10% energy target suggested in the 2010 National Algal Biofuel Technology Roadmap. This study also highlights potential sources of energy savings. For ultrasonic filtration, attention to an innovative, dynamic property of the ultrasonic chamber called the Energy Efficiency Factor, could lead to energy reductions by no more than 10-fold and improve the favorability of two of the microalgae species studied. For membrane filtration, a dead-end configuration could reduce energy consumption by no more than 1000-fold, making it favorable for all three species. This study not only highlights the need to further increase the energy content of microalgae cultures, but also the critical importance of continued development of ultrasonic filtration and other harvesting technologies to achieve low-cost, energy-sustainable algal biofuels.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

JUST-R metrics for considering energy justice in early-stage energy research

We report achieving sustainable decarbonization of the energy sector requires implementing and improving energy technologies while simultaneously managing sources of social inequity in the energy system. Centering energy justice, which has "the goal of achieving equity in both the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remediating social, economic, and health burdens on those historically harmed by the energy system," in the transition to clean energy has become an increasingly urgent priority for social scientists, policymakers, and community activists alike. However, late-stage consideration of social impacts of energy technologies may result in identifying inequities only after substantial time, money, and effort have been expended on research and development (R&D). This issue is exemplified by concerns over environmental and human health impacts related to cobalt in lithium-ion batteries, which has spurred research into alternatives only after decades of R&D and the establishment of supply chains, infrastructure, and markets for cobalt-containing chemistries. Other examples include issues with land use and resource consumption related to first-generation biofuel feedstocks as well as occupational hazards and pollution associated with photovoltaics manufacturing. In all these cases, subsequent R&D to improve technologies or processes cannot undo the effects already experienced. Incorporating energy justice from the earliest stage of R&D will enable more just technology implementation, but integrating justice considerations into early-stage research is a challenge due to a lack of tools to assess and manage them. To fill this gap, we center early-stage research to develop the Justice Underpinning Science and Technology Research (JUST-R) metrics framework - energy justice metrics specifically targeted at early-stage researchers to assess their work on an immediate timescale. By applying these metrics to a case study focused on materials for next-generation photovoltaics, we highlight potential benefits and barriers to implementing this framework in early-stage research and discuss necessary institutional and individual actions needed for researchers to effectively leverage the tool to incorporate justice-focused criteria into R&D decision making.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Energy efficiency and thermal resilience analysis for row houses using representative building energy models

Row houses, a prevalent medium-density urban archetype, were popularized during industrial era to accommodate the working class in the U.S. cities. Today, many of these structures are deteriorating, exacerbating the energy cost for residents with limited economic resources. Moreover, many households that lack Air Conditioning (AC) are vulnerable to extreme summer heat, an issue expected to worsen in the future. Energy-efficient retrofits can help mitigate these challenges. However, current literature provides limited insight into how existing building energy codes impact the energy efficiency and thermal resilience of row houses in current and future weather scenarios. This study provides a detailed method to address this gap by employing calibrated representative energy models of row houses as a baseline, and evaluating the annual energy savings and summertime thermal safety improvements from code compliant retrofits under current and future typical weather conditions. Using Baltimore City as a case study, results show that under current weather, retrofitting row houses yields significant energy savings along with notable thermal resilience improvements. The end unit row house realizes higher energy savings, whereas the interior unit experiences greater thermal resilience improvement after retrofitting. In future, retrofitted row houses can still save energy, but residents will face numerous hours of fatal indoor temperatures without AC in summer. Additionally, findings reveal stark zone-wise variations in thermal safety, and elevated humidity risks in certain zones post-retrofit, emphasizing the need for zonal retrofit strategies and better natural ventilation strategies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Localized energy burden, concentrated disadvantage, and the feminization of energy poverty

Energy burden directly influences households' health and safety. Amid a growing literature on energy, poverty and gender remains relatively understudied. We evaluate socioeconomic, geographic, and health factors as multidimensions of concentrated disadvantage that magnify energy burden in the United States over time. We show that the energy burden is more pronounced in disadvantaged counties with larger elderly, impoverished, disabled people, and racialized populations where people do not have health insurance. Neighborhoods with households headed by women of color (especially Black women) are more likely to face a high energy burden, which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although energy costs are often regarded as an individual responsibility, these findings illustrate the feminization of energy poverty and indicate the need for an intersectional and interdisciplinary framework in devising energy policy directed to households with the most severe energy burden.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Community-Scale Energy Efficiency Assessment for Zero Net Energy Using the URBANopt Simulation Platform: Preprint

This project explored an innovative modeling approach for assessing the energy efficiency potential of the existing low-income Oceano neighborhood, in unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, and its effects on renewable generation requirements for achieving zero net energy (ZNE). One particular challenge faced was ascertaining the technical energy savings potential across a large neighborhood in a timely manner. The project overcame this challenge through the use of the URBANopt simulation platform, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. URBANopt manages the automated model creation, simulation, and result aggregation for different design scenarios of existing or candidate buildings in a large neighborhood. Customized energy efficiency packages considered for the residential and commercial sector in the neighborhood included lighting, HVAC, plug load, water heating, envelope, and energy education measures. As a result of the analysis for the Oceano community, energy efficiency measures that are available through incentive programs may provide a 7.4% reduction in the required distributed energy resource (DER) size, corresponding to a 25,000 ft2 decrease in PV array area, to achieve ZNE. Through this work, a computational tool was developed and is being leveraged by the County of San Luis Obispo (CoSLO). The tool has enabled the CoSLO staff to perform similar analysis of the technical potential for energy efficiency, and an understanding of the DER asset requirements and potential savings in other communities within the county.

building energy modeling↗
DOE OSTI2023

Centering Energy and Environmental Justice in the Buildings Energy Sector

We face incredible challenges for decarbonizing our economy and raising the standard of living for all members of our society at the same time. Historical energy efficiency efforts have been effective in making small steps, but they fall far short of the massive changes we need to make, and they completely miss helping communities of disadvantage (e.g. low-income, African American, Hispanic American, Native American and tribal nations, etc). Business as usual efforts do not take the time to connect with and understand the challenges of these historical underinvested communities and therefore have not been effective at helping these communities. The Biden Harris Administration has set ambitious goals for decarbonization of our economy that include a requirement that 40% of efforts support energy and environmental justice communities. If we are to meet our decarbonization goals, it is imperative that we change our approach to research, development, and deployment of new technologies. The Department of Energy has set energy justice as a priority and is working with the national laboratories to change our approaches. This paper starts with definitions of what we mean by energy and environmental justice and how they apply to building technologies and deployment efforts. We provide several examples of how historical efforts have succeeded and how they have failed to account for challenges of communities of disadvantage. We identify market and technology barriers to decarbonization and energy efficiency for specific technologies and how these barriers are exacerbated for disadvantaged communities. From these examples, we propose a new framework for integrating energy and environmental justice into all aspects of technology development, deployment, and policy efforts within the building energy sector.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading and Grid Impact Studies in Smart Communities

The rise of peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace paradigms has transformed existing marketplace models, but the extent to which this approach can be applied to the energy marketplace has yet to be considered. In this paper, we examine existing approaches taken in the application of a P2P paradigm to the energy marketplace, further presenting an approach towards facilitating an online P2P energy marketplace, implementing a prototype P2P web application named SolTrade. Furthermore, we submit initial statistics based on simulated transactions facilitated through the platform, which illustrate the physical impact of marketplace transactions on the energy grid. In particular, these results show that, as the number of users rises, the chance of overloading the grid rises, but the chance of the grid being unable to sustain itself without an external source of energy falls.

peer-to-peer economy, web development, energy shar↗
DOE OSTI2022

Analyzing the Multiscale Impacts of Implementing Energy-Efficient HVAC Improvements Through Energy Audits and Economic Input–Output Analysis

Abstract Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are usually an industry’s highest consumer of energy, most of which goes toward space cooling in buildings. Industrial energy-efficiency audits not only benefit manufacturers but also generate significant economic and environmental benefits to localities, states, and the nation. This article analyzes the micro- and macro scale impacts of implementing energy-efficient HVAC systems by integrating the industrial building energy data with the macroeconomic regional economic flow model. Micro-scale data include 10 years of historical energy, cost, and carbon dioxide savings achieved from energy-efficient HVAC implementation offered to manufacturers through industrial energy audits. The data were integrated into the macroeconomic modeling framework to illuminate the cascading regional economic impacts of implementing energy-efficient HVAC recommendations in manufacturing facilities. Results show that if recommendations had been implemented throughout all manufacturers in the region, $656 M energy costs would have been directly saved, 7.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions would have been avoided, and 4387 jobs could have been created, resulting in a total annual economic impact of $899 M stemming from direct, indirect, and induced impacts. The results offer insight into how industrial energy systems can be designed and provide models for how communities can accomplish a net-zero society.

Energy & Fuels↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project: Bainbridge Island, Washington - Cohort 2 Technical Assistance: Pathways to 100% Renewable Energy

The City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) applied for and received technical assistance from the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) in part to achieve their goal of 100% renewable electricity generation by 2040, five years ahead of the Washington State goal, and to increase its energy resilience in the face of natural disasters. To help address these goals, the City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) applied for and received technical assistance from the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) during 2022-2024. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, ETIPP provides technical assistance to remote coastal and island communities interested in approaches to renewable and resilient energy transitions. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) completed the technical analysis aspects of the project, supported by the community partner Spark Northwest and the program administrator, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This report begins by describing the approach to technical assistance in the ETIPP project, followed by the development of future scenarios for electric demand based on current use. Potential pathways to 100% renewable energy are identified and analyzed by technology contributions from solar energy, anaerobic biodigestion, distributed wind, and marine energy. The combinations of these technologies and contributions to meet demand are discussed, along with potential policies and programs for implementation of the most relevant technologies moving forward. The report concludes with recommendations for next steps for COBI to meet the goal of 100% renewable energy generation by 2040 on- and off-island, and key caveats to consider.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of nuclear modification of energy-energy correlators inside jets in heavy ion collisions

Energy-energy correlators are constructed by averaging the number of charged particle pairs within jets, weighted by the product of their transverse momenta, as a function of the angular separation of the particles within a pair. They are sensitive to a multitude of perturbative and nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics phenomena in high-energy particle collisions. Using lead-lead data recorded with the CMS detector, energy-energy correlators inside high transverse momentum jets are measured in heavy ion collisions for the first time. The data are obtained at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.70 nb −1 . A similar analysis is done for proton-proton collisions at the same center-of-mass energy to establish a reference. The ratio of lead-lead to proton-proton energy-energy correlators reveals significant jet substructure modifications in the quark-gluon plasma. The results are compared to different models that incorporate either color coherence or medium response effects, where the two effects predict similar substructure modifications.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

An Energy Service Interface for Distributed Energy Resources

Renewable energy resources, particularly wind and solar photovoltaic, are becoming significant contributors to electric power generation. These re-sources will contribute towards achieving sustainable electric power systems. However, renewable resources will dramatically increase the demand for flexible power system operations. This paper proposes an energy service interface that will allow aggregated distributed energy resources, such as residential loads and inverter-based systems, to participate in NERC-defined smart energy reliability services. Such cyber-physical systems will increase system flexibility by ensuring match between energy supply and energy demand.Aggregation and coordinated dispatch of millions of distributed energy resources will require development of large-scale computing networks. Several smart grid interface-enabling technologies, including IEEE 2030.5, Common Smart Inverter Profile, SunSpec Modbus, and CTA 2045, are discussed. Residential loads are categorized by their static and dynamic energy characteristics to identify services in which they can participate. The business model for the energy services interface as well as probabilistic modeling for resource estimation are highlighted as future considerations.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Exploring Renewable Energy Opportunities in Select Southeast Asian Countries: A Geospatial Analysis of the Levelized Cost of Energy of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Photovoltaics

The costs of renewable energy-based electricity generation have fallen precipitously in recent years to levels that are increasingly competitive with traditional generation such as fossil fuel-based generation. As these costs become increasingly competitive, private developers, policymakers, and energy system planners are searching for opportunities to harness high-quality renewable energy resources. Developing economies are setting ambitious targets and exploring how cost-effective, grid-connected renewable energy options can help power economic growth and meet growing electricity demands. This includes the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that are determined to reach a target of 23% of renewable energy in the region's total primary energy supply by 2025. A critical gap to identifying opportunities and scaling up renewable energy is the lack of quality data and analyses to support decisions on the investment and deployment of renewables - including wind and solar photovoltaics (PV). This work supports decision making by providing high-quality data and spatial analysis of the cost of utility-scale wind and solar PV generation in select countries of Southeast Asia - specifically, the ASEAN member states. Generation costs are expressed as the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) - a commonly used metric that represents the net present value of the unit cost of electricity during the lifetime of a particular electricity generation technology. This is the first spatial estimate of LCOE for these technologies within the ASEAN member states - providing insights into the roles that renewable energy resource quality and other factors may play in generation costs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗