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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 91 records · Page 5

Scenario-based analysis of electric vehicle adoption in the United States: Technology, infrastructure, and electricity pricing

This work investigates the impact of battery technology advancement, charging infrastructure development, and time-of-use (TOU) electricity pricing on vehicle adoption by 6 powertrain types in the United States through 2050. Using the Market Acceptance of Advanced Automotive Technologies (MA3T) model, we simulate 15 scenarios, examining individual cost factors and their combinations. We assess outcomes through market share, consumer surplus, and energy consumption. Results show that battery cost reductions are the strongest driver of EV adoption, increasing 2050 battery electric vehicle (BEV) share by 27 percentage points over baseline, raising annual consumer surplus by $511 per household, and reducing cumulative energy consumption by 16,610 trillion Btu. These gains are two to five times larger than those from other individual factors. Reducing home charging installation costs produces moderate impact, while TOU pricing alone yields only small gains, raising 2050 BEV market share by 1–2 percentage points. However, when cost factor improvements are combined, their effects are amplified beyond simple additivity. Pairing modest battery cost reductions with charging installation cost reductions and TOU pricing results in the largest 2050 BEV sales combined impact. The analysis demonstrates that moderate progress targeting multiple cost barriers may be more impactful than focusing on any single barrier.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

De-Risking High-Recovery Brackish Water Desalination via Flow Reversal and Feed Flushing Using Techno-Economic Assessment

Novel desalination technologies have demonstrated enhanced performance and improved financial metrics over existing processes adopted by industry. Establishing quantitative performance targets is essential for achieving financial benefits over the current state of the art. Herein, we demonstrate how WaterTAP, a techno-economic assessment (TEA) tool, can be used to identify minimum performance metrics necessary to achieve financial benefit over using existing processes. This study evaluates the feasibility of increasing water recovery at the Chino Desalter I above 90 % through the addition of a third variable configuration reverse osmosis (VCRO) stage. Sensitivity analyses revealed flow reversal frequency, feed flushing volume (used as a cleaning step), and membrane lifespan are key factors influencing the financial viability of the VCRO process. The TEA analysis demonstrated that the system must achieve a recovery of 84 % and a 1-year membrane lifespan to have a breakeven LCOW, while achieving 90 % recovery can ultimately reduce the LCOW by 16 %. Notably, a trade-off between decreasing frictional losses and increased osmotic pressure across the recovery range, resulted in a stable specific energy consumption across the recovery range, enabling meaningful LCOW reductions without an energy penalty, a key finding that contrasts with conventional RO. This work demonstrates how TEA can guide system design by identifying key performance targets and exploring trade-offs, enabling data-driven decisions to de-risk innovative processes. These findings underscore the importance of leveraging TEA to evaluate scaling mitigation strategies and optimize inland desalination systems for sustainable and cost-effective operation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Prevalence of typical operational problems and energy savings opportunities in U.S. commercial buildings

In the United States, as much as 30% of the 19 EJ that commercial buildings consume is considered excess. Much of the excess energy is due to the inability to manage building operations efficiently. Because almost 20% of the total primary energy consumption is associated with commercial buildings, significant energy reductions in this sector are needed to mitigate climate change. Therefore, many cities and states are mandating periodic “tune-ups” of these buildings to eliminate excess energy consumption. Although the benefits of tune-ups and retro-commissioning are clear, focusing these mandates to look for specific opportunities has been a challenge because of the lack of studies that document the prevalence of opportunities. Therefore, we analyzed building automation system data from 151 buildings across the United States to document common operational problems and opportunities to improve building operations. This analysis showed that opportunities to improve building operations exist in almost every building. These opportunities were not strongly correlated with building vintage or size, but were reflective of how the buildings are operated. The prevalence of the top 20 opportunities ranged between 74% and 23%, with 40% of these associated with air-handling units. The rest of the opportunities are associated with schedules, chilled and hot-water distribution, and zone controls. Of the 151 buildings, 69 of them implemented corrective actions of some or all opportunities that were identified. Implementation varied across the Re-tuning categories, with 60% for schedule opportunities, 50% for zone opportunities, over 40% for the air-handling unit and hot-water opportunities, and 35% of the chilled-water opportunities. There was wide variation in whole building energy savings, ranging from 0 to 50% and 0 to 18 $/m2 with median percent annual whole building savings of 12% and median normalized annual cost savings of $1.75/m2. In addition to documenting these key findings, the paper provides a list of opportunities that can be automatically and continuously identified and corrected and offers a list of those opportunities that should be the focus of the mandates.

Katipamula, Srinivas↗

Supply Chain Energy and Greenhouse Gas Analysis Using the Materials Flows through Industry (MFI) Tool: Examination of Decarbonization Technology Scenarios for the U.S. Glass Manufacturing Sector

Glass manufacturing is a major part of the U.S. economy, and glass products in multiple sectors - flat glass, container glass, and fiberglass - are a part of everyday life. Despite glass manufacturing's long history, there are still many opportunities for glass production to improve in terms of both in overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. Scenarios for the flat, container, and fiberglass sectors show the effect that each improvement has on primary energy demand and GHG emissions, starting from an industry baseline that reflects current manufacturing practices. Using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Material Flows through Industry tool, multiple scenarios are examined for each glass sector by applying a combination of energy reduction, increased electrification, hydrogen cofiring, a more renewable electric grid, and increased use of cullet. Additional decarbonization options are possible for glass but are left for later analysis due to cost, feasibility, or data issues. Primary energy demand can be reduced by 75%-83% compared to baseline inputs, depending on the sector, and GHG emissions are reduced by 82%-86%. Applying the maximum level of improvements listed here has the potential to save over 300 million GJ and 25 million metric tons of GHGs by 2050.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Electrochemical Nutrient Recovery for the Food–Energy–Water Nexus at Municipal Wastewater Facilities: Multivariate Analyses of Seasonal Sampling and Reactor Performance

Digester-equipped municipal wastewater facilities generate recycle streams with high nutrient loads that increase energy consumption and can cause environmental pollution. The reduction of these loads through electrochemical nutrient recovery (ENR) could enhance the food–energy–water nexus by producing fertilizer (struvite). This study investigated the recovery process through a 1 year sampling of recycle streams and the implementation of nutrient recovery. Time series analyses showed that P (as orthophosphate) concentration was time-variant in digester effluent streams, while N (as ammonia) concentration was time-variant in only the aerobic system. Furthermore, these two nutrient concentrations did not correlate in any of the recycle streams. Subsequent multivariate screening analyses identified anode type, NH 4 + concentration, cathodic potential, P concentration, and temperature as most significant for ENR. Finally, the optimum conditions of cathodic potential, anode area-to-volume ratio, and temperature applied to a real recycle stream resulted in 95% P recovery with 0.03 kWh/kg P. This energy consumption is significantly lower than process energy for conventional P fertilizers (1.1 kWh/kg P) and chemical recovery processes at scale (1.7–12.9 kWh/kg P). Overall, this study recommended specific process controls for nutrient recovery, expanded the variables evaluated for ENR, and demonstrated the ability to significantly impact energy demand associated with P-based fertilizers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Coupling Amorphization and Compositional Optimization of Ternary Metal Phosphides toward High-Performance Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Amorphous materials, with abundant active sites and unique electronic configurations, have the potential to outperform their crystalline counterparts in high-performance catalysis for clean energy. However, their synthesis and compositional optimization remain underexplored due to the strict conditions required for their formation. Here, in this study, we report the synthesis of ternary platinum-nickel-phosphorus (PtNiP) amorphous nanoparticles (ANPs) within milliseconds by flash Joule heating, which features ultrafast cooling that enables the vitrification of metal precursors. Through compositional optimization, the Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption for Pt 4 Ni 4 P 1 ANPs is optimized at 0.02 eV, an almost ideal value, even surpassing that of the benchmark metallic platinum catalyst. As a result, the PtNiP ANPs exhibited superior activity in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in acid electrolyte (η 10 ∼ 14 mV, Tafel slope ∼ 18 mV dec –1 , and mass activity 5× higher than state-of-the-art Pt/C). Life-cycle assessment and technoeconomic analysis suggest that, compared to existing processes, our approach enables notable reductions in greenhouse gas emission, energy consumption, and production cost for practical electrolyzer catalyst manufacturing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A Design for Remanufacturing Framework Incorporating Identification, Evaluation, and Validation: A Case Study of Hydraulic Manifold

In recent years, academic researchers and engineers in the industry have widely recognized the necessity of integrating remanufacturing considerations into product design iterations to advance sustainability objectives. Acknowledging the importance of design for remanufacturing (DfRem), efforts were made to develop tools and guidelines that could be implemented in practice. However, such methods largely rely upon experiential insights and qualitative assessments, leaving a gap in the ability to quantitatively assess the economic and environmental impacts of design choices. To bridge this gap, we investigate existing efforts and present a framework for DfRem that integrates established design and remanufacturing practices into a cohesive workflow with quantitative assessments. To demonstrate its efficacy for making practical design changes for remanufacturing, we apply the framework to a hydraulic manifold in a transmission system for heavy-duty tractors. Through this industry-relevant case study, we focus on showcasing the practical utility of our framework. Based on the identified design modifications from remanufacturability analysis, we estimate the reductions in life cycle costs, energy consumption, and emissions. Afterward, the modifications are tested using physical experiments with plans for integration into future iterations of the hydraulic manifold design and production. Here, we anticipate this framework can illustrate the process of remanufacturing that ensures improvements in sustainability while maintaining performance and reliability standards.

design for X↗

A deep decarbonization framework for the United States economy – a sector, sub-sector, and end-use based approach

Achieving the United States' target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will require technological transformations and energy sector mitigation. To understand the role of dynamically evolving technologies, identify synergies and dissonance and the effect of allocating limited low-carbon biomass resources in decarbonizing the U.S. economy, we developed the Decarbonization Scenario Analysis Model. A Life Cycle Assessment based approach is implemented considering the U.S. economy as the functional unit, to estimate greenhouse gas mitigation potential for projected energy demand based on several sector-level and cross-sectoral decarbonization pathways. Direct and supply-chain emissions are accounted, resulting from changes in patterns of energy generation and consumption, technology breakthroughs, and reductions in fugitive emissions over time at the granularity of economic sectors, sub-sectors, and end-use. Decarbonization strategies are implemented over a reference case developed using Energy Information Administration (EIA AEO) projection of economic activities for 2020–2050. Based on the considered scenarios, 80–90% economy-wide decarbonization relative to the 2020 reference case is projected. Electrification, low-carbon fuels, and reduction of fugitive emissions play the most significant role to decarbonization. The majority of the remaining emissions are accounted to the supply-chain and end-use emissions from natural gas and diesel fossil-based fuels in heavy duty transportation and heavy industries, highlighting the need for developing low-carbon and carbon-negative alternatives to mitigate those fossil-based carbon emissions.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Brick Schema Standardized Plug Load Control Strategies for Load Reduction: Preprint

Plug loads comprise a significant percentage of commercial building energy consumption. Applying intelligent controls to turn off plug loads when unused can provide dynamic load reduction and flexibility, which are key traits of grid-interactive efficient buildings. This capability is important for equitable decarbonization as it can enable disadvantaged communities to electrify buildings without costly upgrades to electrical infrastructure. In this work, we present the effectiveness of various control strategies along with the operational lessons that informed their design. During a three-year period, we operated over 600 smart outlets in 12 university office buildings. The attached plug loads consisted primarily of printers, TVs, water dispensers, and copiers. After recording baseline power measurements for one year, we designed plug load control (PLC) strategies for each plug load type, use, and for different risk tolerance levels because PLC can potentially be disruptive to daily work. We used the Brick Schema to facilitate the management of plug load locations and other metadata. For advanced controls, we integrated the smart plugs with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems through the campus building automation system. We found static schedules to be the least disruptive and most predictable for occupants, resulting in 38% and 66% energy savings in two studies. For printers, print server-triggered PLC produced 86% savings, the highest of all strategies with minimal occupant impact. Scheduling of water dispensers and digital signage TVs produced 49% and 70% savings respectively with opportunities to improve performance with the use of HVAC occupancy data.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION↗

Peak load reduction and load shaping in HVAC and refrigeration systems in commercial buildings by using a novel lightweight dynamic priority-based control strategy

Reducing peak power demand in a building can reduce electricity expenses for the building owner and contribute to the efficiency and reliability of the electrical power grid. For the building owner, reduced expenses come from the reduction or elimination of peak power charges on electricity bills. For the power system operator, reducing peak power demand leads to a more predictable load profile and reduces stress on the electric grid system. Herein we present a computationally inexpensive, dynamic, and retrofit-deployable control strategy to effect peak load reduction and load shaping. The effectiveness of the control strategy is examined in a simulation with 80 air-conditioning units and 40 refrigeration units. The results show that a peak demand reduction of 60 kW can be achieved relative to peak demand in a typical set point–based approach. The proposed strategy was deployed in a gymnasium building with four rooftop HVAC units, where it showed over 15% peak demand (kW) reduction savings while maintaining or lowering energy consumption (in kilowatt-hours) relative to the set point–based thermostat controls.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Analysis of Residential Time-of-Use Utility Rate Structures and Economic Implications for Thermal Energy Storage

Thermal energy storage (TES) is an increasingly popular tool to level out the daily electrical demand and add stability to the electrical grid as more intermittent renewable energy sources are installed. TES systems can locally decouple high thermal loads from the operation of a heat pump or reduce the electrical energy demand of the heat pump by providing a more favorable temperature gradient. In addition, many policy makers and utility providers have introduced time-of-use (TOU) rate schedules for residential customers to better reflect the price of electricity generation and demand for specific times. TOU rate schedules price grid-provided electricity differently throughout the day depending on the region’s climate, time of year, and electrical production. Large differences between on-peak and off-peak electrical prices may create an economic advantage for a residential customer to install a TES system. In this work, the economic and energy savings are calculated for a modeled 2,400 square foot residential building with water/ice-based TES using a TOU rate structure. The weather data is from Fresno County, CA, ASHRAE climate zone 3B, and a representative residential TOU utility rate structure from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) was used. The results showed that total energy consumption could be reduced by 14.5% with an 87.5% reduction in on-peak energy usage when the TES is installed. The cost of operating this system for space cooling was reduced by nearly 20% using the sample utility rate plan.

Sultan, Sara↗

FY 2021 Idaho National Laboratory Site Sustainability Plan

The mission of the Department of Energy (DOE) is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. This FY 2021 Idaho National Laboratory Site Sustainability Plan (SSP) was developed to enable and sustain Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) mission to discover, demonstrate, and secure innovative nuclear solutions, clean energy options, and critical infrastructure. The SSP was developed according to the narrative requirements from the “FY 2021 DOE Site Sustainability Plan Guidance” document issued in August 2020. The SSP contains strategies and activities that will lead to continual energy, water, and waste reductions that move INL toward meeting DOE sustainability goals and requirements. The SSP summarizes energy and available fuel use reporting requirements and references criteria for instituting sustainable design. SSP requirements are integrated into each INL contractor’s Integrated Safety Management System and Environmental Management System (EMS). Finally, the Sustainability Program directives, based on this SSP, are integrated into the INL Annual Laboratory Plan Fiscal Year 2020 (INL/LTD-20-59747), and operations and acquisition systems.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Potential Cooling Energy Savings of Economizer Control and Artificial-Neural-Network-Based Air-Handling Unit Discharge Air Temperature Control for Commercial Building

Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems play a significant role in building energy consumption, accounting for around 50% of total energy usage. As a result, it is essential to explore ways to conserve energy and improve HVAC system efficiency. One such solution is the use of economizer controls, which can reduce cooling energy consumption by using the free-cooling effect. However, there are various types of economizer controls available, and their effectiveness may vary depending on the specific climate conditions. To investigate the cooling energy-saving potential of economizer controls, this study employs a dry-bulb temperature-based economizer control approach. The dry-bulb temperature-based control strategy uses the outdoor air temperature as an indicator of whether free cooling can be used instead of mechanical cooling. This study also introduces an artificial neural network (ANN) prediction model to optimize the control of the HVAC system, which can lead to additional cooling energy savings. To develop the ANN prediction model, the EnergyPlus program is used for simulation modeling, and the Python programming language is employed for model development. The results show that implementing a temperature-based economizer control strategy can lead to a reduction of 7.6% in annual cooling energy consumption. Moreover, by employing an ANN-based optimal control of discharge air temperature in air-handling units, an additional 22.1% of cooling energy savings can be achieved. In conclusion, the findings of this study demonstrate that the implementation of economizer controls, especially the dry-bulb temperature-based approach, can be an effective strategy for reducing cooling energy consumption in HVAC systems. Additionally, using ANN prediction models to optimize HVAC system controls can further increase energy savings, resulting in improved energy efficiency and reduced operating costs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Energy Analysis: Ways to Save Energy and Reduce the Emissions in Wastewater Treatment Plants

The key of this study is to explore the primary energy consumers in wastewater treatment plants, which is considered as one of the major energy consumers, and introduces the best solution to save energy and reduce emissions in these facilities. This study is based on the energy assessment and analyses of eleven wastewater treatment plants. Through the investigation, it was found that plants can save up to 44,158 MWh of the energy consumption which is 47% from the total electricity consumption with a 17% reduction in the total utility bills and that about 2.5 million dollars cost savings after reviewing the currently facilitated energy system. Additionally, an average of five years' payback period resulted in most energy-saving recommendations. A vast potential of greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced with a total range reduction between 13 to 35 million kg of CO 2 based on the speed reduction percentage.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Renewable Thermal Hybridization Framework for Industrial Process Heat Applications

Solar industrial process heat (SIPH) technologies, such as concentrating solar power collectors, could economically replace the steam or heat needs at many industrial sites by providing high-temperature heat transfer fluids (HTFs) such as pressurized water, synthetic-oil, or direct steam. Renewable thermal energy systems (RTES) could be hybridized with different renewable options e.g., flat plate collectors with parabolic trough collectors, or combined with existing heat supplies (e.g., fossil fuels), to give options for targeted SIPH applications, industrial decarbonization and the reduction of fuel consumption. Hybrid solutions and thermal energy storage will be important for the dispatch of heat at optimal times needed by the demand side of the buildings and industrial applications. At present, there is no integrated modeling tool for hybrid RTES, and this paper highlights the development of a renewable thermal hybridization framework for IPH use that is built from existing tools like System Advisor Model. The long-term vision for the framework (through significant further research) is to develop a coupled hybrid energy generation and cost analysis tool, where the tool could help the user in determining the most suitable and cost-effective technologies for their applications. Ongoing work will look to add costs for RTES options and further refinement on the selection of suitable technologies. This future tool could calculate the levelized cost of heat of various RTES hybrid options, by taking the user's solar resource, fuel costs, industrial heat demand profile, available land, and other factors into account to determine the applicability into their process.

concentrating solar power↗

Renewable Thermal Hybridization Framework for Industrial Process Heat Applications

Renewable thermal energy systems (RTES) could be hybridized with different renewable options (e.g., flat plate collectors (FPCs) with parabolic collectors), or combined with existing heat supplies (e.g., fossil fuels), to give options for targeted solar IPH applications, industrial decarbonization and the reduction of fuel consumption. Buildings and industrial thermal energy applications require different temperature ranges, quantities, and rates of thermal energy, and as such require flexible, cost competitive solutions, able to provide heat over various temperature ranges. Hybrid solutions and thermal energy storage (TES) will be important for the dispatch of heat at optimal times needed by the demand side of the buildings and industrial applications. A variety of tools and platforms, such as the System Advisor Model (SAM), can provide hourly thermal yield simulations from single renewable energy (RE) technology options, including FPCs or CSP for solar IPH. We have investigated a variety of approaches to hybrid system modeling for RTES at different temperatures or combinations of technologies and developed an initial framework. The hybridization framework starts by creating a heat stream and raising the temperature of that heat stream by various combinations of RE technologies and other sources such as fossil fuels, new fuels or electric heating in multiple stages, with options for TES and/or waste heat recovery (WHR).

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Single vs double atom catalyst for N 2 activation in nitrogen reduction reaction: A DFT perspective

Abstract Ammonia synthesis through electrochemical reduction of nitrogen molecules is a promising strategy to significantly reduce the energy consumption in traditional industrial process. Detailed mechanism study of multistep complex nitrogen reduction reaction is prerequisite for the design of highly efficient catalyst. Stable atomically dispersed catalyst with unique geometric and electronic structure is suitable for the mechanism clarification of such a complex reaction. In this study, d ‐block transition‐metal (TM) anchored C 2 N single layer catalyst is investigated by the density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Both single TM‐anchored single atom catalyst (SAC) and double TM‐anchored double atom catalyst (DAC) exhibit good thermodynamic stability in atomically dispersed catalyst. In the case of SACs, IVB metals (Ti, Zr, Hf) exhibit the highest reactivity and lowest overpotential. While in the case of DACs, Cr─Cr system leads to the NH 3 formation, but V─V system leads to the N 2 H 4 formation. The SACs show much lower overpotential and stronger activation of N 2 molecule than the DACs due to the different activation mechanisms: traditional σ ‐donation/ π ‐backdonation N 2 activation mechanism is found in SACs, while a new π ‐donation/π‐backdonation N 2 activation mechanism is found in the DACs. The present work demonstrates that the different catalytic effect for NRR between SAC and DAC and their corresponding electronic structure origin, which gives more insight into the single atom catalyst. image

Qian, Yumin↗

Upcycling Mixed Spent Ni-Lean Cathodes into Ni-Rich Polycrystalline Cathodes

Sustainable battery recycling is vital for conserving resources and reducing environmental impacts. Current open- and closed-loop recycling strategies often focus on recovering individual components, making the reuse of mixed cathode materials a complex challenge. Meanwhile, the research on upcycling has been limited to using pristine cathode feedstocks and virgin materials for synthesis. Here, to address this issue, we present an upcycling approach for spent Ni-lean mixed cathode materials that integrate an upcycling hydrometallurgical recycling process with traditional hydrometallurgical methods. This strategy achieves a utilization of 92.31 mol % of recycled materials, enabling the regeneration of Ni-rich cathode materials while significantly reducing the reliance on virgin resources. The regenerated 83Ni cathode materials demonstrate physical properties comparable to those produced from virgin materials. Electrochemical evaluations using single-layer pouch cells show that both recycled and virgin cathodes exhibit initial specific capacity close to 201.1 mAh/g and maintain approximately 88 % capacity retention after 500 cycles. Additionally, 2Ah cells confirmed these findings, delivering 85 % capacity retention after about 900 cycles. Techno-economic analysis demonstrates notable environmental benefits, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, achieving 232.75 MJ/kg of product, which is 8.6 % lower than traditional methods and comparable to direct upcycling. Furthermore, the upcycling hydrometallurgical recycling process generates the highest profit, proving its economic viability. This scalable and versatile process is adaptable to varying transition metal compositions, facilitating a closed-loop recycling system that bridges mixed spent cathodes with next-generation cathode materials, and offers a sustainable solution for managing waste battery materials.

Hydrometallurgical recycling↗