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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Challenges and Opportunities for Basic Efficiency Measures in Low-Income Homes: A Southeast Alaska Case Study

Juneau, Alaska is the state's capital city and has a renewable energy goal to reach 80% renewable energy for the space heating and transportation sectors by 2045. In practical terms, this indicates a need to electrify both sectors, to take advantage of the inexpensive hydropower available from the local electric utility, Alaska Energy Light & Power. In an effort to complement and enable electrification, researchers examined the feasibility to deploy storm windows via a case study of installing storm windows in two local low-income homes. Newer models of storm windows provide an extra layer of insulation over existing windows, while preserving operability and views. They can also improve comfort and reduce noise. Researchers worked with the regional housing authority and a local builder to install the storm windows and replace inoperable windows in the two houses in 2021, in addition to conducting pre- and post-installation air leakage tests, energy monitoring, and occupant interviews. The team encountered several challenges, including a lack of egress windows, energy data from a wide variety of heating systems, extremely leaky homes, and installation issues such as windows that were not square. These results point to several barriers to widespread deployment of storm windows in the area, but also open the door to opportunities to design deployment programs that improve safety as well as efficiency.

cold climate↗
DOE OSTI2024

Ductless Heat Pump Energy Monitoring in a Cold Climate

In 2018, the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska set the goal of reaching 80% renewable energy for heating and transportation by 2045. An important factor to help reach this goal is finding energy efficiency home heating technologies such as ductless air source heat pumps (DHPs), which rely on the local hydropower electric grid to provide space heating for an entire home or a main living area. To help residents reduce energy costs and move toward the community renewable energy goal, a team of local, state, and national partners joined to run Thermalize Juneau 2021, an energy campaign that provided education, a simplified installation process, and a bulk purchase discount. Overall, the campaign enrolled 165 participants, resulting in 75 DHP installations and over 30 energy efficiency improvements. To evaluate the reliability and energy use of the DHPs installed during the Thermalize Juneau campaign, researchers installed energy monitors on heat pumps of 14 participants and conducted interviews with homeowners. Data from two heating seasons (2021-2022 and 2022-2023) has allowed researchers to examine the accuracy of pre-campaign energy savings predictions, establish energy savings for a small group of households, and provide insights on the energy use and occupant satisfaction of DHPs which will help to inform future heat pump deployment efforts in the area.

air source heat pump↗
DOE OSTI2024

BETTER Together

The Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) and Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) platforms are both developed by the Department of Energy and work better together. SEED is a database to manage building characteristics and performance data from a variety of sources. BETTER provides simple energy efficiency measure analyses based on high level data about the building or portfolio of buildings. A demonstration of each platform and their integration will be provided. The inputs for BETTER are building type, floor area, location, utility data, and whether PV shall be included in the analysis. The BETTER analysis can be manually set up through the web application or data can be uploaded with a BuildingSync XML file either directly or through the API. SEED can be the source of this data and the data can be sent to BETTER through the SEED application after the BETTER API token has been entered. The benefit of utilizing SEED is that it has connections to many other sources of data such as ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, Audit Template, and Salesforce. Therefore, it is likely that a user of SEED will already have the required inputs for BETTER in SEED already and can create BETTER analyses across their whole portfolio in a couple mouse clicks. This is a major time savings and enables decision makers an easy path to identify buildings that should undergo more detailed audits or retrofit pathways.

ASHRAE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Leveraging T&TA Plans to Support State Workforce Development Needs

This presentation talks about how to maximize training and technical assistance (T&TA) budgets within the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Grantees share creative ways they've used T&TA funds to support workforce recruitment and retention, staff training, work quality, monitoring, and more.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION,↗
DOE OSTI2024

WAP Innovation and Collaboration: Updates from NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) gives an update on initiatives supporting the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). This presentation explains how to leverage NREL's cutting-edge resources, tools, and workforce initiatives to strengthen organizations' impact within the WAP network.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION,↗
DOE OSTI2024

Climate Change Impacts on WAP

This presentation uncovers the science behind climate change and its direct impact on weatherization work! This presentation explores the facts, dissect the data, and connect the dots between climate change and the crucial role of weatherization.

change↗
DOE OSTI2024

Uruguay's Action Plan and Experience for Power Sector Decarbonization

A collaborative report from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors, was delivered to energy ministers and presented at the 13th CEM (CEM13) in the United States in September 2022. In light of these lessons learned and discussed at CEM13, several jurisdictions signaled intent to develop Action Plans for power sector decarbonization. The first cohort of Action Plans was released at CEM14 in India in July 2023. The Uruguay Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining is pleased to release this Action Plan as a contribution to the second cohort of Action Plans released at CEM15 in Brazil in October 2024. The Action Plans, supported by the 21st Century Power Partnership, and other CEM workstreams via direct technical assistance and capacity building, are intended to focus on select implementation actions given each country's existing power sector goals and activities, and are an opportunity for countries to display leadership in power sector decarbonization. The Action Plans are organized in a framework for planning, building, and operating, as well as stakeholder engagement where appropriate based on country priorities. They complement, but are differentiated from, other international power sector initiatives such as the Breakthrough Agenda (whose broad purpose is to raise collective ambition) and the Global Power System Transformation Consortium (whose goals are to convene power system operators to accelerate research innovations and foster peer learning). These Action Plans are voluntary, developed by each country individually, not comprehensive of all activities within the jurisdiction, and are living documents that are subject to change.

21st Century Power Partnership↗
DOE OSTI2024

Key Takeaways: Second Cohort of Action Plans for Rapid Power Sector Decarbonization

A collaborative report from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors, was delivered to energy ministers and presented at the 13th CEM (CEM13) in the United States in September 2022. As a result, Action Plans for power sector decarbonization were developed by the first cohort of countries. The fist cohort included India, Australia, Chile, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. The first cohort's Action Plans were presented at CEM14 in India in July 2023. These Action Plans, supported by the 21st Century Power Partnership and other CEM workstreams via direct technical assistance and capacity building, are intended to focus on select implementation actions given each country's existing power sector goals and activities, and are an opportunity for countries to display leadership in power sector decarbonization. The second set of Action Plans has been developed by Brazil, Canada, the United States, and Uruguay, released at CEM15 in Brazil in October 2024.

21st Century Power Partnership↗
DOE OSTI2024

Canada's Actions for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sector

A collaborative report from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) on Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors was delivered to energy ministers and presented at the 13th CEM (CEM13) in the United States in September 2022. In light of these lessons learned and discussed at CEM13, several jurisdictions signaled intent to develop Action Plans for power sector decarbonization. The first cohort of Action Plans was released at CEM14 in India in July 2023. Canada is pleased to release this Action Plan as a contribution to the second cohort of Action Plans released at CEM15 in Brazil in October 2024. The Action Plans, supported by the 21st Century Power Partnership, and other CEM workstreams via direct technical assistance and capacity building, are intended to focus on select implementation actions, given each country's existing power sector goals and activities, and are an opportunity for countries to display leadership in power sector decarbonization. The Action Plans are organized in a framework for Planning, Building and Operating, as well as Stakeholder Engagement where appropriate based on country priorities. These Action Plans are voluntary, developed by each country individually, not comprehensive of all activities within the jurisdiction, and are living documents that are subject to change.

21st Century Power Partnership↗
DOE OSTI2024

Status of Power System Transformation: Leading Topics of 2024

This presentation provides an overview of key power sector transformation topics that are relevant for global power system decarbonization and net zero goals. It includes examples of strategies to achieve rapid power system decarbonization and enable clean energy deployment.

21st Century Power Partnership↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Tool to Incorporate Non-Energy Impacts in Energy Efficiency Investment Decision Making for Firms

Energy efficiency is a key demand-side strategy for sustainability, recently identified by the United States Department of Energy as a pillar of industrial decarbonization. The increased focus on decarbonization and the requirement for efficiency to enable electrification, another decarbonization pillar, due to the spark spread between natural gas and electricity prices, make energy efficiency increasingly relevant. Still, industries face challenges in adopting energy efficiency measures. Researchers have long found a gap in adoption of even those measures with a profitable net present value, attributed to lack of strategic value among other barriers (see for rigorous exploration and taxonomy). One solution to facilitate energy efficiency projects is the inclusion of non-energy impacts, as this has been shown to double potential deployment of such projects at system level. Energy efficiency can provide valuable benefits outside of simple operating cost reductions, from decreased pollution to enhanced productivity. The inclusion of these benefits in decision making assessments faces hurdles due to inconsistency of ancillary benefits across projects, difficulties in quantifying impacts and the need for additional measurement to quantify them. The decision-making tools to support this have been designed primarily for the European context. We begin with a stakeholder engagement process to better characterize the U.S. decision making process surrounding adoption of energy efficiency investments. Characterization of non-energy impacts has developed substantially over recent decades. Cagno et al. provided a framework for studying the applicability of these impacts to energy efficiency projects, listing 120 key performance indicators focused mainly on reductions of costs/harms. Other researchers have included impacts on the strategic and revenue side that can be merged into this framework as well. We seek a tractable set of impacts that can be included in a decision-making tool in the US, and as such are well suited to US industry, management and decision making processes. We also seek to understand how to best quantify or characterize these impacts. This work will demonstrate the results of a survey conducted among US manufacturing industry decision makers to assess the decision making landscape of stakeholders as well as the most relevant performance indicators for energy efficiency projects.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION,↗
DOE OSTI2024

B-Biz: Building Business Network

The Building Business Network (B-Biz) aims to provide high-performance building technology solutions to underserved customers by collaborating with local small businesses that provide and service high-performance building technologies in communities with the lowest rates of adoption.

BTO↗
DOE OSTI2024

Lessons Learned from the Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) Peer-Learning Cohort Evaluating and Prioritizing Municipal Buildings for Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization Investment

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with support from World Resources Institute (WRI), designed and led a six-month peer-learning cohort from January through July 2024 on "Enhancing Resilience at Critical Facilities through Solar, Storage, and Microgrids" as part of the U.S Department of Energy's Clean Energy to Communities (nrel.gov/c2c) (C2C) program. Representatives from 15 municipalities, municipal utilities, colleges, and Tribes from across the United States participated in monthly workshops covering best practices for planning and deploying local resilience projects. This document shares key takeaways, lessons learned, and resources from the cohort.

buildings↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reduced Contracting Time To Accelerate Construction: A Streamlined Approach for Speed and Scale

In the fast-paced construction world, efficiency isn't just an advantage - it's a necessity. By implementing the Cooperative Construction Contracting Agreement (CCCA), we are transforming how we approach major projects, replacing traditional multistep contracting with a streamlined, one-step process. This innovative contracting approach saves valuable time and resources, enabling us to accelerate delivery across our portfolio of projects. Under the old model, each construction phase required separate competitive solicitations for design, build, and other services. With the CCCA, we've consolidated these steps, working with a trusted partner from start to finish. This results in significant time savings that translate into faster project execution without compromising quality or safety.

collaborative partnerships↗
NASA NTRS2018

Payload Utilization in NASA's Space Launch System

With Space Policy Directive 1, the United States administration has directed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) to return to the Moon with missions and infrastructure designed to support a sustained presence in cislunar space, with robotic and human lunar surface operations. NASA’s new deep space exploration system — the super heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the Orion crew spacecraft and revamped launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) — will enable NASA and its commercial and international partners to meet this goal for human exploration of deep space. SLS is the most capable launch vehicle for these efforts, as well as for sending robotic missions deep into the solar system, or even to interstellar space. The vehicle will be available in crew and cargo configurations in progressively more powerful block variants. The initial Block 1 lift capability of at least 26 metric tons (t) to trans-lunar injection (TLI) will be followed by a more powerful Block 1B with the power to loft more than 37 t to TLI. The ultimate Block 2 variant will lift more than 45 t to TLI. For payload accommodation, the Block 1 vehicle can utilize a 5 meter (m) fairing in its cargo configuration with the crew version also able to provide berths for 6U and 12U CubeSats as secondary payloads. The Block 1B crew vehicle will provide as much volume as the space shuttle payload bay in a Universal Stage Adapter (USA) for co-manifested payloads (CPLs). Block 1B cargo vehicles will offer 8.4 m-diameter fairings in 19.1 m and possibly longer lengths, with enough volume to accommodate lunar-orbiting habitat modules and other elements of NASA’s Gateway science outpost. For Mars-class payloads, larger fairings for the Block 2 cargo launcher are under consideration. For missions beyond the Earth-Moon system, SLS offers greater characteristic energy (C3) than any other launch vehicle, enabling shorter transit times or heavier payloads with more robust science packages for missions to the outer solar system. Indeed, the unmatched combination of thrust, payload volume and departure energy that SLS provides opens new opportunities for human and robotic exploration of deep space. This paper will provide an overview of the various vehicle block configurations, their capabilities and payload accommodations for sending primary, co-manifested and secondary payloads to deep space

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Time-Extended Policies in Mult-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement learning methods perform well in many domains where a single agent needs to take a sequence of actions to perform a task. These methods use sequences of single-time-step rewards to create a policy that tries to maximize a time-extended utility, which is a (possibly discounted) sum of these rewards. In this paper we build on our previous work showing how these methods can be extended to a multi-agent environment where each agent creates its own policy that works towards maximizing a time-extended global utility over all agents actions. We show improved methods for creating time-extended utilities for the agents that are both "aligned" with the global utility and "learnable." We then show how to crate single-time-step rewards while avoiding the pi fall of having rewards aligned with the global reward leading to utilities not aligned with the global utility. Finally, we apply these reward functions to the multi-agent Gridworld problem. We explicitly quantify a utility's learnability and alignment, and show that reinforcement learning agents using the prescribed reward functions successfully tradeoff learnability and alignment. As a result they outperform both global (e.g., team games ) and local (e.g., "perfectly learnable" ) reinforcement learning solutions by as much as an order of magnitude.

Tumer, Kagan↗
NASA NTRS1989

International utilization and operations

The international framework of the Space Station Freedom Program is described. The discussion covers the U.S. space policy, international agreements, international Station elements, overall program management structure, and utilization and operations management. Consideration is also given to Freedom's user community, Freedom's crew, pressurized payload and attached payload accommodations, utilization and operations planning, user integration, and user operations.

Goldberg, Stanley R.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Determining Utility System Value of Demand Flexibility From Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings

This report focuses on ways current methods and practices that establish the value to electric utility systems of distributed energy resource (DER) investments can be enhanced to determine the value of demand flexibility in grid-interactive efficient buildings that can provide grid services. The report introduces key valuation concepts that are applicable to demand flexibility that these buildings can provide and links to other documents that describe these concepts and their implementation in more detail.The scope of this report is limited to the valuation of economic benefits to the utility system. These are the foundational values on which other benefits (and costs) can be built. Establishing the economic value to the grid of demand flexibility provides the information needed to design programs, market rules, and rates that align the economic interest of utility customers with building owners and occupants. By nature, DERs directly impact customers and provide societal benefits external to the utility system. Jurisdictions can use utility system benefits and costs as the foundation of their economic analysis but align their primary cost-effectiveness metric with all applicable policy objectives, which may include customer and societal (non-utility system) impacts.This report suggests enhancements to current methods and practices that state and local policymakers, public utility commissions, state energy offices, utilities, state utility consumer representatives, and other stakeholders might support. These enhancements can improve the consistency and robustness of economic valuation of demand flexibility for grid services. The report concludes with a discussion of considerations for prioritizing implementation of these improvements.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗