Millivolt Switches Will Support Better Energy-Reliability Tradeoffs.
Abstract not provided.
Debenedictis, Erik↗
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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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Planning the Next Decade of Coordinated Research to Better Understand and Simulate Marine Low Clouds
Marine low clouds have a large impact on the Earth’s energy and hydrologic cycle. They strongly reflect incoming solar radiation, with little compensating impact on outgoing longwave radiation resulting in a net cooling of the climate. The representation of marine low clouds in climate models is one of the largest uncertainties in the estimation of climate sensitivity (e.g. Bony and Dufresne 2005), and marine low clouds are critical mediators of global aerosol radiative forcing (Zelinka et al. 2014). Despite the importance of these cloud systems to the Earth’s climate, their parameterization continues to be challenging, due to an incomplete understanding of key processes that regulate them and insufficient resolution of these processes in models. To help define research pathways to address outstanding issues related to our understanding of marine low clouds, a workshop was held January 27-29, 2016 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The overarching goal was to identify current gaps in knowledge or simulation capabilities and promising strategies for addressing them, with a particular emphasis on improving the representation of marine low clouds in climate models and contributions that could be made with U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric System Research support using Atmospheric Radiation Measurement facility measurements.
Wood, Robert↗
Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) Web Application (BETTER Web App) v1.0
The Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) V.1.0 web application identifies cost-saving energy and emissions reductions in buildings and portfolios, without site visits or complex modeling. With minimal data entry, BETTER benchmarks a building's or portfolio's energy use against peers; quantifies energy, cost, and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potential; and recommends energy efficiency measures for individual buildings or portfolios, targeting specific energy savings levels. The source code of BETTER's modular, cross-platform analytical engine has previously been disclosed (2019-001) and is available on GitHub and can be adopted, redeveloped, and redistributed freely under an open-source license, allowing users to incorporate BETTER's analytical capabilities into their own software platforms and tools. The BETTER V.1.0 web application, developed with the Django web-framework and the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture being disclosed here, provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for any user to view the software tutorials, download and upload a data entry template, configure and run the BETTER analyses, and view the final analytical reports.
Szum, Carolyn↗
Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) Application Programing Interface (API) (BETTER API) v1.0
The BETTER API allows advanced users and developers to access BETTER's analytical functionalities via HTTP requests from their own software platform without using the BETTER web-interface. API users prepare the input data and analysis configurations in a JSON format and send it to the web application via an HTTP request. The web application runs the analytical workflow on the back end and returns an HTTP response in JSON format. The user can then decide to render the results or further process it.
Szum, Carolyn↗
Do Practical Standard Coupled Cluster Calculations Agree Better than Kohn–Sham Calculations with Currently Available Functionals When Compared to the Best Available Experimental Data for Dissociation Energies of Bonds to 3d Transition Metals?
Coupled-cluster (CC) methods have been extensively used as the high-level approach in quantum electronic structure theory to predict various properties of molecules when experimental results are unavailable. It is often assumed that CC methods, if they include at least up to connected-triple-excitation quasiperturbative corrections to a full treatment of single and double excitations (in particular, CCSD(T)), and a very large basis set, are more accurate than Kohn–Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT). In the present work, we tested and compared the performance of standard CC and KS methods on bond energy calculations of 20 3d transition metal-containing diatomic molecules against the most reliable experimental data available, as collected in a database called 3dMLBE20. It is found that, although the CCSD(T) and higher levels CC methods have mean unsigned deviations from experiment that are smaller than most exchange-correlation functionals for metal–ligand bond energies of transition metals, the improvement is less than one standard deviation of the mean unsigned deviation. Furthermore, on average, almost half of the 42 exchange-correlation functionals that we tested are closer to experiment than CCSD(T) with the same extended basis set for the same molecule. The results show that, when both relativistic and core–valence correlation effects are considered, even the very high-level (expensive) CC method with single, double, triple, and perturbative quadruple cluster operators, namely, CCSDT(2)Q, averaged over 20 bond energies, gives a mean unsigned deviation (MUD(20) = 4.7 kcal/mol when one correlates only valence, 3p, and 3s electrons of transition metals and only valence electrons of ligands, or 4.6 kcal/mol when one correlates all core electrons except for 1s shells of transition metals, S, and Cl); and that is similar to some good xc functionals (e.g., B97-1 (MUD(20) = 4.5 kcal/mol) and PW6B95 (MUD(20) = 4.9 kcal/mol)) when the same basis set is used. We found that, for both coupled cluster calculations and KS calculations, the T1 diagnostics correlate the errors better than either the M diagnostics or the B1 DFT-based diagnostics. The potential use of practical standard CC methods as a benchmark theory is further confounded by the finding that CC and DFT methods usually have different signs of the error. We conclude that the available experimental data do not provide a justification for using conventional single-reference CC theory calculations to validate or test xc functionals for systems involving 3d transition metals.
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
Energy Intensity Baselining & Tracking Summary Guide: Better Buildings, Better Plants
The Department of Energy (DOE) Better Plants (BP) program is a voluntary energy efficiency leadership initiative for U.S. manufacturers that encourages companies to reduce their energy intensity, typically by 25% within a ten-year period. BP partners are required to report their progress to the DOE annually by establishing an energy intensity baseline and tracking their energy consumption. BP partners receive access to a Technical Account Manager (TAM), DOE resources including software tools and trainings, and recognition when they achieve their goal. This summary guide provides the basics of baselining and tracking your energy intensity. For a more information and special considerations, please see the Energy Intensity Baselining and Tracking Guidance 2020.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Tailoring Surface Acidity of Metal Oxide for Better Polysulfide Entrapment in Li‐S Batteries
The polysulfide shuttle reaction has severely limited practical applications of Li‐S batteries. Recently, functional materials that can chemically adsorb polysulfide show significant enhancement in cycling stability and Coulombic efficiency. However, the mechanism of the chemisorption and the control factors governing the chemisorption are still not fully understood. Here, it is demonstrated for the first time that the surface acidity of the host material plays a crucial role in the chemisorption of polysulfide. By tailoring the surface acidity of TiO 2 via heteroatom doping, the polysulfide‐TiO 2 interaction can be fortified and thus significantly the capacity fading be reduced to 0.04% per cycle. The discovery presented here sheds light on the mechanism of this interfacial phenomenon, and opens a new avenue that can lead to a practical sulfur/host composite cathode.
Wang, Xiwen↗
The Smaller the Better: Hosting Trivalent Rare-Earth Guests in Cu–P Clathrate Cages
Abstract not provided
Wang, Jian↗
Thionyl chloride assisted functionalization of amorphous carbon nanotubes: A better field emitter and stable nanofluid with better thermal conductivity
Highlights: • Thionyl chloride assisted functionalization of amorphous carbon nanotubes (a-CNTs). • Improved dispersion enhanced thermal conductivity of engine oil. • Again f-a-CNTs showed enhanced field emission property compared to pure a-CNTs. - Abstract: Amorphous carbon nanotubes (a-CNTs) were synthesized at low temperature in open atmosphere and further functionalized by treating them in thionyl chloride added stearic acid-dichloro methane solution. The as prepared functionalized a-CNTs (f-a-CNTs) were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The nanofluid was prepared by dispersing f-a-CNTs in engine oil using ultrasonic treatment. The effective thermal conductivity of as prepared nanofluid was investigated at different loading (volume fraction of f-a-CNTs). Obtained experimental data of thermal conductivity were compared with the predicted values, calculated using existing theoretical models. Stability of the nanofluid was tested by means of zeta potential measurement to optimize the loading. The as prepared f-a-CNTs sample also showed improved field emission result as compared to pristine a-CNTs. Dependence of field emission behavior on inter electrode distance was investigated too.
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
Meeting the moment: Reducing methane emissions and the need for better diagnostics
Not provided.
Energy & Fuels↗
Toward a better understanding of the GRB phenomenon: A new model for GRB PROMPT emission and its effects on the new L{sub i}{sup NT}– E{sub peak,i}{sup rest,NT} relation
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission spectra in the keV–MeV energy range are usually considered to be adequately fitted with the empirical Band function. Recent observations with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) revealed deviations from the Band function, sometimes in the form of an additional blackbody (BB) component, while on other occasions in the form of an additional power law (PL) component extending to high energies. In this article we investigate the possibility that the three components may be present simultaneously in the prompt emission spectra of two very bright GRBs (080916C and 090926A) observed with Fermi, and how the three components may affect the overall shape of the spectra. While the two GRBs are very different when fitted to a single Band function, they look like “twins” in the three-component scenario. Through fine-time spectroscopy down to the 100 ms timescale, we follow the evolution of the various components. We succeed in reducing the number of free parameters in the three-component model, which results in a new semi-empirical model—but with physical motivations—to be competitive with the Band function in terms of number of degrees of freedom. From this analysis using multiple components, the Band function is globally the most intense component, although the additional PL can overpower the others in sharp time structures. The Band function and the BB component are the most intense at early times and globally fade across the burst duration. The additional PL is the most intense component at late time and may be correlated with the extended high-energy emission observed thousands of seconds after the burst with Fermi/Large Area Telescope. Unexpectedly, this analysis also shows that the additional PL may be present from the very beginning of the burst, where it may even overpower the other components at low energy. We investigate the effect of the three components on the new time-resolved luminosity–hardness relation in both the observer and rest frames and show that a strong correlation exists between the flux of the non-thermal Band function and its E{sub peak} only when the three components are fitted simultaneously to the data (i.e., F{sub i}{sup NT}–E{sub peak,i}{sup NT} relation). In addition, this result points toward a universal relation between those two quantities when transposed to the central engine rest frame for all GRBs (i.e., L{sub i}{sup NT}–E{sub peak,i}{sup rest,NT} relation). We discuss a possible theoretical interpretation of the three spectral components within this new empirical model. We suggest that (i) the BB component may be interpreted as the photosphere emission of a magnetized relativistic outflow, (ii) the Band component has synchrotron radiation in an optically thin region above the photosphere, either from internal shocks or magnetic field dissipation, and (iii) the extra PL component extending to high energies likely has an inverse Compton origin of some sort, even though its extension to a much lower energy remains a mystery.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The pNab experiment and the quest for ever better neutron beam polarization
The Nab and pNAB collaborations are conducting a program of studies of free neutron beta decay, with the primary goal of testing the unitarity of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix that describes quark mixing due to the weak interaction. For this purpose, a large, novel electromagnetic spectrometer, the Nab spectrometer, has been designed, built, and placed in use to determine the correlation coefficients in unpolarized neutron beta decay: "a", the neutrino-electron correlation coefficient; and "b", the Fierz term. The subject of this paper is pNAB, the second phase of the program, that will deploy the same spectrometer with a polarized neutron beam to determine "A", the beta asymmetry; and "B", the neutrino asymmetry coefficients. A focus of this paper will be on the strategies to provide a high and precisely known neutron beam polarization.
Baessler, Stefan↗
JCESR Scientific Sprints – Better Polymers for Better Batteries
Argonne National Laboratory leads the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a major collaborative research partnership with the goal of developing next-generation energy storage technologies. JCESR supplements its traditional project management approach with scientific “Sprints.” The Sprint described in this video involved a multidisciplinary team from Argonne, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan. As they studied how polymers in solution can react electrochemically to store energy, the team solved a crucial battery problem: “crossover,” which is caused by molecules mixing together when they should not, resulting in reduced performance. Many possible materials were tested, and a set of candidate polymers were chosen that are stable, cheap to make, and suitable for conditions required in batteries. The collaboration allowed timely development that would have taken much longer had the groups been working independently.
25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
How Better Data Can Result In Better Codesign
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Rockefeller, Gabriel M.↗
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↗
The Benchmark Extensible Tractable Testbed Engineering Resource (BETTER)
The Benchmark Extensible Tractable Testbed Engineering Resource (BETTER) is proposed as a family of modular test bodies that are intended to support engineering capability development by helping to identify weaknesses and needs. Weapon systems, subassemblies, and components are often complex and difficult to test and analyze, resulting in low confidence and high uncertainties in experimental and simulated results. The complexities make it difficult to distinguish between inherent uncertainties and errors due to insufficient capabilities. BETTER test bodies will first use simplified geometries and materials such that testing, data collection, modeling and simulation can be accomplished with high confidence and low uncertainty. Modifications and combinations of simple and well-characterized BETTER test bodies can then be used to increase complexity in order to reproduce relevant mechanics and identify weaknesses. BETTER can provide both immediate and long-term improvements in testing and simulation capabilities. This document presents the motivation, concept, benefits and examples for BETTER.
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
The Surface Brightness-color Relations Based on Eclipsing Binary Stars: Toward Precision Better than 1% in Angular Diameter Predictions
In this study we investigate the calibration of surface brightness–color (SBC) relations based solely on eclipsing binary stars. We selected a sample of 35 detached eclipsing binaries with trigonometric parallaxes from Gaia DR1 or Hipparcos whose absolute dimensions are known with an accuracy better than 3% and that lie within 0.3 kpc from the Sun. For the purpose of this study, we used mostly homogeneous optical and near-infrared photometry based on the Tycho-2 and 2MASS catalogs. We derived geometric angular diameters for all stars in our sample with a precision better than 10%, and for 11 of them with a precision better than 2%. The precision of individual angular diameters of the eclipsing binary components is currently limited by the precision of the geometric distances (∼5% on average). However, by using a subsample of systems with the best agreement between their geometric and photometric distances, we derived the precise SBC relations based only on eclipsing binary stars. These relations have precisions that are comparable to the best available SBC relations based on interferometric angular diameters, and they are fully consistent with them. With very precise Gaia parallaxes becoming available in the near future, angular diameters with a precision better than 1% will be abundant. At that point, the main uncertainty in the total error budget of the SBC relations will come from transformations between different photometric systems, disentangling of component magnitudes, and for hot OB stars, the main uncertainty will come from the interstellar extinction determination. We argue that all these issues can be overcome with modern high-quality data and conclude that a precision better than 1% is entirely feasible.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗