November 2009 issue of monthly news from the FEMP Federal Fleet Program that outlines vehicle, alternative fuel, infrastructure, and management strategy updates to Federal agencies.

The purpose of this study is to use existing simulation tools to quantify the energy savings benefits of integrated control in office buildings. An EnergyPlus medium office benchmark simulation model (V1.0_3.0) developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) was used as a baseline model for this study. The baseline model was modified to examine the energy savings benefits of three possible control strategies compared to a benchmark case across 16 DOE climate zones. Two controllable subsystems were examined: (1) dimming of electric lighting, and (2) controllable window transmission. Simulation cases were run in EnergyPlus V3.0.0 for building window-to-wall ratios (WWR) of 33percent and 66percent. All three strategies employed electric lighting dimming resulting in lighting energy savings in building perimeter zones ranging from 64percent to 84percent. Integrated control of electric lighting and window transmission resulted in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) energy savings ranging from ?1percent to 40percent. Control of electric lighting and window transmission with HVAC integration (seasonal schedule of window transmission control) resulted in HVAC energy savings ranging from 3percent to 43percent. HVAC energy savings decreased moving from warm climates to cold climates and increased when moving from humid, to dry, to marine climates.

This report describes the results of a small experimental study that investigated potential sources of ambiguity in written work instructions (WIs). The English language can be highly ambiguous because words with different meanings can share the same spelling. Previous studies in the nuclear weapons complex have shown that ambiguous WIs can lead to human error, which is a major cause for concern. To study possible sources of ambiguity in WIs, we determined which of the recommended action verbs in the DOE and BWXT writer's manuals have numerous meanings to their intended audience, making them potentially ambiguous. We used cognitive psychology techniques to conduct a survey in which technicians who use WIs in their jobs indicated the first meaning that came to mind for each of the words. Although the findings of this study are limited by the small number of respondents, we identified words that had many different meanings even within this limited sample. WI writers should pay particular attention to these words and to their most frequent meanings so that they can avoid ambiguity in their writing.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Livingston, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.