Staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Center for Buildings and Thermal Systems and associated contractors perform experiments to quantify the air-exchange characteristics of homes built within the Building America program. This report documents the test practices used. The document was prepared to increase understanding of the advantages and limitations of the approach described. This document is not intended to be a standard protocol for these test measurements.

The host galaxies of powerful radio sources are ideal laboratories to study active galactic nuclei (AGN). The galaxies themselves are among the most massive systems in the universe, and are believed to harbor supermassive black holes (SMBH). If large galaxies are formed in a hierarchical way by multiple merger events, radio galaxies at low redshift represent the end-products of this process. However, it is not clear why some of these massive ellipticals have associated radio emission, while others do not. Both are thought to contain SMBHs, with masses proportional to the total luminous mass in the bulge. It either implies every SMBH has recurrent radio-loud phases, and the radio-quiet galaxies happen to be in the ''low'' state, or that the radio galaxy nuclei are physically different from radio-quiet ones, i.e. by having a more massive SMBH for a given bulge mass. Here we present the first results from our adaptive optics imaging and spectroscopy pilot program on three nearby powerful radio galaxies. Initiating a larger, more systematic AO survey of radio galaxies (preferentially with Laser Guide Star equipped AO systems) has the potential of furthering our understanding of the physical properties of radio sources, their triggering, and their subsequent evolution.

This report details the DOE/NREL Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Photovoltaic Research Associates Program, a small but remarkable program that directly affected dozens of minority undergraduate students in ways that changed many of their lives. The progress and accomplishments of undergraduates within the nine participating universities were monitored and assessed through their presentations at an annual NREL-sponsored HBCU conference. Although the funding was small, typically $400,000 per year, the money made a significant impact. The best students sometimes went on to the nation's top graduate schools (e.g., MIT) or important management positions in large companies. Other students had opportunities to learn how renewable energy could positively affect their lives and their neighbors' lives. A few were lucky enough to install photovoltaic lighting and water-pumping systems in Africa, and to see and feel firsthand the technical and emotional benefits of this technology for families and villages. Two of the schools, Texas Southern University and Central State University, were particularly successful in leveraging their DOE/NREL funding to obtain additional funding for expanded programs.

This OIT BestPractices case study describes the methods and results of a plant-wide energy assessment at Metlab's aircraft component manufacturing plant in Wyndmoor, PA. Recommendations derived from the assessment, if implemented, can save an estimated $528,400 annually, reduce natural gas use by 50,070 MMbtu per year, and reduce electrical use by 329,400 kWh per year.

This report provides transportation professionals with quantitative, unbiased information on the cost, maintenance, operational and emissions characteristics of CNG as one alternative to conventional diesel fuel for heavy-duty trucking applications.

Environmental security is not formally classified as a ''vital mission'' in the USCENTCOM ranking of priorities in its area of responsibility. Rather, it is ranked as an ''other/important'' mission in Central Asia, thereby supporting the war making efforts in the region by improving stability of the regimes in the region. Environmental security is, however, the USCENTCOM primary mechanism for engagement in the region. USCENTCOM sees environmental issues as among the most destabilizing issues in the region; anything that can be done to ameliorate them, works to enhance stability. By environmental issues, USCENTCOM includes: water access, quality, and control, transboundary resource competition, migration of pollutants, land use, public health/HIV/Famine, and industrial pollution. Objectives of USCENTCOM work in Central Asia are: improving resource use, disaster response, international cooperation, and civil-military cooperation, particularly with the local military and between the local civilians and the U.S. military. Activities to date include assistance, education, and military-to-military contacts, bilateral and multilateral conferences on the issues, and interagency coordination in the region. The Comprehensive Threat Reduction program has been the backbone of its Central Asian funding.

Case study on high performance building features of the Twenty River Terrace, Battery Park City building. Breezes off the Hudson River waft through Battery Park City, a planned development of residential and commercial buildings and open space at the tip of lower Manhattan. A riverfront walkway and several connecting public parks sprinkled with public art flank Battery Park City on one side, and New York's busy financial district vibrates on the other. Construction continues on Battery Park's newest building, Twenty River Terrace, the first residential apartment building to embrace sustainable design in a systematic way, and the first to follow the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority Residential Environmental Guidelines. According to the guidelines, which all future Battery Park City development must follow, they ''establish a process for the creation of environmentally responsible residential buildings that are appreciably ahead of current standards and practices for development.'' As a result of the guidelines, and the architects' commitment to incorporating best practices, this 27-story apartment building operates 35% more efficiently than required by the New York State Energy Code, and generates some of its own electricity from building-integrated photovoltaics, especially in the summer when New York power plants struggle to keep …

Case study on high performance building features of Clearview Elementary School in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Clearview Elementary School in Hanover, Pennsylvania, is filled with natural light, not only in classrooms but also in unexpected, and traditionally dark, places like stairwells and hallways. The result is enhanced learning. Recent scientific studies conducted by the California Board for Energy Efficiency, involving 21,000 students, show test scores were 15% to 26% higher in classrooms with daylighting. Clearview's ventilation system also helps students and teachers stay healthy, alert, and focused on learning. The school's superior learning environment comes with annual average energy savings of about 40% over a conventional school. For example, with so much daylight, the school requires about a third less energy for electric lighting than a typical school. The school's innovative geothermal heating and cooling system uses the constant temperature of the Earth to cool and heat the building. The building and landscape designs work together to enhance solar heating in the winter, summer cooling, and daylighting all year long. Students and teachers have the opportunity to learn about high-performance design by studying their own school. At Clearview, the Hanover Public School District has shown that designing a school to save energy …

A three-dimensional, finite-element, heat-transfer computer program was developed to study ground-coupled heat transfer from buildings. It was used in conjunction with the SUNREL whole-building energy simulation program to analyze ground-coupled heat transfer from buildings, and the results were compared with the simple ground-coupled heat transfer models used in whole-building energy simulation programs. The detailed model provides another method of testing and refining the simple models and analyzing complex problems. This work is part of an effort to improve the analysis of the ground-coupled heat transfer in building energy simulation programs. The output from this detailed model and several others will form a set of reference results for use with the BESTEST diagnostic procedure. We anticipate that the results from the work will be incorporated into ANSI/ASHRAE 140-2001, Standard Method of Test for the Evaluation of Building Energy Analysis Computer Programs.

ITN's three-year project, Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD) of CdTe for High Efficiency Thin Film PV Devices, had the overall objectives of improving thin-film CdTe PV manufacturing technology and increasing CdTe PV device power-conversion efficiency. CdTe deposition by APCVD employs the same reaction chemistry as has been used to deposit 16%-efficient CdTe PV films, i.e., close-spaced sublimation, but employs forced convection rather than diffusion as a mechanism of mass transport. Tasks of the APCVD program center on demonstration of APCVD of CdTe films, discovery of fundamental mass-transport parameters, application of established engineering principles to the deposition of CdTe films, and verification of reactor design principles that could be used to design high-throughput, high-yield manufacturing equipment. Additional tasks relate to improved device measurement and characterization procedures that can lead to a more fundamental understanding of CdTe PV device operation, and ultimately, to higher device conversion efficiency and greater stability. Under the APCVD program, device analysis goes beyond conventional one-dimensional device characterization and analysis toward two-dimensional measurements and modeling. Accomplishments of the concluding year and extension of the APCVD subcontract included: incorporation of high-resistivity transparent buffer layers and achievement of 12.3%-efficient (NREL-measured, but not certified) devices by APCVD; analysis of scale-up …

Monthly newspaper from Double Oak, Texas that includes news, information, and entertainment for residents of the Double Oak community along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Archer City, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Hondo, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

The efficacy of captive broodstock programs depends on high in-culture survival and the fitness of cultured salmon after release, either as adults or juveniles. Continuing captive broodstock research designed to improve technology is being conducted to cover all major life history stages of Pacific salmon. The following summarizes some of the work performed and results from the FY 2001 performance period: (1) The incidence of male maturation of age-1 chinook salmon was significantly reduced by reducing growth in the first year of rearing. (2) Experimentally manipulated growth rates of captively-reared coho salmon had significant effects on female maturation rate, egg size, and fecundity, and the effects were stage-specific (i.e., pre-smolt vs. post-smolt). (3) A combination of Renogen and MT239 vaccination of yearling chinook salmon given an acute R. salmoninarum challenge had a significantly longer survival time than the mock-vaccinated group. The survival time was marginally higher than was seen in acutely challenged fish vaccinated with either Renogen or MT239 alone and suggests that a combination vaccine of Renogen and MT239 may be useful as both a prophylactic and therapeutic agent against BKD. (4) Full-sib (inbred) groups of chinook salmon have thus far exhibited lower ocean survival than half-sib and non-related …

The 2000 FCRPS Biological Opinion (BO) suggested two statistical hypothesis tests to assess the RPA compliance by the years 2005 and 2008. With the decision rules proposed in the BO, Skalski and Ngouenet (2001) developed a compliance framework based on classical t-tests and used Monte-Carlo simulations to calculate power curves. Unfortunately, the two-sample t tests proposed in the BO only have moderate-to-low probability of correctly assessing the true status of the smolt survival recovery. We have developed a superior two-phase regression statistical model for testing the RPA compliance. The two-phase regression model improves the statistical power over the standard two-sample t-tests. In addition, the two-phase regression model has a higher probability of correctly assessing the true status of the smolt survival recovery. These classical statistical power curve approaches do not incorporate prior knowledge into the decision process. Therefore, we propose to examine Bayesian methods that complement classical statistics in situations where uncertainty must be taken into account. The Bayesian analysis will incorporate scientific/biological knowledge/expertise to thoroughly assess the RPA compliance in 2005 and 2008.

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

Samples of Sungate windshield material provided by PPG were analyzed to ascertain failure mechanisms observed at the interface between a copper busbar and the electrically conductive coating in use. Samples of “failed” windshield material were characterized using optical and electron microscopy, as well as surface analysis methods. These were compared to corresponding samples of “good” coatings. The primary failure mechanism of the coated windshield appears to be related to electrical discharges that originate where air-filled gaps are present between the copper busbar and the conductive coating. Gaps are produced by irregularities or wrinkles in the copper busbar that may result from the installation process.

Residential building practice currently ignores the lossesof energy and water caused by the poor design of hot water systems. Theselosses include: combustion and standby losses from water heaters, thewaste of water (and energy) while waiting for hot water to get to thepoint of use; the wasted heat as water cools down in the distributionsystem after a draw; heat losses from recirculation systems and thediscarded warmth of waste water as it runs down the drain. Severaltechnologies are available that save energy (and water) by reducing theselosses or by passively recovering heat from wastewater streams and othersources. Energy savings from some individual technologies are reported tobe as much as 30 percent. Savings calculations of prototype systemsincluding bundles of technologies have been reported above 50 percent.This roundtable session will describe the current practices, summarizethe results of past and ongoing studies, discuss ways to think about hotwater system efficiency, and point to areas of future study. We will alsorecommend further steps to reduce unnecessary losses from hot waterdistribution systems.

The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code provides rules for the construction of nuclear power plant components. Figures I-9.1 through I-9.6 of Appendix I to Section III of the Code specify fatigue design curves for structural materials. However, the effects of light water reactor (LWR) coolant environments are not explicitly addressed by the Code design curves. Existing fatigue strain-vs.-life ({var_epsilon}-N) data illustrate potentially significant effects of LWR coolant environments on the fatigue resistance of pressure vessel and piping steels. This report provides an overview of fatigue crack initiation in austenitic stainless steels in LWR coolant environments. The existing fatigue {var_epsilon}-N data have been evaluated to establish the effects of key material, loading, and environmental parameters (such as steel type, strain range, strain rate, temperature, dissolved-oxygen level in water, and flow rate) on the fatigue lives of these steels. Statistical models are presented for estimating the fatigue {var_epsilon}-N curves for austenitic stainless steels as a function of the material, loading, and environmental parameters. Two methods for incorporating environmental effects into the ASME Code fatigue evaluations are presented. The influence of reactor environments on the mechanism of fatigue crack initiation in these steels is also discussed.

The massive amounts of time-varying datasets being generated demand new visualization and quantification techniques. Visualization alone is not sufficient. Without proper measurement information/computations real science cannot be done. Our focus is this work was to combine visualization with quantification of the data to allow for advanced querying and searching. As part of this proposal, we have developed a feature extraction adn tracking methodology which allows researcher to identify features of interest and follow their evolution over time. The implementation is distributed and operates over data In-situ: where it is stored and when it was computed.

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of plutonium and americium from soil was successfully demonstrated using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide solvent augmented with organophosphorus and beta-diketone complexants. Spiked Idaho soils were chemically and radiologically characterized, then extracted with supercritical fluid carbon dioxide at 2,900 psi and 65°C containing varying concentrations of tributyl phosphate (TBP) and thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA). A single 45 minute SFE with 2.7 mol% TBP and 3.2 mol% TTA provided as much as 88% ± 6.0 extraction of americium and 69% ± 5.0 extraction of plutonium. Use of 5.3 mol% TBP with 6.8 mol% of the more acidic beta-diketone hexafluoroacetylacetone (HFA) provided 95% ± 3.0 extraction of americium and 83% ± 5.0 extraction of plutonium in a single 45 minute SFE at 3,750 psi and 95°C. Sequential chemical extraction techniques were used to chemically characterize soil partitioning of plutonium and americium in pre-SFE soil samples. Sequential chemical extraction techniques demonstrated that spiked plutonium resides primarily (76.6%) in the sesquioxide fraction with minor amounts being absorbed by the oxidizable fraction (10.6%) and residual fractions (12.8%). Post-SFE soils subjected to sequential chemical extraction characterization demonstrated that 97% of the oxidizable, 78% of the sesquioxide and 80% of the residual plutonium could be removed …

A source release model was developed to determine the release of contaminants into the shallow subsurface, as part of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) evaluation at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory's (INEEL) Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA). The output of the source release model is used as input to the subsurface transport and biotic uptake models. The model allowed separating the waste into areas that match the actual disposal units. This allows quantitative evaluation of the relative contribution to the total risk and allows evaluation of selective remediation of the disposal units within the SDA.

Hadron production cross sections are calculated in the perturbative QCD frame work. Parton distribution functions are obtained from a strip-soliton model. The fragmentation functions are derived from the Lund model of string breaking.

A combined experimental and numerical investigation is under way to investigate heat transfer enhancement techniques that may be applicable to large-scale air-cooled condensers such as those used in geothermal power applications. The research is focused on whether air-side heat transfer can be improved through the use of finsurface vortex generators (winglets,) while maintaining low heat exchanger pressure drop. A transient heat transfer visualization and measurement technique has been employed in order to obtain detailed distributions of local heat transfer coefficients on model fin surfaces. Pressure drop measurements have also been acquired in a separate multiple-tube row apparatus. In addition, numerical modeling techniques have been developed to allow prediction of local and average heat transfer for these low-Reynolds-number flows with and without winglets. Representative experimental and numerical results presented in this paper reveal quantitative details of local fin-surface heat transfer in the vicinity of a circular tube with a single delta winglet pair downstream of the cylinder. The winglets were triangular (delta) with a 1:2 height/length aspect ratio and a height equal to 90% of the channel height. Overall mean fin-surface Nusselt-number results indicate a significant level of heat transfer enhancement (average enhancement ratio 35%) associated with the deployment of the …