This English/Spanish fact sheet describes the Industrial Technologies Program Save Energy Now model and provides information on tools and resources to help manufacturing facilities reduce industrial energy intensity.

The following discuss the summary differences between the NGNP Industry Alliance’s approach to execution of the NGNP Project as described in its Project Execution Strategy, and that included in the DOE’s Report to Congress on the Next Generation Nuclear Plant dated April 2010. These summary differences are not a comprehensive description of the results of a detailed gap analysis, but rather are those differences that warrant discussion in meetings between DOE executives and the private sector represented by the Alliance. In practical fact, the full range and content of the differences will not be understood until such time as detailed discussions are engaged between the DOE and the Alliance to develop a mutually agreed-to project execution plan.

At the inception of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project, experts from the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, gas reactor vendors, and universities collaborated to establish technology research and development (R&D) roadmaps. These roadmaps outlined the testing and computational development activities needed to qualify the materials and validate the modeling and simulation tools to be used in the design and safe operation of the NGNP, a helium-cooled, high temperature gas reactor (HTGR).

This Renewable Energy Data Book for 2009 provides facts and figures on energy in general, renewable electricity in the United States, global renewable energy development, wind power, solar energy, geothermal power, biopower, hydropower, advanced water power, hydrogen, renewable fuels, and clean energy investments.

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites can offer important advantages over metals where lightweight, cost-effective manufacturing and high mechanical performance can be achieved. To date, these materials have not been used in hydropower systems. In view of the possibility to tailor their mechanical properties to specific applications, they now have become a subject of research for potential use in hydropower systems. The first step in any structural design that uses composite materials consists of evaluating the basic composite mechanical properties as a function of the as-formed composite microstructure. These basic properties are the elastic stiffness, stress-strain response, and strength. This report describes the evaluation of the elastic stiffness for a series of common discontinuous fiber polymer composites processed by injection molding and compression molding in order to preliminarily estimate whether these composites could be used in hydropower systems for load-carrying components such as turbine blades. To this end, the EMTA (Copyright © Battelle 2010) predictive modeling tool developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been applied to predict the elastic properties of these composites as a function of three key microstructural parameters: fiber volume fraction, fiber orientation distribution, and fiber length distribution. These parameters strongly control the composite mechanical performance and …

In this report we describe the 1) the expansion of the PNNL hydrodynamic model domain to include the continental shelf along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and Vancouver Island; and 2) the approach and progress in developing the online/Internet disseminations of model results and outreach efforts in support of the Puget Sound Operational Forecast System (PS-OPF). Submittal of this report completes the work on Task 2.1.2, Effects of Physical Systems, Subtask 2.1.2.1, Hydrodynamics, for fiscal year 2010 of the Environmental Effects of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy project.

This report describes SoloPower's work as a Photovoltaic Technology Incubator awardee within the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program. The term of this subcontract with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was two years. The project focused on SoloPower's electrodeposition-based copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) technology. Under this subcontract, SoloPower improved the quality of its flexible metal substrates, increased the size of its solar cells from 0.5 cm2 to 120 cm2, increased the small-area cell efficiencies from near 11% to near 14%, demonstrated large-area cells, and developed a module manufacturing process.

Data from the operation of a bubble chamber filled with 3.5 kg of CF{sub 3}I in a shallow underground site are reported. An analysis of ultrasound signals accompanying bubble nucleations confirms that alpha decays generate a significantly louder acoustic emission than single nuclear recoils, leading to an efficient background discrimination. Three dark matter candidate events were observed during an effective exposure of 28.1 kg-day, consistent with a neutron background. This observation provides the strongest direct detection constraint to date on WIMP-proton spin-dependent scattering for WIMP masses > 20 GeV/c{sup 2}.

The ground is littered with projects that failed because of strong public opposition, including natural gas and coal power plants proposed in Idaho over the past several years. This joint project , of the Idaho National Laboratory, Boise State University, Idaho State University and University of Idaho has aimed to add to the tool box to reduce project risk through encouraging the public to engage in more critical thought and be more actively involved in public or social issues. Early in a project, project managers and decision-makers can talk with no one, pro and con stakeholder groups, or members of the public. Experience has shown that talking with no one outside of the project incurs high risk because opposition stakeholders have many means to stop most (if not all) energy projects. Talking with organized stakeholder groups provides some risk reduction from mutual learning, but organized groups tend not to change positions except under conditions of a negotiated settlement. Achieving a negotiated settlement may be impossible. Furthermore, opposition often arises outside pre-existing groups. Standard public polling provides some information but does not reveal underlying motivations, intensity of attitudes, etc. Improved methods are needed that probe deeper into stakeholder (organized groups and …

Design and installation has been completed for a state-of-the-art radiolysis/hydrolysis test loop system. The system is used to evaluate the effects of gamma radiolysis and acid hydrolysis on the stability and performance of solvent extraction process solvents. The test loop is comprised of two main sections; the solvent irradiation and hydrolysis loop and the solvent reconditioning loop. In the solvent irradiation and hydrolysis loop, aqueous and organic phases are mixed and circulated through a gamma irradiator until the desired absorbed dose is achieved. Irradiation of the mixed phases is more representative of actual conditions in a solvent extraction process. Additionally, the contact of the organic phase with the aqueous phase will subject the solvent components to hydrolysis. This hydrolysis can be accelerated by controlling the system at an elevated temperature. At defined intervals, the organic from the irradiation/hydrolysis loop will be transferred to the solvent reconditioning loop where the solvent is contacted with scrub, strip, and solvent wash solutions which simulate process flowsheet conditions. These two processes are repeated until the total desired dose is achieved. Since all viable solvent extraction components in an advanced fuel cycle must exhibit high radiolytic and hydrolytic stability, this test loop is not limited …

A prototype of a tritium thermoelectric generator (TTG) is currently being developed at Sandia. In the TTG, a vacuum jacket reduces the amount of heat lost from the high temperature source via convection. However, outgassing presents challenges to maintaining a vacuum for many years. Getters are chemically active substances that scavenge residual gases in a vacuum system. In order to maintain the vacuum jacket at approximately 1.0 x 10{sup -4} torr for decades, nonevaporable getters that can operate from -55 C to 60 C are going to be used. This paper focuses on the hydrogen capacity and absorption rate of the St707{trademark} non-evaporable getter by SAES. Using a getter testing manifold, we have carried out experiments to test these characteristics of the getter over the temperature range of -77 C to 60 C. The results from this study can be used to size the getter appropriately.

The Accelerator Project for Upgrade of LHC (APUL) is a U.S. project participating in and contributing to CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) upgrade program. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory was developing sub-systems for the upgrade of the LHC final focus magnet systems. Part of the upgrade called for various lengths of superconducting power transmission lines known as SC Links which were up to 100 m long. The SC Link electrically connects the current leads in the Distribution Feed Boxes to the interaction region magnets. The SC Link is an extension of the magnet bus housed within a cryostat. The present concept for the bus consists of 22 power cables, 4 x 13 kA, 2 x 7 kA, 8 x 2.5 kA and 8 x 0.6 kA bundled into one bus. Different cable and strand possibilities were considered for the bus design including Rutherford cable. The Rutherford cable bus design potentially would have required splices at each sharp elbow in the SC Link. The advantage of the round bus design is that splices are only required at each end of the bus during installation at CERN. The round bus is very flexible and is suitable for …

Overview of the process used by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) to designate efficient products within the FEMP designated products program.

The first of the hadron colliders, ISR, started operation in 1970. In the following years, the hadron colliders to follow were the SPS (started 1980), the Tevatron (started 1987 first as a fixed target machine), RHIC (started 2000) and most recently the LHC, which started in 2008. HERA was a hybrid that collided electrons and protons. All of these accelerators had or have their performance limited by the effects of the beam-beam interactions. That has also been true for the electron-positron colliders such as LEP, CESR, KEKB and PEPII. In this article I will discuss how the beam-beam limitations arose in some of these machines. The discussion will be focused on common themes that span the different colliders. I will mostly discuss the hadron colliders but sometimes discuss the lepton colliders where relevant. Only a handful of common accelerator physics topics are chosen here, the list is not meant to be exhaustive. A comparative review of beam-beam performance in the ISR, SPS and Tevatron (ca 1989) can be found in reference. Table 1 shows the relevant parameters of colliders (excluding the LHC), which have accelerated protons.

This fact sheet published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory discusses the lab's newest building, the Research Support Facility (RSF). The RSF is a showcase for ultra-efficient workplaces. Various renewable energy and energy efficiency features have been employed so that the building achieves a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

We have developed a rapid bio-oil analysis protocol based on the application of mass spectrometry, infra-red spectrometry, and multivariate statistical analysis. This protocol was successfully applied to characterize bio-oil samples from the Iowa State University (ISU) fast pyrolysis unit and to relate those characteristics to the feedstock and the process conditions.

The wind industry has experienced premature turbine component failures during the past years. With the increase in turbine size, these failures, especially those found in the major drivetrain components, i.e. main shaft, gearbox, and generator, have become extremely costly. Given that the gearbox is the most costly component in the drivetrain to fix, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) initiated the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC) to determine the causes for premature gearbox failures and subsequently, recommend improvements to gearbox design, manufacture, and operational practices. The GRC has two identical test gearboxes, which are planned for a dynamometer and a field test, respectively.

A D0 analysis measuring the charge asymmetry A{sub sl}{sup b} of like-sign dimuon events due to semileptonic b-hadron decays at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider is described. It differs by 3.2 standard deviations from the Standard Model prediction to provide first evidence of CPT-invariant anomalous CP violation in the mixing of neutral B mesons, and is compared to the CP-violating phase obtained from a D0 analysis of the time-dependent decay angles in B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi}{phi}. If CPT violation is allowed, the dimuon asymmetry also yields the first sensitivity to CPT violation in the B{sub s}{sup 0} system.

The overriding purpose of this report is to establish the physical requirements of a power system that can accommodate high levels of variable generation.

Fact sheet describing the overall capabilities of the NREL CSP Program: collector/receiver characterization, advanced reflector and absorber materials, thermal storage and advanced heat transfer fluids, and CSP modeling and analysis.

This report describes CaliSolar's work as a Photovoltaic Technology Incubator awardee within the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program. The term of this subcontract with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was two years. During this time, CaliSolar evolved from a handful of employees to over 100 scientists, engineers, technicians, and operators. On the technical side, the company transitioned from a proof-of-concept through pilot-scale to large-scale industrial production. A fully automated 60-megawatt manufacturing line was commissioned in Sunnyvale, California. The facility converts upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon feedstock to ingots, wafers, and high-efficiency multicrystalline solar cells.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) refers to a set of technologies that can greatly reduce carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions from new and existing coal- and gas-fired power plants, industrial processes, and other stationary sources of CO{sub 2}. In its application to electricity generation, CCS could play an important role in achieving national and global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals. However, widespread cost-effective deployment of CCS will occur only if the technology is commercially available and a supportive national policy framework is in place. In keeping with that objective, on February 3, 2010, President Obama established an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage composed of 14 Executive Departments and Federal Agencies. The Task Force, co-chaired by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was charged with proposing a plan to overcome the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within ten years, with a goal of bringing five to ten commercial demonstration projects online by 2016. Composed of more than 100 Federal employees, the Task Force examined challenges facing early CCS projects as well as factors that could inhibit widespread commercial deployment of CCS. In developing the findings and recommendations outlined in this …

This report addresses the creep-fatigue of advanced austenitic alloys.

The purpose of the project was to develop new design and fabrication techniques for NC solar cells with the goal of demonstrating enhanced photocurrent and efficiency by exploiting multiple exciton generation and to investigate multiple exciton generation and charge carrier dynamics in semiconductor NC films used in NC-based solar cells.