The alternative fuel industry is heating up. It is a very exciting time to be in the energy business, especially when it comes to transportation. Celebrating of the milestone 75th Clean Cities coalition and kick off of the new Federal Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) USER Program is occurring in cities across the country. Clean Energy for the 21st Century and the events that are happening during Energy Awareness Month are covered in this issue. Spotlighted are niche markets; several airports across the country are successfully incorporating alternative fuels into their daily routines.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring trace element that poses a threat to human and ecosystem health, particularly when incorporated into food or water supplies. The greatest risk imposed by arsenic to human health results from contamination of drinking water, for which the World Health Organization recommends a maximum limit of 10 {micro}g L{sup -1}. Continued ingestion of drinking water having hazardous levels of arsenic can lead to arsenicosis and cancers of the bladder, skin, lungs and kidneys. Unfortunately, arsenic tainted drinking waters are a global threat and presently having a devastating impact on human health within Asia. Nearly 100 million people, for example, are presently consuming drinking water having arsenic concentrations exceeding the World Health Organization's recommended limit (Ahmed et al., 2006). Arsenic contamination of the environment often results from human activities such as mining or pesticide application, but recently natural sources of arsenic have demonstrated a devastating impact on water quality. Arsenic becomes problematic from a health perspective principally when it partitions into the aqueous rather than the solid phase. Dissolved concentrations, and the resulting mobility, of arsenic within soils and sediments are the combined result of biogeochemical processes linked to hydrologic factors. Processes favoring the partitioning of As …

Iowa demonstrates its commitment to technology and efficiency through the Weatherization Program. Weatherization uses advanced technologies and techniques to reduce energy costs for low-income families by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.

Our lives are linked to weather and climate, and to energy use. Since the late 1970s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invested in research and technology related to global climate change. DOE's Office Fuels Development (OFD) manages the National Biofuels Program and is the lead technical advisor on the development of biofuels technologies in the United States. Together with industry and other stakeholders, the program seeks to establish a major biofuels industry. Its goals are to develop and commercialize technologies for producing sustainable, domestic, environmentally beneficial, and economically viable fuels from dedicated biomass feedstocks.

An overview of the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program and how it works with the U.S. building industry to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficient integrated systems in residential construction.

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is the long-term isolation of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through physical, chemical, biological, or engineered processes. This includes a range of approaches including soil carbon sequestration (e.g., through no-till farming), terrestrial biomass sequestration (e.g., through planting forests), direct ocean injection of CO{sub 2} either onto the deep seafloor or into the intermediate depths, injection into deep geological formations, or even direct conversion of CO{sub 2} to carbonate minerals. Some of these approaches are considered geoengineering (see the appropriate chapter herein). All are considered in the 2005 special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2005). Of the range of options available, geological carbon sequestration (GCS) appears to be the most actionable and economic option for major greenhouse gas reduction in the next 10-30 years. The basis for this interest includes several factors: (1) The potential capacities are large based on initial estimates. Formal estimates for global storage potential vary substantially, but are likely to be between 800 and 3300 Gt of C (3000 and 10,000 Gt of CO{sub 2}), with significant capacity located reasonably near large point sources of the CO{sub 2}. (2) GCS can begin operations with demonstrated technology. Carbon dioxide …

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Regional Council initiated the Maricopa Clean Cities Program on June 20, 1995. Its purpose was to encourage the use of alternative fuels in the Maricopa region and to obtain recognition for the steps the region had already taken to support the use of alternative fuels. One key element to Maricopa Clean Cities' success is the strong support it receives from the Arizona legislation. The Maricopa Clean Cities stakeholders are committed to increasing the number of alternative fuel vehicles and developing the infrastructure to support those vehicles.

Designated the 41st Clean Cities coalition in November 1995, the Paso del Norte Clean Cities Coalition (PDNCCC) is the first in the country to gain international participation. Spanning the US-Mexico border; the coalition includes stakeholders from El Paso, Texas; Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; and Las Cruces, New Mexico. PDNCCC developed a comprehensive plan to jump-start its program place, alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) on the road, and eliminate barriers inhibiting alternative fuel market growth. PDNCC raised more than $2.3 million for alternative fuel activities and clean air initiatives in less than 26 months. In 1998, the US Department of Energy (DOE) recognized that PDNCCC accomplishment with its Rainmaker Award for leveraging the most funds from outside sources. PDNCCC is proud of its efforts to drive the alternative fuels and AFV market in the El Paso/Juarez region.

Fact sheet written for the NICE3 Program on a new chlorine-free process for pulping and bleaching wastewater.

Recent developments in the field of anisotropic flow in nuclear collision are reviewed. The results from the top AGS energy to the top RHIC energy are discussed with emphasis on techniques, interpretation, and uncertainties in the measurements.

The high time resolution Pb-Pb ages and short-lived nuclide based relative ages for CAIs and chondrules are reviewed. The solar system started at 4567.2 {+-} 0.6Ma inferred from the high precision Pb-Pb ages of CAIs. Time scales of CAIs ({le}0.1Myr), chondrules (1-3Myr), and early asteroidal differentiation ({ge}3Myr) inferred from {sup 26}Al relative ages are comparable to the time scale estimated from astronomical observations of young star; proto star, classical T Tauri star and week-lined T Tauri star, respectively. Pb-Pb ages of chondrules also indicate chondrule formation occur within 1-3 Myr after CAIs. Mn-Cr isochron ages of chondrules are similar to or within 2 Myr after CAI formation. Chondrules from different classes of chondrites show the same range of {sup 26}Al ages in spite of their different oxygen isotopes, indicating that chondrule formed in the localized environment. The {sup 26}Al ages of chondrules in each chondrite class show a hint of correlation with their chemical compositions, which implies the process of elemental fractionation during chondrule formation events.

The Earth's climate is determined by a number of complex connected physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in the atmosphere, land and ocean. The radiative properties of the atmosphere, a major controlling factor of the Earth's climate, are strongly affected by the biophysical state of the Earth's surface and by the atmospheric abundance of a variety of trace constituents. These constituents include long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), methane (CH{sub 4}) and nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O), as well as other radiatively active constituents such as ozone and different types of aerosol particles. The composition of the atmosphere is determined by processes such as natural and anthropogenic emissions of gases and aerosols, transport at a variety of scales, chemical and microphysical transformations, wet scavenging and surface uptake by the land and terrestrial ecosystems, and by the ocean and its ecosystems. These processes and, more generally the rates of biogeochemical cycling, are affected by climate change, and involve interactions between and within the different components of the Earth system. These interactions are generally nonlinear and may produce negative or positive feedbacks to the climate system. An important aspect of climate research is to identify potential feedbacks and assess …

Minnesota demonstrates its commitment to technology and efficiency through the Weatherization Program. Weatherization uses advanced technologies and techniques to reduce energy costs for low-income families by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.

An antibody that recognizes a chelated form of hexavalent uranium was used in the development of two different immunosensors for uranium detection. Specifically, these sensors were utilized for the analysis of groundwater samples collected during a 2007 field study of in situ bioremediation in a aquifer located at Rifle, CO. The antibody-based sensors provided data comparable to that obtained using Kinetic Phosphorescence Analysis (KPA). Thus, these novel instruments and associated reagents should provide field researchers and resource managers with valuable new tools for on-site data acquisition.

Executive Order 13123 calls for the Federal government to conserve water as well as energy in its 500,000 facilities. To help set priorities among water-saving measures, the Federal Energy Management Program conducted a study of Federal water use in 1997. The study indicated that the government consumes more than 50% of its water in just three types of Federal facilities: housing, hospitals, and office buildings. These facilities have enough kitchens, rest rooms, and laundry areas to provide facility managers with many opportunities to begin reducing their water use (and utility costs) with appropriate water-saving fixtures and products. Therefore, this Federal Technology Alert focuses on domestic technologies, products, and appliances such as water-efficient faucets, showerheads, toilets, urinals, washing machines, and dishwashers. Conserving water also saves the energy needed to treat, pump, and heat that water in homes, businesses, and other buildings.

Fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new early-warning device for detecting destructive arc faults before they occur.

A hybrid photovoltaic system provides Pinnacles National Monument with electrical services in an environmentally sensitive area. This quite, unobtrusive system provides the Chapparral area with clean, reliable electricity. Installing renewable energy projects at Federal facilities provides Federal agencies an opportunity to fulfill their mandate for responsible stewardship of national resources with cost-effective environmentally benign technologies.

We have measured the Ag and Pd M{sub 5}VV Auger spectrum in coincidence with Ag and Pd 4d{sub 5/2} photoelectrons for the Ag/Cu(100) and Pd/Cu(100) systems, respectively, as a function of admetal coverage. These systems form surface alloys (i.e. random substitutional alloys in the first atomic layer) for impurity concentrations in the 0.1 monolayer range. For these systems, the centroid of the impurity 4d levels is expected to shift away from the Fermi level by {approx}1 eV [Ruban et al., Journal of Molecular Catalysis. A 115 (1997) 421], an effect that should be easily seen in coincidence core-valence-valence Auger spectra. We find that the impurity Auger spectra of both systems shift in a manner that is consistent with d-band moving away from EF. However, the shift for Pd is considerably smaller than expected, and a shift almost absent for Ag. The disagreement between theory and experiment is most likely caused by the neglect of lattice relaxations in the calculations.

Excess electrons can be introduced into liquids by absorption of high energy radiation, by photoionization, or by photoinjection from metal surfaces. The electron's chemical and physical properties can then be measured, but this requires that the electrons remain free. That is, the liquid must be sufficiently free of electron attaching impurities for these studies. The drift mobility as well as other transport properties of the electron are discussed here as well as electron reactions, free-ion yields and energy levels, Ionization processes typically produce electrons with excess kinetic energy. In liquids during thermalization, where this excess energy is lost to bath molecules, the electrons travel some distance from their geminate positive ions. In general the electrons at this point are still within the coulombic field of their geminate ions and a large fraction of the electrons recombine. However, some electrons escape recombination and the yield that escapes to become free electrons and ions is termed G{sub fi}. Reported values of G{sub fi} for molecular liquids range from 0.05 to 1.1 per 100 eV of energy absorbed. The reasons for this 20-fold range of yields are discussed here.

North Carolina demonstrates its commitment to technology and efficiency through the Weatherization Program. Weatherization uses advanced technologies and techniques to reduce energy costs for low-income families by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.

This chapter describes the current status of evaluated nuclear data for nuclear technology applications. We start with evaluation procedures for neutron-induced reactions focusing on incident energies from the thermal energy up to 20 MeV, though higher energies are also mentioned. This is followed by examining the status of evaluated neutron data for actinides that play dominant role in most of the applications, followed by coolants/moderators, structural materials and fission products. We then discuss neutron covariance data that characterize uncertainties and correlations. We explain how modern nuclear evaluated data libraries are validated against an extensive set of integral benchmark experiments. Afterwards, we briefly examine other data of importance for nuclear technology, including fission yields, thermal neutron scattering and decay data. A description of three major evaluated nuclear data libraries is provided, including the latest version of the US library ENDF/B-VII.0, European JEFF-3.1 and Japanese JENDL-3.3. A brief introduction is made to current web retrieval systems that allow easy access to a vast amount of up-to-date evaluated nuclear data for nuclear technology applications.

This case study describes the new energy-efficient equipment being installed at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to save nearly $2 million per year in energy and utility costs. The work is being done under a delivery order by Honeywell, Inc., as part of a US Department of Energy ``super'' regional energy savings performance contract, or Super ESPC. These are streamlined contracts that allow Federal agencies to contract with competitively selected energy service companies in their region for a variety of energy- and water-efficient products and services. The service companies pay up-front capital costs and are reimbursed with part of the agency's utility cost savings. In this work, NASA Johnson Space Center will get new energy-efficient lighting and compressed-air systems, water-conserving fixtures, and improved controls.

Photovoltaic energy systems, which convert sunlight to electricity, can meet many different needs in Federal facilities. This fact sheet describes how photovoltaic (PV) energy systems can be used to provide electricity for lighting, communications, refrigeration, fans, signs, pumps, drilling equipment, emergency power packs, and cathodic (corrosion) protection, among others. Applications for PV power in Federal facilities include staff housing, parking areas, campgrounds, marinas, visitor centers, roadside communications equipment, ranger stations, underground pipelines, irrigation and disinfecting systems, and disaster response units. PV systems are particularly suitable and cost-effective for facilities that now use diesel power or that are in remote areas far from electric power lines.

South Carolina demonstrates its commitment to technology and efficiency through the Weatherization Program. Weatherization uses advanced technologies and techniques to reduce energy costs for low-income families by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.