U.S. and global demand for hydrogen is large and growing for use in the production of chemicals, materials, foods, pharmaceuticals, and fuels (including some low-carbon biofuels). Conventional hydrogen production technologies are expensive, have sizeable space requirements, and are large carbon dioxide emitters. A novel sorbent-based hydrogen production technology is being developed and advanced toward field demonstration that promises smaller size, greater efficiency, lower costs, and reduced to no net carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional hydrogen production technology. Development efforts at the pilot scale have addressed materials compatibility, hot-gas filtration, and high-temperature solids transport and metering, among other issues, and have provided the basis for a preliminary process design with associated economics. The process was able to achieve a 93% hydrogen purity on a purge gasfree basis directly out of the pilot unit prior to downstream purification.

The U.S. Army's Fort Carson installation was selected to serve as a prototype for net zero energy assessment and planning. NREL performed the comprehensive assessment to appraise the potential of Fort Carson to achieve net zero energy status through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and electric vehicle integration. This report summarizes the results of the assessment and provides energy recommendations. This study is part of a larger cross-laboratory effort that also includes an assessment of renewable opportunities at seven other DoD Front Range installations, a microgrid design for Fort Carson critical loads and an assessment of regulatory and market-based barriers to a regional secure smart grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Program (GTP) tasked the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with conducting the annual geothermal supply curve update. This report documents the approach taken to identify geothermal resources, determine the electrical producing potential of these resources, and estimate the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), capital costs, and operating and maintenance costs from these geothermal resources at present and future timeframes under various GTP funding levels. Finally, this report discusses the resulting supply curve representation and how improvements can be made to future supply curve updates.

As part of the Spreader Bar Radiation Detector project, PNNL analyzed US import data shipped through US ports collected over the 12 months of 2006 (over 4.5 million containers). Using these data, we extracted a variety of distributions that are of interest to modelers and developers of active and passive detection systems used to 'scan' IMCCs for potential contraband. This report expands on some of the analysis presented in an earlier report from LLNL, by investigation the foreign port distribution of commodities shipped to the US. The majority of containers shipped to the United States are 40 ft containers ({approx}70%); about 25% are 20 ft; and about 3.6% are 45 ft containers. A small fraction (<1%) of containers are of other more specialized sizes, and very few ports actually ship these unique size containers (a full distribution for all foreign ports is shown in Appendix A below). The primary foreign ports that ship the largest fraction of each container are shown in the table below. Given that 45 ft containers comprise 1 of out every 27 containers shipped to the US, and given the foreign ports from which they are shipped, they should not be ignored in screening; further testing …

I accumulate the information we have for the current baseline design for a neutrino factory to determine the maximum current we can expect at the final FFAG accelerating stage. I then determine the energy extracted from the RF cavities in the FFAG, and from that determine how much time there must be between bunch trains to restore the energy to the RF cavities so that each bunch train has the same energy at the storage ring. I also estimate the amount of energy variation from the head to the tail of the bunch train.

The IDS-NF neutrino factory acceleration system must accelerate the muon beam coming out of cooling to a total energy of 25 GeV. The parameters of the beam being accelerated are given in Table 1. While a certain fraction of the beam will be lost early in acceleration, losses of the beam that falls within the acceptance (see Table 1) should be dominated by decay losses (as opposed to dynamic losses or losses on apertures). Decay losses will be kept small, and the cost of the machine will be reduced to the extent possible, consistent with the above requirements. There is a tradeoff between machine cost and the amount of decay losses, and a reasonable compromise will be made between them. Both muon signs will be accelerated simultaneously.

There has been a significant amount of research in the area of building energy efficiency and durability. However, well-documented quantitative information on the impact of crawlspaces on the performance of residential structures is lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of two crawlspace strategies on the whole-house performance of a pair of houses in a mixed humid climate. These houses were built with advanced envelope systems to provide energy savings of 50% or more compared to traditional 2010 new construction. One crawlspace contains insulated walls and is sealed and semi-conditioned. The other is a traditional vented crawlspace with insulation in the crawlspace ceiling. The vented (traditional) crawlspace contains fiberglass batts installed in the floor chase cavities above the crawl, while the sealed and insulated crawlspace contains foil-faced polyisocyanurate foam insulation on the interior side of the masonry walls. Various sensors to measure temperatures, heat flux through crawlspace walls and ceiling, and relative humidity were installed in the two crawlspaces. Data from these sensors have been analyzed to compare the performance of the two crawlspace designs. The analysis results indicated that the sealed and insulated crawlspace design is better than the traditional vented crawlspace in …

This work was a portion of a larger DOE/ITP Grand Challenge project led by Eaton Corporation and which included Ames Lab, Borg Warner Morse, and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. The current report summarizes work done under a CRADA between ORNL and Eaton. Tests of two types were performed at ORNL during the course of this work: (1) simulations of timing chain wear and friction under reciprocating conditions, and (2) pin-on-disk screening tests for bearings undergoing unidirectional sliding. The four materials supplied for evaluation in a timing chain link simulation were hardened type 440B stainless steel, nitrided type 440B stainless steel, VC-coated type 52100 bearing steel, and (ZrTi)B-coated type 52100 bearing steel. Reciprocating wear tests revealed that the VC coating was by far the most wear resistant. In friction, the nitrided stainless steel did slightly better than the other materials. The results will also be included in the overall project report by Eaton Corp.

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The goal of this LDRD project is to develop a rapid first-order experimental procedure for the testing of advanced cladding materials that may be considered for generation IV nuclear reactors. In order to investigate this, a technique was developed to expose the coupons of potential materials to high displacement damage at elevated temperatures to simulate the neutron environment expected in Generation IV reactors. This was completed through a high temperature high-energy heavy-ion implantation. The mechanical properties of the ion irradiated region were tested by either micropillar compression or nanoindentation to determine the local properties, as a function of the implantation dose and exposure temperature. In order to directly compare the microstructural evolution and property degradation from the accelerated testing and classical neutron testing, 316L, 409, and 420 stainless steels were tested. In addition, two sets of diffusion couples from 316L and HT9 stainless steels with various refractory metals. This study has shown that if the ion irradiation size scale is taken into consideration when developing and analyzing the mechanical property data, significant insight into the structural properties of the potential cladding materials can be gained in about a week.

This report outlines findings resulting from a U.S. Department of Energy Building America expert meeting to determine how HVAC companies can transition from a traditional contractor status to a service provider for whole house energy upgrade contracting. IBACOS has embarked upon a research effort under the Building America Program to understand business impacts and change management strategies for HVAC companies. HVAC companies can implement these strategies in order to quickly transition from a 'traditional' heating and cooling contractor to a service provider for whole house energy upgrade contracting. Due to HVAC service contracts, which allow repeat interaction with homeowners, HVAC companies are ideally positioned in the marketplace to resolve homeowner comfort issues through whole house energy upgrades. There are essentially two primary ways to define the routes of transition for an HVAC contractor taking on whole house performance contracting: (1) Sub-contracting out the shell repair/upgrade work; and (2) Integrating the shell repair/upgrade work into their existing business. IBACOS held an Expert Meeting on the topic of Transitioning Traditional HVAC Contractors to Whole House Performance Contractors on March 29, 2011 in San Francisco, CA. The major objectives of the meeting were to: Review and validate the general business models for traditional …

Thermal detection has made extensive progress in the last 40 years, however, the speed and detectivity can still be improved. The advancement of silicon photonic microring resonators has made them intriguing for detection devices due to their small size and high quality factors. Implementing silicon photonic microring or microdisk resonators as a means of a thermal detector gives rise to higher speed and detectivity, as well as lower noise compared to conventional devices with electrical readouts. This LDRD effort explored the design and measurements of silicon photonic microdisk resonators used for thermal detection. The characteristic values, consisting of the thermal time constant ({tau} {approx} 2 ms) and noise equivalent power were measured and found to surpass the performance of the best microbolometers. Furthermore the detectivity was found to be D{sub {lambda}} = 2.47 x 10{sup 8} cm {center_dot} {radical}Hz/W at 10.6 {mu}m which is comparable to commercial detectors. Subsequent design modifications should increase the detectivity by another order of magnitude. Thermal detection in the terahertz (THz) remains underdeveloped, opening a door for new innovative technologies such as metamaterial enhanced detectors. This project also explored the use of metamaterials in conjunction with a cantilever design for detection in the THz region …

The Collaborative Lubricating Oil Study on Emissions (CLOSE) project was a pilot investigation of how fuels and crankcase lubricants contribute to the formation of particulate matter (PM) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) in vehicle exhaust. As limited vehicles were tested, results are not representative of the whole on-road fleet. Long-term effects were not investigated. Pairs of vehicles (one normal PM emitting, one high-PM emitting) from four categories were selected: light-duty (LD) gasoline cars, medium-duty (MD) diesel trucks, heavy-duty (HD) natural-gas-fueled buses, and HD diesel buses. HD vehicles procured did not exhibit higher PM emissions, and thus were labeled high mileage (HM). Fuels evaluated were non-ethanol gasoline (E0), 10 percent ethanol (E10), conventional low-sulfur TxLED diesel, 20% biodiesel (B20), and natural gas. Temperature effects (20 degrees F, 72 degrees F) were evaluated on LD and MD vehicles. Lubricating oil vintage effects (fresh and aged) were evaluated on all vehicles. LD and MD vehicles were operated on a dynamometer over the California Unified Driving Cycle, while HD vehicles followed the Heavy Duty Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule. Regulated and unregulated emissions were measured. Chemical markers from the unregulated emissions measurements and a tracer were utilized to estimate the lubricant contribution to PM.

Objectives are to: (1) Investigate novel engine control strategies targeted at rapid engine/catalyst warming for the purpose of mitigating tailpipe emissions from plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) exposed to multiple engine cold start events; and (2) Validate and optimize hybrid supervisory control techniques developed during previous and on-going research projects by integrating them into the vehicle level control system and complementing them with the modified engine control strategies in order to further reduce emissions during both cold start and engine re-starts. Approach used are: (1) Perform a literature search of engine control strategies used in conventional powertrains to reduce cold start emissions; (2) Develop an open source engine controller providing full access to engine control strategies in order to implement new engine/catalyst warm-up behaviors; (3) Modify engine cold start control algorithms and characterize impact on cold start behavior; and (4) Develop an experimental Engine-In-the-Loop test stand in order to validate control methodologies and verify transient thermal behavior and emissions of the real engine when combined with a virtual hybrid powertrain. Some major accomplishments are: (1) Commissioned a prototype engine controller on a GM Ecotec 2.4l direct injected gasoline engine on an engine test cell at the University of Tennessee. (2) …

Network measurement is a discipline that provides the techniques to collect data that are fundamental to many branches of computer science. While many capturing tools and comparisons have made available in the literature and elsewhere, the impact of these packet capturing tools on existing processes have not been thoroughly studied. While not a concern for collection methods in which dedicated servers are used, many usage scenarios of packet capturing now requires the packet capturing tool to run concurrently with operational processes. In this work we perform experimental evaluations of the performance impact that packet capturing process have on web-based services; in particular, we observe the impact on web servers. We find that packet capturing processes indeed impact the performance of web servers, but on a multi-core system the impact varies depending on whether the packet capturing and web hosting processes are co-located or not. In addition, the architecture and behavior of the web server and process scheduling is coupled with the behavior of the packet capturing process, which in turn also affect the web server's performance.

The starting point for the International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) was the output of the earlier International Scoping Study for a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility (the ISS). The accelerator facility described in section 2 incorporates the improvements that have been derived from the substantial amount of work carried out within the Accelerator Working Group. Highlights of these improvements include: (1) Initial concepts for the implementation of the proton driver at each of the three example sites, CERN, FNAL, and RAL; (2) Detailed studies of the energy deposition in the target area; (3) A reduction in the length of the muon beam phase-rotation and bunching systems; (4) Detailed analyses of the impact of the risk that stray magnetic field in the accelerating cavities in the ionization cooling channel will reduce the maximum operating gradient. Several alternative ionization-cooling lattices have been developed as fallback options to mitigate this technical risk; (5) Studies of particle loss in the muon front-end and the development of strategies to mitigate the deleterious effects of such losses; (6) The development of more complete designs for the muon linac and re-circulating linacs; (7) The development of a design for the muon FFAG …

In this project, we developed a confined cooperative self-assembly process to synthesize one-dimensional (1D) j-aggregates including nanowires and nanorods with controlled diameters and aspect ratios. The facile and versatile aqueous solution process assimilates photo-active macrocyclic building blocks inside surfactant micelles, forming stable single-crystalline high surface area nanoporous frameworks with well-defined external morphology defined by the building block packing. Characterizations using TEM, SEM, XRD, N{sub 2} and NO sorption isotherms, TGA, UV-vis spectroscopy, and fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy indicate that the j-aggregate nanostructures are monodisperse and may further assemble into hierarchical arrays with multi-modal functional pores. The nanostructures exhibit enhanced and collective optical properties over the individual chromophores. This project was a small footprint research effort which, nonetheless, produced significant progress towards both the stated goal as well as unanticipated research directions.

This report focuses on financial options developed specifically for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in three California public school districts. Solar energy systems installed on public schools have a number of benefits that include utility bill savings, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and other toxic air contaminants, job creation, demonstrating environmental leadership, and creating learning opportunities for students. In the 2011 economic environment, the ability to generate general-fund savings as a result of reducing utility bills has become a primary motivator for school districts trying to cut costs. To achieve meaningful savings, the size of the photovoltaic (PV) systems installed (both individually on any one school and collectively across a district) becomes much more important; larger systems are required to have a material impact on savings. Larger PV systems require a significant financial commitment and financing therefore becomes a critical element in the transaction. In simple terms, school districts can use two primary types of ownership models to obtain solar installations and cost savings across a school district. The PV installations can be financed and owned directly by the districts themselves. Alternatively, there are financing structures whereby another entity, such as a solar developer or its investors, actually …

Large-scale, high-throughput production of nano-structured materials (i.e. nanomanufacturing) is a strategic area in manufacturing, with markets projected to exceed $1T by 2015. Nanomanufacturing is still in its infancy; process/product developments are costly and only touch on potential opportunities enabled by growing nanoscience discoveries. The greatest promise for high-volume manufacturing lies in age-old coating and imprinting operations. For materials with tailored nm-scale structure, imprinting/embossing must be achieved at high speeds (roll-to-roll) and/or over large areas (batch operation) with feature sizes less than 100 nm. Dispersion coatings with nanoparticles can also tailor structure through self- or directed-assembly. Layering films structured with these processes have tremendous potential for efficient manufacturing of microelectronics, photovoltaics and other topical nano-structured devices. This project is designed to perform the requisite R and D to bring Sandia's technology base in computational mechanics to bear on this scale-up problem. Project focus is enforced by addressing a promising imprinting process currently being commercialized.

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An array of cellulase, hemicellulase, and accessory enzymes were tested for their ability to increase the conversion levels and rates of biomass to sugar after being subjected to thermochemical pretreatment. The genes were cloned by Oklahoma State University and expressed, purified, and tested at NREL. Several enzymes were noted to be effective in increasing conversion levels, however expression levels were typically very low. The overall plan was to express these enzymes in corn as a possible mechanism towards decreased recalcitrance. One enzyme, cel5A endoglucanase from Acidothermus cellulolyticus, was transformed into both tobacco and corn. The transgenic corn stover and tobacco were examined for their susceptibility to thermochemical pretreatment followed by enzymatic digestion.

This paper summarizes an evaluation of siting an HTGR plant in a remote area supplying steam, electricity and high temperature gas for recovery and upgrading of unconventional crude oil from oil sands. The area selected for this evaluation is the Alberta Canada oil sands. This is a very fertile and active area for bitumen recovery and upgrading with significant quantities piped to refineries in Canada and the U.S Additionally data on the energy consumption and other factors that are required to complete the evaluation of HTGR application is readily available in the public domain. There is also interest by the Alberta oil sands producers (OSP) in identifying alternative energy sources for their operations. It should be noted, however, that the results of this evaluation could be applied to any similar oil sands area.

This paper summarizes an evaluation by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project of siting a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) plant on an existing nuclear plant site that is located in an area of significant industrial activity. This is a co-generation application in which the HTGR Plant will be supplying steam and electricity to one or more of the nearby industrial plants.

This paper summarizes an evaluation by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project of siting a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) plant on an existing nuclear plant site that is located in an area of significant industrial activity. This is a co-generation application in which the HTGR Plant will be supplying steam and electricity to one or more of the nearby industrial plants.