The duct system, used in air heating and air cooling your home, is a collection of tubes that distributes the heated or cooled air to the various rooms. The duct system can have an important effect on health of the occupants through the distribution of indoor air pollution. Changes and repairs to a duct system should always be performed by a qualified professional. This brochure is meant to help you understand the problems that can affect the duct system and how you can save money, improve comfort, and protect against potential health hazards.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is promoting the use of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). To support this activity, DOE has directed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to conduct projects to evaluate the performance and acceptability of light-duty AFVs. A 1999 F-250 bi-fuel propane pickup was run through a series of tests while operating on LPB and gasoline. The tests are explained briefly in this fact sheet.

The Winter 2000 edition of the OIT Times newsletter, a quarterly publication produced by the Office of Industrial Technologies, highlights the 1999 start-up projects, announces the OIT solicitation schedule for FY2000, and features the success of the Ohio diecasting showcase. One of the quarterly highlights was Secretary Richardson's presentation of a Certificate of Partnership to Malden Mills CEO Aaron Feuerstein at the dedication of the plant's new, advanced cogeneration system.

Fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new closed rotary drum dryer for the forest products industry.

This is a fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new way to compact and deliver coal and other materials through pipelines.

Fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about an electronic-pneumatic system for separating aluminum in mixed recyclable streams.

This is a fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new process for creating corrugated cardboard products.

Fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new method for stress relief in metalcasting processes that reduces energy consumption and eliminates pollution.

Fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new heat exchanger design that increases efficiency while reducing costs.

This Fact Sheet is written for the Inventions and Innovations Program about a new technology for sulfide reduction and increased oil recovery. The new technology, called Bio-Competitive Exclusion (BCX), results in greater oil production and prevents the production of corrosive hydrogen sulfide in oil and gas reservoirs. This BCX process is initiated and maintained by a new product, called Max-Well 2000, in which nutrients are custom designed to stimulate targeted beneficial microorganisms that live in every oil and gas reservoir. Rapid growth of these microorganisms excludes activity of harmful sulfide-producing bacteria and produces by-products that serve as effective tertiary oil recovery agents and as sulfide degradation agents. Oil and gas production is both increased and sweetened.

Synchrotron radiation is a very bright, broadband, polarized, pulsed source of electromagnetic radiation extending from the infrared to the x-ray region. Brightness, defined as flux per unit area per unit solid angle, is normally a more important quantity than flux or intensity, particularly in throughput limited applications which include those in which monochromators are used. The authors have attempted to compile the formulae needed to calculate the flux, brightness, polarization and power produced by the three standard storage ring synchrotron radiation sources: bending magnets, wigglers and undulators. Where necessary, these formulae have contained reference to the emittance of the electron beam, as well as to the electron beam size and its divergence. For all three type sources, the source phase space area, i.e. the spatial and angular extent of the effective (real) source, is a convolution of its electron and photon components.

Fact sheet written for the Inventions and Innovation Program about a new method for making steel strapping and strip from rod stock produced from scrap steel. There is a large movement in the American steel industry to utilize more recycled steel. Recycled steel melted in the electric arc furnaces of mini-mills is being used as the source of raw materials for an increasing number of products, largely due to its lower price. However, conventional processes for producing steel strapping and cold-rolled strip steel restrict manufacturers from using more than 50% recycled steel. In addition, steel strapping and cold-rolled strip steel traditionally require many production steps. They are produced from primary steel that has been cast into slab, heated, rolled to achieve the desired thickness, and slit to the desired width. The slitting process produces microcracks along the edge of the strapping or strip, which reduce tensile strength. A new continuous process produces steel strapping and 1/2 inch to 6 inch strip steel from the rod and strip stock made from scrap steel in mini-mills. The new process creates steel strapping and strip with improved strength and quality due to the absence of microcracks caused by the conventional slitting process. The …

Interview with engineer and Army Air Forces veteran Shuford M. Alexander, Jr. The interview includes Alexander's personal experiences about being a fighter pilot in Italy during World War II, basic training, flight training, various assignments and transfers, Operation STRANGLE, being shot down by flak over Piacenza, and being rescued by Italian partisans. Additionally, Alexander talks about his link-up with a British A-4 Mission and his attempt to reach Allied lines, his betrayal by a German agent and his subsequent capture, escaping and continuing his search for Allied lines, his observations and opinions about the partisans, a second encounter with a British A-4 Mission, the Martani family in the village of Tosca, his group's trek through mountain snow to reach Allied lines, meeting with British paratroopers and with African-American soldiers from the 92nd Infantry Division, and his reunion with his squadron in Pisa. The interview includes an appendix with a narrative by Alexander.

Book providing.a biographical account of Frank M. Brandstetter, documenting his life and work as a hotelier, corporate executive, and U. S. Army intelligence officer. The text is based on Brandstetter's own recollections and corroborated with source documents and other published accounts. Index starts on page 367.

The importance of aerosol particles in many branches of science, such as atmospheric chemistry, combustion, interfacial science, and material processing, has been steadily growing during the past decades. One of the unique properties of these particles is the very high surface-to-volume ratios, thus making them readily serve as centers for gas-phase condensation and heterogeneous reactions. These particles must be characterized by size, shape, physical state, and chemical composition. Traditionally, optical elastic scattering has been applied to obtain the physical properties of these particle (e.g., particle size, size distribution, and particle density). These physical properties are particularly important in atmospheric science as they govern the distribution and transport of atmospheric aerosols.

This paper summarizes the current scientific and technological knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions from various agricultural practices and the manufacturing of food. The study also provides estimates that compare agriculture-related alternatives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Matters is an Office of Industrial Technologies bimonthly publication on energy efficiency opportunities. This issue's focus is on the future of industrial energy efficiency. The issue also contains articles on seven companies that are to receive cost-shared funding for plant-wide, energy efficiency assessments; submitting proposals to assess energy flow and steam system opportunities; partnering to save energy and money; and root cause failure analysis on AC induction motors. Also a special feature by Don Casada ''Lights that Shine Forever.''

Biweekly, comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

This guidance document is a product of the Avian Subcommittee of the National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC). The NWCC was formed to better understand and promote responsible, credible, and comparable avian/wind energy interaction studies. Bird mortality is a concern and wind power is a potential clean and green source of electricity, making study of wind energy/bird interactions essential. This document provides an overview for regulators and stakeholders concerned with wind energy/bird interactions, as well as a more technical discussion of the basic concepts and tools for studying such interactions.

None

This Photovoltaic Program Five-Year Plan is being published today, January 1, 2000. This five-year plan provides a strategy for research and development to advance the technology.

NREL PV Working With Industry is a quarterly newsletter devoted to the research, development, and deployment performed by NREL staff in concert with their industry and university partners. The Third Quarter, 1999 issue focuses on planning activities of the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV), including the PV Industry 20-Year Roadmap and the National Photovoltaics Program Plan. The editorialist is Allen Barnett, president of AstroPower, Inc., and a member of the NCPV Advisory Board.

Interview with Army Air Forces veteran Wilbur H. Ford. The interview includes Ford's personal experiences about being a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II, training, transferring to the Army Air Force from the Army, flight training, B-17 transition training, and crew training. Ford also talks about his assignment to the 401st Bomb Group, enemy flak, the highlights of his nine missions over Germany, battle damage to his plane, the Dresden raid, returning to the States, and transition training in B-29s for transfer to the Pacific Theater.

Interview with E. Benjamin Dunn, a Army WWII veteran and POW from Gorham, Illinois, who was captured by the Japanese on Java with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (the "Lost Battalion.") Dunn discusses training in the Army, transfer to 2-131 and deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and being captured, experiences in internment in Batavia and later Changi Prison Camp in Singapore, building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and liberation.