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 fourth quarter contains an article that is a followup to the IEEE PVSC conference held in Alaska in September 2000, an article about two new R and D initiatives, and an article on cooperative research efforts between the NCPV and the Solar Buildings and Concentrating Solar Power programs. The editorialist is Jim Rannels, Director of the Office of Power Technologies.

The Coast Guard military base on Kodiak Island, Alaska, is the largest Coast Guard base in the world. By taking a leadership role in a pilot program to streamline Federal financing and procurement for energy saving projects, the Coast Guard is saving more than $220,000 a year in energy costs at this base. Using the Super ESPC (Energy Savings Performance Contracting) program, the Coast Guard was able to quickly contract with an experienced contractor with energy savings expertise. Working with ERI, one of FEMP's (Federal Energy Management Program) approved energy services contractors, the Coast Guard determined areas of potential energy savings and designed a retrofit to upgrade inefficient equipment and infrastructure. When energy-efficient modifications are complete, the base will be 30% more cost effective.

Fact sheet for homeowners and contractors on how to manage moisture in the crawlspace, insulate crawlspace walls, insulate underflooring, handle ventilation, and manage radon.

Fact sheet for homeowners and contractors on using passive solar design features in homes can increase energy efficiency and comfort. Topics include design techniques, cost, and passive solar design tools.

Fact sheet for homeowners and contractors on how to insulate slab-on-grade floors and control moisture, air leakage, termites, and radon.

The transportation market in the United States is evolving. As the number of vehicles and miles traveled on American roadways continues to grow, the nation is looking toward advanced vehicles and fuels to meet the increasing demand for more energy efficient, environmentally friendly modes of transport. At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems' Fuel Utilization Program is doing its part. We're developing and demonstrating engine and fuel technologies that allow alternative and advanced petroleum fuels to compete with their conventional counterparts.

Transcript of an interview with Raymond Schneider, attorney and Army Air Forces veteran (710th Bomb Squadron, 447th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II.

NREL's Center for Basic Sciences performs fundamental research for DOE's Office of Science. Our mission is to provide fundamental knowledge in the basic sciences and engineering that will underpin new and improved renewable energy technologies.

BestPractices Steam tip sheet regarding ways to assess steam system efficiency. To determine the effective cost of steam, use a combined heat and power simulation model that includes all the significant effects.

BestPractices Steam tip sheet regarding the use of deaerators in industrial steam systems.

BestPractices Program tip sheet discussing a method for determining the cost of compressed air at industrial plants.

BestPractices Steam tip sheet regarding ways to improve plant steam system efficiency by installing removable insulation on uninsulated valves and fittings.

BestPractices Steam tip sheet regarding ways to minimize short cycling losses in industrial boilers.

BestPractices Program tip sheet discussing ways to minimize compressed air leaks in industrial plants.

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The remarkable catalytic properties of electrode surfaces modified by monolayer amounts of metal adatoms obtained by underpotential deposition (UPD) have been the subject of a large number of studies during the last couple of decades. This interest stems from the possibility of implementing strictly surface modifications of electrocatalysts in an elegant, well-controlled way, and these bi-metallic surfaces can serve as models for the design of new catalysts. In addition, some of these systems may have potential for practical applications. The UPD of metals, which in general involves the deposition of up to a monolayer of metal on a foreign substrate at potentials positive to the reversible thermodynamic potential, facilitates this type of surface modification, which can be performed repeatedly by potential control. Recent studies of these surfaces and their catalytic properties by new in situ surface structure sensitive techniques have greatly improved the understanding of these systems.

The remarkable catalytic properties of electrode surfaces modified by monolayer amounts of metal adatoms obtained by underpotential deposition (UPD) have been the subject of a large number of studies during the last couple of decades. This interest stems from the possibility of implementing strictly surface modifications of electrocatalysts in an elegant, well-controlled way, and these bi-metallic surfaces can serve as models for the design of new catalysts. In addition, some of these systems may have potential for practical applications. The UPD of metals, which in general involves the deposition of up to a monolayer of metal on a foreign substrate at potentials positive to the reversible thermodynamic potential, facilitates this type of surface modification, which can be performed repeatedly by potential control. Recent studies of these surfaces and their catalytic properties by new in situ surface structure sensitive techniques have greatly improved the understanding of these systems.

BestPractices Program tip sheet discussing ways to eliminate inappropriate uses for compressed air in industrial plants.

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

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

The use of isotope labels has had a fundamentally important role in the determination of mechanisms of homogeneously catalyzed reactions. Mechanistic data is valuable since it can assist in the design and rational improvement of homogeneous catalysts. There are several ways to use isotopes in mechanistic chemistry. Isotopes can be introduced into controlled experiments and followed where they go or don't go; in this way, Libby, Calvin, Taube and others used isotopes to elucidate mechanistic pathways for very different, yet important chemistries. Another important isotope method is the study of kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and equilibrium isotope effect (EIEs). Here the mere observation of where a label winds up is no longer enough - what matters is how much slower (or faster) a labeled molecule reacts than the unlabeled material. The most careti studies essentially involve the measurement of isotope fractionation between a reference ground state and the transition state. Thus kinetic isotope effects provide unique data unavailable from other methods, since information about the transition state of a reaction is obtained. Because getting an experimental glimpse of transition states is really tantamount to understanding catalysis, kinetic isotope effects are very powerful.

High intensity synchrotron radiation produces photons with wavelengths that extend from the infrared to hard x rays with energies of hundreds of keV with uniquely high photon intensities that can be used to determine the composition and properties of materials using a variety of techniques. Most of these techniques represent extensions of earlier work performed with ordinary tube-type x-ray sources. The properties of the synchrotron source such as the continuous range of energy, high degree of photon polarization, pulsed beams, and photon flux many orders of magnitude higher than from x-ray tubes have made possible major advances in the possible chemical applications. We describe here ways that materials analyses can be made using the high intensity beams for measurements with small beam sizes and/or high detection sensitivity. The relevant characteristics of synchrotron x-ray sources are briefly summarized to give an idea of the x-ray parameters to be exploited. The experimental techniques considered include x-ray fluorescence, absorption, and diffraction. Examples of typical experimental apparatus used in these experiments are considered together with descriptions of actual applications.

This century old area of research has been experiencing a renaissance during the last decade, with the annual number of publications on the subject increasing from only one in 1990 to nearly 200 in the late-1990s. This renewed interest is stimulated by the discovery of biological roles of nitric oxide, distinguished by the 1998 Nobel prize, and the recognition that the conversion of nitric oxide into peroxynitrite may play major roles in human diseases associated with oxidative stress and in cellular defense against invading pathogens. Peroxynitrite (ONOO{sup {minus}})is a structural isomer of nitrate (NO{sub 3}{sup {minus}}) that contains a peroxo bond. The physiological route to ONOO{sup {minus}} is provided by the combination of nitric oxide ({center_dot}NO) with superoxide ({center_dot}O{sub 2}{sup {minus}}), an extremely rapid reaction occurring upon every encounter of these radicals (the upper dot denotes radical species). Both {center_dot}NO and {center_dot}O{sub 2}{sup {minus}} are the oxygen metabolic products simultaneously generated in a number of cell types within a human body. Compared to its precursors, peroxynitrite is a much stronger oxidant capable of oxidizing proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids.

Newsletter for DOE Biofuels Program. Articles on recent DOE grants and contracts under Bioenergy Initiative and related programs; also on creation of National Bioenergy Center at NREL.