This ''annual report'' details the FY 2000 achievements of the U.S. Department of Energy PV Program in the categories of Research and Development, Technology Development, and Systems Engineering and Applications. Highlights include development of a record-breaking concentrator solar cell that is 32.4% efficient; fabrication of a record CIGS (copper indium gallium diselenide) cell at 18.8% efficiency; sharing an R and D 100 award with Siemens Solar Industries and the California Energy Commission for development and deployment of commercial CIS thin-film modules; and support for the efforts of the PV Industry Roadmap Workshop.

NREL is conducting the DOE Truck Evaluation Project which includes testing new lower sulfur diesel fuels and exhaust filter technologies. Start-up experiences from one of the evaluations are hi-lighted in this report.

This 20-page brochure profiles industrial manufacturing firms who are achieving significant energy savings in their plants. The DOE Office of Industrial Technologies six plant-of-the-year nominees are featured, and an additional 10 projects from other companies are also highlighted. Information on OIT's awards and recognition process, and information on OIT and BestPractices is also included.

The BigHorn Home Improvement Center in Silverthorne, Colorado, was designed using a whole-building approach, looking at the way that the building's site, windows, walls, floors, electrical, and mechanical systems could work together most efficiently. The center includes a hardware store and building materials warehouse space, and features a 9.0 kw photovoltaic system to provide an average of 25% of the building's electricity. The BigHorn Center is one of the nation's first commercial buildings to integrate daylighting and natural ventilation cooling systems into a retail space. It is expected to reduce energy costs by 62% compared to conventionally designed retail buildings.

A description of some of the methods used in neuroreceptor imaging to distinguish changes in receptor availability has been presented in this chapter. It is necessary to look beyond regional uptake of the tracer since uptake generally is affected by factors other than the number of receptors for which the tracer has affinity. An exception is the infusion method producing an equilibrium state. The techniques vary in complexity some requiring arterial blood measurements of unmetabolized tracer and multiple time uptake data. Others require only a few plasma and uptake measurements and those based on a reference region require no plasma measurements. We have outlined some of the limitations of the different methods. Laruelle (1999) has pointed out that test/retest studies to which various methods can be applied are crucial in determining the optimal method for a particular study. The choice of method will also depend upon the application. In a clinical setting, methods not involving arterial blood sampling are generally preferred. In the future techniques for externally measuring arterial plasma radioactivity with only a few blood samples for metabolite correction will extend the modeling options of clinical PET. Also since parametric images can provide information beyond that of ROI analysis, …

It is evident from this chapter that there is enormous flexibility both in the selection of the nature of the radioisotope and ways to generate it, as well as in the selection of the labeling precursor to appropriately attach that radioisotope to some larger biomolecule of interest. The arsenal of radiolabeling precursors now available to the chemist is quite extensive, and without a doubt will continue to grow as chemists develop new ones. However, the upcoming years will perhaps reflect a greater effort in refining existing methods for preparing some of those precursors that are already available to us. For example, the use of solid-phase reactions to accomplish in a single step what would normally take several using conventional solvent-based reactions has already been shown to work in many occasions. The obvious advantage here is that processes become more amenable to system automation thus affording greater reliability in day-to-day operations. There are perhaps other technologies in science that have yet to be realized by the chemist in the PET laboratory that could provide a similar or even a greater benefit. One only needs to be open to new ideas, and imaginative enough to apply them to the problems at hand.

A fact sheet about the technology used for producing transportation fuel from biomass and the Department of Energy's efforts to commercialize that technology.

This case study describes two of the many projects in which the Department of the Interior's National Park Service works with private contractors and other agencies, such as the Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), to replace fossil-fuel-powered diesel generators with renewable energy systems in the nation's parks. This is done to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides, associated with using fossil fuels to generate electric power in remote areas of the parks. Two solar electric (photovoltaic) systems were installed in Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve in southern California, and more are planned. The systems are cleaner and less noisy than the old generators they replaced; they are connected to storage batteries and backed up by new propane generators in case of a prolonged period without sunlight.

Positron emission tomography (PET) has become a valuable interdisciplinary tool for understanding physiological, biochemical and pharmacological functions at a molecular level in living humans, whether in a healthy or diseased state. The utility of tracing chemical activity through the body transcends the fields of cardiology, oncology, neurology and psychiatry. In this, PET techniques span radiochemistry and radiopharmaceutical development to instrumentation, image analysis, anatomy and modeling. PET has made substantial contributions in each of these fields by providing a,venue for mapping dynamic functions of healthy and unhealthy human anatomy. As diverse as the disciplines it bridges, PET has provided insight into an equally significant variety of psychiatric disorders. Using the unique quantitative ability of PET, researchers are now better able to non-invasively characterize normally occurring neurotransmitter interactions in the brain. With the knowledge that these interactions provide the fundamental basis for brain response, many investigators have recently focused their efforts on an examination of the communication between these chemicals in both healthy volunteers and individuals suffering from diseases classically defined as neurotransmitter specific in nature. In addition, PET can measure the biochemical dynamics of acute and sustained drug abuse. Thus, PET studies of neurotransmitter interactions enable investigators to describe a multitude …

Office of Industrial Technologies' Industrial Assessment Center (IACs). The IACs, based at universities across the country, provide small and mid-sized manufacturers with no-cost energy assessments.