Technology Opportunities to Reduce U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions (open access)

Technology Opportunities to Reduce U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The rise in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial and agricultural activities has aroused international concern about the possible impacts of these emissions on climate. Greenhouse gases--mostly carbon dioxide, some methane, nitrous oxide and other trace gases--are emitted to the atmosphere, enhancing an effect in which heat reflected from the earth's surface is kept from escaping into space, as in a greenhouse. Thus, there is concern that the earth's surface temperature may rise enough to cause global climate change. Approximately 90% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic sources come from energy production and use, most of which are a byproduct of the combustion of fossil fuels. On a per capita basis, the United States is one of the world's largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, comprising 4% of the world's population, yet emitting 23% of the world's greenhouse gases. Emissions in the United States are increasing at around 1.2% annually, and the Energy Information Administration forecasts that emissions levels will continue to increase at this rate in the years ahead if we proceed down the business-as-usual path. President Clinton has presented a two-part challenge for the United States: reduce greenhouse gas emissions and grow the economy. …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: National Lab Directors, . .
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Development of Advanced Ceramic Manufacturing Technology (open access)

Development of Advanced Ceramic Manufacturing Technology

Advanced structural ceramics are enabling materials for new transportation engine systems that have the potential for significantly reducing energy consumption and pollution in automobiles and heavy vehicles. Ceramic component reliability and performance have been demonstrated in previous U.S. DOE initiatives, but high manufacturing cost was recognized as a major barrier to commercialization. Norton Advanced Ceramics (NAC), a division of Saint-Gobain Industrial Ceramics, Inc. (SGIC), was selected to perform a major Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing Technology (ACMT) Program. The overall objectives of NAC's program were to design, develop, and demonstrate advanced manufacturing technology for the production of ceramic exhaust valves for diesel engines. The specific objectives were (1) to reduce the manufacturing cost by an order of magnitude, (2) to develop and demonstrate process capability and reproducibility, and (3) to validate ceramic valve performance, durability, and reliability. The program was divided into four major tasks: Component Design and Specification, Component Manufacturing Technology Development, Inspection and Testing, and Process Demonstration. A high-power diesel engine valve for the DDC Series 149 engine was chosen as the demonstration part for this program. This was determined to be an ideal component type to demonstrate cost-effective process enhancements, the beneficial impact of advanced ceramics on transportation systems, …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Pujari, V. K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
EXAFS and activity studies of the poisoning effect on Cl on Pt/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalysts during oxidation reactions. (open access)

EXAFS and activity studies of the poisoning effect on Cl on Pt/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalysts during oxidation reactions.

The effect of Cl on the activity of Pt/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalysts for methane oxidation has been studied by H{sub 2} and CO chemisorption, O{sub 2} isotopic exchange, kinetic studies and EXAFS spectroscopy. Catalysts containing 1.5% pt/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} were prepared by incipient wetness from H{sub 2}PtCl{sub 6} and Pt(NH{sub 3}){sub 4}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} precursors. Both reduced catalysts have similar dispersion (0.8) as determined by H{sub 2} chemisorption. At low methane concentration (0.3 vol.% CH{sub 4}, 16 vol.% O{sub 2}) the Cl-free catalyst was about 20 times more active during complete methane oxidation than the Cl-containing catalyst. Both CO chemisorption and oxygen exchange were observed on the Cl-free catalyst, whereas they were not detected on the Cl-containing catalyst. On the Cl-free catalyst, only Pt-Pt and Pt-O bonds were detected from the EXAFS results, while on the Cl-containing catalyst additional Pt-Cl bonds were present. The effect of chlorine on activity strongly depended on the reactant concentration. Exposure of the Cl-free catalyst to higher concentrations of methane (3 vol.% CH{sub 4}) reduced the activity to a level similar to that of the Cl-containing catalyst. Addition of HCl to the Cl-free catalyst rendered the activity identical to the catalyst prepared from Cl-containing precursors. …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Gracia, F.; Wolf, E. E.; Miller, J. T. & Kropf, A. J.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Estimating Carbon Supply Curves for Global Forests and Other Land Uses April 2001, Discussion Paper 01-19 (open access)

Estimating Carbon Supply Curves for Global Forests and Other Land Uses April 2001, Discussion Paper 01-19

This study develops cumulative carbon ''supply curves'' for global forests utilizing a dynamic timber supply model for sequestration of forest carbon. Because the period of concern is the next century, and particular time points within that century, the curves are not traditional Marshallian supply curves or steady-state supply curves. Rather, the focus is on cumulative carbon cost curves (quasi-supply curves) at various points in time over the next 100 years. The research estimates a number of long-term, cumulative, carbon quasi-supply curves under different price scenarios and for different time periods. The curves trace out the relationship between an intertemporal price path for carbon, as given by carbon shadow prices, and the cumulative carbon sequestered from the initiation of the shadow prices, set at 2000, to a selected future year (2010, 2050, 2100). The timber supply model demonstrates that cumulative carbon quasi-supply curves that can be generated through forestry significantly depend on initial carbon prices and expectations regarding the time profile of future carbon prices. Furthermore, long-run quasi-supply curves generated from a constant price will have somewhat different characteristics from quasi-supply curves generated with an expectation of rising carbon prices through time.The ?least-cost? curves vary the time periods under consideration and …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Sedjo, Roger; Sohngen, Brent & Mendelsohn, Robert
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measuring Generator Performance in Providing Regulation and Load-Following Ancillary Services (open access)

Measuring Generator Performance in Providing Regulation and Load-Following Ancillary Services

In an earlier project, we analyzed data on total system load as well as the loads of eight large industrial customers (Kirby and Hirst 2000). We analyzed these data in terms of system and customer-specific requirements for two real-power ancillary services, regulation and load following. We conducted these analyses using 12 days of data from February 1999 plus 12 days of data from August and September 1999. The project discussed here focused on the supply side (provision) of these two services. Specifically, we examined the output of this control area's generation resources, in aggregate and by unit. We analyzed the performance of these generating units in two ways. First, we analyzed the contribution of these generators to overall system performance [generally relative to the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) standards]. Second, we analyzed performance relative to what the control center requested of the generators.
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Hirst, E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
X-Ray Dose and Spot Size Calculations for the DARHT-II Distributed Target (open access)

X-Ray Dose and Spot Size Calculations for the DARHT-II Distributed Target

The baseline DARHT-II converter target consists of foamed tantalum within a solid-density cylindrical tamper. The baseline design has been modified by D. Ho to further optimize the integrated line density of material in the course of multiple beam pulses. LASNEX simulations of the hydrodynamic expansion of the target have been performed by D. Ho (documented elsewhere). The resulting density profiles have been used as inputs in the MCNP radiation transport code to calculate the X-ray dose and spot size assuming a incoming Gaussian electron beam with {sigma} = 0.65mm, and a PIC-generated beam taking into account the ''swept'' spot emerging from the DARHT-II kicker system. A prerequisite to these calculations is the absorption spectrum of air. In order to obtain this, a separate series of MCNP runs was performed for a set of monoenergetic photon sources, tallying the energy deposited in a volume of air. The forced collision feature was used to improve the statistics since the photon mean free path in air is extremely long at the energies of interest. A sample input file is given below. The resulting data for the MCNP DE and DF cards is shown in the beam-pulse input files, one of which is listed …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: McCarrick, J
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Thermal Response of the 44-BWR Waste Package to a Hypothetical Fire Accident (open access)

Thermal Response of the 44-BWR Waste Package to a Hypothetical Fire Accident

The purpose of this calculation is to determine the thermal response of the 44-boiling water reactor (BWR) waste package (WP) to the hypothetical regulatory fire accident. The objective is to calculate the temperature response of the waste package materials to the hypothetical short-term fire defined in 10 CFR 7 1, Section 73(c)(4), Reference 1. The scope of the calculation includes evaluation of the accident with the waste package above ground, at the Yucca Mountain surface facility. The scope of this calculation is limited to the two-dimensional waste package temperature calculations to support the waste package design. The information provided by the sketches attached to this calculation is that for the potential design of the type of WP considered in this calculation. In addition to the nominal design configuration thermal load case, the effects of varying the BWR thermal load are determined. The associated activity is the development of engineering evaluations to support the Licensing Application (LA) design activities.
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Smotrel, J. R.; Marr, H. & Anderson, M. J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Remedial Action Work Plan Amchitka Island Mud Pit Closures (open access)

Remedial Action Work Plan Amchitka Island Mud Pit Closures

This remedial action work plan presents the project organization and construction procedures developed for the performance of the remedial actions at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE's) sites on Amchitka Island, Alaska. During the late1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (the predecessor agency to DOE) used Amchitka Island as a site for underground nuclear tests. A total of nine sites on the Island were considered for nuclear testing; however, tests were only conducted at three sites (i.e., Long Shot in 1965, Milrow in 1969, and Cannikin in 1971). In addition to these three sites, large diameter emplacement holes were drilled in two other locations (Sites D and F) and an exploratory hole was in a third location (Site E). It was estimated that approximately 195 acres were disturbed by drilling or preparation for drilling in conjunction with these activities. The disturbed areas include access roads, spoil-disposal areas, mud pits which have impacted the environment, and an underground storage tank at the hot mix plant which was used to support asphalt-paving operations on the island. The remedial action objective for Amchitka Island is to eliminate human and ecological exposure to contaminants by capping …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: United States. Department of Energy. Nevada Operations Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electron Acceleration in the Field-reversed Configuration (FRC) by Slowly Rotating Odd-parity Magnetic Fields (open access)

Electron Acceleration in the Field-reversed Configuration (FRC) by Slowly Rotating Odd-parity Magnetic Fields

The trajectories of individual electrons are studied numerically in a 3D, prolate, FRC [field-reversed configuration] equilibrium magnetic geometry with added small-aplitude, slowly rotating, odd-parity magnetic fields (RFos). RMFos cause electron heating by toroidal acceleration near the 0-point line and by field-parallel acceleration away from it, both followed by scattering from magnetic-field inhomogeneities. Electrons accelerated along the 0-point line move antiparallel to the FRC's current and attain average toroidal angular speeds near that of the RMFo, independent of the sense of RMFo rotation. A conserved transformed Hamiltonian, dependent on electron energy and RMFo sense, controls electron flux-surface coordinate.
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Glasser, Alan H. & Cohen, Samuel A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Relativistic Pseudopotentional Incorporating Core/Valence Polarization and Nonlocal Effects (open access)

Relativistic Pseudopotentional Incorporating Core/Valence Polarization and Nonlocal Effects

A relativistic pseudopotentional (RPP) for use in ab initio molecular electronic structure calculations is derived in the context of the relativistic effective core potential (REP) method of Lee et al. The resulting atom-specific RPP has salient features of the REP imbedded within it while retaining the form of a functional that is dynamically defined at runtime when used in calculations on molecules. The RPP is determined from Dirac-Fock wave functions for the isolated atom. Outercore two-electron interactions are incorporated into the RPP by means of variable coefficients that are defined in the context of the final molecular wave function. This form permits polarization of the outercore shells analogous to that occurring in all-electron molecular Hartree-Fock calculations while retaining these shells as part of the atomic pseudopotentional. Use of the RPP in post-Hartree-Fock molecular calculations permits the incorporation of core/valence correlation effects.
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Marino, M. M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electron Acceleration in the Field-reversed Configuration (FRC) by Slowly Rotation Odd-parity Magnetic Fields (RMF[subscript o]) (open access)

Electron Acceleration in the Field-reversed Configuration (FRC) by Slowly Rotation Odd-parity Magnetic Fields (RMF[subscript o])

The trajectories of individual electrons are studied numerically in a 3D, prolate, FRC [field-reversed configuration] equilibrium magnetic geometry with added small-amplitude, slowly rotating, odd-parity magnetic fields (RMFos). RMFos cause electron heating by toroidal acceleration near the O-point line and by field-parallel acceleration away from it, both followed by scattering from magnetic-field inhomogeneities. Electrons accelerated along the O-point line move antiparallel to the FRC's current and attain average toroidal angular speeds near that of the RMFo, independent of the sense of RMFo rotation. A conserved transformed Hamiltonian, dependent on electron energy and RMFo sense, controls electron flux-surface coordinate.
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Glasser, A.H. & Cohen, S.A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Options for Weatherization Programs in the NOx Tradable Emission Permit Program (open access)

The Options for Weatherization Programs in the NOx Tradable Emission Permit Program

In September 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated a rule to address the regional transport of ground-level ozone by reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in states that were contributing significantly to air pollution problems for downwind states. One element of this program is a NOx tradable emission rights system, to be implemented by individual states. Large, stationary emission sources such as utilities and large cement plants will be issued certain quantities of emission rights, but EPA has encouraged states to set aside some proportion of these rights for energy-efficiency and renewable energy (EE/RE) programs, which could sell rights and use the proceeds to further support their programs. States have considerable leeway in specifying which EE/RE programs will receive emission rights. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program wanted to know whether the funding that could be derived from the sale of NOx emission rights would be large enough to justify the effort of verifying NOx reductions from its weatherization activities. This study projected the scope for NOx emission reductions from electricity-intensive weatherization measures in the twenty-two states, and the District of Columbia, included in the EPA ruling. The twenty-two states covered by the rule could expect …
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Jones, D.W.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Final report for Frequency selective surfaces for rugged thermophotovoltaic emitters (open access)

Final report for Frequency selective surfaces for rugged thermophotovoltaic emitters

Ion Optics created an array of regularly spaced holes in a thin conductive surface film on a dielectric substrate. When heated, this pattern behaved as a selective emitter, with more than 50% of total radiation in a well-defined peak with a center frequency determined by geometrical spacing. Peak wavelength did not alter with change in temperature, and materials easily survived 10 hours at 1000 C in air. The selective emitter will increase efficiency of thermophotovoltaic power converters.
Date: April 5, 2001
Creator: Daly, James
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library