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With assistance from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and its Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Atlantic Housing Partners (AHP) has implemented a high performance, systems engineered package of measures. This report demonstrates how the initiative achieves Building America (BA) goals of 30%-50% energy savings. Specifically, the goals are documented as being achieved in the new construction multifamily housing sector in the hot humid climate. Results from energy modeling of the high performance package are presented. The role of utility allowance calculations, used as part of the low-income housing tax credit process, to value those energy savings is discussed, as is customer satisfaction with heat pump water heaters.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Brisbane Baylands site in Brisbane, California, for a feasibility study of renewable energy production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess the site for a possible photovoltaic (PV) system installation and estimate the cost, performance, and site impacts of different PV options. In addition, the report recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of a PV system at the site.

Plug and process loads (PPLs) in commercial buildings account for almost 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption. Minimizing these loads is a primary challenge in the design and operation of an energy-efficient building. PPLs are not related to general lighting, heating, ventilation, cooling, and water heating, and typically do not provide comfort to the occupants. They use an increasingly large fraction of the building energy use pie because the number and variety of electrical devices have increased along with building system efficiency. Reducing PPLs is difficult because energy efficiency opportunities and the equipment needed to address PPL energy use in retail spaces are poorly understood.

Water Cherenkov detectors have been used for many years as inexpensive, effective detectors for neutrino interactions and nucleon decay searches. While many important measurements have been made with these detectors a major drawback has been their inability to detect the absorption of thermal neutrons. We believe an inexpensive, effective technique could be developed to overcome this situation via the addition to water of a solute with a large neutron cross section and energetic gamma daughters which would make neutrons detectable. Gadolinium seems an excellent candidate especially since in recent years it has become very inexpensive, now less than $8 per kilogram in the form of commercially-available gadolinium trichloride, GdCl{sub 3}. This non-toxic, non-reactive substance is highly soluble in water. Neutron capture on gadolinium yields a gamma cascade which would be easily seen in detectors like Super-Kamiokande. We have been investigating the use of GdCl{sub 3} as a possible upgrade for the Super-Kamiokande detector with a view toward improving its performance as a detector for atmospheric neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, wrong-sign solar neutrinos, reactor neutrinos, proton decay, and also as a target for the coming T2K long-baseline neutrino experiment. This focused study of selective water filtration and GdCl{sub 3} extraction techniques, conducted …

Nanostructured uranium oxides have been prepared in ionic liquids as templating agents. Using the ionic liquids as reaction media for inorganic nanomaterials takes advantage of the pre-organized structure of the ionic liquids which in turn controls the morphology of the inorganic nanomaterials. Variation of ionic liquid cation structure was investigated to determine the impact on the uranium oxide morphologies. For two ionic liquid cations, increasing the alkyl chain length increases the aspect ratio of the resulting nanostructured oxides. Understanding the resulting metal oxide morphologies could enhance fuel stability and design.

This Strategy Guideline explains the benefits of evaluating and identifying energy efficiency retrofit measures that could be made during renovation and maintenance of multifamily buildings. It focuses on low-rise multifamily structures (three or fewer stories) in a cold climate. These benefits lie primarily in reduced energy use, lower operating and maintenance costs, improved durability of the structure, and increased occupant comfort. This guideline focuses on retrofit measures for roof repair or replacement, exterior wall repair or gut rehab, and eating system maintenance. All buildings are assumed to have a flat ceiling and a trussed roof, wood- or steel-framed exterior walls, and one or more single or staged boilers. Estimated energy savings realized from the retrofits will vary, depending on the size and condition of the building, the extent of efficiency improvements, the efficiency of the heating equipment, the cost and type of fuel, and the climate location.

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This paper discusses how the American Petroleum Institute oil and gas standards were interfaced with International Electrotechnical Commission and other wind turbine and offshore industry standards to provide guidance for reliable engineering design practices for offshore wind energy systems.

The Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013), prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), presents long-term projections of energy supply, demand, and prices through 2040, based on results from EIA’s National Energy Modeling System. The report begins with an “Executive summary” that highlights key aspects of the projections. It is followed by a “Legislation and regulations” section that discusses evolving legislative and regulatory issues, including a summary of recently enacted legislation and regulations, such as: Updated handling of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for industrial boilers and process heaters; New light-duty vehicle (LDV) greenhouse gas (GHG) and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for model years 2017 to 2025; Reinstatement of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) after the court’s announcement of intent to vacate the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR); and Modeling of California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), which allows for representation of a cap-and-trade program developed as part of California’s GHG reduction goals for 2020. The “Issues in focus” section contains discussions of selected energy topics, including a discussion of the results in two cases that adopt different assumptions about the future course of …

The Savannah River Site (SRS), one of the largest U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites, has operated since the early 1950s. The early mission of the site was to produce critical nuclear materials for national defense. Many facilities have been constructed at the SRS over the years to process, stabilize and/or store radioactive waste and related materials. The primary materials of construction used in such facilities are inorganic (metals, concrete), but polymeric materials are inevitably used in various applications. The effects of aging, radiation, chemicals, heat and other environmental variables must therefore be understood to maximize service life of polymeric components. In particular, the potential for dose rate effects and synergistic effects on polymeric materials in multivariable environments can complicate compatibility reviews and life predictions. The selection and performance of polymeric materials in radioactive waste processing systems at the SRS are discussed.

The central objective of our proposed research was twofold: 1) to investigate the structure-function relationship of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans (now Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20) cytochrome c3 with uranium and 2) to elucidate the mechanism for uranium reduction in vitro and in vivo. Physiological analysis of a mutant of D. desulfuricans with a mutation of the gene encoding the type 1 tetraheme cytochrome c3 had demonstrated that uranium reduction was negatively impacted while sulfate reduction was not if lactate were the electron donor. This was thought to be due to the presence of a branched pathway of electron flow from lactate leading to sulfate reduction. Our experimental plan was to elucidate the structural and mechanistic details of uranium reduction involving cytochrome c3.

BES grant DE-FG02-06ER15819 supported efforts at Oregon State University (OSU) to develop improved inversion methods for 3D subsurface electromagnetic (EM) imaging. Three interrelated activities have been supported by this grant, and its predecessor (DE-FG02-06ER15818): (1) collaboration with a former student of the PI, Dr. Weerachai Siripunvaraporn (now Professor at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand) on developing and refining inversion methods for 3D Magnetotelluric (MT) data . (2) Development at Oregon State University of a new modular system of computer codes for EM inversion, and initial testing and application of this inversion on several large field data sets. (3) Research on more efficient approaches to multi-transmitter EM inverse problems, to optimize use of expensive data sensitivity calculations needed for gradient based inversion schemes. The last of these activities was the main motivation for this research project, but the first two activities were important enabling steps that produced useful products and results in their own right, including freely avaialable software for 3D inversion of EM geophysical data.

Implementation of the Next Generation Solvent (NGS) in the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) will now proceed with a new suppressor compound, 1,2,3-tris(3,7-dimethyloctyl)guanidine (TiDG), replacing the originally planned suppressor for NGS, 1,3-dicyclohexyl-2-(11-methyldodecyl) guanidine (DCiTG). The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was tasked with evaluating the potential impact to F/H Laboratory analyses supporting the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) used to qualify transfers of MCU Strip Effluent (SE) into the facility and the Saltstone WAC used to qualify transfers of Tank 50 containing Decontaminated Salt Solution (DSS) from MCU into Saltstone. This assigned scope is covered by a Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan (TTQAP). Previous impact evaluations were conducted when the DCiTG suppressor was planned for NGS and concluded that there was no impact to either the determination of MCU SE pH nor the analysis of Isopar® L carryover in the MCU SE and DSS streams. SRNL reported on this series of cross-check studies between the SRNL and F/H Laboratories. The change in suppressor from DCiTG to TiDG in the NGS should not impact the measurement of Isopar® L or pH in SE or DSS necessary to satisfy DWPF and Saltstone WAC (Tank 50) criteria, …

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The original purpose of this award was to use low‐energy electron microscopy (LEEM) to explore the dynamics of surfaces of clean single crystal surfaces when driven by a beam of energetic ions. The goal was to understand the nanoscience of hyperthermal growth, surface erosion by sublimation and irradiation, operation of surface sinks in irradiated materials, diffusion on driven surfaces, and the creation of structural patterns. This project was based on a novel LEEM system constructed by C. P. Flynn, which provided real‐time imaging of surface dynamics by scattering low energy electrons. With the passing of Prof. Flynn in late 2011, this project was completed under a slightly different scope by constructing a low‐energy, inelastic electron scattering (�EELS�) instrument. Consistent with Flynn�s original objectives for his LEEM system, this device probes the dynamics of crystal surfaces. However the measurements are not carried out in real time, but instead are done in the frequency domain, through the energy lost from the probe electrons. The purpose of this device is to study the collective bosonic excitations in a variety of materials, including high temperature superconductors, topological insulators, carbon allotropes including (but not limited to) graphene, etc. The ultimate goal here is to identify …

This final report summarizes work at Penn State University from June 1, 1990 to April 30, 2012. The work was in theoretical elementary particle physics. Many new results in perturbative QCD, in string theory, and in related areas were obtained, with a substantial impact on the experimental program.

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The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) validated diesel-conventional and diesel-hybrid medium-duty parcel delivery vehicle models to evaluate petroleum reductions and cost implications of hybrid and plug-in hybrid diesel variants. The hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants are run on a field data-derived design matrix to analyze the effect of drive cycle, distance, engine downsizing, battery replacements, and battery energy on fuel consumption and lifetime cost. For an array of diesel fuel costs, the battery cost per kilowatt-hour at which the hybridized configuration becomes cost-effective is calculated. This builds on a previous analysis that found the fuel savings from medium duty plug-in hybrids more than offset the vehicles' incremental price under future battery and fuel cost projections, but that they seldom did so under present day cost assumptions in the absence of purchase incentives. The results also highlight the importance of understanding the application's drive cycle specific daily distance and kinetic intensity.

This Letter presents the rst numerical veri cation for the bounce-harmonic (BH) resonance phenomena of the neoclassical transport in a tokamak perturbed by non-axisymmetric magnetic elds. The BH resonances were predicted by analytic theories of neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV), as the parallel and perpendicular drift motions can be resonant and result in a great enhancement of the radial momentum transport. A new drift-kinetic #14;f guiding-center particle code, POCA, clearly veri ed that the perpendicular drift motions can reduce the transport by phase-mixing, but in the BH resonances the motions can form closed orbits and particles radially drift out fast. The POCA calculations on resulting NTV torque are largely consistent with analytic calculations, and show that the BH resonances can easily dominate the NTV torque when a plasma rotates in the perturbed tokamak and therefore is a critical physics for predicting the rotation and stability in ITER. __________________________________________________