In this paper, I offer some thoughts about least cost planning, not from the perspective of the regulator or utility, but from the perspective of a residential customer. The problem that I address is, as a homeowner in northern Virginia, I am about to make a long term fuel choice for my household, where the options include, natural gas, electricity and fuel oil. An additional choice is the energy efficiency capital investment in my home that could decrease my monthly fuel costs. My decision process, hopefully as a rational consumer, offers implications about the efficiency of various services provided by all three fuel suppliers, including the local natural gas distribution companies (LDC).

This note considers some of the properties of the Stokes pulse that grows from a specified seed pulse in the presence of a strong pump pulse as it propagates through a dispersive atomic vapor. We first present an generic dimensionless form for the coupled equations that govern the propagation of pump and Stokes fields or collinear plane-wave pulses. By treating the two fields we permit pump depletion. We include transient atomic response (as embodied in the Raman coherence), but neglect changes in atomic populations. (Thus our equations pertain to the regime in which atoms are more numerous than photons). The equations employ a gain length, a dispersion time {tau}{sub dis}, and a Raman coherence time (or memory time) {tau}{sub R} as basic parameters: these two times, together with a single-photon stationary-atom detuning {Delta}, subsume the details of a particular atomic Raman transition and particular operating conditions. (The effects of Doppler shifts enters the equations through the coherence time). We discuss some general properties of these generic Raman propagation equations, and present illustrations of their solutions in the absence of dispersion. We comment on departures from exponential growth. We than show examples of behavior when dispersion is present and the pump …

Los Alamos National Laboratory and Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo have embarked on a joint study of options for improving air quality in Mexico City. The intent is to develop a modeling system which can address the behavior of pollutants in the region so that option for improving Mexico City air quality can be properly evaluated. In February of 1991, the project conducted a field program which yielded a variety of data which is being used to evaluate and improve the models. Normally the worst air quality for both primary and photochemical pollutants occurs in the winter Mexico City. During the field program, measurements included: (1) lidar measurements of aerosol transport and dispersion, (2) aircraft measurements of winds, turbulence, and chemical species aloft, (3) aircraft measurements of earth surface skin temperatures, and (4) tethersonde measurements of wind, temperature and ozone vertical profiles. A three-dimensional, prognostic, higher order turbulence meteorological model (HOTMAC) was modified to include an urban canopy and urban heat sources. HOTMAC is used to drive an Monte-Carlo kernel dispersion code (RAPTAD). HOTMAC also provides winds and mixing heights for the CIT photochemical model which was developed by investigators at the California Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University.

This report provides background information and instructions to assist applicants in writing Energy-Related Inventions Program (ERIP) applications. Initial feedback fro usage for the new instructions shows that the best instructions would not be read and followed by all applicants. Applications from more than thirty applicants who have received the new instructions indicated that few had read the instructions. Based on this feedback, the instructions have been further revised to include a title page and table of contents. A warning was also added to advise applicants of the potential penalty of delayed review if these instructions are not followed. This revision was intended to address the possibility that some applicants did not see or bother to follow the instructions which followed the background information about ERIP. Included are two examples of ERIP applications which have been prepared for handout at workshops or mailing to applicants. Writing of example applications was time consuming and more difficult than expected for several reasons: (1) Full disclosures can be lengthy, very detailed, and technical. This contrasts with the desire to prepare examples which are comparatively short and easy for the non-technical person to read. (2) Disclosures contain confidential information which should not be published. (3) …

Volumetric measurements have been completed for CH{sub 4}, CO{sub 2}, and H{sub 2}S at temperatures from 25{degrees}C to 380{degrees}C and 2 or 3 pressures at each temperature. The H{sub 2}S and CO{sub 2} solutions are stored in aluminized mylar bags in PVC pipes with water surrounding the bags at a pressure of several atmospheres. The methane is stored in a one liter autoclave with a sliding teflon piston engaging the sides of the autoclave which separates the standard methane solution from the pressurizing fluid. The solutions are prepared at 100 to 200 atmospheres and do not need to be re-standardized after each experiment. We also have some measurements on aqueous ammonia, boric acid, and acetic acid. Preliminary calculations of the free energy of methane in water at room temperature as a function of the model parameters for the methane have been finished. In preparation for these calculations, the theory and practice of the free energy perturbation calculations was reviewed. In molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo calculations a system does not immediately equilibrate to a change in the Hamiltonian, so that there is a time lag or a configuration number lag in the response of the system. These lags cause errors …

In 1988, we proposed a program to develop new diagnostics for dense gas-solid suspensions, with particular interest toward the dense pneumatic transport of cohesive solid plugs. This program included three main objectives, as follows: to develop probes for local measurements of (1) local particle volume fraction and (2) individual particle velocities in dense gas-solid flows; and (3) to construct a bench-scale setup for transporting dense cohesive solid plugs and to analyze data from the resulting tests.

The International Petroleum Statistics Report is a monthly publication that provides current international oil data. This report is published for the use of members of Congress, federal agencies, state agencies, industry, and the general public. Publication of this report is in keeping with responsibilities given the Energy Information Administration in Public Law 95-91 (Section 205(a)(2)). The International Petroleum Statistics Report presents data on international oil production, consumption, imports, exports, and stocks. The report has three sections. Section 1 contains time series on world oil production, and on oil consumption and stocks in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DECD). This section contains annual data beginning in 1973, and monthly data for the most recent two years. Section 2 presents an oil supply/consumption balance for the market economies (i.e. non-communist countries). This balance is presented in quarterly intervals for the most recent two years. Section 3 presents data on oil imports by DECD countries. This section contains annual data beginning in 1982, and quarterly data for the most recent two years. 41 tabs.

This report is a letter about a review of the Quality Assurance Project Plan for the INEL Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Waste Characterization Project.'' The author of the letter recommended the approval of the quality assurance program. However in his review, several observations were made and were requested to be added to the program. Examples of these observations were safety of personnel involved in the program, safe characterization of hazardous materials studied, quality of calibrations required for measurement objectives, and reporting of hazardous sampling. (MB)

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the experience of six nations--Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom--with budget surpluses, focusing on: (1) how they achieved budget surpluses and what their fiscal policies were during periods of surplus; (2) how they addressed long-term budgetary pressures; (3) how they adapted their budget process during a period of surplus; and (4) the lessons these nations learned from their experiences with budget surpluses that might be applicable to the United States."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Women's Business Center Program, focusing on: (1) a description of the women's business centers, including their funding status, their experiences in raising matching funds, the types of services offered in a women's business center's first and last year of grant funding, and the differences between parent and satellite centers; (2) the extent to which SBA's award criteria predict long-term success or failure of women's business centers; and (3) the Office of Women's Business Ownership's compliance with legislative reporting requirements and the inherent difficulties with obtaining the required data from the women's business centers."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on three former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees who made allegations against EPA and then resigned, focusing on: (1) why the individuals had left; and (2) their current employment status."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO described how the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and its contractors monitor third-party billing companies' involvement in the submission of claims to Medicare."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO updated its previous reports on agencies' use of the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions to publish final rule notices, focusing on: (1) how many agencies had no Agenda entries that were characterized as Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) of 1980, section 610 reviews, whether agencies are interpreting the review requirements consistently, and why certain agencies that appeared subject to the requirements had no entries; (2) how many of the section 610 review entries in these Agendas appeared to meet the notification requirements in subsection 610(c); (3) if the section 610 review entries did not appear to meet the statutory requirements, why certain agencies' entries were characterized as section 610 reviews; and (4) whether any federal agencies had revised their section 610 review plans."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the extent and seriousness of forest-health-related problems in national forests in the interior West; (2) the status of efforts by the Forest Service to address the most serious of these problems; and (3) barriers to successfully addressing these problems and options for overcoming them."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO commented on the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) plans for operating the Medicare Integrity Program (MIP), focusing on whether: (1) the law authorizing the MIP permits HCFA to assign responsibility for local Medicare coverage policy to the payment safeguard contractors (PSC) who will run the MIP under contract to HCFA; and (2) HCFA's proposed MIP regulations would provide an adequate legal basis for HCFA to conduct local policy-making through PSCs. GAO noted that HCFA reasonably interpreted the law to mean that its PSCs could set local Medicare coverage policy. GAO also noted that the proposed MIP regulations provide an adequate basis for HCFA's action."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO commented on the "Proposed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Procedures and Guidance on Implementing the Government Paperwork Elimination Act.""

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO discussed the results of its work on payroll taxes owed to the federal government and the associated trust fund recovery penalties (TFRP) assessed against individuals responsible for the nonpayment of these taxes."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to reform how it does business, focusing on the: (1) actions taken by DOD to provide program direction and momentum to the Defense Reform Initiative (DRI) effort; (2) additional steps that could be taken to facilitate a more comprehensive reform effort; (3) impact of the current initiatives on DOD's budget process; (4) progress generally being made in implementing the initiatives; and (5) status of the competitive sourcing initiative."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed states' efforts to reduce participation in the Food Stamp Program, focusing on: (1) the reasons for the recent drop in food stamp participation; and (2) any problems that households with eligible children have experienced in obtaining food stamps."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on payroll taxes owed to the federal government and the associated trust fund recovery penalties assessed individuals responsible for the nonpayment of these taxes, focusing on the: (1) extent to which payroll taxes are not remitted to the federal government; (2) magnitude of the trust fund recovery penalties assessed against individuals of organizations that withheld federal payroll taxes from employees' salaries but did not forward them; (3) extent to which individuals who have not remitted payroll taxes are responsible for not paying these taxes at multiple businesses; (4) extent to which businesses and individuals who failed to pay payroll taxes are also receiving federal benefits or other federal payments; and (5) factors that affect the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) ability to enforce compliance or pursue collections in this area."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published a functional requirements document for seized property and forfeited assets systems that will provide the capability for financial managers and others to control and account for seized property and forfeited assets."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the analyses underlying the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) proposed rule on the food supplements, ephedrine alkaloids, focusing on: (1) the scientific basis for FDA's proposed rule; and (2) FDA's adherence to the regulatory analysis requirements for federal rulemaking."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to solve the year 2000 computer systems problem."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO described the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) abatement process, focusing on IRS': (1) process for making abatements from initiation through final review in selected IRS locations; and (2) efforts to improve the abatement process."