An overview of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Codes and Standards programs to establish minimum efficiency codes, standards, and guidelines for reduced energy use and lower operating costs in U.S. building components.

An overview of the voluntary network of community partnerships joined with the US Department of Energy to improve the energy efficiency of their communities buildings.

An overview of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of State and Community Programs activities and partnership approaches.

An overview of past research achievements, current research, and future research focus of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs.

An overview of the Energy Star program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency

For better or worse, natural gas has become the fuel of choice for new power plants being built across the United States. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), natural gas-fired units account for nearly 90% of the total generating capacity added in the U.S. between 1999 and 2005 (EIA 2006b), bringing the nationwide market share of gas-fired generation to 19%. Looking ahead over the next decade, the EIA expects this trend to continue, increasing the market share of gas-fired generation to 22% by 2015 (EIA 2007a). Though these numbers are specific to the US, natural gas-fired generation is making similar advances in many other countries as well. A large percentage of the total cost of gas-fired generation is attributable to fuel costs--i.e., natural gas prices. For example, at current spot prices of around $7/MMBtu, fuel costs account for more than 75% of the levelized cost of energy from a new combined cycle gas turbine, and more than 90% of its operating costs (EIA 2007a). Furthermore, given that gas-fired plants are often the marginal supply units that set the market-clearing price for all generators in a competitive wholesale market, there is a direct link between natural gas prices and wholesale …

On September 15, 2005, the House of Representatives approved H. Res. 437, which created the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina (“the Select Committee”). According to the resolution, the Committee was charged with conducting “a full and complete investigation and study and to report its findings to the House not later than February 15, 2006, regarding— (1) the development, coordination, and execution by local, State, and Federal authorities of emergency response plans and other activities in preparation for Hurricane Katrina; and (2) the local, State, and Federal government response to Hurricane Katrina.” The Committee presents the report narrative and the findings that stem from it to the U.S. House of Representatives and the American people for their consideration. Members of the Select Committee agree unanimously with the report and its findings. Other Members of Congress who participated in the Select Committee’s hearings and investigation but were not official members of the Select Committee, while concurring with a majority of the report’s findings, have presented additional views as well, which we offer herein on their behalf. First and foremost, this report is issued with our continued thoughts and prayers for Katrina’s victims. Their families. …

As concerns regarding increasing energy prices, global warming and renewable resources continue to grow, so has scientific discovery into agricultural biomass conversion. Plant Biomass Conversion addresses both the development of plant biomass and conversion technology, in addition to issues surrounding biomass conversion, such as the affect on water resources and soil sustainability. This book also offers a brief overview of the current status of the industry and examples of production plants being used in current biomass conversion efforts.

Report submitted by Amarillo College to the Texas 73rd regular legislature requesting appropriations to fund programming and activities. It includes an overview of the institution's goals, summaries of appropriations requests for fiscal years 1996 and 1997, and supporting documentation.

With the advent of massively parallel computer systems, scientists are now able to simulate complex phenomena (e.g., explosions of a stars). Such scientific simulations typically generate large-scale data sets over the spatio-temporal space. Unfortunately, the sheer sizes of the generated data sets make efficient exploration of them impossible. Constructing queriable statistical models is an essential step in helping scientists glean new insight from their computer simulations. We define queriable statistical models to be descriptive statistics that (1) summarize and describe the data within a user-defined modeling error, and (2) are able to answer complex range-based queries over the spatiotemporal dimensions. In this chapter, we describe systems that build queriable statistical models for large-scale scientific simulation data sets. In particular, we present our Ad-hoc Queries for Simulation (AQSim) infrastructure, which reduces the data storage requirements and query access times by (1) creating and storing queriable statistical models of the data at multiple resolutions, and (2) evaluating queries on these models of the data instead of the entire data set. Within AQSim, we focus on three simple but effective statistical modeling techniques. AQSim's first modeling technique (called univariate mean modeler) computes the ''true'' (unbiased) mean of systematic partitions of the data. AQSim's …

Annual report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service describing activities of the organization, expenditures and receipts, and a discussion of other relevant topics for the fiscal year.

This manual covers elementary map reading, conventional signs and military symbols, distances and scales, directions adn azimuths, coordinates, relief, slopes, profiles and visibility, map reading in the field, and aerial photograph reading to an extent sufficient to permit soldiers adn platoon leaders to read aerial photographs and aerial mosaics.

Text of papers presented at the Predator Control Summit held January 15, 1980 at Austin, Texas. The Predator Control Summit, the first of its kind in Texas, was planned in an effort to resolve the problem of extreme losses of livestock due to predation.

Plan describing existing resources and infrastructure as well as future goals for the criminal justice system in Texas.

Plan describing existing resources and infrastructure as well as future goals for the criminal justice system in Texas.

Directory of "the names and addresses of three different categories of lenders licensed by this agency [as well as] the type license(s) held, the license number, the principal types of loans made under the authority of the license(s) held, and a code indicating whether the licensee is affiliated with others or is an independent operator" (introduction).

Report containing information regarding "the construction and maintenance of overhead and underground electrical supply and communication lines" (p. ii).

Commission Base Visit Book - NAS Atlanta 25 May 2005

Congressional Research Service (CRS) report for Congress entitled “Entering the Executive Branch of Government: Potential Conflicts of Interest with Previous Employments and Affiliations” from 03/24/03.

The daily choices made as consumers affect the environment and the economy. Based on the state of today's technology and economics, Colorado consumers can include energy efficiency and renewable energy into many aspects of their lives. These choices include where they obtain electricity, how they use energy at home, and how they transport themselves from one place to another. In addition to outlining how they can use clean energy, Colorado's Clean Energy Choices gives consumers contacts and links to Web sites for where to get more information.

Measurements of circular dichroism (CD) in the UV and vacuum UV have used photoelastic modulators (PEMs) for high sensitivity (to about 10{sup -6}). While a simple technique for wavelength calibration of the PEMs has been used with good results, several features of these calibration curves have not been understood. The authors have calibrated a calcium fluoride PEM and a lithium fluoride PEM using the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a light source. These experiments showed calibration graphs that are linear bit do not pass through the graph origin. A second ''multiple pass'' experiment with laser light of a single wavelength, performed on the calcium fluoride PEM, demonstrates the linearity of the PEM electronics. This implies that the calibration behavior results from intrinsic physical properties of the PEM optical element material. An algorithm for generating calibration curves for calcium fluoride and lithium fluoride PEMs has been developed. The calibration curves for circular dichroism measurement for the two PEMs investigated in this study are given as examples.

Houses built by Pulte Homes as part of DOE's Building America program in Las Vegas, Nevada, save money for the homeowners by reducing electric air conditioning costs and gas heating costs with little or no additional investment. And, the houses have better indoor air quality than typical new construction.

This is the Newsletter for DOE Biofuels Program. Articles are presented on collection and use of corn stover for bioethanol production, the state workshop program on ethanol, and a subcontract to Genencor for improvement of cellulase enzyme production.

This publication describes the job opportunities, technologies, and market for each of the major renewable energy fields (wind power, solar power, bioenergy, geothermal energy, and hydropower).