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This report provides a brief history of the 8(a) Program, summarizes key requirements, and discusses legal challenges alleging that the program's presumption that members of certain racial and ethnic groups are socially disadvantaged violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.

This report focuses primarily on the NAAQS implementation process for designating geographical nonattainment areas with respect to the tightening of the PM2.5 standards under the 2006 particulates NAAQS, including comparisons with the final designations under the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. Also included is a brief overview of states' subsequent obligations for developing and submitting implementation plans (SIPs) for attaining or maintaining compliance with the NAAQS.

This is the Financial Status Report for this project for the period from May 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012.

This report summarizes the information and background of the 2010 census. The report outlines what the census is and why it is necessary. Moreover, it describes the new methods used and the issues encountered by using those methods.

The Savannah River Site Environmental Report for 2011 (SRNS-STI-2012-00200) is prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) according to requirements of DOE Order 231.1 B, “Environment, Safety and Health Reporting." The annual SRS Environmental Report has been produced for more than 50 years. Several hundred copies are and interested individuals. The report’s purpose is to: present summary environmental data that characterize site environmental management performance; describe compliance status with respect to environmental standards and requirements; highlight significant programs and efforts.

This report details the simulation tool(s) and energy modeling methodology followed in making the energy efficiency estimates and documents the estimated performance of the EVHA award winning houses in comparison with the Building America Benchmark and the associated House Simulation Protocols. A summary of each building and its features is included with a brief description of the project and the judges' comments. The purpose of this report is to assess the energy performance of the 2011 EVHA winners as well as align the EVHA Program with the Building America Program.

This Renewable Energy Data Book for 2011 provides facts and figures on energy in general, renewable electricity in the United States, global renewable energy development, wind power, solar energy, geothermal power, biopower, hydropower, advanced water power, hydrogen, renewable fuels, and clean energy investments.

This report discusses historical national security-related presidential transition activities, provides a representative sampling of national security issues a new Administration may encounter, and offers considerations and options relevant to each of the five phases of the presidential election period. Each phase has distinct challenges and opportunities for the incoming Administration, the outgoing Administration, and Congress. This report is intended to provide a framework for national security considerations during the current election period and will be updated to reflect the election outcome.

Plan outlining conservation concerns as well as outdoor needs as noted by citizens and outdoor professionals when surveyed.

Sessions covered all areas of molecular energy transfer, with 10 sessions of talks and poster sessions covering the areas of :  Energy Transfer in Inelastic and Reactive Scattering  Energy Transfer in Photoinitiated and Unimolecular Reactions  Non-adiabatic Effects in Energy Transfer  Energy Transfer at Surfaces and Interfaces  Energy Transfer in Clusters, Droplets, and Aerosols  Energy Transfer in Solution and Solid  Energy Transfer in Complex Systems  Energy Transfer: New vistas and horizons  Molecular Energy Transfer: Where Have We Been and Where are We Going?

Taxonomy, genetics, morphometrics of North American wolves.

This study summarizes the first six months of detailed data collected on a single family home that experienced a series of retrofits targeting reductions in energy use. The project was designed to develop data on how envelope modifications and renewable measures can result in considerable energy reductions and potentially net zero energy for an existing home. Originally published in February 2012, this revised version of the report contains further research conducted on the Parker residence. Key updates include one full year of additional data, an analysis of cooling performance of the mini-split heat pump, an evaluation of room-to-room temperature distribution, and an evaluation of plug-in automobile charging performance, electricity consumption, and load shape.

Seven homes from the Pacific Northwest were selected to evaluate the differences between estimated and actual energy savings achieved from deep energy retrofits. The energy savings resulting from these retrofits were estimated, using energy modeling software, to save at least 30% on a whole-house basis. The modeled pre-retrofit energy use was trued against monthly utility bills. After the retrofits were completed, each of the homes was extensively monitored, with the exception of one home which was monitored pre-retrofit. This work is being conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Program as part of the Building America Program. This work found many discrepancies between actual and estimated energy savings and identified the potential causes for the discrepancies. The differences between actual energy use and modeled energy use also suggest improvements to improve model accuracy. The difference between monthly whole-house actual and estimated energy savings ranged from 75% more energy saved than predicted by the model to 16% less energy saved for all the monitored homes. Similarly, the annual energy savings difference was between 36% and -14%, which was estimated based on existing monitored savings because an entire year of data is not available. …

Accurate predictive simulations of complex real world applications require numerical approximations to first, oppose the curse of dimensionality and second, converge quickly in the presence of steep gradients, sharp transitions, bifurcations or finite discontinuities in high-dimensional parameter spaces. In this paper we present a novel multi-dimensional multi-resolution adaptive (MdMrA) sparse grid stochastic collocation method, that utilizes hierarchical multiscale piecewise Riesz basis functions constructed from interpolating wavelets. The basis for our non-intrusive method forms a stable multiscale splitting and thus, optimal adaptation is achieved. Error estimates and numerical examples will used to compare the efficiency of the method with several other techniques.

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The objective of this work is to develop methodologies that will accurately estimate state-of-health (SOH) and remaining useful life (RUL) of electrochemical energy storage devices using both offline and online (i.e., in-situ) techniques through: · A statistically robust offline battery calendar life estimator tool based on both testing and simulation, and · Novel onboard sensor technology for improved online battery diagnostics and prognostics.

The project conducted under DOE contract DE‐EE0002649 is defined as the Advanced, High Power, Next Scale, Wave Energy Converter. The overall project is split into a seven‐stage, gated development program. The work conducted under the DOE contract is OPT Stage Gate III work and a portion of Stage Gate IV work of the seven stage product development process. The project effort includes Full Concept Design & Prototype Assembly Testing building on our existing PowerBuoy� technology to deliver a device with much increased power delivery. Scaling‐up from 150kW to 500kW power generating capacity required changes in the PowerBuoy design that addressed cost reduction and mass manufacturing by implementing a Design for Manufacturing (DFM) approach. The design changes also focused on reducing PowerBuoy Installation, Operation and Maintenance (IO&M) costs which are essential to reducing the overall cost of energy. In this design, changes to the core PowerBuoy technology were implemented to increase capability and reduce both CAPEX and OPEX costs. OPT conceptually envisaged moving from a floating structure to a seabed structure. The design change from a floating structure to seabed structure would provide the implementation of stroke‐ unlimited Power Take‐Off (PTO) which has a potential to provide significant power delivery improvement …

we developed and demonstrated a software based integrated advanced building control platform called Smart Energy Box (SEB), which can coordinate building subsystem controls, integrate variety of energy optimization algorithms and provide proactive and collaborative energy management and control for building operations using weather and occupancy information. The integrated control system is a low cost solution and also features: Scalable component based architecture allows to build a solution for different building control system configurations with needed components; Open Architecture with a central data repository for data exchange among runtime components; Extendible to accommodate variety of communication protocols. Optimal building control for central loads, distributed loads and onsite energy resource Uses web server as a loosely coupled way to engage both building operators and building occupants in collaboration for energy conservation. Based on the open platform of SEB, we have investigated and evaluated a variety of operation and energy saving control strategies on Carnegie Mellon University Intelligent Work place which is equipped with alternative cooling/heating/ventilation/lighting methods, including radiant mullions, radiant cooling/heating ceiling panels, cool waves, dedicated ventilation unit, motorized window and blinds, and external louvers. Based on the validation results of these control strategies, they were integrated in SEB in a collaborative …

The main objective of this project was to construct, test, and demonstrate a Pd-Cu metallic tubular membrane micro-channel separator capable of producing 2 lb day{sup -1} H{sub 2} at ≥95% recovery when operating downstream of an actual coal gasifier. A key milestone for the project was to complete a pilot-scale gasifier test by 1 September 2011 and demonstrate the separation of 2 lb day{sup -1} H{sub 2} to verify progress toward the DOE’s goals prior to down-selection for larger-scale (≈100 lb day{sup -1}) hydrogen separator development. Three different pilot-scale (≈1.5 ft{sup 2}) separators were evaluated downstream of coal gasifiers during four different tests and the key project milestone was achieved in August 2011, ahead of schedule. During three of those tests, all of the separators demonstrated or exceeded the targeted separation rate of 2 lb day{sup -1} H{sub 2}. The separator design was proved to be leak tight and durable in the presence of gasifier exhaust contaminants at temperatures and pressures up to 500 °C and 500 psia. The contaminants in the coal gasifier syngas for the most part had negligible impact on separator performance, with H{sub 2} partial pressure being the greatest determinant of membrane performance. Carbon monoxide and …

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the world’s premier test reactors for studying the effects of intense neutron radiation on reactor materials and fuels. The ATR began operation in 1967, and has operated continuously since then, averaging approximately 250 operating days per year. The combination of high flux, large test volumes, and multiple experiment configuration options provide unique testing opportunities for nuclear fuels and material researchers. The ATR is a pressurized, light-water moderated and cooled, beryllium-reflected highly-enriched uranium fueled, reactor with a maximum operating power of 250 MWth. The ATR peak thermal flux can reach 1.0 x1015 n/cm2-sec, and the core configuration creates five main reactor power lobes (regions) that can be operated at different powers during the same operating cycle. In addition to these nine flux traps there are 68 irradiation positions in the reactor core reflector tank. The test positions range from 0.5” to 5.0” in diameter and are all 48” in length, the active length of the fuel. The INL also has several hot cells and other laboratories in which irradiated material can be examined to study material radiation effects. In 2007 the US Department of Energy (DOE) designated …

Quarterly update providing information on environmental regulations for small businesses and local governments in Texas.

The first part of this report briefly reviews the judicial evolution of race-based affirmative action, particularly in relation to public education. The report then reviews major rulings involving challenges to the use of race-conscious admissions and hiring practices by public educational institutions, and concludes with a discussion of the implications for the future development of affirmative action law.

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