In the past year, the DOE Hydrogen Program (the Program) made substantial progress toward its goals and objectives. The Program has conducted comprehensive and focused efforts to enable the widespread commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in diverse sectors of the economy. With emphasis on applications that will effectively strengthen our nation's energy security and improve our stewardship of the environment, the Program engages in research, development, and demonstration of critical improvements in the technologies. Highlights of the Program's accomplishments can be found in the sub-program chapters of this report.

This report examines progress toward the goal of creating water supplies in Texas through seawater desalination, and identifies several areas where the financial support of the state could effectively expedite the advancement of desalination.

The Department of Energy (DOE) designated the Adva

This report documents the objectives, technical approach, and progress made through FY 2012 on a project initiated in FY 2006 to help address uncertainties related to the rates of hydrolysis in groundwater for carbon tetrachloride (CT) and chloroform (CF). The project also sought to explore the possible effects of contact with minerals and sediment (i.e., heterogeneous hydrolysis) on these rates. We conducted 114 hydrolysis rate experiments in sealed vessels across a temperature range of 20-93 °C for periods as long as 6 years, and used the Arrhenius equation to estimate activation energies and calculate half-lives for typical Hanford groundwater conditions (temperature of 16 °C and pH of 7.75). We calculated a half-life of 630 years for hydrolysis for CT under these conditions and found that CT hydrolysis was unaffected by contact with sterilized, oxidized minerals or Hanford sediment within the sensitivity of our experiments. In contrast to CT, hydrolysis of CF was generally slower and very sensitive to pH due to the presence of both neutral and base-catalyzed hydrolysis pathways. We calculated a half-life of 3400 years for hydrolysis of CF in homogeneous solution at 16 °C and pH 7.75. Experiments in suspensions of Hanford sediment or smectite, the dominant …

The Department of Energy's Vehicle Technology Program has launched the Computer-Aided Engineering for Automotive Batteries (CAEBAT) project to work with national labs, industry and software venders to develop sophisticated software. As coordinator, NREL has teamed with a number of companies to help improve and accelerate battery design and production. This presentation provides an overview of CAEBAT, including its predictive computer simulation of Li-ion batteries known as the Multi-Scale Multi-Dimensional (MSMD) model framework. MSMD's modular, flexible architecture connects the physics of battery charge/discharge processes, thermal control, safety and reliability in a computationally efficient manner. This allows independent development of submodels at the cell and pack levels.

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As Building America (BA) has grown to include a large and diverse cross-section of the home building and retrofit industries, it has become more important to develop accurate, consistent analysis techniques to measure progress towards the program's goals. The House Simulation Protocols (HSP) provides guidance to program partners and managers so that energy savings for new construction and retrofit projects can be compared alongside each other. The HSP provides the program with analysis methods that are proven to be effective and reliable in investigating the energy use of advanced energy systems and of entire houses.

Report on administering the overpayment recovery audit program in Texas for fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012.

The ARIES-CS project was a multi-year multi-institutional project to assess the feasibility of a compact stellarator as a fusion power plant. The work herein describes efforts to help design one aspect of the device, the divertor, which is responsible for the removal of particle and heat flux from the system, acting as the first point of contact between the magnetically confined hot plasma and the outside world. Specifically, its location and topology are explored, extending previous work on the sub ject. An optimized design is determined for the thermal particle flux using a suite of 3D stellarator design codes which trace magnetic field lines from just inside the confined plasma edge to their strike points on divertor plates. These divertor plates are specified with a newly developed plate design code. It is found that a satisfactory thermal design exists which maintains the plate temperature and heat load distribution below tolerable engineering limits. The design is unique, including a toroidal taper on the outboard plates which was found to be important to our results. The maximum thermal heat flux for the final design was 3.61 M W/m2 and the maximum peaking factor was 10.3, below prescribed limits of 10 M W/m2 …

An alternatives analysis was performed for the Advanced Post-Irradiation Capabilities (APIEC) project in accordance with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order DOE O 413.3B, “Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets”. The Alternatives Analysis considered six major alternatives: ? No Action ? Modify Existing DOE Facilities – capabilities distributed among multiple locations ? Modify Existing DOE Facilities – capabilities consolidated at a few locations ? Construct New Facility ? Commercial Partnership ? International Partnerships Based on the alternatives analysis documented herein, it is recommended to DOE that the advanced post-irradiation examination capabilities be provided by a new facility constructed at the Materials and Fuels Complex at the Idaho National Laboratory.

This report summarizes the work performed by an Ames-led project team under a 4-year DOE-ITP sponsored project titled, 'Advanced Wear-resistant Nanocomposites for Increased Energy Efficiency.' The Report serves as the project deliverable for the CPS agreement number 15015. The purpose of this project was to develop and commercialize a family of lightweight, bulk composite materials that are highly resistant to degradation by erosive and abrasive wear. These materials, based on AlMgB{sub 14}, are projected to save over 30 TBtu of energy per year when fully implemented in industrial applications, with the associated environmental benefits of eliminating the burning of 1.5 M tons/yr of coal and averting the release of 4.2 M tons/yr of CO{sub 2} into the air. This program targeted applications in the mining, drilling, machining, and dry erosion applications as key platforms for initial commercialization, which includes some of the most severe wear conditions in industry. Production-scale manufacturing of this technology has begun through a start-up company, NewTech Ceramics (NTC). This project included providing technical support to NTC in order to facilitate cost-effective mass production of the wear-resistant boride components. Resolution of issues related to processing scale-up, reduction in energy intensity during processing, and improving the quality and …

Destructive post-irradiation examination was performed on fuel Compact 6-3-2, which was irradiated in the AGR-1 experiment to a final compact average burnup of 11.3% FIMA and a time-average, volume-average temperature of 1070°C. The analysis of this compact was focused on characterizing the extent of fission product release from the particles and examining particles to determine the condition of the kernels and coating layers. The work included deconsolidation of the compact and leach-burn-leach analysis, visual inspection and gamma counting of individual particles, measurement of fuel burnup by several methods, metallurgical preparation of selected particles, and examination of particle cross-sections with optical microscopy. A single particle with a defective SiC layer was identified during deconsolidation-leach-burn-leach analysis, which is in agreement with previous measurements showing elevated cesium in the Capsule 6 graphite fuel holder associated with this fuel compact. The fraction of the compact europium inventory released from the particles and retained in the matrix was relatively high (approximately 6E-3), indicating release from intact particle coatings. The Ag-110m inventory in individual particles exhibited a very broad distribution, with some particles retaining =80% of the predicted inventory and others retaining less than 25%. The average degree of Ag-110m retention in 60 gamma counted particles …

This brochure is an overview of the U.S. Air Force's fuel efficiency program.

This report provides analysis of the Russian energy efficiency market for the building sector from the perspective of U.S. businesses interested in exporting relevant technologies, products and experience to Russia. We aim to help U.S. energy efficiency and environmental technologies businesses to better understand the Russian building market to plan their market strategy.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the classified state employee turnover rate for Fiscal Year 2012. This report provides and analyzes information on employee turnover and summarizes exit survey data, which includes the reasons that employees left state employment.

The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) assessed the options for geological carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) storage in the 155,400 km{sup 2} (60,000 mi{sup 2}) Illinois Basin, which underlies most of Illinois, western Indiana, and western Kentucky. The region has annual CO{sub 2} emissions of about 265 million metric tonnes (292 million tons), primarily from 122 coal-fired electric generation facilities, some of which burn almost 4.5 million tonnes (5 million tons) of coal per year (U.S. Department of Energy, 2010). Validation Phase (Phase II) field tests gathered pilot data to update the Characterization Phase (Phase I) assessment of options for capture, transportation, and storage of CO{sub 2} emissions in three geological sink types: coal seams, oil fields, and saline reservoirs. Four small-scale field tests were conducted to determine the properties of rock units that control injectivity of CO{sub 2}, assess the total storage resources, examine the security of the overlying rock units that act as seals for the reservoirs, and develop ways to control and measure the safety of injection and storage processes. The MGSC designed field test operational plans for pilot sites based on the site screening process, MVA program needs, the selection of equipment related to CO{sub 2} injection, …

This document provides information on how to Automate Your Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) Monitoring.

The purpose of this Technology Life Verification Test (TLVT) Manual is to help guide developers in their effort to successfully commercialize advanced energy storage devices such as battery and ultracapacitor technologies. The experimental design and data analysis discussed herein are focused on automotive applications based on the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) electric vehicle, hybrid electric vehicle, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (EV, HEV, and PHEV, respectively) performance targets. However, the methodology can be equally applied to other applications as well. This manual supersedes the February 2005 version of the TLVT Manual (Reference 1). It includes criteria for statistically-based life test matrix designs as well as requirements for test data analysis and reporting. Calendar life modeling and estimation techniques, including a user’s guide to the corresponding software tool is now provided in the Battery Life Estimator (BLE) Manual (Reference 2).

A horn-fed dish reflector antenna has characteristics including beam pattern that are a function of its mechanical form. The beam pattern can be altered by changing the mechanical configuration of the antenna. One way to do this is with a reflecting insert or shim added to the face of the original dish.

This report describes the duties of TxDOT employees in fighting wildfires, TxDOT's past experiences with wildfires, and best practice guidelines.

Biennial report of the Texas Department of Insurance, summarizing needed changes in Texas laws relating to regulation of the insurance industry with statements of the reasons for the changes.

Biennial report of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission describing the organization's goals and activities during fiscal years 2011-2012.

Biennial report on the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP), a program to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions from older vehicles and equipment. The report outlines the activities of the program during fiscal years 2011-2012 and overall goals and achievements.

The report fulfills the requirements for an annual report on implementation of Section 118 of the Foreign Assistance Act that focuses on the "continuing and accelerating alteration, description and loss of tropical forests in developing countries".