The state-of-the-art thermochemical conversion pilot plant includes several configurable, complementary unit operations for testing and developing various reactors, filters, catalysts, and other unit operations. NREL engineers and scientists as well as clients can test new processes and feedstocks in a timely, cost-effective, and safe manner to obtain extensive performance data on processes or equipment.

The thermoelectric generator shorting system provides the capability to monitor and short-out individual thermoelectric couples in the event of failure. This makes the series configured thermoelectric generator robust to individual thermoelectric couple failure. Open circuit detection of the thermoelectric couples and the associated short control is a key technique to ensure normal functionality of the TE generator under failure of individual TE couples. This report describes a five-year effort whose goal was the understanding the issues related to the development of a thermoelectric energy recovery device for a Class-8 truck. Likely materials and important issues related to the utility of this generator were identified. Several prototype generators were constructed and demonstrated. The generators developed demonstrated several new concepts including advanced insulation, couple bypass technology and the first implementation of skutterudite thermoelectric material in a generator design. Additional work will be required to bring this system to fruition. However, such generators offer the possibility of converting energy that is otherwise wasted to useful electric power. Uur studies indicate that this can be accomplished in a cost-effective manner for this application.

Whole Foods Market participates in the U.S. Department of Energy's Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) to identify and develop cost-effective, readily deployed, replicable energy efficiency measures (EEMs) for commercial buildings. Whole Foods Market is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on a retrofit and a new construction CBP project. Whole Foods Market's CBP new construction project is a standalone store in Raleigh, North Carolina. Whole Foods Market examined the energy systems and the interactions between those systems in the design for the new Raleigh store. Based on this collaboration and preliminary energy modeling, Whole Foods Market and NREL identified a number of cost-effective EEMs that can be readily deployed in other Whole Foods Market stores and in other U.S. supermarkets. If the actual savings in the Raleigh store - which NREL will monitor and verify - match the modeling results, each year this store will save nearly $100,000 in operating costs (Raleigh's rates are about $0.06/kWh for electricity and $0.83/therm for natural gas). The store will also use 41% less energy than a Standard 90.1-compliant store and avoid about 3.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

ADEPT Project: There is a constant demand for better performing, more compact, lighter weight, and lower cost electronic devices. Unfortunately, the materials traditionally used to make components for electronic devices have reached their limits. Case Western is developing capacitors made of new materials that could be used to produce the next generation of compact and efficient high-powered consumer electronics and electronic vehicles. A capacitor is an important component of an electronic device. It stores an electric charge and then discharges it into an electrical circuit in the device. Case Western is creating its capacitors from titanium, an abundant material extracted from ore which can be found in the U.S. Case Western's capacitors store electric charges on the surfaces of films, which are grown on a titanium alloy electrode that is formed as a spinal column with attached branches. The new material and spine design make the capacitor smaller and lighter than traditional capacitors, and they enable the component to store 300% more energy than capacitors of the same weight made of tantalum, the current industry standard. Case Western's titanium-alloy capacitors also spontaneously self-repair, which prolongs their life.

NREL research helps answer a fundamental question regarding electric vehicles: Is the grid ready to handle them? Environmental, economic and security concerns regarding oil consumption make electrifying the transportation sector a high national priority. NREL's Center for Transportation Technologies & Systems (CTTS) has developed a framework for utilities to evaluate the plug-in vehicle (PEV) readiness of distribution transformers. Combining a wealth of vehicle performance statistics with load data from partner utilities including the Hawaiian Electric Company and Xcel Energy, NREL analyzed the thermal loading characteristics of distribution transformers due to vehicle charging. After running millions of simulations replicating varying climates and conditions, NREL is now able to predict aging rates for transformers when PEVs are added to existing building loads. With the NREL tool, users define simulation parameters by inputting vehicle trip and weather data; transformer load profiles and ratings; PEV penetration, charging rates and battery sizes; utility rates; the number of houses on each transformer; and public charging availability. Transformer load profiles, drive cycles, and ambient temperature data are then run through the thermal model to produce a one-year timeseries of the hotspot temperature. Annual temperature durations are calculated to help determine the annual aging rate. Annual aging rate …

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is a biocomposite material that exhibits higher strength and fracture toughness than its component materials. It derives its strength from the brick-and-mortar layering of aragonite (CaCO{sub 3}) platelets and organic binder. It is believed that the protein binder helps redistribute the stress throughout all tablets for optimal mechanical performance. In this study, we attempt to measure the mechanical properties of aragonite within nacre and compare them to bulk aragonite and bulk nacre and understand the redistribution of stresses. Here we show that x-ray diffraction techniques are useful for isolating and measuring strain of crystallites within a composite material. Our results show that the apparent stiffness of aragonite varies with crystallographic directions and is higher than the stiffness of bulk nacre in all cases, meaning that aragonite tablets are exposed to less than the average bulk stress. The average force applied to the bulk sample is partitioned between the aragonite and the binder, so that the protein layer bears as much as 27.2% of the total applied force. Different crystallographic directions exhibit behaviors different than bulk aragonite or bulk nacre. These are related to texture of aragonite platelets (i.e. preferred orientations within nacre). By examining nacre, …

This fact sheet highlights the Toyota Prius plug-in HEV, a plug-in hybrid electric car in the advanced technology vehicle fleet at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In partnership with the University of Colorado, NREL uses the vehicle for grid-integration studies and for testing new hardware and charge-management algorithms. NREL's advanced technology vehicle fleet features promising technologies to increase efficiency and reduce emissions without sacrificing safety or comfort. The fleet serves as a technology showcase, helping visitors learn about innovative vehicles that are available today or are in development. Vehicles in the fleet are representative of current, advanced, prototype, and emerging technologies.

The Clean Energy Solutions Center helps governments, advisors, and analysts create policies and programs that advance the deployment of clean energy technologies. The Solutions Center is an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a global forum to share best practices and promote policies and programs that encourage and facilitate the transition to a global clean energy economy, and UN-Energy, the United Nations' interagency mechanism to scale-up global clean energy use.

In 2009, Transformations, Inc. partnered with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building America team Building Science Corporation (BSC) to build new net zero energy houses in three developments in Massachusetts. The company has been developing strategies for cost-effective super-insulated homes in the New England market since 2006. After years of using various construction techniques, it has developed a specific set of assemblies and specifications that achieve a 44.9% reduction in energy use compared with a home built to the 2009 International Residential Code, qualifying the houses for the DOE's Challenge Home. The super-insulated houses provide data for several research topics in a cold climate. BSC studied the moisture risks in double stud walls insulated with open cell spray foam and cellulose. The mini-split air source heat pump (ASHP) research focused on the range of temperatures experienced in bedrooms as well as the homeowners' perceptions of equipment performance. BSC also examined the developer's financing options for the photovoltaic (PV) systems, which take advantage of Solar Renewable Energy Certificates, local incentives, and state and federal tax credits.

The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) on the campus of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will soon be the nation's first facility that can conduct integrated megawatt-scale testing of the components and strategies needed in order to safely move clean energy technologies onto the electrical grid 'in-flight' at the speed and scale required to meet national goals.

A new transgenic maize was observed to be less recalcitrant than wild-type biomass, as manifested through lower severity requirements to achieve comparable levels of conversion. Expression of a single gene derived from bacteria in plants has resulted in transgenic plants that are easier and cheaper to convert into biofuels. Part of the high production cost of cellulosic biofuels is the relatively poor accessibility of substrates to enzymes due to the strong associations between plant cell wall components. This biomass recalcitrance makes costly thermochemical pretreatment necessary. Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created transgenic maize expressing an active glycosyl hydrolase enzyme, E1 endoglucanase, originally isolated from a thermophilic bacterium, Acidothermus cellulolyticus. This engineered feedstock was observed to be less recalcitrant than wild-type biomass when subjected to reduced severity pretreatments and post-pretreatment enzymatic hydrolysis. This reduction in recalcitrance was manifested through lower severity requirements to achieve comparable levels of conversion of wild-type biomass. The improvements observed are significant enough to positively affect the economics of the conversion process through decreased capital construction costs and decreased degradation products and inhibitor formation.

ADEPT Project: Transphorm is developing transistors with gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors that could be used to make cost-effective, high-performance power converters for a variety of applications, including electric motor drives which transmit power to a motor. A transistor acts like a switch, controlling the electrical energy that flows around an electrical circuit. Most transistors today use low-cost silicon semiconductors to conduct electrical energy, but silicon transistors don’t operate efficiently at high speeds and voltage levels. Transphorm is using GaN as a semiconductor material in its transistors because GaN performs better at higher voltages and frequencies, and it is more energy efficient than straight silicon. However, Transphorm is using inexpensive silicon as a base to help keep costs low. The company is also packaging its transistors with other electrical components that can operate quickly and efficiently at high power levels—increasing the overall efficiency of both the transistor and the entire motor drive.

The transpired solar collector was installed on NREL's Waste handling Facility (WHF) in 1990 to preheat ventilation air. The electrically heated WHF was an ideal candidate for the this technology - requiring a ventilation rate of 3,000 cubic feet per meter to maintain safe indoor conditions.

Fact sheet on Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility, featuring the Vehicle Modification Facility, Vehicle Test Pad and RECharge Integrated Demonstration System.

This fact sheet summarizes actions in the areas of light-duty vehicle, non-light-duty vehicle, fuel, and transportation demand that show promise for deep reductions in energy use. Energy efficient transportation strategies have the potential to simultaneously reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project examined how the combination of multiple strategies could achieve deep reductions in GHG emissions and petroleum use on the order of 80%. Led by NREL, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, the project's primary goal was to help inform domestic decisions about transportation energy strategies, priorities, and investments, with an emphasis on underexplored opportunities. TEF findings reveal three strategies with the potential to displace most transportation-related petroleum use and GHG emissions: 1) Stabilizing energy use in the transportation sector through efficiency and demand-side approaches. 2) Using additional advanced biofuels. 3) Expanding electric drivetrain technologies.

The Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project examines underexplored greenhouse gas-abatement and oil-savings opportunities by consolidating transportation energy knowledge, conducting advanced analysis, and exploring additional opportunities for sound strategic action. Led by NREL, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, the project's primary goal is to provide analysis to accompany DOE-EERE's long-term transportation energy planning by addressing high-priority questions, informing domestic decisions about transportation energy strategies, priorities, and investments. Research and analysis were conducted with an eye toward short-term actions that support long-term energy goals The project looks beyond technology to examine each key question in the context of the marketplace, consumer behavior, industry capabilities, and infrastructure. This updated fact sheet includes a new section on initial project findings.

The U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project examines how combining multiple strategies could reduce both GHG emissions and petroleum use by 80%. The project's primary objective was to help inform domestic decisions about transportation energy strategies, priorities, and investments, with an emphasis on previously underexplored opportunities related to energy efficiency and renewable energy in light-duty vehicles, non-light-duty vehicles, fuels, and transportation demand. This PowerPoint provides an overview of the project and its findings.

Fact sheet on Transportation Secure Data Center.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have launched the free, web-based Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC). The TSDC (www.nrel.gov/tsdc) preserves respondent anonymity while making vital transportation data available to a broad group of users through secure, online access. The TSDC database gives, metropolitan planning organizations, universities, national laboratories, air quality management districts, disaster planning agencies and auto manufacturers free-of-charge web-based access to valuable transportation data. The TSDC's two levels of access make composite data available with simple online registration, and allow researchers to use detailed spatial data after completing a straight forward application process.

This fact sheet describes the Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC) - an NREL-operated resource that provides secure access to detailed GPS travel data for valuable research purposes in a way that protects original participant privacy.

Self-amplifying spontaneous radiation free-electron lasers, such as the LCLS or the European X-FEL, rely on the incoherent, spontaneous radiation as the seed for the amplifying process. Though this method overcomes the need for an external seed source one drawback is the incoherence of the effective seed signal. The FEL process allows for a natural growth of the coherence because the radiation phase information is spread out within the bunch due to slippage and diffraction of the radiation field. However, at short wavelengths this spreading is not sufficient to achieve complete coherence. In this presentation we report on the results of numerical simulations of the LCLS X-ray FEL. From the obtained radiation field distribution the coherence properties are extracted to help to characterize the FEL as a light source.

This 12-page brochure provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Tribal Energy Program and describes the financial, technical, and educational assistance it provides to help tribes develop their renewable energy resources and reduce their energy consumption.

This 12-page brochure provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Tribal Energy Program and describes the financial, technical, and educational assistance it provides to help tribes develop their renewable energy resources and reduce their energy consumption.

This brochure provides an overview of the challenges and successes of Tucson, AZ, a 2007 Solar America City awardee, on the path toward becoming a solar-powered community. Accomplishments, case studies, key lessons learned, and local resource information are given.