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The following is a list of models and tools that can assist in learning more about the listed technologies and uses. Most of these tools can be applied on a global, regional, local, or project basis.
No population relies more on the automobile and imported fuels than people in the United States. The transportation sector has an enormous impact on our economy, national energy security, and environment. Moreover, emissions from vehicles are the single largest contributor to air pollution in many cities, making our air unhealthy to breathe and increasing health care costs. These analysis tools help make intelligent choices related to automotive energy efficiency.
ADVISOR (ADvanced VehIcle SimulatOR)
Accurate component and vehicle simulation are critical to efficient development of advanced vehicles, particularly to making intelligent choices about energy management. Simulating vehicle and component performance helps engineers determine how to increase the life of components, improve vehicle performance, optimize vehicle system designs, and reduce development times.
To meet the simulation needs of the transportation industry, the Vehicle Systems Analysis Team developed ADVISOR (Advanced Vehicle Simulator) in 1994 with the help of industry partners. It was made available free of charge on the Web from 1998 to 2003. During this time it was downloaded by more than 7,000 individuals, corporations, and universities worldwide. In 2003 it was commercialized by AVL Powertrain Engineering, Inc. of Plymouth, Michigan.
ADVISOR can be used to simulate and analyze conventional, advanced, light, and heavy vehicles, including hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles. It tests the effect of changes in vehicle components (such as motors, batteries, catalytic converters, climate control systems, and alternative fuels) and other modifications that might affect fuel economy, performance, or emissions. The benefits of ADVISOR:
- Reduces testing time to evaluate various vehicle powertrain alternatives
- Provides a shared simulation tool for government and industry
- Assists the transportation industry in developing fuel-efficient vehicles and components
Please access the ADVISOR web site for more information.
HEV Cost Calculator Tool
The HEV Cost Calculator Tool allows fleets to evaluate the full costs and benefits of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) in comparison to a conventional vehicle. Fleets also may use the tool to determine the cost and benefits of a fleet of HEVs versus a fleet of conventional vehicles. The tool assesses both capital and operating costs, over the lifetime of use, as well as greenhouse gases and other air emissions. Outputs are provided per vehicle, per year, and per mile. The tool can be accessed from the EERE Web site.
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fleet Buyer's Guide
Clean Cities is a program sponsored by the U.S Department of Energy which is designed to encourage the use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and their supporting infrastructure throughout the nation. By encouraging AFV use, the Clean Cities program will help achieve energy security and environmental quality goals at both the national and local levels. Unlike traditional command-and-control programs, the Clean Cities program takes a unique, voluntary approach to AFV development, working with coalitions of local stakeholders to help develop the AFV industry and integrate this development into larger planning processes.
Please access the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fleet Buyer's Guide web site for more information.
The following is a list of models and tools that can assist in learning more about our main renewable energy technologies and their uses. Most of these tools can be applied on a global, regional, local, or project basis.
Cost Curves
The cost of energy (COE) from renewable technologies has steadily declined in the past quarter century. As an example, the cost of wind energy has declined from about 30-45 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1980 to less than 5 cents today. Wind, PV, geothermal, solar thermal, and biomass have all seen significant drops in cost with the improvements in technology. This PowerPoint slide shows these historical trends and includes projections through 2020. These represent levelized cents/kWh in constant $2000. (PowerPoint 210 KB)
Energy-10
ENERGY-10 software can identify the best combination of energy-efficient strategies, including daylighting, passive solar heating, and high-efficiency mechanical systems. Using ENERGY-10 at a project's start takes less than an hour and can result in energy savings of 40%-70%, with little or no increase in construction cost. Visit the Energy-10 Web site for more information.
Geographic Information System
This site provides dynamically generated maps of renewable energy resources that determine which energy technologies are viable solutions in the United States. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory analyzes the resources and inputs the data into the GIS—Geographic Information Systems.
Green Power Network
The Green Power Network (GPN) provides news and information on green power markets and related activities. The site provides up-to-date information on green power providers, product offerings, consumer protection issues, and policies affecting green power markets. It also includes a reference library of relevant papers, articles and reports. The Green Power Network is operated and maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.
HOMER
HOMER, the micropower optimization model, simplifies the task of evaluating design options for both off-grid and grid-connected power systems. When you design a power system, you must make many decisions about the configuration of the system: What components does it make sense to include in the system design? How many and what size of each component should you use? How do the costs and environmental impacts of different system designs compare? The large number of technology options, range of technology costs, and variable availability of energy resources make these decisions difficult to make. HOMER's optimization and sensitivity analysis algorithms make it easier to evaluate the many possible system configurations. For more information, visit the HOMER Web page. You also can access a fact sheet (PDF 934 KB) Download Adobe Reader about this unique tool. Contact developer Peter Lilienthal for more information.
Hybrid2
The Hybrid2 code is a user-friendly tool to conduct detailed long-term performance and economic analysis on a wide variety of hybrid power systems. Visit the Modeling and Tools for Project Engineering Web page, see last item for more information.
Hydrogen Deployment System (HyDS)
The Hydrogen Deployment System (HyDS) model analyzes the transition to a hydrogen economy. It costs out numerous pathways — from production to distribution — finding the most economic mode for hydrogen to be delivered in a user-defined region. It integrates an intercity optimization algorithm, which considers economy-of-scale of production, transportation, and delivery — as well as the trade-offs between centralized and forecourt hydrogen production. Given price projections for gasoline, natural gas, and other feedstocks, the HyDS ME produces a supply curve reflecting the most economic pathway for hydrogen to be delivered. Contact Walter Short of the Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) for more information.
Power Technologies Energy Data Book (Fourth Edition)
In 2002, the Strategic Energy Analysis Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed the first version of the Power Technologies Energy Data Book for the U.S. Department of Energy. The analysis group has now posted the fourth edition of the Power Technologies Energy Data Book, which provides updates from our previous edition. The primary purpose of the data book is to compile — in one central document — a comprehensive set of data about power technologies from diverse sources. This publication features more than 200 pages of energy supply-side data and complete technology profiles for renewable energy and distributed power technologies. The data book also contains a variety of charts on electricity restructuring, power technology forecasts and comparisons, electricity supply, electricity capability, electricity generation, electricity demand, prices, economic indicators, environmental indicators, and conversion factors. Please contact Jørn Aabakken with any questions.
REFlex
REFlex is a reduced form dispatch model that evaluates the limits of variable renewable generation as a function of system flexibility. It can also evaluate the role of enabling technologies such as demand response and energy storage. It is an updated version of the PVFlex model described in the following articles: "Evaluating the Limits of Solar Photovoltaics (PV) in Traditional Electric Power Systems," by Paul Denholm and Robert Margolis, NREL Report No. JA-640-41459; doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2006.10.014 and "Evaluating the Limits of Solar Photovoltaics (PV) in Electric Power Systems Utilizing Energy Storage and Other Enabling Technologies," by Paul Denholm and Robert Margolis, NREL Report No. JA-6A2-45315. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2007.03.004
RET Finance
RETFinance is a levelized cost-of-energy model, which simulates a detailed 20-year nominal dollar cash flow for renewable energy projects power projects including project earnings, cash flows, and debt payment to calculate a project's levelized cost-of-electricity, after-tax nominal Internal Rate of Return, and annual Debt-Service-Coverage-Ratios.
Real Options Analysis Center
The Real Options Analysis Center (ROAC) features two online models for real options valuation of renewable energy R&D and valuation of distributed generation assets.
Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS)
Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) is a multiregional, multitimeperiod, Geographic Information System (GIS), and linear programming model of capacity expansion in the electric sector of the United States. The model, developed by NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC), is designed to conduct analysis of the critical energy issues in today's electric sector with detailed treatment of the full potential of conventional and renewable electricity generating technologies as well as electricity storage. The principal issues addressed include access to and cost of transmission, access to and quality of renewable resources, the variability of wind and solar power, and the influence of variability on the reliability of the grid. ReEDS addresses these issues through a highly discretized regional structure, explicit accounting for the variability in wind and solar output over time, and consideration of ancillary services requirements and costs. See the ReEDS Web site for more information.
The Renewable Energy Technology Characterizations describe the technical and economic status of the major emerging renewable energy options for electricity supply. These technology characterizations represent the best estimates of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) regarding the future performance and cost improvements expected for these technologies as a result of continuing research and development (R&D) and development of markets for renewable energy through the year 2030. The Renewable Energy Technology Characterizations are copyrighted, but permission is granted for unlimited copying for noncommercial use.
Stochastic Energy Deployment System (SEDS)
The Stochastic Energy Deployment System (SEDS) model is a capacity-expansion model of the U.S. energy market. The model uses five-year time periods from 2005 to 2050. SEDS can be operated either deterministically or stochastically. When operated deterministically, SEDS uses a single value instead of the input-probability distributions for the uncertain parameters. In this mode, the results are immediate and informative, in terms of how the model responds to different inputs and assumptions. When operated stochastically, SEDS uses Monte Carlo simulations to make a number of sweeps through the time period. In each sweep, the random variables are sampled using a Latin Hypercube approach that improves on a standard Monte Carlo simulation. SEDS is being developed with a commercially available software package, Analytica, designed to facilitate the development of stochastic models (for more information on Analytica, visit Lumina). Contact James Milford of the Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) for more information.
ViPOR
The Village Power Optimization Model for Renewables, ViPOR, is a computational tool capable of designing an autonomous village electrification system using the lowest cost combination of centralized and isolated generation.
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