Discover NREL Newsletter Archives - August 2007
Discover NREL is published by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This newsletter brings you news and information about the Laboratory.
In this Issue
Research Highlights
NREL Partnership Wins Bioenergy Center
A team that includes NREL and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has won a bid from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a $125 million bioenergy research center that will seek new ways to produce biofuels. The Bioenergy Science Center, funded by DOE's Office of Science, will be located at ORNL in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The center is one of three funded from more than 20 proposals. It will employ the interdisciplinary expertise of the team's partners in biology, engineering and agricultural science and commercialization to develop processes for converting plants including switchgrass and poplar trees into fuels.
The Bioenergy Science Center partners also include the University of Tennessee, Dartmouth College, the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, companies ArborGen in Summerville, S.C., Diversa (now Verenium Corp.) in San Diego, Calif., Mascoma in Cambridge, Mass., and seven individual researchers from across the country. ORNL's Martin Keller will serve as center director.
"What we learn through the Bioenergy Science Center will ensure the sustainability of the rapidly growing biofuels industry," NREL Associate Director Ray Stults said. "This project brings together the right people and institutions to help us figure out how to make more fuel more economically using less land, less water and less energy."
The ORNL-led center will focus on new methods of processing plants into biofuels. The strategy involves breaking down into simple sugars the lattice of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin that makes plant cell walls resistant to the stress of weather, insects and disease. These sugars can then be processed into fuel.
NREL's experience in developing enzymes that break down cellulose and hemicellulose and converting the non-edible parts for plants into biofuels will be key to the Bioenergy Science Center's work. NREL also is home to a facility for producing biofuels using heat (thermochemically) and organisms (biochemically). Read More
NREL Estimates U.S. Hybrid Electric Vehicle Fuel Savings
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have saved close to 230 million gallons — or 5.5 million barrels — of fuel in the United States since their introduction in 1999, according to a recent analysis conducted at NREL.
"Sales of hybrid electric vehicles have increased an average of 72 percent a year for the past five years and in 2006 the average fuel economy based on new EPA estimates was 35 miles per gallon for new hybrid models sold in the U.S," said Kevin Bennion, an NREL vehicle systems analysis research engineer.
More than 660,000 HEVs have been sold in the United States since 1999 and an estimated 374,000 will be sold in 2007 (as reported online at www.hybridcars.com).
To estimate the total fuel saved by hybrid electric vehicles, NREL researchers combined hybrid electric vehicle sales and fuel economy data to determine fuel savings. The fuel economy data included new EPA mpg ratings, but old EPA mpg ratings and user-reported values were also reviewed. VISION modeling software developed by Argonne National Laboratory was used to determine vehicle stock - the total number of hybrid electric vehicles in use in a given year. The annual vehicle stock estimates and the vehicle sales data were combined to calculate fuel savings of replacing a conventional vehicle with a hybrid. The conventional vehicles selected were models by the same manufacturer that most closely matched the hybrid electric vehicles in terms of size, weight and performance.
In 2006, the average fuel economy improvement for hybrid electric vehicles over the replaced conventional vehicle was approximately 45 percent. Read More
NREL, DOE Expand Energy Cooperation with Sweden
Fredrik Reinfeldt (left) and Andy Karsner (middle) toured the Process Development and Integration Laboratory located in the Science & Technology Facility.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden made NREL a stop on his tour of the United States after visiting with President George W. Bush in Washington, testifying before the U.S. Congress and meeting with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. He said his visit to NREL showed him that Americans are doing something about global energy and climate issues.
Reinfeldt toured the Alternative Fuels User Facility to learn about NREL's work in cellulosic ethanol research and then visited with solar research staff in the Science & Technology Facility. He also was briefed on plug-in hybrid vehicles and battery research, wind energy and buildings technologies.
DOE Assistant Secretary Andy Karsner and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary John Mizroch joined Director Dan Arvizu in hosting the Swedish delegation which included the Swedish Secretary of State and Sweden's ambassador to the U.S.
"It is a great opportunity for me to visit NREL and learn more about the cutting edge technologies in energy efficiency and renewable energy. I hope to see more cooperation between Sweden and the U.S. on research and innovation in these fields," Prime Minister Reinfeldt said.
In June, a U.S. delegation including Karsner and Arvizu traveled to Sweden. While there, Karsner and Swedish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson signed an implementing agreement to further expand cooperation on renewable energy and vehicle technologies and establish a bilateral working group to explore prospective projects. Read More
Sixteen NREL/CU Energy Research Seed Grants Selected For Funding
Sixteen renewable energy and sustainability research projects involving scientists from NREL, and faculty and students at the University of Colorado at Boulder were selected for funding this summer.
Topics of winning proposals include developing new materials for photo-conversion and hydrogen storage, improving control of wind turbines, quantifying air-quality changes from plug-in hybrid cars and planning for the impacts of a major solar facility in Colorado's San Luis Valley. They were chosen from 58 proposals submitted to the CU/NREL seed grant program last fall and are funded with $726,000 from NREL, CU-Boulder and the CU System.
The research proposals were developed following a NREL/CU research symposium last October involving nearly 500 researchers and 170 poster presentations. The proposals were selected by a panel of experts from NREL, CU and private industry.
The seed grant program is part of a statewide effort to increase the amount of interaction between NREL and Colorado's research universities.
"Scientists at NREL have been working in key renewable energy areas for years, and we welcome interactions with university faculty and students," said Stan Bull, NREL's executive director of strategic partnerships who was actively involved with the seed grant program. "The program has created a host of new collaborative research directions between our institutions." Read More
NREL Updates National Solar Radiation Database
NREL and several collaborators recently updated the National Solar Radiation Database, a planning tool that provides critical information about the amount of solar energy that is available at any given location. The database is widely used by solar system designers, building architects and engineers, renewable energy analysts and others to plan, size and site solar energy systems. It provides hourly solar radiation and meteorological data for 1991-2005 for 1,454 stations and features a new hourly 10-kilometer gridded data set for 1998-2005. This expands the original 1961-1990 database, which contains solar and meteorological data for only 239 stations.
An accompanying report, National Solar Radiation Database 1991-2005 Update: User's Manual, provides user instructions and information about the database's development and data access. In addition, the manual includes a complete list of stations and a data quality summary for each site. The report is available online (PDF 14 KB). Download Acrobat Reader. For more information, contact Steve Wilcox at 303-384-7785.
Laboratory Receives First PHEV for Further Study
NREL researchers are using this 2006 Toyota Prius with plug-in conversions to analyze the thermal performance of its power electronics, battery and air-conditioning system.
NREL has acquired it first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), a Toyota Prius conversion developed by Energy Control Systems Engineering (Energy CS) based in Los Angeles. The PHEV will allow NREL's Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems (CTTS) to study how PHEV conversion impacts energy storage, power electronics and engine operation. Additionally, it will provide a resource for collaboration across the Laboratory.
"The vehicle will allow NREL engineers to demonstrate the relationship between vehicles, homes and renewable electricity generation," said Senior Engineer Tony Markel.
To develop the PHEV, Energy CS replaced the Prius' original 1.5-kilowatt hour capacity nickel-metal-hydride battery pack with a 9-kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery supplied by Valence Technology, Inc. of Austin, Texas.
NREL Habitat Home is the First to Be "Zero"
The Net Zero Energy Habitat for Humanity House in Wheat Ridge, Colo., combines energy efficient building design that reduces energy consumption with solar heat and power generation technologies that supply the home's remaining energy needs.
The home NREL built in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver has lived up to being the first affordable zero energy home in the United States. The three-bedroom, 1,280-square-foot residence set the bar for simple and elegant design in this home market sector. Its ability to produce as much energy as it consumes annually now has been confirmed through measurements.
Reaching zero energy in cold climates is challenging, so the home was carefully designed to combine the efficiency of the building envelope (insulation, windows, etc.) with efficient heating and cooling equipment, appliances, lighting, passive solar, solar-electric and solar water heating features. Designers used NREL's BEOpt building optimization software and DOE-2, a widely used and accepted freeware building energy analysis software program from DOE, for additional analysis. So far, the home is exceeding expectations and is a net-producer.
"From February 2006 to January 2007, the photovoltaic system produced 1,518 kilowatt hours more than the electricity used in the home," NREL senior engineer Paul Norton said. "Only 52 therms of natural gas were used during this period. About 500 kilowatt hours of excess electricity are needed to displace the natural gas use on a source energy basis, so the home was a net producer on both a site and a source basis."
Read more about the home design that is a first — on a few levels — in A Cold Climate Case Study for Affordable Zero Energy Homes (PDF 648 KB). Download Acrobat Reader
Working with NREL
Large Wind Turbine Blade Test Facilities to be in Mass., Texas
NREL will work with consortiums from Texas and Massachusetts to design, build and operate new facilities to test the next generation of giant wind turbine blades. DOE announced the blade test facility cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) on June 25.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Partnership and the Lone Star Wind Alliance in Texas were chosen to build facilities to test large wind turbine blades with an ultimate goal of testing blades up to 330 ft. (100m) in length. Blade testing is required to meet wind turbine design standards, reduce machine cost and reduce the technical and financial risk of deploying mass-produced wind turbine models.
Rapid growth in wind turbine size over the past two decades has surpassed the existing capabilities of the NREL's National Wind Technology Center, which operates the only facility in North America capable of full-scale testing of megawatt-size wind turbine blades. NREL will continue testing blades at its facility in Colorado.
Transportation issues were key to deciding to build the new blade test facilities near waterways.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Partnership proposes to build a test facility at the Boston Autoport in Boston Harbor in 2009. The Boston Autoport provides a quickly developable site on the East Coast featuring proximity to substantial offshore wind resources, truck access, a rail spur and a 1,200-foot (365m) dock for transporting blades from ocean going vessels.
The site proposed by the Lone Star Wind Alliance in Ingleside, Texas, has the potential to dramatically lower transportation costs. It is near primary ship routes along the Gulf Coast and boasts excellent access to developing wind energy markets in Texas and the Midwest. The facility will consist of three separate test bays, each equipped for both blade preparation and blade testing.
The agreements will be executed by NREL on behalf of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. DOE/NREL will provide each of the test facilities up to $2 million in capital equipment and technical assistance for development and operation. The total capital cost of each facility has been estimated at $9 to $12 million.
Six applications for the CRADA opportunity were received from partnerships based in Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. The applications were reviewed by a technical panel of DOE national laboratory experts and wind industry representatives. Read More.
U.S., Danish Laboratories to Cooperate on Wind Energy Research
Managing Directors Jørgen Kjems (left, sitting) and Dan Arvizu (right, sitting) signed an MOU to cooperate closely on improving wind energy technologies. Standing behind them (from left) are Rector Lars Pallesen, EERE Assistant Secretary Andy Karsner and Chairman of DTU Board Mogens Bundgaard-Nielsen.
NREL and Denmark's Risø National Laboratory, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), signed an agreement on June 27 to cooperate closely on improving wind energy technologies.
The two national research institutions will explore ways to work together to design more efficient wind turbines and wind energy systems under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by NREL Director Dan Arvizu and Risø Managing Director Jorgen Kjems. The MOU calls for the laboratories to focus on collaborations in areas such as meteorology, aerodynamics, wind turbine structures and materials, control systems and electrical grid integration.
NREL is beginning to focus on off-shore wind and better utility integration in the United States. The Danish laboratory has years of experience in the challenges of developing off-shore wind farms and in putting large amounts of wind-generated electricity on the utility grid. World-class research in wind turbine design and efficiency are hallmarks of both laboratories.
"Collaboration among scientists and engineers is of paramount importance," NREL Director Arvizu said. "Better solutions often appear when a problem is approached from several different angles."
The MOU also encourages the laboratories to collaborate in all other areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology that are of mutual interest.
Within the Technical University of Denmark, Risø carries out scientific and technical-scientific research that can provide Danish society with new opportunities for technological development and deployment.
Technology Transfer
NREL's Technology Transfer team routinely works with private and public sector agencies to move NREL-developed technologies and expertise into commercially viable products and businesses. The Laboratory offers research and technology development opportunities with industry partners, utilities, state agencies, universities, and other economic development organizations to foster the transfer and application of NREL's research expertise and technology. NREL does not, however, provide funding assistance to potential research partners under these types of partnerships. For more information on how to work with NREL, contact Rich Bolin in the Technology Transfer Office at 303-275-3028.
Spotlight On...
Design Tool Analyzes Cost of Operating a Building During its Lifetime
When constructing an energy efficient building, a designer must consider dozens of variables from site orientation to construction techniques to material selection. If ever there was a job intended for a computer, it's figuring out the energy performance of a building design and then comparing it to other options.
For years, architects, builders and engineers have been identifying the most cost-effective, energy-saving measures for designing low-energy buildings with a powerful design tool developed by NREL's Center for Building and Thermal Systems.
ENERGY-10TM can produce an initial estimate of energy performance in as little as 20 minutes by using basic parameters such as geographic location of the building, total floor space, the type of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system and weather data recorded near the building site.
ENERGY-10TM can conduct a whole-building analysis, evaluating the energy and cost savings that can be achieved by applying energy-efficient strategies such as daylighting, passive solar heating and high-performance windows and lighting systems. Using the software at the early phases of design can result in energy savings of 40 percent to 70 percent, with little or no increase in construction cost.
For the first time, building designers have an easy to use tool to help them integrate Photovoltaics and Solar Domestic Hot Water in an energy efficient building. These solar features were added to ENERGY-10TM Version 1.8 at the urging of the solar industry.
ENERGY-10TM is the result of a collaborative project of the NREL Center for Building and Thermal Systems, the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Berkeley Solar Group. The software is available online at SBIC.
Events
Upcoming Events
For information on events sponsored by NREL, industry partners and universities, visit Meetings and Events.
Recent Publications
The following publications and other information products are available online through the NREL Publications Database. The database contains bibliographic information about publications developed or written by NREL staff and subcontractors from 1977 to the present. Many publications are available electronically as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Acrobat Reader.
Clean Cities Success Story - Coalition Cooperation Defines Roadmap for E85 and Biodiesel (PDF 505 KB)
This story describes how Colorado's Biofuels Coalition was formed and provides guidance on forming other such coalitions.
2007 Solar Decathlon: Powered By the Sun (PDF 999 KB)
This brochure provides a broad overview of the Solar Decathlon, purpose, scope and student participants. It also describes the successes from the 2002 and 2005 competitions and the excitement and energy surrounding the event.
Laboratories for the 21st Century: Case Studies Molecular Foundry, Berkeley, California (PDF 714 KB)
This case study provides information on the Molecular Foundry, which incorporates Labs21 principles in its design and construction. The design includes many of the strategies researched at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for energy-efficient cleanroom and data centers.
Wind Power Today (PDF 2 MB)
Wind Power Today is an annual publication that provides an overview of the wind energy research conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program.
Industrial Technologies Program Specialist Qualification Training (PDF 77 KB)
This fact sheet provides plant operators with information on training that can help them identify cost-cutting opportunities that improve energy and operating efficiency.
Clean Cities Now Official Publication of Clean Cities and the Alternative Fuels Data Center, Vol. 11, No. 2 (PDF 849 KB)
This is the official publication of the Clean Cities initiative. Articles include program-specific news, coalition news, industry news and more.
Industrial Technologies Program Energy Tips - Pumping Systems, Tip Sheet #12 Control Strategies for Centrifugal Pumps with Variable Flow Rate Requirements (PDF 246 KB)
This is one in a series of tip sheets to help manufacturers optimize their industrial pumping systems. Each tip sheet provides suggested actions, resources and contact information.
National Bioenergy Center Biochemical Platform Integration Project: Quarterly Update #14, January - March 2007 (PDF 371 KB)
Volume 14 of this quarterly newsletter describes the activities and R&D progress of the National Bioenergy Center's Biochemical Processing Integration Project. Topics include announcements about the 29th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals and the 2007 Joint ACS/AIChE Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting.
Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program Technical Assistance Project Take the Next Step Toward Your Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Goals (PDF 623 KB)
This fact sheet is about the Technical Assistance Project, which provides state and local officials access to DOE laboratory experts in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
About NREL
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