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ASHRAE Standard 62-1989 (Standard 62-89) Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality'' is the new heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry consensus for ventilation air in commercial buildings. Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville) references ASHRAE Standard 62-81 (the predecessor to Standard 62-89) in their current environmental documents for required ventilation rates. Through its use, it had become evident to Bonneville that Standard 62-81 needed interpretation. Now that the revised Standard (Standard 62-89) is available, its usefulness needs to be evaluated. Based on current information and public comment, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) revised Standard 62-1981 to Standard 62-89. Bonneville's study estimated the energy and cost implications of ASHRAE Standard 62-89 using simulations based on DOE-2.1D, a computer simulation program which estimates building use hourly as a function of building characteristics and climatic location. Ten types of prototypical commercial buildings used by Bonneville for load forecasting purposes were examined: Large and Small Office, Large and Small Retail, Restaurant, Warehouse, Hospital, Hotel, School, and Grocery. These building characterizations are based on survey and energy metering data and represent average or typical construction and operation practices and mechanical system types. Prototypical building ventilation rates were varied in five steps to estimate the impacts of outside air on building energy use. 11 refs., 14 tabs.

This technical handbook includes comprehensive discussions on nature and occurrence of the geothermal resource, its development, utilization, economics, financing, and regulation. Information on pricing parameters for the direct use of geothermal energy is included as an appendix. (MRH)

Wind turbine system reliability is a critical factor in the success of a wind energy project. Poor reliability directly affects both the project's revenue stream through increased operation and maintenance (OM increased risk, or at least the perception of increased risk, is generally accompanied by increased financing fees or interest rates. This paper outlines the issues relevant to wind turbine reliability for wind turbine power generation projects. The first sections describe the current state of the industry, identify the cost elements associated with wind farm O&M and availability and discuss the causes of uncertainty in estimating wind turbine component reliability. The latter sections discuss the means for reducing O&M costs and propose O&M related research and development efforts that could be pursued by the wind energy research community to reduce cost of energy.

Energy availability in a country is of great importance to its economy and to raising and maintaining its standard of living. In 1994, the United States consumed more than 88 quadrillion Btu (quads) of energy and spent about $500 billion on fuels and electricity. Fortunately, the United States is well endowed with energy sources, notably fossil fuels, and possesses a considerable nuclear power industry. The United States also has significant renewable energy resources and already exploits much of its hydropower resources, which represent 10% of electricity production. Nevertheless, in 1994, the United States imported about 45% of the petroleum products it consumed, equivalent to about 17 quads of energy. This dependence on imported oil puts the country at risk of energy supply disruptions and oil price shocks. Previous oil shocks may have cost the country as much as $4 billion (in 1993 dollars) between 1973 and 1990. Moreover, the production and use of energy from fossil fuels are major sources of environmental damage. The corresponding situation in many parts of the world is more challenging. Developing countries are experiencing rapid growth in population, energy demand, and the environmental degradation that often results from industrial development. The near-term depletion of energy resources in response to this rapid growth runs counter to the concept of ''sustainable development''--development that meets the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Energy research and development (RD (2) protecting the environment by reducing the adverse environmental impacts associated with energy production, distribution, and use; (3) keeping America secure by reducing vulnerabilities to global energy market shocks; and (4) enhancing American competitiveness in a growing world energy market.

The work described in this report was performed under the direction of the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) at University of Texas at Arlington. The IAC at The University of Texas at Arlington is managed by Rutgers University under agreement with the United States Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technology, which financially supports the program. The objective of the IAC is to identify, evaluate, and recommend, through analysis of an industrial plant’s operations, opportunities to conserve energy and prevent pollution, thereby reducing the associated costs. IAC team members visit and survey the plant. Based upon observations made in the plant, preventive/corrective actions are recommended. At all times we try to offer specific and quantitative recommendations of cost savings, energy conservation, and pollution prevention to the plants we serve.

This Renewable Energy Data Book for 2010 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.

The backgrund, structure and use of modern forecasting methods for estimating the future development of geothermal energy in the United States are documented. The forecasting instrument may be divided into two sequential submodels. The first predicts the timing and quality of future geothermal resource discoveries from an underlying resource base. This resource base represents an expansion of the widely-publicized USGS Circular 790. The second submodel forecasts the rate and extent of utilization of geothermal resource discoveries. It is based on the joint investment behavior of resource developers and potential users as statistically determined from extensive industry interviews. It is concluded that geothermal resource development, especially for electric power development, will play an increasingly significant role in meeting US energy demands over the next 2 decades. Depending on the extent of R and D achievements in related areas of geosciences and technology, expected geothermal power development will reach between 7700 and 17300 Mwe by the year 2000. This represents between 8 and 18% of the expected electric energy demand (GWh) in western and northwestern states.

An electrodynamic balance was used to measure the drag coefficient and also to record the size and shape of spheres, and coal and oil shale particles (100 ..mu..m to 200 ..mu..m in size). The electrodynamic balance consisted of a central, and two end electrodes. The resulting electric field stably suspended a charged particle. A suspended particle, back illuminated by a light emitting diode, was viewed by a video camera. The image was analyzed for particle position control and was calibrated to give the diameter of spheres, or the area equivalent diameter of nonspherical particles. The drag coefficient was calculated from the air velocity and the dc voltage required to keep the particle at the balance center. The particle Reynolds number varied from 0.2 to 13. Three particles each of coal and oil shale were captured and photographed by a scanning electron microscope and the motion of all the particles was recorded on video tape. Drag coefficient vs Reynolds number data for spheres agreed well with correlations. Data for thirteen particles each of coal and oil shale indicated a power law relationship between drag coefficient and Reynolds number. All these particles exhibited higher drag than spheres and were also observed tomore » rotate. The rotation, however, did not affect the drag coefficient. The choice of characteristic dimension affects the drag characteristics of oil shale more strongly than for coal, owing to the flake-like shape of oil shale. 38 figs., 5 tabs.« less

This report describes work to test the feasibility of a new solar cell concept -- the epitaxial optical reflector (EOR) solar cell. This cell concept alters current designs for high efficiency cells by changing the optical absorption efficiency of single cells. The change is introduced by the use an epitaxial multilayer reflector as an integral part of the cell to increase the optical path length of certain wavelengths of light in the cell. These changes are expected to increase the open circuit voltage at which power is extracted from the cell. The program is designed to test the feasibility of the use of a broad band epitaxial multilayer reflector grown as an integral part of the device structure to reflect the near-band-edge light back through the device for a second absorption pass. This second pass allows the design of a solar cell with a thinner base, and the use of the epitaxial reflector as a heterojunction carrier-reflecting barrier at the rear of the device. The thinner cell design and altered carrier profile that results from the light- and carrier-reflecting barrier will decrease the carrier concentration gradient and increase the open circuit voltage. The program is structured to have three tasks:more » (1) Solar Cell and Reflector Modeling, (2) Materials Growth and Optimization, and (3) Solar Cell Fabrication and Characterization.« less