Measuring School and Teacher Effectiveness in EPIC Charter School Consortium--Year 2. Final Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potamites, Liz; Booker, Kevin; Chaplin, Duncan; Isenberg, Eric

2009-01-01

New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit organization committed to training school principals, heads the Effective Practices Incentive Community (EPIC), an initiative that offers financial awards to effective educators. Through this initiative, New Leaders offers financial awards to educators in two urban school districts and a consortium of…

The San Francisco Consortium; An Educational Association for Urban Affairs. Progress Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

San Francisco Consortium, CA.

The San Francisco Consortium was formed in the Fall of 1967 by 5 institutions: City College of San Francisco, Golden Gate College, San Francisco State College, University of California-San Francisco Medical Center and the University of San Francisco. Its primary purpose is to be the instrument through which the resources of the major local…

East bay fire chiefs' consortium

Treesearch

Michael Bradley

1995-01-01

The traditional approach to planning for public fire protection has been based on independent actions by each fire department or district. The county fire chiefs’ associations, while providing interagency communication, were not adequate to deal with the regional nature of the wildland urban interface problem. The formation of the East Bay Fire Chiefs’ Consortium grew...

Viability of Azotobacter consortium in auxin production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zulaika, Enny; Solikhah, Farihatus; Alami, Nur Hidayatul; Kuswytasari, Nengah Dwianita; Shovitri, Maya

2017-06-01

Azotobacter is a kind of rhizobacteria which is abundant in soil and having beneficial for plants due to its ability to produce auxin. Each isolated Azotobacter from Eco Urban Farming ITS were able to produce auxin individually. However, the isolated Azotobacter consortium was prefer to produce more auxin than the individual one. Synergism test were carried out in order to verify non-antagonism among Azotobacter isolates. Auxin production test was conducted by inoculating 100 ml of Azotobacter consortium starter in 400 ml nutrient broth by addition of 1.000 ppm of L-tryptophan while shaking 100 rpm in rotary shaker at room temperature for 8 weeks. Auxin concentration was measured spectrophotometrically according to the Salkowski method. The Azotobacter consortium showed living synergistically and able to produce 1,82 ppm auxin in 2 hours incubation time although the concentration was tend to decrease periodically.

10 CFR 603.1235 - Consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Consortium. 603.1235 Section 603.1235 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Definitions of Terms Used in... incorporated or that otherwise agrees to jointly carry out a RD&D project (see definition of “articles of...

10 CFR 603.1235 - Consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Consortium. 603.1235 Section 603.1235 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Definitions of Terms Used in... incorporated or that otherwise agrees to jointly carry out a RD&D project (see definition of “articles of...

Kansas Wind Energy Consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gruenbacher, Don

2015-12-31

This project addresses both fundamental and applied research problems that will help with problems defined by the DOE “20% Wind by 2030 Report”. In particular, this work focuses on increasing the capacity of small or community wind generation capabilities that would be operated in a distributed generation approach. A consortium (KWEC – Kansas Wind Energy Consortium) of researchers from Kansas State University and Wichita State University aims to dramatically increase the penetration of wind energy via distributed wind power generation. We believe distributed generation through wind power will play a critical role in the ability to reach and extend themore » renewable energy production targets set by the Department of Energy. KWEC aims to find technical and economic solutions to enable widespread implementation of distributed renewable energy resources that would apply to wind.« less

Storms Over the Urban Forest: Planning, Responding, and Regreening-- A Community Guide to Natural Disaster Relief

Treesearch

Lisa L. Burban; John W. Andreson

1994-01-01

Following a severe August, 1990, tornado that struck Kane, Kendall, and Will Counties in Illinois, a consortium of concerned federal, state and university agencies decided to prepare a disaster mitigation handbook to serve the 20 states of the Northeastern Area. This second edition of Storms over the Urban Forest has been expanded to serve the needs of all 50 states....

24 CFR 943.122 - How is a consortium organized?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY CONSORTIA AND JOINT VENTURES Consortia § 943.122 How is a... participating PHAs, specifying a lead agency (see § 943.124), and submit a joint PHA Plan (§ 943.118). HUD...

Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium - Testing and Verification

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kroposki, Benjamin; Skare, Paul; Pratt, Rob

This paper highlights some of the unique testing capabilities and projects being performed at several national laboratories as part of the U. S. Department of Energy Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium. As part of this effort, the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium Testing Network isbeing developed to accelerate grid modernization by enablingaccess to a comprehensive testing infrastructure and creating a repository of validated models and simulation tools that will be publicly available. This work is key to accelerating thedevelopment, validation, standardization, adoption, and deployment of new grid technologies to help meet U. S. energy goals.

Participatory Climate Research in a Dynamic Urban Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horton, R. M.

2016-12-01

The Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), one of ten NOAA-RISA's, supports resilience efforts in the urban corridor stretching from Philadelphia to Boston. Challenges and opportunities include the diverse set of needs in broad urban contexts, as well as the integration of interdisciplinary perspectives. CCRUN is addressing these challenges through 1) stakeholder surveys, 2) webinar series that enable scientists to engage with stakeholders, 3) leveraging extreme events as focusing opportunities, and 4) the development of an integrated project framework. Moving forward, increasing extreme events can lead to unexpected detours, and further effort is needed around facilitating place-based research in an interdisciplinary context.

Neighborhood Energy/Economic Development project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-12-31

Energy costs impact low income communities more than anyone else. Low income residents pay a larger percentage of their incomes for energy costs. In addition, they generally have far less discretionary energy use to eliminate in response to increasing energy prices. Furthermore, with less discretionary income, home energy efficiency improvements are often too expensive. Small neighborhood businesses are in the same situation. Improved efficiency in the use of energy can improve this situation by reducing energy costs for residents and local businesses. More importantly, energy management programs can increase the demand for local goods and services and lead to themore » creation of new job training and employment opportunities. In this way, neighborhood based energy efficiency programs can support community economic development. The present project, undertaken with the support of the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force, was intended to serve as a demonstration of energy/economic programming at the neighborhood level. The San Francisco Neighborhood Energy/Economic Development (NEED) project was designed to be a visible demonstration of bringing the economic development benefits of energy management home to low-income community members who need it most. To begin, a Community Advisory Committee was established to guide the design of the programs to best meet needs of the community. Subsequently three neighborhood energy/economic development programs were developed: The small business energy assistance program; The youth training and weatherization program; and, The energy review of proposed housing development projects.« less

Production of High Value Cellulose from Tobacco

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berson, R Eric; Dvaid, Keith; McGinley, W Mark

The Kentucky Rural Energy Supply Program was established in 2005 by a federal direct appropriation to benefit the citizens of the Commonwealth by creating a unified statewide consortium to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in Kentucky. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Biomass Programs initially funded the consortium in 2005 with a $2 million operational grant. The Kentucky Rural Energy Consortium (KREC) was formed at the outset of the program to advance energy efficiency and comprehensive research on biomass and bioenergy of importance to Kentucky agriculture, rural communities, and related industries. In recognition of the successful effortsmore » of the program, KREC received an additional $1.96 million federal appropriation in 2008 for renewal of the DOE grant. From the beginning, KREC understood the value of providing a statewide forum for the discussion of Kentucky's long term energy needs and economic development potential. The new funding allowed KREC to continue to serve as a clearinghouse and support new research and development and outreach programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy.« less

Rural automated highway systems case study : greater Yellowstone rural ITS corridor : final report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

In cooperation with the National Automated Highway System Consortium (NAHSC), case studies are being conducted on existing transportation corridors to determine the feasibility of AHS. Initial activities by the NAHSC have focused on urbanized areas. ...

Inner-City Energy and Environmental Education Consortium: Student`s Standing Committee workshop. Appendix 13.8

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-10-23

This report is the fourth working document produced by the Inner-City Energy and Environmental Education Consortium under a Department of Energy planning grant to the Weston Institute. It was prepared in a Student`s Standing Committee workshop held at the Johns Hopkins School of Continuing Studies Downtown Center, 1 Charles Plaza in Baltimore, Maryland. Twenty two participants representing Consortium institutions attended the workshop. Weston Institute provided staff support for the conduct of the workshop and prepared this report. Workshop participants addressed the question What will be the most effective methods to excite and empower students to enter and to succeed inmore » energy and environmental careers? The results of the workshop are presented in the order of importance attached to each proposed method, or grouping of methods, by the participants.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Downing, M.

America's desire for energy independence places a new demand on alternative fuel production. Additional interest and emphasis are being placed on alternatives such as solar, wind, biofuels and nuclear energy. The nuclear fuel production option brings a new look at risk and residual waste management for a number of communities that have traditionally remained outside the energy debate. With the Federal requirements for environmental justice and public participation in energy and environmental decision-making, proponents of alternative energy production facilities will find themselves participating in discussions of risk, production, storage and disposal of hazardous materials and waste matters with low incomemore » and minority members in communities where these facilities are located or wish to locate. The fundamental principal of environmental justice is that all residents should have meaningful and intelligent participation in all aspects of environmental decision-making that could affect their community. Impacted communities must have the resources and ability to effectively marshall data and other information in order to make informed and intelligent decisions. Traditionally, many low-income and minority communities have lacked access to the required information, decision-makers and technical advisers to make informed decisions with respect to various risks that accompany alternative energy production, hazardous materials storage and nuclear waste management. In order to provide the necessary assistance to these communities, the Departments of Energy and Agriculture have teamed with others to cerate the Alternative Energy Consortium. The Alternative Energy Consortium is a collaboration of non-profit organizations, Federal agencies, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions (HBCU/MSIs), and private sector corporations (energy industry specialists) designed to explore and develop opportunities that empower minorities to own and work in all aspects of the field of alternative energy. The Consortium's primary objectives are to find ways to: - Include minorities in the development and ownership of infrastructure in the alternative energy industry; - Promote research and education programs to inform the public about risks and benefits of various forms of alternative energy; - Build a Mentor/Protege Program between HBCU/MSIs and industry leaders to enhance minority participation in ownership and career success in alternative energy production and distribution. The Consortium will work together to create a process whereby minorities and low income individuals will be recruited, educated, and mentored to maximize alternative energy ownership and job opportunities. Industry specialists and government representatives will work with academicians and others to: 1. research areas and methods where minorities and rural communities can engage in the industry; 2. invest in minorities by serving as mentors to minority serving institutions by offering hands-on experience through apprenticeships; 3. work to identify ownership opportunities for minorities; and 4. work to develop legislation that supports economic development and participation for minorities and rural communities in the industry. To accomplish this goal, the Consortium has set out a three-phase plan. Phase I organized a meeting of professionals to discuss the concept, explore the fundamentals, identify key players, and draft next steps. The group took a critical look at the energy industry: 1) trends, 2) economics, 3) limited number of minorities; and 4) infrastructure. Through that process the group identified four areas that would greatly impact economic development for minorities and rural communities: I Energy; II Broadband Communications; III Education; IV Labor Resources. Phase II presented a roundtable panel discussion that continued to refine the Consortium. The goal of these discussions is to produce a well-balanced Consortium committed to working together to produce effective solutions that bridge the gap between alternative energy and minorities and rural communities. Phase III is the implementation stage that will put the consortium plans into action. This will include the Mentor/Protege Program between HBCU/MSIs and industry leaders, and any additional actions that come from the Phase II roundtable discussion. Phase III will also include a panel discussion at the State of Environmental Justice in America 2008 Conference in Washington, DC in March, 2008. The Consortium's work should facilitate the siting and management of alternative energy production facilities in communities that include a significant number of minority and/or low income individuals. This effort should increase America's prospects for energy independence. (authors)« less

The Consortium for Advancing Renewable Energy Technology (CARET)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, E. M.; Henderson, D. O.; Buffinger, D. R.; Fuller, C. W.; Uribe, R. M.

1998-01-01

The Consortium for Advancing Renewable Energy (CARET) is a research and education program which uses the theme of renewable energy to build a minority scientist pipeline. CARET is also a consortium of four universities and NASA Lewis Research Center working together to promote science education and research to minority students using the theme of renewable energy. The consortium membership includes the HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Fisk, Wilberforce and Central State Universities as well as Kent State University and NASA Lewis Research Center. The various stages of this pipeline provide participating students experiences with a different emphasis. Some emphasize building enthusiasm for the classroom study of science and technology while others emphasize the nature of research in these disciplines. Still others focus on relating a practical application to science and technology. And, of great importance to the success of the program are the interfaces between the various stages. Successfully managing these transitions is a requirement for producing trained scientists, engineers and technologists. Presentations describing the CARET program have been given at this year's HBCU Research Conference at the Ohio Aerospace Institute and as a seminar in the Solar Circle Seminar series of the Photovoltaic and Space Environments Branch at NASA Lewis Research Center. In this report, we will describe the many positive achievements toward the fulfillment of the goals and outcomes of our program. We will begin with a description of the interactions among the consortium members and end with a description of the activities of each of the member institutions .

24 CFR 761.20 - Selection requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Selection requirements. 761.20... AND PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING PROGRAMS) DRUG ELIMINATION PROGRAMS Application and Selection § 761.20 Selection requirements. (a) PHDEP selection. Every PHA, RMC and consortium that meets the requirements of...

Consortium building among local health departments in northwest Illinois.

PubMed Central

Orthoefer, J; Bain, D; Empereur, R; Nesbit, T A

1988-01-01

The 1947 report by Haven Emerson envisioned the widespread delivery of local public health services through organizational patterns that substituted multi-county or regional agencies for locally controlled departments. The 1971 study by Vlado Getting supported the Emerson report and suggested alternative methods to provide public health services via multi-county area health service agencies for rural areas of Illinois. The number of local agencies in the State has doubled since the mid-1960s, yet a majority of rural counties have maintained a single-county health agency rather than forming multi-county arrangements. In effect, potential economies of scale have been forfeited. In northwest Illinois, however, eight local health departments, covering both rural and urban areas, have formed a multi-county consortium to identify and meet several overlapping program needs. This Region I consortium, with a population base of 590,000, was created as a result of the 1981 Omnibus Budget Reduction Act. Through the block grants created by the act, funds became available for preventive health and health promotion activities in fiscal year 1982. Once in place, the consortium provided a cost effective means to manage the Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Feeding Program (WIC) and some elements of family planning programs in Region I. The consortium approach offers numerous opportunities for future growth and regionalization of services. PMID:3140277

Challenges for developing RHIOs in rural America: a study in Appalachian Ohio.

PubMed

Phillips, Brian O; Welch, Elissa E

2007-01-01

A healthy population is essential for the socioeconomic success of the Appalachian region and other rural, underserved areas in the United States. However, rural communities are only beginning to deploy the advanced health information technologies being used by larger urban institutions. Regional health information organizations have the potential to be the building blocks that will harmonize HIT exchange on a national scale. But there are many challenges to developing RHIOs in rural communities. In 2004, the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine convened the Appalachian Regional Informatics Consortium, a community-based cross-section of healthcare providers in southeastern Ohio. The consortium was awarded an Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems planning grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate rural RHIO development, the first such rural project. This article examines the consortium and the challenges facing rural RHIO development in Appalachian Ohio.

A Comparison of Preferred Urban Administrative Dispositions between Constituency Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pregot, Michael

2015-01-01

This research study analyzes preferred leadership dispositions for teachers, parents, and school leaders. Respondents selected their most preferred dispositions from a list of 20 (Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium) leadership standards. Similarities and differences were discerned among the constituent groups. School leaders, teachers,…

The Sense-City equipment project: insight into the prototyping and validation of environmental micro- and nanosensors for a sustainable urbanization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebental, Bérengère; Angelescu, Dan; Bourouina, Tarik; Bourquin, Frédéric; Cojocaru, Costel-Sorin; Derkx, François; Dumoulin, Jean; Ha, Thi-Lan; Robine, Enric; Van Damme, Henri

2013-04-01

While today's galloping urbanization weighs heavily on both People and Environment, the massive instrumentation of urban spaces appears a landmark toward sustainability. Collecting massively distributed information requires the use of high-performance communication systems as well as sensors with very small ecological footprint. Because of their high sensitivity, the wide range of their observables, their energetic self-sufficiency and their low cost, micro- and nano- sensors are particularly well suited to urban metrology. A 8 years, 9 M€ equipment project funded by the French "Programme d'Investissement d'Avenir" starting in 2012, the Sense-City project will offer a suite of high-quality facilities for the design, prototyping and performance assessment of micro- and nanosensors devoted to sustainable urbanization. The scientific program of Sense-City is built around four programs, environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, energy performances monitoring and people health and exposure monitoring. We present the activities of the consortium partners, IFSTTAR, ESIEE-Paris, CSTB, LPICM, and the prospects brought by Sense-City equipment in terms of sensor prototyping, benchmarking and operation validation. We discuss how the various sensors developed by LPICM and ESIEE (for instance conformable chemical and gas microsensors using nanomaterials at LPICM, miniaturized gas chromatographs or microfluidic lab-on-chip for particles analysis at ESIEE-Paris) can be integrated by IFSTTAR into sensors networks tested by IFSTTAR and CSTB in both lab and urban settings. The massively distributed data are interpreted using advanced physical models and inverse methods in order to monitor water, air or soil quality, infrastructure and network safety, building energy performances as well as people health and exposure. We discuss the shortcomings of evaluating the performances of sensors only in lab conditions or directly in real, urban conditions. As a solution, Sense-City will provide an environment of intermediate complexity for the testing of environmental sensors, a realistic urban test space in climatic conditions, both far more complex than clean rooms and far more controllable than actual cities. References: [1] Joblin Y et al., International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 2010, 64, 210-217 [2] Lee C S et al., Nanotechnology 2012, accepted [3] Nachef K et al., IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 2102, 21

The Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast: A NOAA RISA Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenzweig, C.

2011-12-01

The Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast, or CCRUN, was funded in October 2010 under NOAA's Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program to serve stakeholder needs in assessing and managing risks from climate variability and change. It is currently also the only RISA team with a principal focus on climate change adaptation in urban settings. While CCRUN's initial focus is on the major cities of the urban Northeast corridor (Philadelphia, New York and Boston), its work will ultimately expand to cover small and medium-sized cities in the relevant portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well, so that local needs for targeted climate-risk information can be served in a coordinated way. CCRUN is designed to address the complex challenges that are associated with densely populated, highly interconnected urban areas, including such as urban heat island effects; poor air quality; intense coastal development, and multifunctional settlement along inland waterways; complex overlapping institutional jurisdictions; integrated infrastructure systems; and highly diverse, and in some cases, fragile socio-economic communities. These challenges can best be addressed by the stakeholder-driven interdisciplinary approach taken by the CCRUN RISA team. As an important added benefit, the research accomplishments and lessons learned through stakeholder engagement will provide a foundation for managing climate risks in other urban areas in the United States. CCRUN's initial projects are focused in three broad sectors: Water, Coasts, and Health. Research in each of these sectors is linked through the cross-cutting themes of climate change and community vulnerability, the latter of which is especially important in considerations of environmental justice and equity. CCRUN's stakeholder-driven approach to research can therefore support investigations of the impacts of a changing climate, population growth, and urban and economic policies on the social, racial and ethnic dimensions of livelihoods and of communities in the urban Northeast corridor. Disadvantaged socio-economic groups have been particularly underserved in the area of climate change, and one of CCRUN's long-term goals is the building of adaptive capacity among such groups to current and future climate extremes.

Putting the Pieces Together: Leadership for Change in Low-Performing Urban Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orr, Margaret Terry; Berg, Barbara; Shore, Rima; Meier, Ellen

2008-01-01

This article presents a collaborative inquiry analysis of the school improvement experiences of four persistently low-performing schools. It draws on the experiences of three members of the Laboratory for the Design and Redesign of Schools (LDRS) consortium who helped during their planning for restructuring or restructuring phases and one regional…

24 CFR 91.420 - Action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Action plan. 91.420 Section 91.420... Plan § 91.420 Action plan. (a) Form application. The action plan for the consortium must include a...) Description of resources and activities. The action plan must describe the resources to be used and activities...

24 CFR 91.420 - Action plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Action plan. 91.420 Section 91.420... Plan § 91.420 Action plan. (a) Form application. The action plan for the consortium must include a...) Description of resources and activities. The action plan must describe the resources to be used and activities...

75 FR 16739 - EDA Participation in the Energy Efficient Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-02

... innovation and drivers of regional economic growth. The E-RIC should leverage the region's unique competitive... investment boards, institutions of higher education including community colleges, and other public and... activities, or a consortium of political subdivisions; (iv) institution of higher education or a consortium...

Identification and characterization of an anaerobic ethanol-producing cellulolytic bacterial consortium from Great Basin hot springs with agricultural residues and energy crops.

PubMed

Zhao, Chao; Deng, Yunjin; Wang, Xingna; Li, Qiuzhe; Huang, Yifan; Liu, Bin

2014-09-01

In order to obtain the cellulolytic bacterial consortia, sediments from Great Basin hot springs (Nevada, USA) were sampled and enriched with cellulosic biomass as the sole carbon source. The bacterial composition of the resulting anaerobic ethanol-producing celluloytic bacterial consortium, named SV79, was analyzed. With methods of the full-length 16S rRNA librarybased analysis and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, 21 bacteria belonging to eight genera were detected from this consortium. Clones with closest relation to the genera Acetivibrio, Clostridium, Cellulosilyticum, Ruminococcus, and Sporomusa were predominant. The cellulase activities and ethanol productions of consortium SV79 using different agricultural residues (sugarcane bagasse and spent mushroom substrate) and energy crops (Spartina anglica, Miscanthus floridulus, and Pennisetum sinese Roxb) were studied. During cultivation, consortium SV79 produced the maximum filter paper activity (FPase, 9.41 U/ml), carboxymethylcellulase activity (CMCase, 6.35 U/ml), and xylanase activity (4.28 U/ml) with sugarcane bagasse, spent mushroom substrate, and S. anglica, respectively. The ethanol production using M. floridulus as substrate was up to 2.63 mM ethanol/g using gas chromatography analysis. It has high potential to be a new candidate for producing ethanol with cellulosic biomass under anoxic conditions in natural environments.

Urban-Rural Literacy Gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and School Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yanhong

2006-01-01

In this article, the author documents the learning disadvantage of rural primary school students in sub-Saharan Africa and attempts to identify the factors underlying such disadvantages. Analyzing data from 14 school systems participating in the second study of the Southern and Western Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ…

Deregulation strategies for local governments and the role/opportunities for energy efficiency services in the utility industry deregulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tseng, P.C.

As the future shape of the electric utility industry continues to unfold and as retail competition becomes a reality, local governments are faced with balancing the need for: (1) economic development; (2) and to avoid the potential impact of cost-shifting among residents and businesses, while ensuring reliable and universal energy services. Furthermore, local governments need to find ways to recoup potential loss of franchise and tax revenues, to ensure fair and adequate energy-efficiency programs, and to continue other social programs for low income families. This paper will address two important issues every local government in the US are facing: (1)more » the development of viable deregulation strategies before, during and after the promulgation of utility deregulation; (2) opportunities for energy efficiency services in the competitive markets to serve local governments, which typically constitutes the largest market segment in utility's service territory. This paper presents issues and challenges common to all local governments. It documents strategies that several local governments are utilizing to embrace the coming electric utility restructuring and competition challenge to the benefits of their respective communities. This paper presents the results on deregulation work by the City of Portland, Oregon, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and Montgomery County, Maryland. The research by these local governments was sponsored by the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force and Public Technology, Inc.« less

A research-based inter-institutional collaboration to diversify the biomedical workforce: ReBUILDetroit.

PubMed

Andreoli, Jeanne M; Feig, Andrew; Chang, Steven; Welch, Sally; Mathur, Ambika; Kuleck, Gary

2017-01-01

Faced with decades of severe economic decline, the city of Detroit, Michigan (USA) is on the cusp or reinventing itself. A Consortium was formed of three higher education institutions that have an established mission to serve an urban population and a vested interest in the revitalization of the health, welfare, and economic opportunity in the Detroit metro region that is synergistic with national goals to diversify the biomedical workforce. The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale, approach, and model of the Research Enhancement for BUILDing Detroit (ReBUILDetroit) Consortium, as a cross-campus collaborative for students, faculty, and institutional development. The ReBUILDetroit program is designed to transform the culture of higher education in Detroit, Michigan by educating and training students from diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds to become the next generation of biomedical researchers. Marygrove College, University of Detroit Mercy, and Wayne State University established a Consortium to create and implement innovative, evidence-based and cutting-edge programming. Specific elements include: (1) a pre-college summer enrichment experience; (2) an inter-institutional curricular re-design of target foundational courses in biology, chemistry and social science using the Research Coordination Network (RCN) model; and (3) cross-institutional summer faculty-mentored research projects for ReBUILDetroit Scholars starting as rising sophomores. Student success support includes intentional and intrusive mentoring, financial support, close faculty engagement, ongoing workshops to overcome academic and non-academic barriers, and cohort building activities across the Consortium. Institutional supports, integral to program creation and sustainability, include creating faculty learning communities grounded in professional development opportunities in pedagogy, research and mentorship, and developing novel partnerships and accelerated pipeline programming across the Consortium. This article highlights the development, implementation and evolution of high-impact practices critical for student learning, research-based course development, and the creation of inter-institutional learning communities as a direct result of ReBUILDetroit. Our cross-institutional collaboration and leveraging of resources in a difficult economic environment, drawing students from high schools with a myriad of strengths and challenges, serves as a model for higher education institutions in large, urban centers who are seeking to diversify their workforces and provide additional opportunities for upward mobility among diverse populations.

Intelligent Facades for High Performance Green Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dyson, Anna

Progress Towards Net-Zero and Net-Positive-Energy Commercial Buildings and Urban Districts Through Intelligent Building Envelope Strategies Previous research and development of intelligent facades systems has been limited in their contribution towards national goals for achieving on-site net zero buildings, because this R&D has failed to couple the many qualitative requirements of building envelopes such as the provision of daylighting, access to exterior views, satisfying aesthetic and cultural characteristics, with the quantitative metrics of energy harvesting, storage and redistribution. To achieve energy self-sufficiency from on-site solar resources, building envelopes can and must address this gamut of concerns simultaneously. With this project, wemore » have undertaken a high-performance building integrated combined-heat and power concentrating photovoltaic system with high temperature thermal capture, storage and transport towards multiple applications (BICPV/T). The critical contribution we are offering with the Integrated Concentrating Solar Façade (ICSF) is conceived to improve daylighting quality for improved health of occupants and mitigate solar heat gain while maximally capturing and transferring onsite solar energy. The ICSF accomplishes this multi-functionality by intercepting only the direct-normal component of solar energy (which is responsible for elevated cooling loads) thereby transforming a previously problematic source of energy into a high quality resource that can be applied to building demands such as heating, cooling, dehumidification, domestic hot water, and possible further augmentation of electrical generation through organic Rankine cycles. With the ICSF technology, our team is addressing the global challenge in transitioning commercial and residential building stock towards on-site clean energy self-sufficiency, by fully integrating innovative environmental control systems strategies within an intelligent and responsively dynamic building envelope. The advantage of being able to use the entire solar spectrum for active and passive benefits, along with the potential savings of avoiding transmission losses through direct current (DC) transfer to all buildings systems directly from the site of solar conversion, gives the system a compounded economic viability within the commercial and institutional building markets. With a team that spans multiple stakeholders across disparate industries, from CPV to A&E partners that are responsible for the design and development of District and Regional Scale Urban Development, this project demonstrates that integrating utility-scale high efficiency CPV installations with urban and suburban environments is both viable and desirable within the marketplace. The historical schism between utility scale CPV and BIPV has been one of differing scale and cultures. There is no technical reason why utility-scale CPV cannot be located within urban embedded district scale sites of energy harvesting. New models for leasing large areas of district scale roofs and facades are emerging, such that the model for utility scale energy harvesting can be reconciled to commercial and public scale building sites and campuses. This consortium is designed to unite utility scale solar harvesting into building applications for smart grid development.« less

Review of the cultivation program within the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts

DOE PAGES

Lammers, Peter J.; Huesemann, Michael; Boeing, Wiebke; ...

2016-12-12

The cultivation efforts within the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) were developed to provide four major goals for the consortium, which included biomass production for downstream experimentation, development of new assessment tools for cultivation, development of new cultivation reactor technologies, and development of methods for robust cultivation. The NAABB consortium testbeds produced over 1500 kg of biomass for downstream processing. The biomass production included a number of model production strains, but also took into production some of the more promising strains found through the prospecting efforts of the consortium. Cultivation efforts at large scale are intensive andmore » costly, therefore the consortium developed tools and models to assess the productivity of strains under various environmental conditions, at lab scale, and validated these against scaled outdoor production systems. Two new pond-based bioreactor designs were tested for their ability to minimize energy consumption while maintaining, and even exceeding, the productivity of algae cultivation compared to traditional systems. Also, molecular markers were developed for quality control and to facilitate detection of bacterial communities associated with cultivated algal species, including the Chlorella spp. pathogen, Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus, which was identified in at least two test site locations in Arizona and New Mexico. Finally, the consortium worked on understanding methods to utilize compromised municipal wastewater streams for cultivation. In conclusion, this review provides an overview of the cultivation methods and tools developed by the NAABB consortium to produce algae biomass, in robust low energy systems, for biofuel production.« less

Impacts of sewer deposits on the urban river sediment after rainy season and bioremediation of polluted sediment.

PubMed

Chang, Suyun; Tang, Yinqi; Dong, Lixin; Zhan, Qiang; Xu, Wei

2018-05-01

Impacts of deposits discharged from a municipal pipe on urban river sediment were investigated in the Hucang River in Tianjin, China. At the outlet of the pump station, the average concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total organic carbon (TOC) in the sediment increased sharply from 2390, 799, and 14,600 mg/kg to 6500, 3700, and 153,000 mg/kg, respectively, and remained stable at high level after the rainy season. A portion of pollutants would migrate along the river, and the concentration was usually in a negative relationship with the distance. The average Shannon-Wiener value on the upstream section was higher than those on the downstream sections. This revealed that the deposits discharged decreased the bacterial diversity in the sediment, and high concentrations of pollutants may markedly change the bacterial community structure in the sediment. To reduce the pollution of the urban river after rainy season, four kinds of microbial consortiums A (Zhangda), B (Aiersi), C (Qinghe), and D (Inpipe) were applied to bioremediate the polluted sediment in lab scale. Bioaugmentation with microbial consortium A showed good performance on the bioremediation of the polluted sediment. The average removal efficiency of TN, TP, and organic matter reached 35.5, 43.7, and 39.1%, respectively, after 22 days of treatment. Moreover, the bacterial evenness and diversity in the sediment markedly increased, indicating that the microbial environment was more favourable after bioaugmentation and sustainable development would be guaranteed. This study improves our understanding of the impacts of deposits discharged from a stormwater drain system on urban river sediment, and explores the effectiveness of bioaugmentation for the bioremediation of polluted sediment, which will provide the basis of sewer deposit pollution control.

Mapping New Terrain: Climate Change and America's West. Report of the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT)

Treesearch

Henry F. CIRMOUNT Committee (Diaz; Constance I. Millar; Daniel R. Cayan; Michael D. Dettinger; Daniel B. Fagre; Lisa J. Graumlich; Greg Greenwood; Malcolm K. Hughes; David L. Peterson; Frank L. Powell; Kelly T. Redmond; Nathan L. Stephenson; Thomas W. Swetnam; Connie) Woodhouse

2006-01-01

Climate variability and sustained change presage far-reaching transformations across America’s West, an expanse dominated by immense mountain ranges and interspersed with important urban centers. These mountains provide the region’s life blood—water that courses through its streams and runs out its faucets, power that fuels its industries...

NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium: Defining the Path to Elegance in Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Michael D.; Farrington, Phillip A.

2016-01-01

The NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium was formed at the end of 2010 to study the approaches to producing elegant systems on a consistent basis. This has been a transformative study looking at the engineering and organizational basis of systems engineering. The consortium has engaged in a variety of research topics to determine the path to elegant systems. In the second year of the consortium, a systems engineering framework emerged which structured the approach to systems engineering and guided our research. This led in the third year to set of systems engineering postulates that the consortium is continuing to refine. The consortium has conducted several research projects that have contributed significantly to the understanding of systems engineering. The consortium has surveyed the application of the NASA 17 systems engineering processes, explored the physics and statistics of systems integration, and considered organizational aspects of systems engineering discipline integration. The systems integration methods have included system energy analysis, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), State Variable Analysis, Multidisciplinary Coupling Analysis (MCA), Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), System Cost Modeling, System Robustness, and Value Modeling. Organizational studies have included the variability of processes in change evaluations, margin management within the organization, information theory of board structures, social categorization of unintended consequences, and initial looks at applying cognitive science to systems engineering. Consortium members have also studied the bidirectional influence of policy and law with systems engineering.

Inner-City Energy and Environmental Education Consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-06-11

The numbers of individuals with adequate education and training to participate effectively in the highly technical aspects of environmental site cleanup are insufficient to meet the increasing demands of industry and government. Young people are particularly sensitive to these issues and want to become better equipped to solve the problems which will confront them during their lives. Educational institutions, on the other hand, have been slow in offering courses and curricula which will allow students to fulfill these interests. This has been in part due to the lack of federal funding to support new academic programs. This Consortium has beenmore » organized to initiate focused educational effort to reach inner-city youth with interesting and useful energy and environmental programs which can lead to well-paying and satisfying careers. Successful Consortium programs can be replicated in other parts of the nation. This report describes a pilot program in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore with the goal to attract and retain inner-city youth to pursue careers in energy-related scientific and technical areas, environmental restoration, and waste management.« less

Enhancement in current density and energy conversion efficiency of 3-dimensional MFC anodes using pre-enriched consortium and continuous supply of electron donors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borole, Abhijeet P; Hamilton, Choo Yieng; Vishnivetskaya, Tatiana A

2011-01-01

Using a pre-enriched microbial consortium as the inoculum and continuous supply of carbon source, improvement in performance of a three-dimensional, flow-through MFC anode utilizing ferricyanide cathode was investigated. The power density increased from 170 W/m3 (1800 mW/m2) to 580 W/m3 (6130 mW/m2), when the carbon loading increased from 2.5 g/l-day to 50 g/l-day. The coulombic efficiency (CE) decreased from 90% to 23% with increasing carbon loading. The CEs are among the highest reported for glucose and lactate as the substrate with the maximum current density reaching 15.1 A/m2. This suggests establishment of a very high performance exoelectrogenic microbial consortium atmore » the anode. A maximum energy conversion efficiency of 54% was observed at a loading of 2.5 g/l-day. Biological characterization of the consortium showed presence of Burkholderiales and Rhodocyclales as the dominant members. Imaging of the biofilms revealed thinner biofilms compared to the inoculum MFC, but a 1.9-fold higher power density.« less

Special issue on the "Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors Research and Development Progress"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turinsky, Paul J.; Martin, William R.

2017-04-01

In this special issue of the Journal of Computational Physics, the research and development completed at the time of manuscript submission by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) is presented. CASL is the first of several Energy Innovation Hubs that have been created by the Department of Energy. The Hubs are modeled after the strong scientific management characteristics of the Manhattan Project and AT&T Bell Laboratories, and function as integrated research centers that combine basic and applied research with engineering to accelerate scientific discovery that addresses critical energy issues. Lifetime of a Hub is expected to be five or ten years depending upon performance, with CASL being granted a ten year lifetime.

A multi-institutional approach to delivering shared curricula for developing a next-generation energy workforce

DOE PAGES

Holloway, Lawrence E.; Qu, Zhihua; Mohr-Schroeder, Margaret J.; ...

2017-02-06

In this study, we consider collaborative power systems education through the FEEDER consortium. To increase students' access to power engineering educational content, the consortium of seven universities was formed. A framework is presented to characterize different collaborative education activities among the universities. Three of these approaches of collaborative educational activities are presented and discussed. These include 1) cross-institutional blended courses ("MS-MD''); 2) cross-institutional distance courses ("SS-MD''); and 3) single-site special experiential courses and concentrated on-site programs available to students across consortium institutions ("MS-SD''). As a result, this paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

A Step Towards Conservation for Interior Alaska Tribes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kimberly Carlo

2012-07-07

This project includes a consortium of tribes. The tribes include Hughes (representing the consortium) Birch Creek, Huslia, and Allakaket. The project proposed by Interior Regional Housing Authority (IRHA) on behalf of the villages of Hughes, Birch Creek, Huslia and Allakaket is to develop an energy conservation program relevant to each specific community, educate tribe members and provide the tools to implement the conservation plan. The program seeks to achieve both energy savings and provide optimum energy requirements to support each tribe's mission. The energy management program will be a comprehensive program that considers all avenues for achieving energy savings, frommore » replacing obsolete equipment, to the design and construction of energy conservation measures, the implementation of energy saving operation and maintenance procedures, the utilization of a community-wide building energy management system, and a commitment to educating the tribes on how to decrease energy consumption. With the implementation of this program and the development of an Energy Management Plan, these communities can then work to reduce the high cost of living in rural Alaska.« less

The Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium - a protocol for building a national environmental exposure data platform for integrated analyses of urban form and health.

PubMed

Brook, Jeffrey R; Setton, Eleanor M; Seed, Evan; Shooshtari, Mahdi; Doiron, Dany

2018-01-08

Multiple external environmental exposures related to residential location and urban form including, air pollutants, noise, greenness, and walkability have been linked to health impacts or benefits. The Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) was established to facilitate the linkage of extensive geospatial exposure data to existing Canadian cohorts and administrative health data holdings. We hypothesize that this linkage will enable investigators to test a variety of their own hypotheses related to the interdependent associations of built environment features with diverse health outcomes encompassed by the cohorts and administrative data. We developed a protocol for compiling measures of built environment features that quantify exposure; vary spatially on the urban and suburban scale; and can be modified through changes in policy or individual behaviour to benefit health. These measures fall into six domains: air quality, noise, greenness, weather/climate, and transportation and neighbourhood factors; and will be indexed to six-digit postal codes to facilitate merging with health databases. Initial efforts focus on existing data and include estimates of air pollutants, greenness, temperature extremes, and neighbourhood walkability and socioeconomic characteristics. Key gaps will be addressed for noise exposure, with a new national model being developed, and for transportation-related exposures, with detailed estimates of truck volumes and diesel emissions now underway in selected cities. Improvements to existing exposure estimates are planned, primarily by increasing temporal and/or spatial resolution given new satellite-based sensors and more detailed national air quality modelling. Novel metrics are also planned for walkability and food environments, green space access and function and life-long climate-related exposures based on local climate zones. Critical challenges exist, for example, the quantity and quality of input data to many of the models and metrics has changed over time, making it difficult to develop and validate historical exposures. CANUE represents a unique effort to coordinate and leverage substantial research investments and will enable a more focused effort on filling gaps in exposure information, improving the range of exposures quantified, their precision and mechanistic relevance to health. Epidemiological studies may be better able to explore the common theme of urban form and health in an integrated manner, ultimately contributing new knowledge informing policies that enhance healthy urban living.

Method for in situ biological conversion of coal to methane

DOEpatents

Volkwein, Jon C.

1995-01-01

A method and apparatus are provided for the in situ biological conversion of coal to methane comprising culturing on a coal-containing substrate a consortium of microorganisms capable of degrading the coal into methane under suitable conditions. This consortium of microorganisms can be obtained from an underground cavity such as an abandoned mine which underwent a change from being supplied with sewage to where no sewage was present, since these conditions have favored the development of microorganisms capable of using coal as a carbon source and converting coal to methane. The consortium of microorganisms obtained from such abandoned coal mines can be isolated and introduced to hard-to-reach coal-containing substrates which lack such microorganisms and which would otherwise remain unrecoverable. The present invention comprises a significant advantage in that useable energy can be obtained from a number of abandoned mine sites or other areas wherein coal is no longer being recovered, and such energy can be obtained in a safe, efficient, and inexpensive manner.

The Future of Energy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pallant, Amy; Pryputniewicz, Sarah; Lee, Hee-Sun

2017-01-01

This article describes a five-day online energy module, developed by the Concord Consortium (an educational research and development organization) in which students compare the effects of various energy sources on air quality, water quality, and land use. The module's interactive models explore hydraulic fracturing, real-world data on energy…

Characterization of cellulolytic microbial consortium enriched on Napier grass using metagenomic approaches.

PubMed

Kanokratana, Pattanop; Wongwilaiwalin, Sarunyou; Mhuantong, Wuttichai; Tangphatsornruang, Sithichoke; Eurwilaichitr, Lily; Champreda, Verawat

2018-04-01

Energy grass is a promising substrate for production of biogas by anaerobic digestion. However, the conversion efficiency is limited by the enzymatically recalcitrant nature of cellulosic wastes. In this study, an active, structurally stable mesophilic lignocellulolytic degrading microbial consortium (Np-LMC) was constructed from forest compost soil microbiota by successive subcultivation on Napier grass under facultative anoxic conditions. According to tagged 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, increasing abundance of facultative Proteobacteria was found in the middle of batch cycle which was then subsequently replaced by the cellulose degraders Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes along with decreasing CMCase, xylanase, and β-glucanase activity profiles in the supernatant after 5 days of incubation. Anaerobic/facultative bacteria Dysgonomonas and Sedimentibacter and aerobic bacteria Comamonas were the major genera found in Np-LMC. The consortium was active on degradation of the native and delignified grass. Direct shotgun sequencing of the consortium metagenome revealed relatively high abundance of genes encoding for various lignocellulose degrading enzymes in 23 glycosyl hydrolase (GH) families compared to previously reported cellulolytic microbial communities in mammalian digestive tracts. Enzymes attacking cellulose and hemicellulose were dominated by GH2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 26, 28 and 43 in addition to a variety of carbohydrate esterases (CE) and auxiliary activities (AA), reflecting adaptation of the enzyme systems to the native herbaceous substrate. The consortium identified here represents the microcosm specifically bred on energy grass, with potential for enhancing degradation of fibrous substrates in bioenergy industry. Copyright © 2017 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decomposing Mortality Disparities in Urban and Rural U.S. Counties.

PubMed

Spencer, Jennifer C; Wheeler, Stephanie B; Rotter, Jason S; Holmes, George M

2018-05-30

To understand the role of county characteristics in the growing divide between rural and urban mortality from 1980 to 2010. Age-adjusted mortality rates for all U.S. counties from 1980 to 2010 were obtained from the CDC Compressed Mortality File and combined with county characteristics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Area Health Resources File, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social research. We used Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to assess the extent to which rural-urban mortality disparities are explained by observed county characteristics at each decade. Decomposition shows that, at each decade, differences in rural/urban characteristics are sufficient to explain differences in mortality. Furthermore, starting in 1990, rural counties have significantly lower predicted mortality than urban counties when given identical county characteristics. We find changes in the effect of characteristics on mortality, not the characteristics themselves, drive the growing mortality divide. Differences in economic and demographic characteristics between rural and urban counties largely explain the differences in age-adjusted mortality in any given year. Over time, the role these characteristics play in improving mortality has increased differentially for urban counties. As characteristics continue changing in importance as determinants of health, this divide may continue to widen. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Relation Decomposing between Urbanization and Consumption of Water-Energy Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Xiao, W.; Wang, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Wang, J., , Dr; Jiang, D.; Wang, H.

2017-12-01

Abstract: Water resources and energy, important subsystems of city, are the basic guarantee for the normal operation of city, which play an important role to brace the urbanization. The interdependence between them are increasing along with the rapid development of China's economy. The relationship between urbanization and consumption of energy and water have become the focal point of the scholars, but the research have more attention to the impact of urbanization on two subsystems separately, and do not reveal the effects of urbanization on the water-energy nexus. Thus, there is little consideration upon the different characteristics of China's several regions in water and energy consumption in urbanization. In this paper, the STIRPAT model is built to reveal the relationship between urbanization and the consumption of water and energy. Also, the influence of urbanization on different main body of water and energy consumption are discussed. The different regional main factors of water and energy in the process of urbanization are identified through water and energy panel data of China's thirty provinces. Finally, through the regression analysis of total water consumption data of agriculture, industry, service industry with total energy consumption data, the relationship of water and energy in the process of urban development are analyzed.

The Power of Micro Urban Structures, Theory of EEPGC - the Micro Urban Energy Distribution Model as a Planning Tool for Sustainable City Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tkáč, Štefan

2015-11-01

To achieve the smart growth and equitable development in the region, urban planners should consider also lateral energies represented by the energy urban models like further proposed EEPGC focused on energy distribution via connections among micro-urban structures, their onsite renewable resources and the perception of micro-urban structures as decentralized energy carriers based on pre industrialized era. These structures are still variously bound when part of greater patterns. After the industrial revolution the main traded goods became energy in its various forms. The EEPGC is focused on sustainable energy transportation distances between the villages and the city, described by the virtual "energy circles". This more human scale urbanization, boost the economy in micro-urban areas, rising along with clean energy available in situ that surely gives a different perspective to human quality of life in contrast to overcrowded multicultural mega-urban structures facing generations of problems and struggling to survive as a whole.

Biomass power for rural development: Phase 2. Technical progress report, April 1--June 30, 1998

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neuhauser, E.

1998-11-01

The project undertaken by the Salix Consortium is a multi-phased, multi-partner endeavor. Phase-1 focused on initial development and testing of the technology and agreements necessary to demonstrate commercial willow production in Phase-2. The Phase-1 objectives have been successfully completed: preparing final design plans for two utility pulverized coal boilers, developing fuel supply plans for the project, obtaining power production commitments from the power companies for Phase-2, obtaining construction and environmental permits, and developing an experimental strategy for crop production and power generation improvements needed to assure commercial success. The R and D effort also addresses environmental issues pertaining to introductionmore » of the willow energy system. Beyond those Phase-1 requirements the Consortium has already successfully demonstrated cofiring at Greenidge Station and developed the required nursery capacity for acreage scale-up. This past summer 105 acres were prepared in advance for the spring planting in 1998. Having completed the above tasks, the Consortium is well positioned to begin Phase-2. In phase-2 every aspect of willow production and power generation from willow will be demonstrated. The ultimate objective of Phase-2 is to transition the work performed under the Rural Energy for the Future project into a thriving, self-supported energy crop enterprise.« less

Caspian games: A dynamic bargaining game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michaud, Dennis Wright

This Dissertation was written under the direction of Professor P.Terrence Hopmann. In this work, the author seeks to identify the independent variables affecting the outcome of three key decisions required of the international consortiums constructing Caspian oil export pipelines. The first of involves whether or not the enterprises developing the pipelines to export Kazakh oil, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium ("CPC"), and Azeri oil, the Azerbaijan International Operating Consortium ("CPC"), cooperate by utilizing the same route or utilize separate energy export corridors. Second, I analyzed how the actual Main Export Pipeline route ("MEP") for Azeri oil was selected by the AIOC. Finally, I tried to understand the factors driving the residual equity positions in each consortium. I was particularly interested in the equity position of Russian state and commercial interests in each consortium. I approached the puzzle as a multilevel bargaining problem. Hence, the preferences of each relevant actor (state and corporate levels) were assessed. The covering theory utilized was rational choice. An application of game theoretic modeling, particularly Bayesian analysis (used as a metaphor), accounted for the learning process resulting from the strategic interaction between actors. I sought to understand greater the refinement of each actor's perception of counterpart preferences. Additionally, the Gordon Constant Growth Model ("CGM") and the Sharp's Capital Asset Pricing Model ("CAPM") were utilized to relate multinational actors preferences, achieving a cost of capital based hurdle rate, to political risk. My end findings demonstrate this interrelationship and provide a clear argument for great power states to persuade newly developing Caspian states to adopt a more transparent, and credible approach to corporate governance. This revised state strategy will reduce multinationals' perception of political risk, lower firms' cost of capital (hurdle rate), and increase the funding of major energy development projects, which will stimulate economic and political development.

The AGTSR consortium: An update

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fant, D.B.; Golan, L.P.

1995-10-01

The Advanced Gas Turbine Systems Research (AGTSR) program is a collaborative University-Industry R&D Consortium that is managed and administered by the South Carolina Energy R&D Center. AGTSR is a nationwide consortium dedicated to advancing land-based gas turbine systems for improving future power generation capability. It directly supports the technology-research arm of the ATS program and targets industry-defined research needs in the areas of combustion, heat transfer, materials, aerodynamics, controls, alternative fuels, and advanced cycles. The consortium is organized to enhance U.S. competitiveness through close collaboration with universities, government, and industry at the R&D level. AGTSR is just finishing its thirdmore » year of operation and is sponsored by the U.S. DOE - Morgantown Energy Technology Center. The program is scheduled to continue past the year 2000. At present, there are 78 performing member universities representing 36 states, and six cost-sharing U.S. gas turbine corporations. Three RFP`s have been announced and the fourth RFP is expected to be released in December, 1995. There are 31 research subcontracts underway at performing member universities. AGTSR has also organized three workshops, two in combustion and one in heat transfer. A materials workshop is in planning and is scheduled for February, 1996. An industrial internship program was initiated this past summer, with one intern positioned at each of the sponsoring companies. The AGTSR consortium nurtures close industry-university-government collaboration to enhance synergism and the transition of research results, accelerate and promote evolutionary-revolutionary R&D, and strives to keep a prominent U.S. industry strong and on top well into the 21st century. This paper will present the objectives and benefits of the AGTSR program, progress achieved to date, and future planned activity in fiscal year 1996.« less

Complex virtual urban environment modeling from CityGML data and OGC web services: application to the SIMFOR project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambelland, Jean-Christophe; Gesquière, Gilles

2012-03-01

Due to the advances in computer graphics and network speed it is possible to navigate in 3D virtual world in real time. This technology proposed for example in computer games, has been adapted for training systems. In this context, a collaborative serious game for urban crisis management called SIMFOR is born in France. This project has been designed for intensive realistic training and consequently must allow the players to create new urban operational theatres. In this goal, importing, structuring, processing and exchanging 3D urban data remains an important underlying problem. This communication will focus on the design of the 3D Environment Editor (EE) and the related data processes needed to prepare the data flow to be exploitable by the runtime environment of SIMFOR. We will use solutions proposed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to aggregate and share data. A presentation of the proposed architecture will be given. The overall design of the EE and some strategies for efficiently analyzing, displaying and exporting large amount of urban CityGML information will be presented. An example illustrating the potentiality of the EE and the reliability of the proposed data processing will be proposed.

Global typology of urban energy use and potentials for an urbanization mitigation wedge

PubMed Central

Creutzig, Felix; Baiocchi, Giovanni; Bierkandt, Robert; Pichler, Peter-Paul; Seto, Karen C.

2015-01-01

The aggregate potential for urban mitigation of global climate change is insufficiently understood. Our analysis, using a dataset of 274 cities representing all city sizes and regions worldwide, demonstrates that economic activity, transport costs, geographic factors, and urban form explain 37% of urban direct energy use and 88% of urban transport energy use. If current trends in urban expansion continue, urban energy use will increase more than threefold, from 240 EJ in 2005 to 730 EJ in 2050. Our model shows that urban planning and transport policies can limit the future increase in urban energy use to 540 EJ in 2050 and contribute to mitigating climate change. However, effective policies for reducing urban greenhouse gas emissions differ with city type. The results show that, for affluent and mature cities, higher gasoline prices combined with compact urban form can result in savings in both residential and transport energy use. In contrast, for developing-country cities with emerging or nascent infrastructures, compact urban form, and transport planning can encourage higher population densities and subsequently avoid lock-in of high carbon emission patterns for travel. The results underscore a significant potential urbanization wedge for reducing energy use in rapidly urbanizing Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. PMID:25583508

Hydrogen production by geobacter species and a mixed consortium in a microbial electrolysis cell.

PubMed

Call, Douglas F; Wagner, Rachel C; Logan, Bruce E

2009-12-01

A hydrogen utilizing exoelectrogenic bacterium (Geobacter sulfurreducens) was compared to both a nonhydrogen oxidizer (Geobacter metallireducens) and a mixed consortium in order to compare the hydrogen production rates and hydrogen recoveries of pure and mixed cultures in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). At an applied voltage of 0.7 V, both G. sulfurreducens and the mixed culture generated similar current densities (ca. 160 A/m3), resulting in hydrogen production rates of ca. 1.9 m(3) H2/m3/day, whereas G. metallireducens exhibited lower current densities and production rates of 110 +/- 7 A/m3 and 1.3 +/- 0.1 m3 H2/m3/day, respectively. Before methane was detected in the mixed-culture MEC, the mixed consortium achieved the highest overall energy recovery (relative to both electricity and substrate energy inputs) of 82% +/- 8% compared to G. sulfurreducens (77% +/- 2%) and G. metallireducens (78% +/- 5%), due to the higher coulombic efficiency of the mixed consortium. At an applied voltage of 0.4 V, methane production increased in the mixed-culture MEC and, as a result, the hydrogen recovery decreased and the overall energy recovery dropped to 38% +/- 16% compared to 80% +/- 5% for G. sulfurreducens and 76% +/- 0% for G. metallireducens. Internal hydrogen recycling was confirmed since the mixed culture generated a stable current density of 31 +/- 0 A/m3 when fed hydrogen gas, whereas G. sulfurreducens exhibited a steady decrease in current production. Community analysis suggested that G. sulfurreducens was predominant in the mixed-culture MEC (72% of clones) despite its relative absence in the mixed-culture inoculum obtained from a microbial fuel cell reactor (2% of clones). These results demonstrate that Geobacter species are capable of obtaining similar hydrogen production rates and energy recoveries as mixed cultures in an MEC and that high coulombic efficiencies in mixed culture MECs can be attributed in part to the recycling of hydrogen into current.

Biomass power for rural development. Technical progress report, July 1--September 30, 1997

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neuhauser, E.

The focus of the DOE/USDA sponsored biomass power for rural development project is to develop commercial energy crops for power generation by the year 2000. The New York based Salix Consortium project is a multi-partner endeavor, implemented in three stages. Phase-1, Final Design and Project Development, will conclude with the preparation of construction and/or operating permits, feedstock production plans, and contracts ready for signature. Field trials of willow (Salix) have been initiated at several locations in New York (Tully, Lockport, King Ferry, La Fayette, Massena, and Himrod) and co-firing tests are underway at Greenidge Station (NYSEG) and Dunkirk Station (NMPC).more » Phase-2 of the project will focus on scale-up of willow crop acreage, construction of co-firing facilities at Dunkirk Station (NMPC), and final modifications for Greenidge Station. Cofiring willow is also under consideration for GPU`s Seward Station where testing is underway. There will be an evaluation of the energy crop as part of the gasification trials occurring at BED`s McNeill power station. Phase-3 will represent fullscale commercialization of the energy crop and power generation on a sustainable basis. During the third quarter of 1997, much of the Consortium`s effort has focused on outreach activities, continued feedstock development, fuel supply planning, and fuel contract development, and preparation for 1998 scale-up activities. The Consortium also submitted a Phase-1 extension proposal during this period. A few of the more important milestones are outlined below. The fourth quarter of 1997 is expected to be dominated by Phase-II proposal efforts and planning for 1998 activities.« less

Unvented Attic Increases Energy Efficiency and Reduces Duct Losses: Pulte Homes - Sun Lake at Banning, California

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2001-10-01

New houses in the Sun Lakes at Banning subdivision are designed by Pulte Homes with technical support from the Building Science Consortium as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

Fact sheet that introduces Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium, a group of municipalities, utilities, and energy efficiency organizations who are interested in making investments in LED street and area lighting.

Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN): Transitioning Toward Sustainbale Urban Water Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arabi, M.

2015-12-01

City water systems are at risk of disruption from global social and environmental hazards, which could have deleterious effects on human health, property, and loss of critical infrastructure. The Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN), a consortium of 14 academic institutions and other key partners across the U.S., is working to address challenges that threaten urban water systems across the nation. UWIN's mission is to create technological, institutional and management solutions to help communities increase the resilience of their water systems and enhance their preparedness for responding to water crisis. The network seeks solutions that achieve widespread adoption consistent with inclusive, equitable and sustainable urban development. The integrative and adaptive analysis framework of UWIN is presented. The framework identifies a toolbox of sustainable solutions by simultaneously minimizing pressures, enhancing resilience to extreme events, and maximizing cobenefits. The benefits of sustainable urban water solutions for linked urban ecosystems, economies, and arrangements for environmental justice and social equity, will be discussed. The network encompasses six U.S. regions with varying ecohydrologic and climatic regimes ranging from the coastal moist mid-latitude climates of the Mid-Atlantic to the subtropical semi-arid deserts of the Southwest. These regions also represent a wide spectrum of demographic, cultural, and policy settings. The opportunities for cross-site assessments that facilitate the exploration of locally appropriate solutions across regions undergoing various development trajectories will be discussed.

Undergraduate research studies program at participating institutions of the HBCU Fossil Energy Consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bota, K.B.

1991-01-01

The primary objective of this research program is to expose students in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Fossil Energy Consortium Institutions to energy and fossil fuels research, to stimulate their interest in the sciences and engineering and to encourage them to pursue graduate studies. This report provides the research accomplishment of the various students who participated in the program. Research results are presented on the following topics: Energy Enhancement and Pollutant Reduction in Coal by Cryogenic Diminution; Competition of NO and SO[sub 2] for OH Generated witin Electrical Aerosol Analyzers; Dispersed Iron Catalysts for Coal Gasification; NQR/NMR Studiesmore » of Copper-Cobalt Catalysts for Syngas Concersion; Catalytic gasification of Coal Chars by Potassium Sulfate and Ferrous Sulfate Mixtures; A New Method for Cleaning and Beneficiation of Ultrafine Coal; Characterization Studies of Coal-Derived Liquids; Study of Coal Liquefaction Catalysts and Removal of Certain Toxic Heavy Metal Ions from Coal Conversion Process Wastewaters.« less

Undergraduate research studies program at participating institutions of the HBCU Fossil Energy Consortium. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bota, K.B.

1991-12-31

The primary objective of this research program is to expose students in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Fossil Energy Consortium Institutions to energy and fossil fuels research, to stimulate their interest in the sciences and engineering and to encourage them to pursue graduate studies. This report provides the research accomplishment of the various students who participated in the program. Research results are presented on the following topics: Energy Enhancement and Pollutant Reduction in Coal by Cryogenic Diminution; Competition of NO and SO{sub 2} for OH Generated witin Electrical Aerosol Analyzers; Dispersed Iron Catalysts for Coal Gasification; NQR/NMR Studiesmore » of Copper-Cobalt Catalysts for Syngas Concersion; Catalytic gasification of Coal Chars by Potassium Sulfate and Ferrous Sulfate Mixtures; A New Method for Cleaning and Beneficiation of Ultrafine Coal; Characterization Studies of Coal-Derived Liquids; Study of Coal Liquefaction Catalysts and Removal of Certain Toxic Heavy Metal Ions from Coal Conversion Process Wastewaters.« less

Dual-Readout Calorimetry for High-Quality Energy Measurements. Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wigmans, Richard; Nural, Akchurin

2013-09-01

This document constitutes the final report on the project Dual-Readout Calorimetry for High-Quality Energy Measurements. The project was carried out by a consortium of US and Italian physicists, led by Dr. Richard Wigmans (Texas tech University). This consortium built several particle detectors and tested these at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. The idea arose to use scintillating crystals as dual-readout calorimeters. Such crystals were of course already known to provide excellent energy resolution for the detection of particles developing electromagnetic (em) showers. The efforts to separate the signals from scintillating crystals into scintillation and Cerenkovmore » components led to four different methods by which this could be accomplished. These methods are based on a) the directionality, b) spectral differences, c) the time structure, and d) the polarization of the signals.« less

The EVNATURB project: toward an operational platform to assess Blue Green Solutions eco-systemic services in urban environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schertzer, D. J. M.; Versini, P. A.; Tchiguirinskaia, I.

2017-12-01

Urban areas are facing an expected increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change. Combined with unsustainable urbanization, this should exacerbate the environmental consequences related to the water cycle as stormwater management issues, urban heat island increase and biodiversity degradation. Blue Green Solutions (BGS), such as green roofs, vegetated swales or urban ponds, appear to be particularly efficient to reduce the potential impact of new and existing urban developments with respect to these issues. Based on this statement, the French ANR EVNATURB project aims to develop a platform to assess the eco-systemic services provided by BGS and related with the previously mentioned issues. By proposing a multi-disciplinary consortium coupling monitoring, modelling and prospecting, it attempts to tackle several scientific issues currently limiting BGS wide implementation. Based on high resolution monitored sites and modelling tools, space-time variability of the related physical processes will be studied over a wide range of scales (from the material to the district scale), as well as local social-environmental stakes and constraints, to better consider the complexity of the urban environment. The EVNATURB platform developed during the project is intended for every stakeholder involved in urban development projects (planners, architects, engineering and environmental certification companies…) and will help them to implement BGS and evaluate which ones are the most appropriate for a particular project depending on its environmental objectives and constraints, and particularly for obtaining environmental certification.

Modeling Urban Energy Savings Scenarios Using Earth System Microclimate and Urban Morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, M. R.; Rose, A.; New, J. R.; Yuan, J.; Omitaomu, O.; Sylvester, L.; Branstetter, M. L.; Carvalhaes, T. M.; Seals, M.; Berres, A.

2017-12-01

We analyze and quantify the relationships among climatic conditions, urban morphology, population, land cover, and energy use so that these relationships can be used to inform energy-efficient urban development and planning. We integrate different approaches across three research areas: earth system modeling; impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and urban planning in order to address three major gaps in the existing capability in these areas: i) neighborhood resolution modeling and simulation of urban micrometeorological processes and their effect on and from regional climate; ii) projections for future energy use under urbanization and climate change scenarios identifying best strategies for urban morphological development and energy savings; iii) analysis and visualization tools to help planners optimally use these projections.

A novel process for synthesis of spherical nanocellulose by controlled hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose using anaerobic microbial consortium.

PubMed

Satyamurthy, P; Vigneshwaran, N

2013-01-10

Degradation of cellulose by anaerobic microbial consortium is brought about either by an exocellular process or by secretion of extracellular enzymes. In this work, a novel route for synthesis of nanocellulose is described where in an anaerobic microbial consortium enriched for cellulase producers is used for hydrolysis. Microcrystalline cellulose derived from cotton fibers was subjected to controlled hydrolysis by the anaerobic microbial consortium and the resultant nanocellulose was purified by differential centrifugation technique. The nanocellulose had a bimodal size distribution (43±13 and 119±9 nm) as revealed by atomic force microscopy. A maximum nanocellulose yield of 12.3% was achieved in a span of 7 days. While the conventional process of nanocellulose preparation using 63.5% (w/w) sulfuric acid resulted in the formation of whisker shaped nanocellulose with surface modified by sulfation, controlled hydrolysis by anaerobic microbial consortium yielded spherical nanocellulose also referred to as nano crystalline cellulose (NCC) without any surface modification as evidenced from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Also, it scores over chemo-mechanical production of nanofibrillated cellulose by consuming less energy due to enzyme (cellulase) assisted catalysis. This implies the scope for use of microbial prepared nanocellulose in drug delivery and bio-medical applications requiring bio-compatibility. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

10 CFR 603.510 - Recipient qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Evaluation Recipient Qualification § 603.510 Recipient qualifications. Prior to award of a TIA, the... for awarding a grant or cooperative agreement. If the recipient is a consortium that is not formally... 10 Energy 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Recipient qualifications. 603.510 Section 603.510 Energy...

10 CFR 603.510 - Recipient qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Evaluation Recipient Qualification § 603.510 Recipient qualifications. Prior to award of a TIA, the... for awarding a grant or cooperative agreement. If the recipient is a consortium that is not formally... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Recipient qualifications. 603.510 Section 603.510 Energy...

10 CFR 603.510 - Recipient qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Evaluation Recipient Qualification § 603.510 Recipient qualifications. Prior to award of a TIA, the... for awarding a grant or cooperative agreement. If the recipient is a consortium that is not formally... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Recipient qualifications. 603.510 Section 603.510 Energy...

The Three R's of Utility Savings: Rate Reduction, Rebates and Retrofit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petiunas, Raymond V.

1993-01-01

An effective way to increase electricity energy savings for school districts is to integrate rate case participation (rate reduction) with conservation and load-management efforts (rebates) and retrofit operations, to obtain a total energy cost reduction package. Describes how a Pennsylvania consortium of school districts saved its member…

An urban energy performance evaluation system and its computer implementation.

PubMed

Wang, Lei; Yuan, Guan; Long, Ruyin; Chen, Hong

2017-12-15

To improve the urban environment and effectively reflect and promote urban energy performance, an urban energy performance evaluation system was constructed, thereby strengthening urban environmental management capabilities. From the perspectives of internalization and externalization, a framework of evaluation indicators and key factors that determine urban energy performance and explore the reasons for differences in performance was proposed according to established theory and previous studies. Using the improved stochastic frontier analysis method, an urban energy performance evaluation and factor analysis model was built that brings performance evaluation and factor analysis into the same stage for study. According to data obtained for the Chinese provincial capitals from 2004 to 2013, the coefficients of the evaluation indicators and key factors were calculated by the urban energy performance evaluation and factor analysis model. These coefficients were then used to compile the program file. The urban energy performance evaluation system developed in this study was designed in three parts: a database, a distributed component server, and a human-machine interface. Its functions were designed as login, addition, edit, input, calculation, analysis, comparison, inquiry, and export. On the basis of these contents, an urban energy performance evaluation system was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2015. The system can effectively reflect the status of and any changes in urban energy performance. Beijing was considered as an example to conduct an empirical study, which further verified the applicability and convenience of this evaluation system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global scenarios of urban density and its impacts on building energy use through 2050

DOE PAGES

Guneralp, Burak; Zhou, Yuyu; Urge-Vorsatz, Diana; ...

2017-01-09

Here, urban areas play a significant role in planetary sustainability. While the scale of impending urbanization is well acknowledged, we have a limited understanding on how urban forms will change and what their impact will be on building energy use. Using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and scenarios, we examine building energy use, specifically, for heating and cooling. We also assess associated cobenefits and trade-offs with human well-being. Globally, the energy use for heating and cooling by midcentury will reach anywhere from about 45 EJ/yr to 59 EJ/yr (respectively, increases of 5% to 40% over the 2010 estimate). Most ofmore » this variability is due to the uncertainty in future urban forms of rapidly growing cities in Asia and, particularly, in China. Compact urban development overall leads to less energy use in urban environments. Delaying the retrofit of the existing built environment leads to more savings in building energy use. Potential for savings in the energy use is greatest in China when coupled with efficiency gains. Advanced efficiency makes the least difference compared to the business-as-usual scenario in energy use for heating and cooling in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa but significantly contribute to energy savings in North America and Europe. A systemic effort that focuses on both urban form and energy-efficient technologies, but also accounts for potential co-benefits and trade-offs, can contribute to both local and global sustainability. Particularly in mega-urban regions, such efforts can improve local environments for billions of urban residents and contribute to mitigating climate change by reducing energy use in urban areas and associated greenhouse gas emissions.« less

Global scenarios of urban density and its impacts on building energy use through 2050

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Güneralp, Burak; Zhou, Yuyu; Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana

2017-01-09

Urban areas play a significant role in planetary sustainability. While the scale of impending urbanization is well acknowledged, we have a limited understanding on how urban forms will change and what their impact will be on building energy use. Using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and scenarios, we examine building energy use, specifically, for heating and cooling. We also assess associated cobenefits and trade-offs with human well-being. Globally, the energy use for heating and cooling by midcentury will reach anywhere from about 45 EJ/yr to 59 EJ/yr (respectively, increases of 5% to 40% over the 2010 estimate). Most of thismore » variability is due to the uncertainty in future urban forms of rapidly growing cities in Asia and, particularly, in China. Compact urban development overall leads to less energy use in urban environments. Delaying the retrofit of the existing built environment leads to more savings in building energy use. Potential for savings in the energy use is greatest in China when coupled with efficiency gains. Advanced efficiency makes the least difference compared to the business-as-usual scenario in energy use for heating and cooling in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa but significantly contribute to energy savings in North America and Europe. A systemic effort that focuses on both urban form and energy-efficient technologies, but also accounts for potential co-benefits and trade-offs, can contribute to both local and global sustainability. Particularly in mega-urban regions, such efforts can improve local environments for billions of urban residents and contribute to mitigating climate change by reducing energy use in urban areas and associated greenhouse gas emissions.« less

Column bioleaching of low-grade mining ore containing high level of smithsonite, talc, sphaerocobaltite and azurite.

PubMed

Ilyas, Sadia; Chi, Ruan; Bhatti, H N; Bhatti, I A; Ghauri, M A

2012-03-01

Present work describes the bioleaching potential of metals from low-grade mining ore containing smithsonite, sphaerocobaltite, azurite and talc as main gangue minerals with adapted consortium of Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans strain-RDB and Thermoplasma acidophilum. Bioleaching potential improved markedly by added energy source, acid preleaching and adaptation of microbial consortium with mixed metal ions. During whole leaching period including acid preleaching stage of 960 h and bioleaching stage of 212 days about 76% Co, 70% Zn, 84% Cu, 72% Ni and 63% Fe leached out.

Meeting Report from the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) Workshop 8

PubMed Central

Kyrpides, Nikos; Field, Dawn; Sterk, Peter; Kottmann, Renzo; Glöckner, Frank Oliver; Hirschman, Lynette; Garrity, George M.; Cochrane, Guy; Wooley, John

2010-01-01

This report summarizes the proceedings of the 8th meeting of the Genomic Standards Consortium held at the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, CA, USA on September 9-11, 2009. This three-day workshop marked the maturing of Genomic Standards Consortium from an informal gathering of researchers interested in developing standards in the field of genomic and metagenomics to an established community with a defined governance mechanism, its own open access journal, and a family of established standards for describing genomes, metagenomes and marker studies (i.e. ribosomal RNA gene surveys). There will be increased efforts within the GSC to reach out to the wider scientific community via a range of new projects. Further information about the GSC and its activities can be found at http://gensc.org/. PMID:21304696

Investigating Urban Eighth-Grade Students' Knowledge of Energy Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodzin, Alec

2012-01-01

This study investigated urban eighth-grade students' knowledge of energy resources and associated issues including energy acquisition, energy generation, storage and transport, and energy consumption and conservation. A 39 multiple-choice-item energy resources knowledge assessment was completed by 1043 eighth-grade students in urban schools in two…

Potential of diatom consortium developed by nutrient enrichment for biodiesel production and simultaneous nutrient removal from waste water.

PubMed

Marella, Thomas Kiran; Parine, Narasimha Reddy; Tiwari, Archana

2018-05-01

Because of the decreasing fossil fuel supply and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, microalgae have been identified as a viable and sustainable feedstock for biofuel production. The major effect of the release of wastewater rich in organic compounds has led to the eutrophication of freshwater ecosystems. A combined approach of freshwater diatom cultivation with urban sewage water treatment is a promising solution for nutrient removal and biofuel production. In this study, urban wastewater from eutrophic Hussain Sagar Lake was used to cultivate a diatom algae consortium, and the effects of silica and trace metal enrichment on growth, nutrient removal, and lipid production were evaluated. The nano-silica-based micronutrient mixture Nualgi containing Si, Fe, and metal ions was used to optimize diatom growth. Respectively, N and P reductions of 95.1% and 88.9%, COD and BOD reductions of 91% and 51% with a biomass yield of 122.5 mg L -1  day -1 and lipid productivity of 37 mg L -1  day -1 were observed for cultures grown in waste water using Nualgi. Fatty acid profiles revealed 13 different fatty acids with slight differences in their percentage of dry cell weight (DCW) depending on enrichment level. These results demonstrate the potential of diatom algae grown in wastewater to produce feedstock for renewable biodiesel production. Enhanced carbon and excess nutrient utilization makes diatoms ideal candidates for co-processes such as CO 2 sequestration, biodiesel production, and wastewater phycoremediation.

Decoupling emissions of greenhouse gas, urbanization, energy and income: analysis from the economy of China.

PubMed

Wang, Tianqiong; Riti, Joshua Sunday; Shu, Yang

2018-05-08

The adoption and ratification of relevant policies, particularly the household enrolment system metamorphosis in China, led to rising urbanization growth. As the leading developing economy, China has experienced a drastic and rapid increase in the rate of urbanization, energy use, economic growth and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution for the past 30 years. The knowledge of the dynamic interrelationships among these trends has a plethora of implications ranging from demographic, energy, and environmental and sustainable development policies. This study analyzes the role of urbanization in decoupling GHG emissions, energy, and income in China while considering the critical contribution of energy use. As a contribution to the extant body of literature, the present research introduces a new phenomenon called "the environmental urbanization Kuznets curve" (EUKC), which shows that at the early stage of urbanization, the environment degrades however, after a threshold point the technique effects surface and environmental degradation reduces with rise in urbanization. Applying the autoregressive distributed lag model and the vector error correction model, the paper finds the presence of inverted U-shaped curve between urbanization and GHG emission of CO 2 , while the same hypothesis cannot be found between income and GHG emission of CO 2 . Energy use in all the models contributes to GHG emission of CO 2 . In decoupling greenhouse gas emissions, urbanization, energy, and income, articulated and well-implemented energy and urbanization policies should be considered.

Toward Quantitative Analysis of Water-Energy-Urban-Climate Nexus for Urban Adaptation Planning

EPA Science Inventory

Water and energy are two interwoven factors affecting environmental management and urban development planning. Meanwhile, rapid urban development and a changing climate exacerbate the magnitude and effects of water-energy interactions in what nexus defines. These factors and th...

Hydrogen Production by Geobacter Species and a Mixed Consortium in a Microbial Electrolysis Cell▿

PubMed Central

Call, Douglas F.; Wagner, Rachel C.; Logan, Bruce E.

2009-01-01

A hydrogen utilizing exoelectrogenic bacterium (Geobacter sulfurreducens) was compared to both a nonhydrogen oxidizer (Geobacter metallireducens) and a mixed consortium in order to compare the hydrogen production rates and hydrogen recoveries of pure and mixed cultures in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). At an applied voltage of 0.7 V, both G. sulfurreducens and the mixed culture generated similar current densities (ca. 160 A/m3), resulting in hydrogen production rates of ca. 1.9 m3 H2/m3/day, whereas G. metallireducens exhibited lower current densities and production rates of 110 ± 7 A/m3 and 1.3 ± 0.1 m3 H2/m3/day, respectively. Before methane was detected in the mixed-culture MEC, the mixed consortium achieved the highest overall energy recovery (relative to both electricity and substrate energy inputs) of 82% ± 8% compared to G. sulfurreducens (77% ± 2%) and G. metallireducens (78% ± 5%), due to the higher coulombic efficiency of the mixed consortium. At an applied voltage of 0.4 V, methane production increased in the mixed-culture MEC and, as a result, the hydrogen recovery decreased and the overall energy recovery dropped to 38% ± 16% compared to 80% ± 5% for G. sulfurreducens and 76% ± 0% for G. metallireducens. Internal hydrogen recycling was confirmed since the mixed culture generated a stable current density of 31 ± 0 A/m3 when fed hydrogen gas, whereas G. sulfurreducens exhibited a steady decrease in current production. Community analysis suggested that G. sulfurreducens was predominant in the mixed-culture MEC (72% of clones) despite its relative absence in the mixed-culture inoculum obtained from a microbial fuel cell reactor (2% of clones). These results demonstrate that Geobacter species are capable of obtaining similar hydrogen production rates and energy recoveries as mixed cultures in an MEC and that high coulombic efficiencies in mixed culture MECs can be attributed in part to the recycling of hydrogen into current. PMID:19820150

Global scenarios of urban density and its impacts on building energy use through 2050.

PubMed

Güneralp, Burak; Zhou, Yuyu; Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Gupta, Mukesh; Yu, Sha; Patel, Pralit L; Fragkias, Michail; Li, Xiaoma; Seto, Karen C

2017-08-22

Although the scale of impending urbanization is well-acknowledged, we have a limited understanding of how urban forms will change and what their impact will be on building energy use. Using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and scenarios, we examine building energy use for heating and cooling. Globally, the energy use for heating and cooling by the middle of the century will be between 45 and 59 exajoules per year (corresponding to an increase of 7-40% since 2010). Most of this variability is due to the uncertainty in future urban densities of rapidly growing cities in Asia and particularly China. Dense urban development leads to less urban energy use overall. Waiting to retrofit the existing built environment until markets are ready in about 5 years to widely deploy the most advanced renovation technologies leads to more savings in building energy use. Potential for savings in energy use is greatest in China when coupled with efficiency gains. Advanced efficiency makes the least difference compared with the business-as-usual scenario in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa but significantly contributes to energy savings in North America and Europe. Systemic efforts that focus on both urban form, of which urban density is an indicator, and energy-efficient technologies, but that also account for potential co-benefits and trade-offs with human well-being can contribute to both local and global sustainability. Particularly in growing cities in the developing world, such efforts can improve the well-being of billions of urban residents and contribute to mitigating climate change by reducing energy use in urban areas.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Güneralp, Burak; Zhou, Yuyu; Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana

Urban areas play a significant role in planetary sustainability. While the scale of impending urbanization is well acknowledged, we have a limited understanding on how urban forms will change and what their impact will be on building energy use. Using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and scenarios, we examine building energy use, specifically, for heating and cooling. We also assess associated cobenefits and trade-offs with human well-being. Globally, the energy use for heating and cooling by midcentury will reach anywhere from about 45 EJ/yr to 59 EJ/yr (respectively, increases of 5% to 40% over the 2010 estimate). Most of thismore » variability is due to the uncertainty in future urban forms of rapidly growing cities in Asia and, particularly, in China. Compact urban development overall leads to less energy use in urban environments. Delaying the retrofit of the existing built environment leads to more savings in building energy use. Potential for savings in the energy use is greatest in China when coupled with efficiency gains. Advanced efficiency makes the least difference compared to the business-as-usual scenario in energy use for heating and cooling in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa but significantly contribute to energy savings in North America and Europe. A systemic effort that focuses on both urban form and energy-efficient technologies, but also accounts for potential co-benefits and trade-offs, can contribute to both local and global sustainability. Particularly in mega-urban regions, such efforts can improve local environments for billions of urban residents and contribute to mitigating climate change by reducing energy use in urban areas and associated greenhouse gas emissions.« less

Energy and sustainable development in North American Sunbelt cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roosa, Stephen A.

The goals of sustainable development are often misunderstood and variously applied. Sustainability as an urban goal is hindered by the lack of a consensus definition of sustainable development. The failure to focus on energy in cities as a means of achieving urban sustainability is one reason that successful empirical examples of implementing sustainable development are rare. The paradox is that as society attempts to achieve the goals of sustainable development, cities are using more fossil fuel based energy, which results in more pollution and ultimately makes sustainability more difficult to achieve. This dissertation explores the linkages between energy and sustainability and their connection to urban polices. This research provides a detailed review of the history of the concept of sustainability, a review of literature to date, and comparative issues concerning sustainability. The literature review will describe the underlying causes and effects of changes which have led to concerns about urban sustainability. The types of urban policies that are used by Sunbelt cities will be discussed. The purpose of this research is multifold: (1) to study the energy related policies of Sunbelt cities; (2) to propose a workable typology of policies; (3) to develop an index by which cities can be ranked in terms of sustainability; and (4) to assess and evaluate the relationships between the adoption of urban policies that promote energy efficiency, energy conservation and alternative energy to determine if they are associated with reduced energy use and greater urban sustainability. This research involves use of empirical data, U.S. census information, database explorations and other data. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis methodologies were employed as a means of defining and exploring the dimensions of energy and sustainable development in urban areas. The research will find that certain urban policies are related to changes in indicators and measures of urban energy use. In addition, there is a divergence between rates of policy adoption and actual changes in urban energy use.

NREL to Lead New Consortium to Improve Reliability and Performance of Solar

Science.gov Websites

for photovoltaics (PV) and lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power. The Durable Module the cost of electricity from photovoltaics." The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency , DuraMat will address the substantial opportunities that exist for durable, high-performance, low-cost

The greenhouse gas and energy impacts of using wood instead of alternatives in residential construction in the United States

Treesearch

Brad Upton; Reid Miner; Mike Spinney; Linda S. Heath

2008-01-01

Data developed by the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials were used to estimate savings of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption associated with use of wood-based building materials in residential construction in the United States. Results indicate that houses with wood-based wall systems require 15-16% less total energy for non-heating/...

Fine-resolution Modeling of Urban-Energy Systems' Water Footprint in River Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McManamay, R.; Surendran Nair, S.; Morton, A.; DeRolph, C.; Stewart, R.

2015-12-01

Characterizing the interplay between urbanization, energy production, and water resources is essential for ensuring sustainable population growth. In order to balance limited water supplies, competing users must account for their realized and virtual water footprint, i.e. the total direct and indirect amount of water used, respectively. Unfortunately, publicly reported US water use estimates are spatially coarse, temporally static, and completely ignore returns of water to rivers after use. These estimates are insufficient to account for the high spatial and temporal heterogeneity of water budgets in urbanizing systems. Likewise, urbanizing areas are supported by competing sources of energy production, which also have heterogeneous water footprints. Hence, a fundamental challenge of planning for sustainable urban growth and decision-making across disparate policy sectors lies in characterizing inter-dependencies among urban systems, energy producers, and water resources. A modeling framework is presented that provides a novel approach to integrate urban-energy infrastructure into a spatial accounting network that accurately measures water footprints as changes in the quantity and quality of river flows. River networks (RNs), i.e. networks of branching tributaries nested within larger rivers, provide a spatial structure to measure water budgets by modeling hydrology and accounting for use and returns from urbanizing areas and energy producers. We quantify urban-energy water footprints for Atlanta, GA and Knoxville, TN (USA) based on changes in hydrology in RNs. Although water intakes providing supply to metropolitan areas were proximate to metropolitan areas, power plants contributing to energy demand in Knoxville and Atlanta, occurred 30 and 90km outside the metropolitan boundary, respectively. Direct water footprints from urban landcover primarily comprised smaller streams whereas indirect footprints from water supply reservoirs and energy producers included larger river systems. By using projections in urban populations for 2030 and 2050, we estimated scenarios of expansion in water footprints depending on urban growth policies and energy production technology. We provide examples of how this framework can be used to minimize water footprints and impacts to aquatic biodiversity.

A research agenda for a people-centred approach to energy access in the urbanizing global south

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broto, Vanesa Castán; Stevens, Lucy; Ackom, Emmanuel; Tomei, Julia; Parikh, Priti; Bisaga, Iwona; To, Long Seng; Kirshner, Joshua; Mulugetta, Yacob

2017-10-01

Energy access is typically viewed as a problem for rural areas, but people living in urban settings also face energy challenges that have not received sufficient attention. A revised agenda in research and practice that puts the user and local planning complexities centre stage is needed to change the way we look at energy access in urban areas, to understand the implications of the concentration of vulnerable people in slums and to identify opportunities for planned management and innovation that can deliver urban energy transitions while leaving no one behind. Here, we propose a research agenda focused on three key issues: understanding the needs of urban energy users; enabling the use of context-specific, disaggregated data; and engaging with effective modes of energy and urban governance. This agenda requires interdisciplinary scholarship across the social and physical sciences to support local action and deliver large-scale, inclusive transformations.

Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Nathaniel Appleton; Alexis Ellis; Eric Greenfield

2017-01-01

Urban trees and forests alter building energy use and associated emissions from power plants by shading buildings, cooling air temperatures and altering wind speeds around buildings. Field data on urban trees were combined with local urban/community tree and land cover maps, modeling of tree effects on building energy use and pollutant emissions, and state energy and...

SEEA SOUTHEAST CONSORTIUM FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Block, Timothy; Ball, Kia; Fournier, Ashley

In 2010 the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) received a $20 million Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Building Neighborhood Program (BBNP). This grant, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also included sub-grantees in 13 communities across the Southeast, known as the Southeast Consortium. The objective of this project was to establish a framework for energy efficiency retrofit programs to create models for replication across the Southeast and beyond. To achieve this goal, SEEA and its project partners focused on establishing infrastructure to develop and sustain the energy efficiency marketmore » in specific localities across the southeast. Activities included implementing minimum training standards and credentials for marketplace suppliers, educating and engaging homeowners on the benefits of energy efficiency through strategic marketing and outreach and addressing real or perceived financial barriers to investments in whole-home energy efficiency through a variety of financing mechanisms. The anticipated outcome of these activities would be best practice models for program design, marketing, financing, data collection and evaluation as well as increased market demand for energy efficiency retrofits and products. The Southeast Consortium’s programmatic impacts along with the impacts of the other BBNP grantees would further the progress towards the overall goal of energy efficiency market transformation. As the primary grantee SEEA served as the overall program administrator and provided common resources to the 13 Southeast Consortium sub-grantees including contracted services for contractor training, quality assurance testing, data collection, reporting and compliance. Sub-grantee programs were located in cities across eight states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each sub-grantee program was designed to address the unique local conditions and population of its community. There was great diversity in programs design, types of financing and incentives, building stock characteristics, climate and partnerships. From 2010 through 2013, SEEA and its sub-grantee programs focused on determining best practices in program administration, workforce development, marketing and consumer education, financing, and utility partnerships. One of the common themes among programs that were most successful in each of these areas was strong partnerships and collaborations with people or organizations in the community. In many instances engaged partners proved to be the key to addressing barriers such as access to financing, workforce development opportunities and access to utility bill data. The most challenging barrier proved to be the act of building a market for energy efficiency where none previously existed. With limited time and resources, educating homeowners of the value in investing in energy efficiency while engaging electric and gas utilities served as a significant barrier for several programs. While there is still much work to be done to continue to transform the energy efficiency market in the Southeast, the programmatic activities led by SEEA and its sub-grantees resulted in 8,180 energy audits and 5,155 energy efficiency retrofits across the Southeast. In total the Southeast Consortium saved an estimated 27,915,655.93 kWh and generated an estimated $ 2,291,965.90 in annual energy cost savings in the region.« less

Consortium for Algal Biofuel Commercialization (CAB-COMM) Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayfield, Stephen P.

The Consortium for Algal Biofuel Commercialization (CAB-Comm) was established in 2010 to conduct research to enable commercial viability of alternative liquid fuels produced from algal biomass. The main objective of CAB-Comm was to dramatically improve the viability of algae as a source of liquid fuels to meet US energy needs, by addressing several significant barriers to economic viability. To achieve this goal, CAB-Comm took a diverse set of approaches on three key aspects of the algal biofuels value chain: crop protection; nutrient utilization and recycling; and the development of genetic tools. These projects have been undertaken as collaboration between sixmore » academic institutions and two industrial partners: University of California, San Diego; Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Rutgers University; University of California, Davis; Johns Hopkins University; Sapphire Energy; and Life Technologies.« less

THE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLAR BONUS: Global Energy Efficiency Lessons from India

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paul, Seema; Sathaye, Jayant

2011-03-01

At a time when India and other nations are grappling with myriad energy-related challenges, including unstable, costly power sources and growing greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency offers an alternative at a fraction of the cost of other new sources of energy. A consortium of leading Indian regulators, nongovernmental organizations, and international experts has recognized this opportunity and is working to develop effective policies that will bring significant domestic benefits to India while accelerating the global transition to energy efficiency.

Global scenarios of urban density and its impacts on building energy use through 2050

PubMed Central

Güneralp, Burak; Zhou, Yuyu; Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Gupta, Mukesh; Yu, Sha; Patel, Pralit L.; Fragkias, Michail; Li, Xiaoma; Seto, Karen C.

2017-01-01

Although the scale of impending urbanization is well-acknowledged, we have a limited understanding of how urban forms will change and what their impact will be on building energy use. Using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and scenarios, we examine building energy use for heating and cooling. Globally, the energy use for heating and cooling by the middle of the century will be between 45 and 59 exajoules per year (corresponding to an increase of 7–40% since 2010). Most of this variability is due to the uncertainty in future urban densities of rapidly growing cities in Asia and particularly China. Dense urban development leads to less urban energy use overall. Waiting to retrofit the existing built environment until markets are ready in about 5 years to widely deploy the most advanced renovation technologies leads to more savings in building energy use. Potential for savings in energy use is greatest in China when coupled with efficiency gains. Advanced efficiency makes the least difference compared with the business-as-usual scenario in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa but significantly contributes to energy savings in North America and Europe. Systemic efforts that focus on both urban form, of which urban density is an indicator, and energy-efficient technologies, but that also account for potential co-benefits and trade-offs with human well-being can contribute to both local and global sustainability. Particularly in growing cities in the developing world, such efforts can improve the well-being of billions of urban residents and contribute to mitigating climate change by reducing energy use in urban areas. PMID:28069957

Methods of Evaluation of the State and Efficiency of the Urban Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patrakeyev, I.; Ziborov, V.; Lazorenko-Hevel, N.

2017-12-01

Today, humanity is experiencing an "urban age", and therefore issues of good management of energy consumption and energy spent on utilization of waste in cities are becoming particularly acute. In this regard, the working group of the World Energy Council proposed a concept of the "energy balance" of the urban environment. This concept was that the energy produced should cover the energy consumed. Metabolism of the urban environment is so hot and so rarely studied by urban planners. This condition is linked first with the fact that metabolism is nothing more than a network of exchange of physical, energy resources and information. This is the real point of meeting the natural, technological, social, economic processes and their transformation into one another. Metabolism is the most important tool for knowing the real mechanics of the movement of resources in such a complex system as the urban environment. The content of the article is an analysis of significant energy and material flows characterizing the metabolism of the urban environment. We considered in the article a new energy paradigm. This paradigm will help in carrying out research in such areas as reducing the burden on the state of the environment, reducing environmental problems and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Methods and models of metabolic processes in the urban environment will allow to implement in practice the concept of sustainable development of the urban environment, which is the development of the teaching V. Vernadsky about the noosphere.

System design of a large fuel cell hybrid locomotive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, A. R.; Hess, K. S.; Barnes, D. L.; Erickson, T. L.

Fuel cell power for locomotives combines the environmental benefits of a catenary-electric locomotive with the higher overall energy efficiency and lower infrastructure costs of a diesel-electric. A North American consortium, a public-private partnership, is developing a prototype hydrogen-fueled fuel cell-battery hybrid switcher locomotive for urban and military-base rail applications. Switcher locomotives are used in rail yards for assembling and disassembling trains and moving trains from one point to another. At 127 tonnes (280,000 lb), continuous power of 250 kW from its (proton exchange membrane) PEM fuel cell prime mover, and transient power well in excess of 1 MW, the hybrid locomotive will be the heaviest and most powerful fuel cell land vehicle yet. This fast-paced project calls for completion of the vehicle itself near the end of 2007. Several technical challenges not found in the development of smaller vehicles arise when designing and developing such a large fuel cell vehicle. Weight, center of gravity, packaging, and safety were design factors leading to, among other features, the roof location of the lightweight 350 bar compressed hydrogen storage system. Harsh operating conditions, especially shock loads during coupling to railcars, require component mounting systems capable of absorbing high energy. Vehicle scale-up by increasing mass, density, or power presents new challenges primarily related to issues of system layout, hydrogen storage, heat transfer, and shock loads.

Evaluation of Cities in the Context of Energy Efficient Urban Planning Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handan Yücel Yıldırım, H.; Burcu Gültekin, Arzuhan; Tanrıvermiş, Harun

2017-10-01

Due to the increase in energy need with urbanization as a result of industrialization and rapid population growth, preservation of natural resources has become impossible. As the energy generated particularly from non-renewable natural resources that are in danger of depletion such as coal, natural gas, petroleum is limited, and as environmental issues caused by energy resources increase, means of safe and continuous access to energy are searched in the world. Owing to the limited energy resources and energy dependence on foreign sources in the world, particularly in European Union countries, efforts of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in energy consumption increased in all industries, including urban planning as well. Concordantly, it is necessary to develop policies and approaches that enable utilization of domestic resources complying with the country’s conditions, and monitor developments in energy. Such policies and approaches, which must be implemented in urban planning as well, have great importance in terms of not deteriorating habitable environments of future generations while utilizing present-day energy resources, prevalence of utilization of renewable energy sources, and utilization of energy effectively. For that purpose, this paper puts forward a conceptual framework covering the principles, strategies, and methods on energy efficient urban planning approach, and discusses the energy efficient urban area examples within the scope of the suggested framework.

Impact of the urban heat island on residents’ energy consumption: a case study of Qingdao

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Feng; Pang, Huaji; Guo, Wenhui

2018-02-01

This paper examines impact of urban heat island on residents’ energy consumption through comparative analyses of monthly air temperature data observed in Qingdao, Laoshan and Huangdao weather stations. The results show effect of urban heat island is close related with urbanization speed. Recently, effects of urban heat island of Laoshan and Huangdao exceed that of Qingdao, consistent with rapid urbanization in Laoshan and Huangdao. Enhanced effect of urban heat island induces surface air temperature to rise up, further increase electricity energy consumption for air conditioning use in summer and reduce coal consumption for residents heating in winter. Comparing change of residents’ energy consumption in summer and winter, increments in summer are less than reduction in winter. This implicates effect of urban heat island is more obvious in winter than in summer.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, D.W.

This paper identifies a number of developments which are prominent during the urbanization of a country and which have particularly strong implications for energy use. Concomitant with urbanization, the industrial composition of the economy's production shifts, with reductions in agriculture and increases in the importance of primary metals, chemicals, and cement, all of which are relatively energy-intensive sectors. Evidence from India indicates that the movement of a worker from agriculture to the least energy-intensive urban activity other than services will quadruple per worker production energy requirements. Next, population concentration associated with urbanization facilitates increases in the scale of production whichmore » in turn encourages the substitution of modern energy for traditional fuels and requires energy for longer deliveries. Also, concentrated, off-farm populations require processing and delivery of food, which are not required for largely agricultural countries. Domestic activity changes send activities which were formerly conducted in the household with little or no energy use, outside, usually into firms, where fuels are used. Urban households also use considerably more transportation than do rural households. Evidence from Hong Kong indicates that pure urban density increases encourage substitutions of modern energy for traditional fuels. Finally, increased real incomes associated with urbanization increase energy consumption, with an elasticity of roughly unity. Aggregate cross-sectional data evidence from sixty developing countries was used to examine the overall magnitude of the effects of urbanization and associated developmental changes on per capita energy use. Controlling for industrial structure, per capita income (per capita gross domestic product), and several other variables, a one-percent increase in urbanization will cause a one-half percent increase in per capita energy use. 81 refs., 5 figs., 63 tabs.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aden, Nathaniel T.; Zheng, Nina; Fridley, David G.

Urbanization has re-shaped China's economy, society, and energy system. Between 1990 and 2007 China added 290 million new urban residents, bringing the total urbanization rate to 45%. This population adjustment spurred energy demand for construction of new buildings and infrastructure, as well as additional residential use as rural biomass was replaced with urban commercial energy services. Primary energy demand grew at an average annual rate of 10% between 2000 and 2007. Urbanization's effect on energy demand was compounded by the boom in domestic infrastructure investment, and in the export trade following World Trade Organization (WTO) accession in 2001. Industry energymore » consumption was most directly affected by this acceleration. Whereas industry comprised 32% of 2007 U.S. energy use, it accounted for 75% of China's 2007 energy consumption. Five sub-sectors accounted for 78% of China's industry energy use in 2007: iron and steel, energy extraction and processing, chemicals, cement, and non-ferrous metals. Ferrous metals alone accounted for 25% of industry and 18% of total primary energy use. The rapid growth of heavy industry has led China to become by far the world's largest producer of steel, cement, aluminum, and other energy-intensive commodities. However, the energy efficiency of heavy industrial production continues to lag world best practice levels. This study uses scenario analysis to quantify the impact of urbanization and trade on industrial and residential energy consumption from 2000 to 2025. The BAU scenario assumed 67% urbanization, frozen export amounts of heavy industrial products, and achievement of world best practices by 2025. The China Lightens Up (CLU) scenario assumed 55% urbanization, zero net exports of heavy industrial products, and more aggressive efficiency improvements by 2025. The five dominant industry sub-sectors were modeled in both scenarios using a LEAP energy end-use accounting model. The results of this study show that a CLU-style development path would avoid 430 million tonnes coal-equivalent energy use by 2025. More than 60% of these energy savings would come from reduced activity and production levels. In carbon terms, this would amount to more than a billion-tonne reduction of energy-related carbon emissions compared with the BAU scenario in 2025, though the absolute level of emissions rises in both scenarios. Aside from the energy and carbon savings related to CLU scenario development, this study showed impending saturation effects in commercial construction, urban appliance ownership, and fertilizer application. The implication of these findings is that urbanization will have a direct impact on future energy use and emissions - policies to guide urban growth can play a central role in China's efforts to mitigate emissions growth.« less

GAS STORAGE TECHNOLGOY CONSORTIUM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert W. Watson

2004-04-23

Gas storage is a critical element in the natural gas industry. Producers, transmission and distribution companies, marketers, and end users all benefit directly from the load balancing function of storage. The unbundling process has fundamentally changed the way storage is used and valued. As an unbundled service, the value of storage is being recovered at rates that reflect its value. Moreover, the marketplace has differentiated between various types of storage services, and has increasingly rewarded flexibility, safety, and reliability. The size of the natural gas market has increased and is projected to continue to increase towards 30 trillion cubic feetmore » (TCF) over the next 10 to 15 years. Much of this increase is projected to come from electric generation, particularly peaking units. Gas storage, particularly the flexible services that are most suited to electric loads, is critical in meeting the needs of these new markets. In order to address the gas storage needs of the natural gas industry, an industry-driven consortium was created--the Gas Storage Technology Consortium (GSTC). The objective of the GSTC is to provide a means to accomplish industry-driven research and development designed to enhance operational flexibility and deliverability of the Nation's gas storage system, and provide a cost effective, safe, and reliable supply of natural gas to meet domestic demand. To accomplish this objective, the project is divided into three phases that are managed and directed by the GSTC Coordinator. Base funding for the consortium is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In addition, funding is anticipated from the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). The first phase, Phase 1A, was initiated on September 30, 2003, and is scheduled for completion on March 31, 2004. Phase 1A of the project includes the creation of the GSTC structure, development of constitution (by-laws) for the consortium, and development and refinement of a technical approach (work plan) for deliverability enhancement and reservoir management. This report deals with the first 3-months of the project and encompasses the period September 30, 2003, through December 31, 2003. During this 3-month period, the first meeting of individuals representing the storage industry, universities and the Department of energy was held. The purpose of this meeting was to initiate the dialogue necessary to for the creation and adoption of a constitution that would be used to govern the activities of the consortium.« less

GAS STORAGE TECHNOLOGY CONSORTIUM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robert W. Watson

2004-04-17

Gas storage is a critical element in the natural gas industry. Producers, transmission and distribution companies, marketers, and end users all benefit directly from the load balancing function of storage. The unbundling process has fundamentally changed the way storage is used and valued. As an unbundled service, the value of storage is being recovered at rates that reflect its value. Moreover, the marketplace has differentiated between various types of storage services, and has increasingly rewarded flexibility, safety, and reliability. The size of the natural gas market has increased and is projected to continue to increase towards 30 trillion cubic feetmore » (TCF) over the next 10 to 15 years. Much of this increase is projected to come from electric generation, particularly peaking units. Gas storage, particularly the flexible services that are most suited to electric loads, is critical in meeting the needs of these new markets. In order to address the gas storage needs of the natural gas industry, an industry-driven consortium was created--the Gas Storage Technology Consortium (GSTC). The objective of the GSTC is to provide a means to accomplish industry-driven research and development designed to enhance operational flexibility and deliverability of the Nation's gas storage system, and provide a cost effective, safe, and reliable supply of natural gas to meet domestic demand. To accomplish this objective, the project is divided into three phases that are managed and directed by the GSTC Coordinator. Base funding for the consortium is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In addition, funding is anticipated from the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). The first phase, Phase 1A, was initiated on September 30, 2003, and is scheduled for completion on March 31, 2004. Phase 1A of the project includes the creation of the GSTC structure, development of constitution (by-laws) for the consortium, and development and refinement of a technical approach (work plan) for deliverability enhancement and reservoir management. This report deals with the second 3-months of the project and encompasses the period December 31, 2003, through March 31, 2003. During this 3-month, the dialogue of individuals representing the storage industry, universities and the Department of energy was continued and resulted in a constitution for the operation of the consortium and a draft of the initial Request for Proposals (RFP).« less

Direct and indirect urban water footprints of the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chini, Christopher M.; Konar, Megan; Stillwell, Ashlynn S.

2017-01-01

The water footprint of the urban environment is not limited to direct water consumption (i.e., municipal supplies); embedded water in imported resources, or virtual water transfers, provides an additional component of the urban water footprint. Using empirical data, our analysis extends traditional urban water footprinting analysis to quantify both direct and indirect urban resources for the United States. We determine direct water volumes and their embedded energy through open records requests of water utilities. The indirect component of the urban water footprint includes water indirectly consumed through energy and food, relating to the food-energy-water nexus. We comprehensively quantify the indirect water footprint for 74 metropolitan statistical areas through the combination of various databases, including the Commodity Flow Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Water Footprint Network, and the Energy Information Administration. We then analyze spatial heterogeneity in both direct and indirect water footprints, determining the average urban water footprint in the United States to be 1.64 million gallons of water per person per year [6200 m3/person/yr or 17,000 L/person/d], dominated by indirect water. Additionally, our study of the urban water cycle extends beyond considering only water resources to include embedded energy and equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. The inclusion of multiple sectors of the urban water cycle and their underlying processes provides important insights to the overall urban environment, the interdependencies of the food-energy-water nexus, and water resource sustainability. Our results provide opportunities for benchmarking the urban energy-water nexus, water footprints, and climate change potential.

Remote Sensing of Urban Thermal Landscape Characteristics and Their Affects on Local and Regional Meteorology and Air Quality: An Overview of NASA EOS-IDS Project Atlanta

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.

1999-01-01

As an entity, the city is a manifestation of human "management" of the land. The act of city-building, however, drastically alters the biophysical environment, which ultimately, impacts local and regional land-atmosphere energy exchange processes. Because of the complexity of both the urban landscape and the attendant energy fluxes that result from urbanization, remote sensing offers the only real way to synoptically quantify these processes. One of the more important land-atmosphere fluxes that occurs over cities relates to the way that thermal energy is partitioned across the heterogeneous urban landscape. The individual land cover and surface material types that comprise the city, such as pavements and buildings, each have their own thermal energy regimes. As the collective urban landscape, the individual thermal energy responses from specific surfaces come together to form the urban heat island phenomena, which prevails as a dome of elevated air temperatures over cities. Although the urban heat island has been known to exist for well over 150 years, it is not understood how differences in thermal energy responses for land covers across the city interact to produce this phenomenon, or how the variability in thermal energy responses from different surface types drive its development. Additionally, it can be hypothesized that as cities grow in size through time, so do their urban heat islands. The interrelationships between urban sprawl and the respective growth of the urban heat island, however, have not been investigated. Moreover, little is known of the consequential effects of urban growth, land cover change, and the urban heat island as they impact local and regional meteorology and air quality.

Metagenomic Analysis of a Biphenyl-Degrading Soil Bacterial Consortium Reveals the Metabolic Roles of Specific Populations

PubMed Central

Garrido-Sanz, Daniel; Manzano, Javier; Martín, Marta; Redondo-Nieto, Miguel; Rivilla, Rafael

2018-01-01

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread persistent pollutants that cause several adverse health effects. Aerobic bioremediation of PCBs involves the activity of either one bacterial species or a microbial consortium. Using multiple species will enhance the range of PCB congeners co-metabolized since different PCB-degrading microorganisms exhibit different substrate specificity. We have isolated a bacterial consortium by successive enrichment culture using biphenyl (analog of PCBs) as the sole carbon and energy source. This consortium is able to grow on biphenyl, benzoate, and protocatechuate. Whole-community DNA extracted from the consortium was used to analyze biodiversity by Illumina sequencing of a 16S rRNA gene amplicon library and to determine the metagenome by whole-genome shotgun Illumina sequencing. Biodiversity analysis shows that the consortium consists of 24 operational taxonomic units (≥97% identity). The consortium is dominated by strains belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, but also contains betaproteobacteria and Rhodococcus strains. whole-genome shotgun (WGS) analysis resulted in contigs containing 78.3 Mbp of sequenced DNA, representing around 65% of the expected DNA in the consortium. Bioinformatic analysis of this metagenome has identified the genes encoding the enzymes implicated in three pathways for the conversion of biphenyl to benzoate and five pathways from benzoate to tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates, allowing us to model the whole biodegradation network. By genus assignment of coding sequences, we have also been able to determine that the three biphenyl to benzoate pathways are carried out by Rhodococcus strains. In turn, strains belonging to Pseudomonas and Bordetella are the main responsible of three of the benzoate to TCA pathways while the benzoate conversion into TCA cycle intermediates via benzoyl-CoA and the catechol meta-cleavage pathways are carried out by beta proteobacteria belonging to genera such as Achromobacter and Variovorax. We have isolated a Rhodococcus strain WAY2 from the consortium which contains the genes encoding the three biphenyl to benzoate pathways indicating that this strain is responsible for all the biphenyl to benzoate transformations. The presented results show that metagenomic analysis of consortia allows the identification of bacteria active in biodegradation processes and the assignment of specific reactions and pathways to specific bacterial groups. PMID:29497412

CADDIS Volume 2. Sources, Stressors and Responses: Urbanization - Energy Sources

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Introduction to changes in basal energy sources with urbanization, overview of terrestrial leaf litter dynamics in urban streams, overview of how urbanization can affect primary production, respiration, and dissolved organic carbon quantity and quality.

Urban Surface Radiative Energy Budgets Determined Using Aircraft Scanner Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Rickman, Doug L.; Estes, Maury G.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

It is estimated that by the year 2025, 80% of the world's population will live in cities. The extent of these urban areas across the world can be seen in an image of city lights from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. In many areas of North America and Europe, it is difficult to separate individual cities because of the dramatic growth and sprawl of urbanized areas. This conversion of the natural landscape vegetation into man-made urban structures such as roads and buildings drastically alter the regional surface energy budgets, hydrology, precipitation patterns, and meteorology. One of the earliest recognized and measured phenomena of urbanization is the urban heat island (UHI) which was reported as early as 1833 for London and 1862 for Paris. The urban heat island results from the energy that is absorbed by man-made materials during the day and is released at night resulting in the heating of the air within the urban area. The magnitude of the air temperature difference between the urban and surrounding countryside is highly dependent on the structure of the urban area, amount of solar immolation received during the day, and atmospheric conditions during the night. These night time air temperature differences can be in the range of 2 to 5 C. or greater. Although day time air temperature differences between urban areas and the countryside exists during the day, atmospheric mixing and stability reduce the magnitude. This phenomena is not limited to large urban areas, but also occurs in smaller metropolitan areas. The UHI has significant impacts on the urban air quality, meteorology, energy use, and human health. The UPI can be mitigated through increasing the amount of vegetation and modification of urban surfaces using high albedo materials for roofs and paved surfaces. To understand why the urban heat island phenomenon exists it is useful to define the surface in terms of the surface energy budget. Surface temperature and albedo is a major component of the surface energy budget. Knowledge of it is important in any attempt to describe the radiative and mass fluxes which occur at the surface. Use of energy terms in modeling surface energy budgets allows the direct comparison of various land surfaces encountered in a urban landscape, from vegetated (forest and herbaceous) to non-vegetated (bare soil, roads, and buildings). These terms are also easily measured using remote sensing from aircraft or satellite platforms allowing one to examine the spacial variability. The partitioning of energy budget terms depends on the surface type. In natural landscapes, the partitioning is dependent on canopy biomass, leaf area index, aerodynamic roughness, and moisture status, all of which are influenced by the development stage of the ecosystem. In urban landscapes, coverage by man-made materials substantially alters the surface face energy budget. The remotely sensed data obtained from aircraft and satellites, when properly calibrated allows the measurement of important terms in the radiative surface energy budget a urban landscape scale.

Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) – Enabling America’s Solar Revolution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Metacarpa, David

The U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (US-PVMC) is an industry-led consortium which was created with the mission to accelerate the research, development, manufacturing, field testing, commercialization, and deployment of next-generation solar photovoltaic technologies. Formed as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SunShot initiative, and headquartered in New York State, PVMC is managed by the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) at the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. PVMC is a hybrid of industry-led consortium and manufacturing development facility, with capabilities for collaborative and proprietary industry engagement. Through its technology development programs, advanced manufacturing development facilities,more » system demonstrations, and reliability and testing capabilities, PVMC has demonstrated itself to be a recognized proving ground for innovative solar technologies and system designs. PVMC comprises multiple locations, with the core manufacturing and deployment support activities conducted at the Solar Energy Development Center (SEDC), and the core Si wafering and metrology technologies being headed out of the University of Central Florida. The SEDC provides a pilot line for proof-of-concept prototyping, offering critical opportunities to demonstrate emerging concepts in PV manufacturing, such as evaluations of innovative materials, system components, and PV system designs. The facility, located in Halfmoon NY, encompasses 40,000 square feet of dedicated PV development space. The infrastructure and capabilities housed at PVMC includes PV system level testing at the Prototype Demonstration Facility (PDF), manufacturing scale cell & module fabrication at the Manufacturing Development Facility (MDF), cell and module testing, reliability equipment on its PV pilot line, all integrated with a PV performance database and analytical characterizations for PVMC and its partners test and commercial arrays. Additional development and deployment support are also housed at the SEDC, such as cost modeling and cost model based development activities for PV and thin film modules, components, and system level designs for reduced LCOE through lower installation hardware costs, labor reductions, soft costs and reduced operations and maintenance costs. The progression of the consortium activities started with infrastructure and capabilities build out focused on CIGS thin film photovoltaics, with a particular focus on flexible cell and module production. As marketplace changes and partners objectives shifted, the consortium shifted heavily towards deployment and market pull activities including Balance of System, cost modeling, and installation cost reduction efforts along with impacts to performance and DER operational costs. The consortium consisted of a wide array of PV supply chain companies from equipment and component suppliers through national developers and installers with a particular focus on commercial scale deployments (typically 25 to 2MW installations). With DOE funding ending after the fifth budget period, the advantages and disadvantages of such a consortium is detailed along with potential avenues for self-sustainability is reviewed.« less

Operating experience with a 250 kW el molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bischoff, Manfred; Huppmann, Gerhard

The MTU MCFC program is carried out by a European consortium comprising the German companies MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH, Ruhrgas AG and RWE Energie AG as well as the Danish company Energi E2 S/A. MTU acts as consortium leader. The company shares a license and technology exchange agreement with Fuel Cell Energy Inc., Danbury, CT, USA (formerly Energy Research Corp., ERC). The program was started in 1990 and covers a period of about 10 years. The highlights of this program to date are: Considerable improvements regarding component stability have been demonstrated on laboratory scale. Manufacturing technology has been developed to a point which enables the consortium to fabricate the porous components on a 250 cm 2 scale. Several large area stacks with 5000-7660 cm 2 cell area and a power range of 3-10 kW have been tested at the facilities in Munich (Germany) and Kyndby (Denmark). These stacks have been supplied by FCE. As far as the system design is concerned it was soon realized that conventional systems do not hold the promise for competitive power plants. A system analysis led to the conclusion that a new innovative design approach is required. As a result the "Hot Module" system was developed by the consortium. A Hot Module combines all the components of a MCFC system operating at the similar temperatures and pressures into a common thermally insulated vessel. In August 1997 the consortium started its first full size Hot Module MCFC test plant at the facilities of Ruhrgas AG in Dorsten, Germany. The stack was assembled in Munich using 292 cell packages purchased from FCE. The plant is based on the consortium's unique and proprietary "Hot Module" concept. It operates on pipeline natural gas and was grid connected on 16 August 1997. After a total of 1500 h of operation, the plant was intentionally shut down in a controlled manner in April 1998 for post-test analysis. The Hot Module system concept has demonstrated its functionality. The safety concept has been convincingly proven, though in part unintentionally. The electrical power level of 155 kW (ca. 60% of maximum power) achieved allows validation of the concept with reasonable degree of confidence. Horizontal stack operation—an essential innovation of the Hot Module concept—is feasible. The fuel processing subsystem worked reliably as expected. After initial problems in the inverter control software, the electrical and control subsystem operated to full satisfaction. Stable automatic operation not only under various load conditions, but also in idle mode, hot parking mode, and grid-independent mode has been demonstrated. Together with progress achieved by FCE in the qualification of large direct fuel cell (DFC) stacks the basis was laid for the next test unit of similar design, which will be operated in Bielefeld, Germany. The pre-tests of the stack took place already in July 1999 with good results. Additionally, projects for the test of the DFC Hot Module operating on biogas and other opportunity fuels are under preparation.

Growing Plants to Power Our Engines and Feed the World

ScienceCinema

Sayre, Dick

2018-06-25

Photosynthesis uses light from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air to make chemicals that can be converted into energy-rich biofuels. Plants, however, transform less than five percent of the solar energy they capture into harvestable chemical energy. The New Mexico Consortium and Los Alamos National Laboratory are working on strategies to improve the energy yield in algae and plant systems, resulting in more fuel in our tanks and more food on our plates, without releasing additional carbon into the atmosphere.

Growing Plants to Power Our Engines and Feed the World

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sayre, Dick

Photosynthesis uses light from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air to make chemicals that can be converted into energy-rich biofuels. Plants, however, transform less than five percent of the solar energy they capture into harvestable chemical energy. The New Mexico Consortium and Los Alamos National Laboratory are working on strategies to improve the energy yield in algae and plant systems, resulting in more fuel in our tanks and more food on our plates, without releasing additional carbon into the atmosphere.

Preface to the special issue on gas hydrate drilling in the Eastern Nankai Trough

USGS Publications Warehouse

Yamamoto, Koji; Ruppel, Carolyn D.

2015-01-01

Methane hydrate traps enormous amounts of methane in frozen deposits in continental margin sediments, and these deposits have long been targeted for studies investigating their potential as an energy resource. As a concentrated form of methane that occurs at shallower depths than conventional and most unconventional gas reservoirs, methane hydrates could be a readily accessible source of hydrocarbons for countries hosting deposits within their Exclusive Economic Zones. Japan is one such country, and since 2001 the Research Consortium for Methane Hydrate Resources in Japan (referred to as MH21) has conducted laboratory, modeling, and field-based programs to study methane hydrates as an energy resource. The MH21 consortium is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry (METI) and led by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Oil Corporation (JOGMEC) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Evapotranspiration and surface energy balance across an agricultural-urban landscape gradient in Southern California, USA.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiflett, S. A.; Anderson, R. G.; Jenerette, D.

2014-12-01

Urbanization substantially affects energy, surface and air temperature, and hydrology due to extensive modifications in land surface properties such as vegetation, albedo, thermal capacity and soil moisture. The magnitude and direction of these alterations depends heavily on the type of urbanization that occurs. We investigated energy balance variation in a local network of agricultural and urban ecosystems using the eddy covariance method to better understand how vegetation fraction and degree of urbanization affects energy exchanges between the land surface and the atmosphere. We deployed eddy flux systems within a well-irrigated, agricultural citrus orchard, a moderately developed urban zone with a substantial amount of local vegetative cover, and an intensely developed urban zone with minimal vegetative cover and increased impervious surfaces relative to the other two sites. Latent energy (LE) fluxes in the agricultural area ranged from 7.9 ± 1.4 W m-2 (nighttime) to 168.7 ± 6.2 W m-2 (daytime) compared to 10.2 ± 3.5 W m-2 and 40.6 ± 4.1 W m-2, respectively, for the moderately developed urban area. Sensible energy (H) fluxes ranged from -9.1 ± 1.0 W m-2 (nighttime) to 119 ± 7.0 W m-2 (daytime) in the agricultural area compared to 9.6 ± 2.6 W m-2 and 134 ± 6.0 W m-2, respectively, for the moderately developed urban zone. Daytime LE is reduced with increasing urbanization; however, daily cycles of LE are less recognizable in urban areas compared to distinct daily cycles obtained above a mature citrus crop. In contrast, both daytime and nighttime H increases with increasing degree of urbanization. Reduction in vegetation and increases in impervious surfaces along an urbanization gradient leads to alterations in energy balance, which are associated with microclimate and water use changes.

New Whole-House Case Study: William Ryan Homes, Tampa, Florida

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

none,

The builder worked with Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings to design HERS-65 homes with energy-efficient heat pumps and programmable thermostats with humidity controls, foam-filled concrete block walls, draining house wrap, and airsealed kneewalls.

The Urban Fabric of the City as Its Affects Thermal Energy Responses Derived from Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.

2000-01-01

The physical geography of the city affects numerous aspects of its interlinked biophysical, social, and land-atmosphere characteristics - those attributes that come together to form the total urban environment. One approach to studying the multitude of interactions that occur as a result of urbanization is to view the city from a systems ecology perspective, where energy and material cycle into and out of the urban milieu. Thus, the urban ecosystem is synergistic in linking land, air, water, and living organisms in a vast network of interrelated physical, human, and biological process. Given the number and the shear complexity of the exchanges and, ultimately, their effects, that occur within the urban environment, we are focusing our research on looking at how the morphology or urban fabric of the city, drives thermal energy exchanges across the urban landscape. The study of thermal energy attributes for different cities provides insight into how thermal fluxes and characteristics are partitioned across the city landscape in response to each city's morphology. We are using thermal infrared remote sensing data obtained at a high spatial resolution from aircraft, along with satellite data, to identify and quantify thermal energy characteristics for 4 U.S. cities: Atlanta, GA, Baton Rouge, LA, Salt Lake City, UT, and Sacramento, CA. Analysis of how thermal energy is spatially distributed across the urban landscapes for these cities provides a unique perspective for understanding how the differing morphology of cities forces land-atmosphere exchanges, such as the urban heat island effect, as well as related meteorological and air quality interactions. Keyword: urban ecosystems, remote sensing, urban heat island

Energy performance of areas for urban development (Arkhangelsk is given as example)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popova, Olga; Glebova, Yulia

2017-01-01

The present research provides an overview and analysis of the legal framework and the technology to increase energy save and energy efficiency. The challenges of the mentioned activities implementation in urban areas are revealed in the paper. A comparison was made of the principal methods of increasing energy efficiency that is based on payback period. The basic shortcomings of the methods used are found. The way of capital reproducing assets acquisition is proposed with consideration of the rate of wear and tear and upgrading of urban residential development. The present research aims at characterizing energy sustainability of urban areas for forming the information basis that identifies capital construction projects together within the urban area. A new concept - area energy sustainability is introduced in the study to use system-structural approach to energy saving and energy efficiency. Energy sustainability of the area as an integral indicator of the static characteristics of the territory is considered as a complex involving the following terms: energy security, energy intensity and energy efficiency dynamic indicators of all the components of the power system of the area. Dimensions and parameters of energy sustainability of the area are determined. Arkhangelsk is given as example.

Synergistic microbial consortium for bioenergy generation from complex natural energy sources.

PubMed

Wang, Victor Bochuan; Yam, Joey Kuok Hoong; Chua, Song-Lin; Zhang, Qichun; Cao, Bin; Chye, Joachim Loo Say; Yang, Liang

2014-01-01

Microbial species have evolved diverse mechanisms for utilization of complex carbon sources. Proper combination of targeted species can affect bioenergy production from natural waste products. Here, we established a stable microbial consortium with Escherichia coli and Shewanella oneidensis in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to produce bioenergy from an abundant natural energy source, in the form of the sarcocarp harvested from coconuts. This component is mostly discarded as waste. However, through its usage as a feedstock for MFCs to produce useful energy in this study, the sarcocarp can be utilized meaningfully. The monospecies S. oneidensis system was able to generate bioenergy in a short experimental time frame while the monospecies E. coli system generated significantly less bioenergy. A combination of E. coli and S. oneidensis in the ratio of 1:9 (v:v) significantly enhanced the experimental time frame and magnitude of bioenergy generation. The synergistic effect is suggested to arise from E. coli and S. oneidensis utilizing different nutrients as electron donors and effect of flavins secreted by S. oneidensis. Confocal images confirmed the presence of biofilms and point towards their importance in generating bioenergy in MFCs.

Indirect Solar Water Heating in Single-Family, Zero Energy Ready Homes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aldrich, Robb

2016-02-17

Solar water heating systems are not new, but they have not become prevalent in most of the U.S. Most of the country is cold enough that indirect solar thermal systems are required for freeze protection, and average installed cost of these systems is $9,000 to $10,000 for typical systems on single-family homes. These costs can vary significantly in different markets and with different contractors, and federal and regional incentives can reduce these up-front costs by 50% or more. In western Massachusetts, an affordable housing developer built a community of 20 homes with a goal of approaching zero net energy consumption.more » In addition to excellent thermal envelopes and PV systems, the developer installed a solar domestic water heating system (SDHW) on each home. The Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), a research consortium funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Building America program, commissioned some of the systems, and CARB was able to monitor detailed performance of one system for 28 months.« less

Impacts of urban forests on offsetting carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou, China.

PubMed

Zhao, Min; Kong, Zheng-hong; Escobedo, Francisco J; Gao, Jun

2010-01-01

This study quantified carbon storage and sequestration by urban forests and carbon emissions from energy consumption by several industrial sources in Hangzhou, China. Carbon (C) storage and sequestration were quantified using urban forest inventory data and by applying volume-derived biomass equations and other models relating net primary productivity (NPP) and mean annual biomass increments. Industrial energy use C emissions were estimated by accounting for fossil fuel use and assigning C emission factors. Total C storage by Hangzhou's urban forests was estimated at 11.74 Tg C, and C storage per hectare was 30.25 t C. Carbon sequestration by urban forests was 1,328, 166.55 t C/year, and C sequestration per ha was 1.66 t C/ha/year. Carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou were 7 Tg C/year. Urban forests, through sequestration, annually offset 18.57% of the amount of carbon emitted by industrial enterprises, and store an amount of C equivalent to 1.75 times the amount of annual C emitted by industrial energy uses within the city. Management practices for improving Hangzhou's urban forests function of offsetting C emissions from energy consumption are explored. These results can be used to evaluate the urban forests' role in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Pathways for Urban Decarbonization.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremades, R.; Sommer, P.

2016-12-01

Urban areas emit roughly three quarters of global carbon emissions. Cities are crucial elements for a decarbonized society. Urban expansion and related transportation needs lead to increased energy use, and to carbon-intensive lock-ins that create barriers for climate change mitigation globally. The authors present the Integrated Urban Complexity (IUC) model, based on self-organizing Cellular Automata (CA), and use it to produce a new kind of spatially explicit Transformation Pathways for Urban Decarbonization (TPUD). IUC is based on statistical evidence relating the energy needed for transportation with the spatial distribution of population, specifically IUC incorporates variables from complexity science related to urban form, like the slope of the rank-size rule or spatial entropy, which brings IUC a step beyond existing models. The CA starts its evolution with real-world urban land use and population distribution data from the Global Human Settlement Layer. Thus, the IUC model runs over existing urban settlements, transforming the spatial distribution of population so the energy consumption for transportation is minimized. The statistical evidence that governs the evolution of the CA departs from the database of the International Association of Public Transport. A selected case is presented using Stuttgart (Germany) as an example. The results show how IUC varies urban density in those places where it improves the performance of crucial parameters related to urban form, producing a TPUD that shows where the spatial distribution of population should be modified with a degree of detail of 250 meters of cell size. The TPUD shows how the urban complex system evolves over time to minimize energy consumption for transportation. The resulting dynamics or urban decarbonization show decreased energy per capita, although total energy increases for increasing population. The results provide innovative insights: by checking current urban planning against a TPUD, urban planners could understand where existing plans contradict the Agenda 2030, primarily the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Climate Action (SDG 13), and Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11). For the first time, evidence-based transformation pathways are produced to decarbonize cities.

The State of U.S. Urban Water: Data and the Energy-Water Nexus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chini, Christopher M.; Stillwell, Ashlynn S.

2018-03-01

Data on urban water resources are scarce, despite a majority of the U.S. population residing in urban environments. Further, information on the energy required to facilitate the treatment, distribution, and collection of urban water are even more limited. In this study, we evaluate the energy-for-water component of the energy-water nexus by providing and analyzing a unique primary database consisting of drinking water and wastewater utility flows and energy. These anthropogenic fluxes of water through the urban environment are used to assess the state of the U.S. urban energy-water nexus at over 160 utilities. The average daily per person water flux is estimated at 560 L of drinking water and 500 L of wastewater. Drinking water and wastewater utilities require 340 kWh/1,000 m3 and 430 kWh/1,000 m3 of energy, respectively, to treat these resources. The total national energy demand for water utilities accounts for 1.0% of the total annual electricity consumption of the United States. Additionally, the water and embedded energy loss associated with non-revenue water accounts for 9.1 × 109 m3 of water and 3,100 GWh, enough electricity to power 300,000 U.S. households annually. Finally, the water flux and embedded energy fluctuated monthly in many cities. As the nation's water resources become increasingly scarce and unpredictable, it is essential to have a set of empirical data for continuous evaluation and updates on the state of the U.S. urban energy-water nexus.

A bottom-up approach to urban metabolism: the perspective of BRIDGE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chrysoulakis, N.; Borrego, C.; San Josè, R.; Grimmond, S. B.; Jones, M. B.; Magliulo, V.; Klostermann, J.; Santamouris, M.

2011-12-01

Urban metabolism considers a city as a system and usually distinguishes between energy and material flows as its components. "Metabolic" studies are usually top-down approaches that assess the inputs and outputs of food, water, energy, and pollutants from a city, or that compare the changing metabolic process of several cities. In contrast, bottom-up approaches are based on quantitative estimates of urban metabolism components at local to regional scales. Such approaches consider the urban metabolism as the 3D exchange and transformation of energy and matter between a city and its environment. The city is considered as a system and the physical flows between this system and its environment are quantitatively estimated. The transformation of landscapes from primarily agricultural and forest uses to urbanized landscapes can greatly modify energy and material exchanges and it is, therefore, an important aspect of an urban area. Here we focus on the exchanges and transformation of energy, water, carbon and pollutants. Recent advances in bio-physical sciences have led to new methods and models to estimate local scale energy, water, carbon and pollutant fluxes. However, there is often poor communication of new knowledge and its implications to end-users, such as planners, architects and engineers. The FP7 Project BRIDGE (SustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism) aims at bridging this gap and at illustrating the advantages of considering environmental issues in urban planning. BRIDGE does not perform a complete life cycle analysis or calculate whole system urban metabolism, but rather focuses on specific metabolism components (energy, water, carbon and pollutants). Its main goal is the development of a Decision Suport System (DSS) with the potential to select planning actions which better fit the goal of changing the metabolism of urban systems towards sustainability. BRIDGE evaluates how planning alternatives can modify the physical flows of the above urban metabolism components under consideration in five European cities: Helsinki, Athens, London, Firenze and Gliwice. A Multi-Criteria Evaluation approach has been adopted. To cope with the complexity of urban metabolism issues, objectives are defined in relation to the interactions between the environmental elements (fluxes of energy, water, carbon and pollutants) and socio-economic components (investment costs, housing, employment, etc.) of urban sustainability.

Biohydrogen and methane production via a two-step process using an acid pretreated native microalgae consortium.

PubMed

Carrillo-Reyes, Julian; Buitrón, Germán

2016-12-01

A native microalgae consortium treated under thermal-acidic hydrolysis was used to produce hydrogen and methane in a two-step sequential process. Different acid concentrations were tested, generating hydrogen and methane yields of up to 45mLH 2 gVS -1 and 432mLCH 4 gVS -1 , respectively. The hydrogen production step solubilized the particulate COD (chemical oxygen demand) up to 30%, creating considerable amounts of volatile fatty acids (up to 10gCODL -1 ). It was observed that lower acid concentration presented higher hydrogen and methane production potential. The results revealed that thermal acid hydrolysis of a native microalgae consortium is a simple but effective strategy for producing hydrogen and methane in the sequential process. In addition to COD removal (50-70%), this method resulted in an energy recovery of up to 15.9kJ per g of volatile solids of microalgae biomass, one of the highest reported. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Domestic Energy Consumption on Urban Development Using System Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saryazdi, M. D.; Homaei, N.; Arjmand, A.

2018-05-01

In developed countries, people have learned to follow efficient consumption patterns, while in developing countries, such as Iran, these patterns are not well executed. A large amount of energy is almost consumed in buildings and houses and though the consumption patterns varies in different societies, various energy policies are required to meet the consumption challenges. So far, several papers and more than ten case studies have worked on the relationship between domestic energy consumption and urban development, however these researches did not analyzed the impact of energy consumption on urban development. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine the interactions between the energy consumption and urban development by using system dynamics as the most widely used methods for complex problems. The proposed approach demonstrates the interactions using causal loop and flow diagrams and finally, suitable strategies will be proposed for urban development through simulations of different scenarios.

Education and Strategic Research Collaborations

Science.gov Websites

Los Alamos National Laboratory National Security Education Center Image Search Site submit LaboratoryNational Security Education Center Menu Program Offices Energy Security Council New Mexico Consortium Geophysics, Planetary Physics, Signatures Events Collaborations for education and strategic research, student

Unvented Attic Increases Energy Efficiency and Reduces Duct Losses - Sun Lake at Banning, California

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, R.; Wells, N.

2001-09-05

New houses in the Sun Lakes at Banning subdivision are designed by Pulte Homes with technical support from the Building Science Consortium as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program. These homes save their homeowners money by applying the principles of ''whole-building'' design, which considers the house as a complete system instead of separate components.

Urban food-energy-water nexus: a case study of Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Z.; Shao, L.

2017-12-01

The interactions between the food, energy and water sectors are of great importance to urban sustainable development. This work presents a framework to analyze food-energy-water (FEW) nexus of a city. The method of multi-scale input-output analysis is applied to calculate consumption-based energy and water use that is driven by urban final demand. It is also capable of accounting virtual energy and water flows that is embodied in trade. Some performance indicators are accordingly devised for a comprehensive understanding of the urban FEW nexus. A case study is carried out for the Beijing city. The embodied energy and water use of foods, embodied water of energy industry and embodied energy of water industry are analyzed. As a key node of economic network, Beijing exchanges a lot of materials and products with external economic systems, especially other Chinese provinces, which involves massive embodied energy and water flows. As a result, Beijing relies heavily on outsourcing energy and water to meet local people's consumption. It is revealed that besides the apparent supply-demand linkages, the underlying interconnections among food, water and energy sectors are critical to create sustainable urban areas.

Global Urban Mapping and Modeling for Sustainable Urban Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Y.; Li, X.; Asrar, G.; Yu, S.; Smith, S.; Eom, J.; Imhoff, M. L.

2016-12-01

In the past several decades, the world has experienced fast urbanization, and this trend is expected to continue for decades to come. Urbanization, one of the major land cover and land use changes (LCLUC), is becoming increasingly important in global environmental changes, such as urban heat island (UHI) growth and vegetation phenology change. Better scientific insights and effective decision-making unarguably require reliable science-based information on spatiotemporal changes in urban extent and their environmental impacts. In this study, we developed a globally consistent 20-year urban map series to evaluate the time-reactive nature of global urbanization from the nighttime lights remote sensing data, and projected future urban expansion in the 21st century by employing an integrated modeling framework (Zhou et al. 2014, Zhou et al. 2015). We then evaluated the impacts of urbanization on building energy use and vegetation phenology that affect both ecosystem services and human health. We extended the modeling capability of building energy use in the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) with consideration of UHI effects by coupling the remote sensing based urbanization modeling and explored the impact of UHI on building energy use. We also investigated the impact of urbanization on vegetation phenology by using an improved phenology detection algorithm. The derived spatiotemporal information on historical and potential future urbanization and its implications in building energy use and vegetation phenology will be of great value in sustainable urban design and development for building energy use and human health (e.g., pollen allergy), especially when considered together with other factors such as climate variability and change. Zhou, Y., S. J. Smith, C. D. Elvidge, K. Zhao, A. Thomson & M. Imhoff (2014) A cluster-based method to map urban area from DMSP/OLS nightlights. Remote Sensing of Environment, 147, 173-185. Zhou, Y., S. J. Smith, K. Zhao, M. Imhoff, A. Thomson, B. Bond-Lamberty, G. R. Asrar, X. Zhang, C. He & C. D. Elvidge (2015) A global map of urban extent from nightlights. Environmental Research Letters, 10, 054011.

Urban-rural difference in the determinants of dietary and energy intake patterns: A case study in West Java, Indonesia.

PubMed

Kosaka, Satoko; Suda, Kazuhiro; Gunawan, Budhi; Raksanagara, Ardini; Watanabe, Chiho; Umezaki, Masahiro

2018-01-01

Few studies have explored differences in the determinants of individual dietary/energy intake patterns between urban and rural areas. To examine whether the associations between individual characteristics and dietary/energy intake patterns differ between urban and rural areas in West Java, Indonesia. A 3-day weighed food record, interviews, and anthropometric measurements were conducted in Bandung (urban area; n = 85) and Sumedang (rural area; n = 201). Total energy intake and intake from protein, fat, and carbohydrates were calculated. Food items were grouped into dietary categories based on the main ingredients to calculate their share of total energy intake. The associations between individual characteristics and dietary/energy intake were examined by fitting regression models. Models that also included education and body mass index (BMI) were fitted to adult samples only. In Sumedang, the total energy intake and energy intake from carbohydrates, fat, and grain/tubers were significantly associated with age and occupation. In Bandung, energy intake from grain/tubers and vegetables/legumes was related to sex and occupation, while other indicators showed no associations. Among adults, BMI was associated with the total energy intake and educational level was associated with energy intake from vegetables/legumes (both only in Sumedang). The relationship between demographic and socioeconomic factors and dietary/energy intake patterns differs in rural versus urban areas in West Java. These results suggest that different strategies are needed in rural and urban areas to identify and aid populations at risk of diet-related diseases.

Department of Energy: Office of Scientific and Technical Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grissom, Catherine

1994-01-01

The international acquisitions functions and activities of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) are described. There are four mechanisms for obtaining foreign information related to energy and nuclear science: The Energy Technology Data Exchange consisting of 14 member countries and 2 associate members; the International Nuclear Information System consisting of 86 countries and 17 international organizations; the Nuclear Energy Agency's 19 member countries provide reports for departmental scientists' use; bilateral agreements with countries such as Germany, the Nordic Consortium, and Australia result in records of foreign research in progress.

24 CFR 965.308 - Energy performance contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Energy performance contracts. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.308 Energy performance contracts. (a) Method of procurement. Energy performance contracting...

24 CFR 965.308 - Energy performance contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Energy performance contracts. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.308 Energy performance contracts. (a) Method of procurement. Energy performance contracting...

24 CFR 965.308 - Energy performance contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Energy performance contracts. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.308 Energy performance contracts. (a) Method of procurement. Energy performance contracting...

24 CFR 965.308 - Energy performance contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Energy performance contracts. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.308 Energy performance contracts. (a) Method of procurement. Energy performance contracting...

24 CFR 965.308 - Energy performance contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Energy performance contracts. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.308 Energy performance contracts. (a) Method of procurement. Energy performance contracting...

Reimagining Energy in the North: Developing Solutions for Improving Renewable Energy Security in Northern Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creed, I. F.; Poelzer, G.; Noble, B.; Beatty, B.; Belcher, K.; Chung, T.; Loring, P. A.

2017-12-01

The global energy sector is at a crossroads. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, volatile fossil fuel prices, the emergence of sustainability markets, and advances in renewable energy technologies are setting the foundation for what could be one of the most significant societal transitions since the industrial revolution. There is a growing movement to "re-energize" Canada, through embracing pathways to facilitate a societal transition a low-carbon future. For example, circumpolar jurisdictions are poised for a transition to renewable energy. There are more than 250 remote, off-grid communities across Canada's North, of which approximately 170 are Indigenous, that rely largely on diesel-fueled generators. Diesel-fueled generation is generally reliable when properly maintained; however, supply is limited, infrastructure is at capacity or in need of major upgrading, and the volatile price of fuel can mean significant social, community and economic opportunity loss. Renewable energy projects offer one possible opportunity to address these challenges. But, given the challenges of human capacity, limited fiscal resources, and regulatory barriers, how can Northern communities participate in the global energy transition and not be left behind? To answer this question, the University of Saskatchewan, together with partners from the circumpolar North, are leading an initiative to develop a cross-sectoral and multi-national consortium of communities, utilities, industries, governments, and academics engaged in renewable energy in the North. This consortium will reimagine energy security in the North by co-creating and brokering the knowledge and understanding to design renewable energy systems that enhance social and economic value. Northern communities and utilities will learn directly from other northern communities and utilities across Canada and internationally about what can be achieved in renewable energy development and the solutions to current and future energy challenges.

Energy Costs of Urban Water Supply Systems: Evidence from India (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malghan, D.; Mehta, V. K.; Goswami, R.

2013-12-01

For the first time in human history more people around the globe now live in urban centres rather than in rural settings. Although India's urban population proportion at 31% is still below the global average, it has been urbanizing rapidly. The population growth rate in urban India is more than two-and-half times that of rural India. The current Indian urban population, of over 370 million people, exceeds that of the total population of every other country on the planet with the exception of China. Supplying water to India's burgeoning urban agglomerations poses a challenge in terms of social equity, biophysical sustainability, and economic efficiency. A typical Indian city relies on both surface and ground water sources. Several Indian cities import surface water from distances that now exceed a hundred kilometres and across gradients of up to three thousand metres. While the depleting groundwater levels as a result of rapidly growing demand from urban India is at least anecdotally understood even when reliable estimates are not available, the energy costs of supplying water to urban India has thus far not received academic or policy attention it deserves. We develop a simple framework to integrate distributed groundwater models with water consumption data to estimate the energy and emissions associated with supplying water to urban centres. We assemble a unique data set from seventy five of the largest urban agglomerations in India and derive estimated values of energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with water provision in urban India. Our analysis shows that in every major city, the energy cost associated with long distance import of surface water significantly exceeds groundwater extraction. However, with rapidly depleting groundwater levels, we estimate inflection points for select cities when energy costs of groundwater extraction will exceed energy required to import surface water into the city. In addition to the national snapshot, we also perform detailed, spatially explicit analysis for the city of Bangalore which is an urban agglomeration that is home to more than ten million people. Combining a distributed groundwater model with data from the public utility supplying water to the city, and a large primary household survey data (n=29000), we develop a high resolution map for the city showing the water-energy nexus for across different parts of the city. The city of Bangalore imports nearly as much surface water (from a river source hundred kilometres away and across a gradient of 500 metres) as the annual rainfall falling on the city. The leakage from the vast wast water supply network and return flows are major components of the groundwater recharge budget, and our case study helps highlight how a nuanced understanding of urban hydrology is crucial to estimating the energy costs of urban water supply.

Comparison of Microclimate Simulated weather data to ASHRAE Clear Sky Model and Measured Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhandari, Mahabir S.

In anticipation of emerging global urbanization and its impact on microclimate, a need exists to better understand and quantify microclimate effects on building energy use. Satisfaction of this need will require coordinated research of microclimate impacts on and from “human systems.” The Urban Microclimate and Energy Tool (Urban-MET) project seeks to address this need by quantifying and analyzing the relationships among climatic conditions, urban morphology, land cover, and energy use; and using these relationships to inform energy-efficient urban development and planning. Initial research will focus on analysis of measured and modeled energy efficiency of various building types in selected urbanmore » areas and temporal variations in energy use for different urban morphologies under different microclimatic conditions. In this report, we analyze the differences between microclimate weather data sets for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory campus produced by ENVI-met and Weather Research Forecast (WRF) models, the ASHRAE clear sky which defines the maximum amounts of solar radiation that can be expected, and measured data from a weather station on campus. Errors with climate variables and their impact on building energy consumption will be shown for the microclimate simulations to help prioritize future improvement for use in microclimate simulation impacts to energy use of buildings.« less

Breakfast food patterns among urban and rural Croatian schoolchildren.

PubMed

Colic Baric, Irena; Satalic, Zvonimir

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to report breakfast food patterns among the rural and urban Croatian schoolchildren in the post-war socioeconomic changes. A quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire was used. Subjects were 7-18 year old schoolchildren (815 from urban and 375 from rural areas). The average energy intake was 27.5 and 23.0% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) in the urban and rural area respectively. Urban subjects tend to choose healthier options when older, while the rural subjects displayed the opposite (significantly correlated age with energy intake (% RDA) and dietary fibre intake (% of 'age + 5' rule). The same applied to age versus iron intake (urban positive, rural negative correlation). Breakfasts providing 20-30% RDA for energy and more than 300 mg of calcium were consumed by 20.7 and 32.4% of the urban and rural subjects respectively. Cereal products and milk and dairy products were the major breakfast constituents everywhere. Meat and its products, and eggs seem to be uncommon breakfast foods. The urban subjects had a more adequate energy intake at breakfast, but better food choices were observed among rural subjects.

Household energy use in urban Venezuela: Implications from surveys in Maracaibo, Valencia, Merida, and Barcelona-Puerto La Cruz

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Figueroa, M.J.; Sathaye, J.

1993-08-01

This report identifies the most important results of a comparative analysis of household commercial energy use in Venezuelan urban cities. The use of modern fuels is widespread among all cities. Cooking consumes the largest share of urban household energy use. The survey documents no use of biomass and a negligible use of kerosene for cooking. LPG, natural gas, and kerosene are the main fuels available. LPG is the fuel choice of low-income households in all cities except Maracaibo, where 40% of all households use natural gas. Electricity consumption in Venezuela`s urban households is remarkably high compared with the levels usedmore » in households in comparable Latin American countries and in households of industrialized nations which confront harsher climatic conditions and, therefore, use electricity for water and space heating. The penetration of appliances in Venezuela`s urban households is very high. The appliances available on the market are inefficient, and there are inefficient patterns of energy use among the population. Climate conditions and the urban built form all play important roles in determining the high level of energy consumption in Venezuelan urban households. It is important to acknowledge the opportunities for introducing energy efficiency and conservation in Venezuela`s residential sector, particularly given current economic and financial constraints, which may hamper the future provision of energy services.« less

[Relationships between settlement morphology transition and residents commuting energy consumption].

PubMed

Zhou, Jian; Xiao, Rong-Bo; Sun, Xiang

2013-07-01

Settlement morphology transition is triggered by rapid urbanization and urban expansion, but its relationships with residents commuting energy consumption remains ambiguous. It is of significance to understand the controlling mechanisms of sustainable public management policies on the energy consumption and greenhouse gases emission during the process of urban settlement morphology transition. Taking the Xiamen City of East China as a case, and by using the integrated land use and transportation modeling system TRANUS, a scenario analysis was made to study the effects of urban settlement morphology transition on the urban spatial distribution of population, jobs, and land use, and on the residents commuting energy consumption and greenhouse gasses emission under different scenarios. The results showed that under the Business As Usual (BAU) scenario, the energy consumption of the residents at the morning peak travel time was 54.35 tce, and the CO2 emission was 119.12 t. As compared with those under BAU scenario, both the energy consumption and the CO2 emission under the Transition of Settlement Morphology (TSM) scenario increased by 12%, and, with the implementation of the appropriate policies such as land use, transportation, and economy, the energy consumption and CO2 emission under the Transition of Settlement Morphology with Policies (TSMP) scenario reduced by 7%, indicating that urban public management policies could effectively control the growth of residents commuting energy consumption and greenhouse gases emission during the period of urban settlement morphology transition.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tjade, A.S.

The relationship between urban growth and energy consumption to public transport is analyzed. The main emphasis is upon daily travel in urban areas. Recommendations are made on how different urban functions should be located and developed to minimize the energy consumption for daily travels.

Reducing urban heat island effects to improve urban comfort and balance energy consumption in Bucharest (Romania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Constantinescu, Dan; Ochinciuc, Cristina Victoria; Cheval, Sorin; Comşa, Ionuţ; Sîrodoev, Igor; Andone, Radu; Caracaş, Gabriela; Crăciun, Cerasella; Dumitrescu, Alexandru; Georgescu, Mihaela; Ianoş, Ioan; Merciu, Cristina; Moraru, Dan; Opriş, Ana; Paraschiv, Mirela; Raeţchi, Sonia; Saghin, Irina; Schvab, Andrei; Tătui-Văidianu, Nataşa

2017-04-01

In the recent decades, extreme temperature events and derived hazards are frequent and trigger noteworthy impacts in Romania, especially over the large urban areas. The cities produce significant disturbances of many elements of the regional climate, and generates adverse effects such as Urban Heat Islands (UHI). This presentation condenses the outputs of an ongoing research project (REDBHI) developed through (2013-2017) focused on developing a methodology for monitoring and forecasting indoor climate and energy challenges related to the intensity of UHI of Bucharest (Romania), based on relevant urban climate zones (UCZs). Multi-criteria correlations between the UHI and architectural, urban and landscape variables were determined, and the vulnerability of buildings expressed in the form of transfer function between indoor micro-climate and outdoor urban environment. The vulnerability of civil buildings was determined in relation with the potential for amplifying the thermal hazards intensity through the anthropogenic influence. The project REDBHI aims at developing innovative and original products, with direct applicability, which can be used in any urban settlement and have market potential with regards to energy design and consulting. The concrete innovative outcomes consist of a) localization of the Bucharest UCZs according to the UHI intensity, identifying reference buildings and sub-zones according to urban anthropic factors and landscape pattern; b) typology of representative buildings with regards to energy consumption and CO2 emitted as a result of building exploitation; c) 3D modelling of the reference buildings and of the thermal/energy reaction to severe climatic conditions d) empirical validation of the dynamic thermal/energy analysis; d) development of an pilot virtual studio capable to simulate climate alerts, analyse scenarios and suggest measures to mitigate the UHI effects, and disseminate the outcomes for educational purposes; e) compendium of technical solutions for mitigating the UHI impacts and sustainable reconfiguration of urban settlements, comprising packages of architectural and urban and landscape planning solutions. This study was funded by the Romanian Programme Partnership in Priority Domains, PN - II - PCCA - 2013 - 4 - 0509 - Reducing UHI effects to improve urban comfort and balance energy consumption in Bucharest (REDBHI).

24 CFR 965.302 - Requirements for energy audits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Requirements for energy audits. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.302 Requirements for energy audits. All PHAs shall complete an energy audit for each PHA...

24 CFR 965.302 - Requirements for energy audits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Requirements for energy audits. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.302 Requirements for energy audits. All PHAs shall complete an energy audit for each PHA...

24 CFR 965.302 - Requirements for energy audits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Requirements for energy audits. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.302 Requirements for energy audits. All PHAs shall complete an energy audit for each PHA...

24 CFR 965.302 - Requirements for energy audits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Requirements for energy audits. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.302 Requirements for energy audits. All PHAs shall complete an energy audit for each PHA...

24 CFR 965.302 - Requirements for energy audits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Requirements for energy audits. 965... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.302 Requirements for energy audits. All PHAs shall complete an energy audit for each PHA...

The energy balance of an urban area: Examining temporal and spatial variability through measurements, remote sensing and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Offerle, Brian

Urban environmental problems related to air quality, thermal stress, issues of water demand and quality, all of which are linked directly or indirectly to urban climate, are emerging as major environmental concerns at the start of the 21st century. Thus there are compelling social, political and economic, and scientific reasons that make the study and understanding of the fundamental causes of urban climates critically important. This research addresses these topics through an intensive study of the surface energy balance of Lodz, Poland. The research examines the temporal variability in long-term measurements of urban surface-atmosphere exchange at a downtown location and the spatial variability of this exchange over distinctly different neighborhoods using shorter-term observations. These observations provide the basis for an evaluation of surface energy balance models. Monthly patterns in energy exchange are consistent from year-to-year with variability determined by net radiation and the timing and amount of precipitation. Spatial variability can be determined from plan area fractions of vegetation and impervious surface, though heat storage exerts a strong control on shorter term variability of energy exchange, within and between locations in an urban area. Anthropogenic heat fluxes provide most of the energy driving surface-atmosphere exchange in winter, From a modeling perspective, sensible heat fluxes can be reliably determined from radiometrically sensed surface temperatures and spatially representative surface-atmosphere exchange in an urban area can be determined from satellite remote sensing products. Models of the urban surface energy balance showed good agreement with mean values of energy exchange and under most conditions represented the temporal variability due to synoptic and shorter time scale forcing well.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

When done well, modular home production can provide lower costs and excellent quality control (QC)—compared to conventional home building methods— while still allowing a great deal of customization. The Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) is a U.S. Department of Energy Building America team that worked with three Maine companies to compare standard codecompliant modular homes with a modular zero energy home. Those companies were BrightBuilt Home (BBH), Black Bros. Builders, and Keiser Homes.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aldrich, Robb; Butterfield, Karla

With funding from the Building America Program, part of the U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office, the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) worked with BrightBuilt Home (BBH) to evaluate and optimize building systems. CARB’s work focused on a home built by Black Bros. Builders in Lincolnville, Maine (International Energy Conservation Code Climate Zone 6). As with most BBH projects to date, modular boxes were built by Keiser Homes in Oxford, Maine.

City-integrated renewable energy for urban sustainability.

PubMed

Kammen, Daniel M; Sunter, Deborah A

2016-05-20

To prepare for an urban influx of 2.5 billion people by 2050, it is critical to create cities that are low-carbon, resilient, and livable. Cities not only contribute to global climate change by emitting the majority of anthropogenic greenhouse gases but also are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and extreme weather. We explore options for establishing sustainable energy systems by reducing energy consumption, particularly in the buildings and transportation sectors, and providing robust, decentralized, and renewable energy sources. Through technical advancements in power density, city-integrated renewable energy will be better suited to satisfy the high-energy demands of growing urban areas. Several economic, technical, behavioral, and political challenges need to be overcome for innovation to improve urban sustainability. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Assigning ecological roles to the populations belonging to a phenanthrene-degrading bacterial consortium using omic approaches

PubMed Central

Coppotelli, Bibiana Marina; Madueño, Laura; Loviso, Claudia Lorena; Macchi, Marianela; Neme Tauil, Ricardo Martin; Valacco, María Pía; Morelli, Irma Susana

2017-01-01

The present study describes the behavior of a natural phenanthrene-degrading consortium (CON), a synthetic consortium (constructed with isolated strains from CON) and an isolated strain form CON (Sphingobium sp. AM) in phenanthrene cultures to understand the interactions among the microorganisms present in the natural consortium during phenanthrene degradation as a sole carbon and energy source in liquid cultures. In the contaminant degradation assay, the defined consortium not only achieved a major phenanthrene degradation percentage (> 95%) but also showed a more efficient elimination of the intermediate metabolite. The opposite behavior occurred in the CON culture where the lowest phenanthrene degradation and the highest HNA accumulation were observed, which suggests the presence of positive and also negative interaction in CON. To consider the uncultured bacteria present in CON, a metagenomic library was constructed with total CON DNA. One of the resulting scaffolds (S1P3) was affiliated with the Betaproteobacteria class and resulted in a significant similarity with a genome fragment from Burkholderia sp. HB1 chromosome 1. A complete gene cluster, which is related to one of the lower pathways (meta-cleavage of catechol) involved in PAH degradation (ORF 31–43), mobile genetic elements and associated proteins, was found. These results suggest the presence of at least one other microorganism in CON besides Sphingobium sp. AM, which is capable of degrading PAH through the meta-cleavage pathway. Burkholderiales order was further found, along with Sphingomonadales order, by a metaproteomic approach, which indicated that both orders were metabolically active in CON. Our results show the presence of negative interactions between bacterial populations found in a natural consortium selected by enrichment techniques; moreover, the synthetic syntrophic processing chain with only one microorganism with the capability of degrading phenanthrene was more efficient in contaminant and intermediate metabolite degradation than a generalist strain (Sphingobium sp. AM). PMID:28886166

The Influence of Roof Material on Diurnal Urban Canyon Breathing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abuhegazy, Mohamed; Yaghoobian, Neda

2017-11-01

Improvements in building energy use, air quality in urban canyons and in general urban microclimates require understanding the complex interaction between urban morphology, materials, climate, and inflow conditions. Review of the literature indicates that despite a long history of valuable urban microclimate studies, more comprehensive approaches are needed to address energy, and heat and flow transport in urban areas. In this study, a more comprehensive simulation of the diurnally varying street canyon flow and associated heat transport is numerically investigated, using Large-eddy Simulation (LES). We use computational modeling to examine the impact of diurnal variation of the heat fluxes from urban surfaces on the air flow and temperature distribution in street canyons with a focus on the role of roof materials and their temperature footprints. A detailed building energy model with a three-dimensional raster-type geometry provides urban surface heat fluxes as thermal boundary conditions for the LES to determine the key aero-thermodynamic factors that affect urban street ventilation.

A climate responsive urban design tool: a platform to improve energy efficiency in a dry hot climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Dallal, Norhan; Visser, Florentine

2017-09-01

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, new urban developments should address the climatic conditions to improve outdoor comfort and to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. This article describes a design tool that supports climate responsive design for a dry hot climate. The approach takes the climate as an initiator for the conceptual urban form with a more energy-efficient urban morphology. The methodology relates the different passive strategies suitable for major climate conditions in MENA region (dry-hot) to design parameters that create the urban form. This parametric design approach is the basis for a tool that generates conceptual climate responsive urban forms so as to assist the urban designer early in the design process. Various conceptual scenarios, generated by a computational model, are the results of the proposed platform. A practical application of the approach is conducted on a New Urban Community in Aswan (Egypt), showing the economic feasibility of the resulting urban form and morphology, and the proposed tool.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hoke, Anderson F.; Nelson, Austin A.; Tan, Jin

This interim report describes research related to frequency-watt control of solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters conducted under the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) by a regional partnership for Hawaii. The purpose of this report is to inform an ongoing discussion around frequency-watt control activation in Hawaii.

Technology Solutions Case Study: Field Performance of Inverter-Driven Heat Pumps in Cold Climates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

J. Williamson and R. Aldrich

2015-09-01

To better understand and characterize heating performance, the U.S. Department of Energy Building America team, Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), monitored seven inverter-driven ASHPs across the northeast United States during the winter of 2013–2014.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vigeant, Paul; Miller, John; Howes, Brian

Project Goals: The funding provided by this contract supported the following activities: A) Test Site Development; B) Seed Grant Funded Technology Development; C) Stakeholder Activities The first year of funding was dedicated to the formation of the NE MREC University Consortium which was comprised of University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMD) and Amherst (UMA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of New Hampshire (UNH), and the University of Rhode Island (URI). The consortium worked together to encourage research and promote benefits of obtaining energy from ocean wind, waves, tides and currents. In addition, NE MREC’s goalmore » was to fund projects aimed at potential test sites with the first year funding going to studies of the potential for tidal device testing in Muskeget Channel, at the General Sullivan Bridge in New Hampshire, and for wave device testing at the proposed National Offshore Renewable Energy Innovation Zone (NOREIZ) located off the Massachusetts coast. The project spanned 4.5 years and addressed three specific tasks that are interrelated but also served as independent investigations.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Solar water heating systems are not new, but they have not become prevalent in most of the U.S. Most of the country is cold enough that indirect solar thermal systems are required for freeze protection, and average installed cost of these systems is $9,000 to $10,000 for typical systems on single-family homes. These costs can vary significantly in different markets and with different contractors, and federal and regional incentives can reduce these up-front costs by 50% or more. In western Massachusetts, an affordable housing developer built a community of 20 homes with a goal of approaching zero net energy consumption.more » In addition to excellent thermal envelopes and PV systems, the developer installed a solar domestic water heating system (SDHW) on each home. The Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), a research consortium funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Building America program, commissioned some of the systems, and CARB was able to monitor detailed performance of one system for 28 months.« less

Modeling urban building energy use: A review of modeling approaches and procedures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Wenliang; Zhou, Yuyu; Cetin, Kristen

With rapid urbanization and economic development, the world has been experiencing an unprecedented increase in energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions is a common interest shared by major developed and developing countries, actions to enable these global reductions are generally implemented at the city scale. This is because baseline information from individual cities plays an important role in identifying economical options for improving building energy efficiency and reducing GHG emissions. Numerous approaches have been proposed for modeling urban building energy use in the past decades. This paper aims to provide an up-to-datemore » review of the broad categories of energy models for urban buildings and describes the basic workflow of physics-based, bottom-up models and their applications in simulating urban-scale building energy use. Because there are significant differences across models with varied potential for application, strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed models are also presented. This is followed by a discussion of challenging issues associated with model preparation and calibration.« less

Modeling urban building energy use: A review of modeling approaches and procedures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Wenliang; Zhou, Yuyu; Cetin, Kristen

With rapid urbanization and economic development, the world has been experiencing an unprecedented increase in energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions is a common interest shared by major developed and developing countries, actions to enable these global reductions are generally implemented at the city scale. This is because baseline information from individual cities plays an important role in identifying economical options for improving building energy efficiency and reducing GHG emissions. Numerous approaches have been proposed for modeling urban building energy use in the past decades. Our paper aims to provide an up-to-datemore » review of the broad categories of energy models for urban buildings and describes the basic workflow of physics-based, bottom-up models and their applications in simulating urban-scale building energy use. Because there are significant differences across models with varied potential for application, strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed models are also presented. We then follow this with a discussion of challenging issues associated with model preparation and calibration.« less

Modeling urban building energy use: A review of modeling approaches and procedures

DOE PAGES

Li, Wenliang; Zhou, Yuyu; Cetin, Kristen; ...

2017-11-13

With rapid urbanization and economic development, the world has been experiencing an unprecedented increase in energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions is a common interest shared by major developed and developing countries, actions to enable these global reductions are generally implemented at the city scale. This is because baseline information from individual cities plays an important role in identifying economical options for improving building energy efficiency and reducing GHG emissions. Numerous approaches have been proposed for modeling urban building energy use in the past decades. Our paper aims to provide an up-to-datemore » review of the broad categories of energy models for urban buildings and describes the basic workflow of physics-based, bottom-up models and their applications in simulating urban-scale building energy use. Because there are significant differences across models with varied potential for application, strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed models are also presented. We then follow this with a discussion of challenging issues associated with model preparation and calibration.« less

Direct Energy Consumption Associated Emissions by Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Beijing.

PubMed

Ru, Muye; Tao, Shu; Smith, Kirk; Shen, Guofeng; Shen, Huizhong; Huang, Ye; Chen, Han; Chen, Yilin; Chen, Xi; Liu, Junfeng; Li, Bengang; Wang, Xilong; He, Canfei

2015-11-17

Hundreds of millions of rural residents have migrated to cities in China in recent years. Different lifestyles and living conditions lead to substantial changes in their household energy. Here, we present the result of a survey on direct household energy use of low-skilled rural-to-urban migrants in Beijing. The migrants moved up the energy ladder immediately after arriving in the city by replacing biomass fuels with coal, electricity, and liquefied petroleum gas. After the original shift, pattern of household energy use by the migrants has not changed much over decades, likely due to the long-existing household registration system (Hukou). As a result, the mix of energy types used by the rural-to-urban migrants were different from those by long-term urban residents, although total quantities were similar. Shifting from biomass fuels to coal, the migrants emitted 2.4 times more non-neutral CO2 than rural residents and 14% more than urban residents. The migration also resulted in significant increase in emissions of SO2 and mercury but dramatic decreases in some incomplete combustion products including particulate matter. All these changes have significant implication on air quality, health, and climate considering the scale of urbanization in China.

24 CFR 965.306 - Energy conservation equipment and practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Energy conservation equipment and... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.306 Energy conservation equipment and practices. In purchasing original or, when needed...

24 CFR 965.306 - Energy conservation equipment and practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Energy conservation equipment and... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.306 Energy conservation equipment and practices. In purchasing original or, when needed...

24 CFR 965.306 - Energy conservation equipment and practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Energy conservation equipment and... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.306 Energy conservation equipment and practices. In purchasing original or, when needed...

24 CFR 965.306 - Energy conservation equipment and practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Energy conservation equipment and... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.306 Energy conservation equipment and practices. In purchasing original or, when needed...

24 CFR 965.306 - Energy conservation equipment and practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Energy conservation equipment and... URBAN DEVELOPMENT PHA-OWNED OR LEASED PROJECTS-GENERAL PROVISIONS Energy Audits and Energy Conservation Measures § 965.306 Energy conservation equipment and practices. In purchasing original or, when needed...

Final Technical Report. DeepCwind Consortium Research Program. January 15, 2010 - March 31, 2013

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dagher, Habib; Viselli, Anthony; Goupee, Andrew

This is the final technical report for the U.S. Department of Energy-funded program, DE-0002981: DeepCwind Consortium Research Program. The project objective was the partial validation of coupled models and optimization of materials for offshore wind structures. The United States has a great opportunity to harness an indigenous abundant renewable energy resource: offshore wind. In 2010, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimated there to be over 4,000 GW of potential offshore wind energy found within 50 nautical miles of the US coastlines (Musial and Ram, 2010). The US Energy Information Administration reported the total annual US electric energy generation inmore » 2010 was 4,120 billion kilowatt-hours (equivalent to 470 GW) (US EIA, 2011), slightly more than 10% of the potential offshore wind resource. In addition, deep water offshore wind is the dominant US ocean energy resource available comprising 75% of the total assessed ocean energy resource as compared to wave and tidal resources (Musial, 2008). Through these assessments it is clear offshore wind can be a major contributor to US energy supplies. The caveat to capturing offshore wind along many parts of the US coast is deep water. Nearly 60%, or 2,450 GW, of the estimated US offshore wind resource is located in water depths of 60 m or more (Musial and Ram, 2010). At water depths over 60 m building fixed offshore wind turbine foundations, such as those found in Europe, is likely economically infeasible (Musial et al., 2006). Therefore floating wind turbine technology is seen as the best option for extracting a majority of the US offshore wind energy resource. Volume 1 - Test Site; Volume 2 - Coupled Models; and Volume 3 - Composite Materials« less

A community survey of the pattern and determinants of household sources of energy for cooking in rural and urban south western, Nigeria.

PubMed

Desalu, Olufemi Olumuyiwa; Ojo, Ololade Olusola; Ariyibi, Ebenezer Kayode; Kolawole, Tolutope Fasanmi; Ogunleye, Ayodele Idowu

2012-01-01

The use of solid fuels for cooking is associated with indoor pollution and lung diseases. The objective of the study was to determine the pattern and determinants of household sources of energy for cooking in rural and urban South Western, Nigeria. We conducted a cross sectional study of households in urban (Ado-Ekiti) and rural (Ido-Ekiti) local council areas from April to July 2010. Female respondents in the households were interviewed by trained interviewers using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 670 households participated in the study. Majority of rural dwellers used single source of energy for cooking (55.6%) and urban dwellers used multiple source of energy (57.8%). Solid fuel use (SFU) was higher in rural (29.6%) than in urban areas (21.7%). Kerosene was the most common primary source of energy for cooking in both urban and rural areas (59.0% vs.66.6%) followed by gas (17.8%) and charcoal (6.6%) in the urban areas, and firewood (21.6%) and charcoal (7.1%) in the rural areas. The use of solid fuel was strongly associated with lack of ownership of dwellings and larger household size in urban areas, and lower level of education and lower level of wealth in the rural areas. Kerosene was associated with higher level of husband education and modern housing in urban areas and younger age and indoor cooking in rural areas. Gas was associated with high income and modern housing in the urban areas and high level of wealth in rural areas. Electricity was associated with high level of education, availability of electricity and old age in urban and rural areas respectively. The use of solid fuel is high in rural areas, there is a need to reduce poverty and improve the use of cleaner source of cooking energy particularly in rural areas and improve lung health.

A community survey of the pattern and determinants of household sources of energy for cooking in rural and urban south western, Nigeria

PubMed Central

Desalu, Olufemi Olumuyiwa; Ojo, Ololade Olusola; Ariyibi, Ebenezer Kayode; Kolawole, Tolutope Fasanmi; Ogunleye, Ayodele Idowu

2012-01-01

Introduction The use of solid fuels for cooking is associated with indoor pollution and lung diseases. The objective of the study was to determine the pattern and determinants of household sources of energy for cooking in rural and urban South Western, Nigeria. Methods We conducted a cross sectional study of households in urban (Ado-Ekiti) and rural (Ido-Ekiti) local council areas from April to July 2010. Female respondents in the households were interviewed by trained interviewers using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results A total of 670 households participated in the study. Majority of rural dwellers used single source of energy for cooking (55.6%) and urban dwellers used multiple source of energy (57.8%). Solid fuel use (SFU) was higher in rural (29.6%) than in urban areas (21.7%). Kerosene was the most common primary source of energy for cooking in both urban and rural areas (59.0% vs.66.6%) followed by gas (17.8%) and charcoal (6.6%) in the urban areas, and firewood (21.6%) and charcoal (7.1%) in the rural areas. The use of solid fuel was strongly associated with lack of ownership of dwellings and larger household size in urban areas, and lower level of education and lower level of wealth in the rural areas. Kerosene was associated with higher level of husband education and modern housing in urban areas and younger age and indoor cooking in rural areas. Gas was associated with high income and modern housing in the urban areas and high level of wealth in rural areas. Electricity was associated with high level of education, availability of electricity and old age in urban and rural areas respectively. Conclusion The use of solid fuel is high in rural areas, there is a need to reduce poverty and improve the use of cleaner source of cooking energy particularly in rural areas and improve lung health. PMID:22826727

Dynamics of the Urban Water-Energy Nexuses of Mumbai and London

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Stercke, S.; Mijic, A.; Buytaert, W.; Chaturvedi, V.

2016-12-01

Both in developing as well as industrialized countries, cities are seeing their populations increase as more people concentrate in urban settlements. This burdens existing water and energy systems, which are also increasingly stressed on the supply side due to availability, and policy goals. In addition to the water and energy embedded in the electricity, fuels and water delivered to the city, the linkages in the urban environment itself are important and in magnitude they significantly exceed those upstream in the case of industrialized countries. However, little research has been published on urban water-energy linkages in developing countries. For cities in general, there is also a dearth of studies on the dynamics of these linkages with urban growth and socioeconomic development, and hence of the mutual influence of the urban water and energy systems. System dynamics modeling was used to understand and simulate these dynamics, building on modeling techniques from the water, energy, and urban systems literature. For each of the two characteristically different cities of Mumbai and London a model was constructed and calibrated with data from various public sources and personal interviews. The differences between the two cases are discussed by means of the models. Transition pathways to sustainable cities with respect to water use, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are illustrated for each city. Furthermore, uncertainties and model sensitivity, and their implications, are presented. Finally, applicability of either or a hybrid of these models to other cities is investigated.

Synergistic Microbial Consortium for Bioenergy Generation from Complex Natural Energy Sources

PubMed Central

Yam, Joey Kuok Hoong; Chua, Song-Lin; Zhang, Qichun; Cao, Bin; Chye, Joachim Loo Say

2014-01-01

Microbial species have evolved diverse mechanisms for utilization of complex carbon sources. Proper combination of targeted species can affect bioenergy production from natural waste products. Here, we established a stable microbial consortium with Escherichia coli and Shewanella oneidensis in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to produce bioenergy from an abundant natural energy source, in the form of the sarcocarp harvested from coconuts. This component is mostly discarded as waste. However, through its usage as a feedstock for MFCs to produce useful energy in this study, the sarcocarp can be utilized meaningfully. The monospecies S. oneidensis system was able to generate bioenergy in a short experimental time frame while the monospecies E. coli system generated significantly less bioenergy. A combination of E. coli and S. oneidensis in the ratio of 1 : 9 (v : v) significantly enhanced the experimental time frame and magnitude of bioenergy generation. The synergistic effect is suggested to arise from E. coli and S. oneidensis utilizing different nutrients as electron donors and effect of flavins secreted by S. oneidensis. Confocal images confirmed the presence of biofilms and point towards their importance in generating bioenergy in MFCs. PMID:25097866

Urban climate and energy demand interaction in Northern Eurasia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasilova, E. V.; Ginzburg, A. S.; Demchenko, P. F.

2017-11-01

The regional and urban climate change in Northern Eurasia is one of the main challenges for sustainable development of human habitats situated in boreal and temperate areas. The half of primary energy is spent for space heating even under quite a mild European climate. Implementation of the district heating in urban areas is currently seen as one of the key conditions of sustainable development. The clear understanding of main problems of the urban climateenergy demand interaction is crucial for both small towns and megacities. The specific features of the urban energy systems in Finland, Russia and China under the changing climate conditions were studied. Regional manifestations of the climate change were examined. The climate projections were established for urban regions of the Northern Eurasia. It was shown that the climate warming is likely to continue intensively there. History and actual development trends were discussed for the urban district heating systems in Russia, China and Finland. Common challenges linked with the climate change have been identified for the considered areas. Adaptation possibilities were discussed taking into account climate-energy interactions.

Consolidated Bio-Processing of Cellulosic Biomass for Efficient Biofuel Production Using Yeast Consortium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goyal, Garima

Fossil fuels have been the major source for liquid transportation fuels for ages. However, decline in oil reserves and environmental concerns have raised a lot of interest in alternative and renewable energy sources. One promising alternative is the conversion of plant biomass into ethanol. The primary biomass feed stocks currently being used for the ethanol industry have been food based biomass (corn and sugar cane). However, interest has recently shifted to replace these traditional feed-stocks with more abundant, non-food based cellulosic biomass such as agriculture wastes (corn stover) or crops (switch grass). The use of cellulosic biomass as feed stock for the production of ethanol via bio-chemical routes presents many technical challenges not faced with the use of corn or sugar-cane as feed-stock. Recently, a new process called consolidated Bio-processing (CBP) has been proposed. This process combines simultaneous saccharification of lignocellulose with fermentation of the resulting sugars into a single process step mediated by a single microorganism or microbial consortium. Although there is no natural microorganism that possesses all properties of lignocellulose utilization and ethanol production desired for CBP, some bacteria and fungi exhibit some of the essential traits. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most attractive host organism for the usage of this strategy due to its high ethanol productivity at close to theoretical yields (0.51g ethanol/g glucose consumed), high osmo- and ethanol- tolerance, natural robustness in industrial processes, and ease of genetic manipulation. Introduction of the cellulosome, found naturally in microorganisms, has shown new directions to deal with recalcitrant biomass. In this case enzymes work in synergy in order to hydrolyze biomass more effectively than in case of free enzymes. A microbial consortium has been successfully developed, which ensures the functional assembly of minicellulosome on the yeast surface composed of four yeast populations. These yeast populations include: one displaying scaffoldin on its surface and three populations secreting three different cellulases in the medium to hydrolyze the cellulose. The modular nature of the consortium system allows for the fine-tuning of each population by changing their initial inoculum ratio, thereby optimizing the cellulose hydrolysis and hence ethanol production. When comparing the optimized consortium with equal ratio consortium, the optimized one produced almost double the amount of ethanol (1.87 g/l) with a yield of 0.475 g ethanol/g cellulose. To further evaluate the feasibility of using consortium for CBP, it was grown at very low optical density (OD) under anaerobic conditions. Under stressful conditions like low OD and no oxygen, the consortium system was proficient in assembling the cellulosome on its surface and growing on the PAS-avicel as sole carbon source and concomitantly producing ethanol with a yield of 87% of the theoretical value. For the dynamic study of yeast consortium system, quantitative real time PCR was used to enumerate the individual yeast population in the mixed culture. At the end of the cultivation, ratios of each population in this consortium maintained similar number as the initial inoculums ratios, which further confirms the consortium system is suitable for the application of CBP.

Developing consistent Landsat data sets for large area applications: the MRLC 2001 protocol

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chander, G.; Huang, Chengquan; Yang, Limin; Homer, Collin G.; Larson, C.

2009-01-01

One of the major efforts in large area land cover mapping over the last two decades was the completion of two U.S. National Land Cover Data sets (NLCD), developed with nominal 1992 and 2001 Landsat imagery under the auspices of the MultiResolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. Following the successful generation of NLCD 1992, a second generation MRLC initiative was launched with two primary goals: (1) to develop a consistent Landsat imagery data set for the U.S. and (2) to develop a second generation National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001). One of the key enhancements was the formulation of an image preprocessing protocol and implementation of a consistent image processing method. The core data set of the NLCD 2001 database consists of Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images. This letter details the procedures for processing the original ETM+ images and more recent scenes added to the database. NLCD 2001 products include Anderson Level II land cover classes, percent tree canopy, and percent urban imperviousness at 30-m resolution derived from Landsat imagery. The products are freely available for download to the general public from the MRLC Consortium Web site at http://www.mrlc.gov.

CPERC CONSORTIUM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boopathy, Ramaraj

2012-12-31

CPERC’s activities focused on two major themes: (a) cost-effective production of next-generation fuels with a focus on hydrogen from gasification and biofuels (primarily ethanol and butanol), and (b) efficient utilization of hydrogen and biofuels for power generation with a focus on improved performance, greater reliability and reduced energy costs.

Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute (KWRRI)

Science.gov Websites

HOME Home Programs History of the Institute USGS Institute Faculty Research Support Technology Watershed Management University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center Kentucky Research Consortium on Energy Environmental Research and Training Laboratory (ERTL) Kentucky Geological Survey For Faculty Faculty Research

Battery Test Manual For 12 Volt Start/Stop Hybrid Electric Vehicles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Belt, Jeffrey R.

This manual was prepared by and for the United Stated Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) Electrochemical Energy Storage Team. It is based on the targets established for 12 Volt Start/Stop energy storage development and is similar (with some important changes) to an earlier manual for the former FreedomCAR program. The specific procedures were developed primarily to characterize the performance of energy storage devices relative to the USABC requirements. However, it is anticipated that these procedures will have some utility for characterizing 12 Volt Start/Stop hybrid energy storage device behavior in general.

Development of a microbial process for the recovery of petroleum oil from depleted reservoirs at 91-96°C.

PubMed

Arora, Preeti; Ranade, Dilip R; Dhakephalkar, Prashant K

2014-08-01

A consortium of bacteria growing at 91°C and above (optimally at 96°C) was developed for the recovery of crude oil from declining/depleted oil reservoirs having temperature of more than 91°C. PCR-DGGE-Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA gene fragments of NJS-4 consortium revealed the presence of four strains identified as members of the genus Clostridium. The metabolites produced by NJS-4 consortium included volatile fatty acids, organic acids, surfactants, exopolysaccarides and CO2, which reduced viscosity, emulsified crude oil and increased the pressure that facilitated displacement of emulsified oil towards the surface. NJS-4 enhanced oil recovery by 26.7% and 10.1% in sand pack trials and core flood studies respectively in optimized nutrient medium comprised of sucrose and sodium acetate as carbon/energy source and urea as nitrogen source (pH 7-9, 96°C, and 4% salinity). Nutrient medium for MEOR was constituted using commercial grade cheap nutrients to improve the economic viability of MEOR process. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-throughput pyrosequencing used for the discovery of a novel cellulase from a thermophilic cellulose-degrading microbial consortium.

PubMed

Zhao, Chao; Chu, Yanan; Li, Yanhong; Yang, Chengfeng; Chen, Yuqing; Wang, Xumin; Liu, Bin

2017-01-01

To analyze the microbial diversity and gene content of a thermophilic cellulose-degrading consortium from hot springs in Xiamen, China using 454 pyrosequencing for discovering cellulolytic enzyme resources. A thermophilic cellulose-degrading consortium, XM70 that was isolated from a hot spring, used sugarcane bagasse as sole carbon and energy source. DNA sequencing of the XM70 sample resulted in 349,978 reads with an average read length of 380 bases, accounting for 133,896,867 bases of sequence information. The characterization of sequencing reads and assembled contigs revealed that most microbes were derived from four phyla: Geobacillus (Firmicutes), Thermus, Bacillus, and Anoxybacillus. Twenty-eight homologous genes belonging to 15 glycoside hydrolase families were detected, including several cellulase genes. A novel hot spring metagenome-derived thermophilic cellulase was expressed and characterized. The application value of thermostable sugarcane bagasse-degrading enzymes is shown for production of cellulosic biofuel. The practical power of using a short-read-based metagenomic approach for harvesting novel microbial genes is also demonstrated.

Energy Efficiency Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Krebs, Martha

The Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI) was established through a Funding Opportunity Announcement led by the U.S. Department of Energy, under a cooperative agreement managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. CBEI is led by The Pennsylvania State University and is composed of partners from academia, the private sector, and economic development agencies. The Consortium has included as many as 24 different partners over the five years, but 14 have been core to the work over the five year cooperative agreement. CBEI primarily focused on developing energy efficiency solutions for the small and medium commercial building market, with amore » focus on buildings less than 50,000 square feet. This market has been underserved by the energy efficiency industry, which has focused on larger commercial buildings where the scale of an individual retrofit lends itself to the use of sophisticated modeling tools and more advanced solutions. Owners/operators and retrofit providers for larger buildings have a greater level of understanding of, and experience with different solutions. In contrast, smaller commercial building retrofits, like residential retrofits, often have owners with less knowledge about energy management and less time to learn about it. This market segment is also served by retrofit providers that are smaller and often focused on particular building systems, e.g. heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, roofing, or insulation. The size of a smaller commercial building retrofit does not lend itself, from a cost perspective, to the application of multiple, sophisticated design and modeling tools, which means that they are less likely to have integrated solutions.« less

Wind-energy Science, Technology and Research (WindSTAR) Consortium: Curriculum, Workforce Development, and Education Plan Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Manwell, James

2013-03-19

The purpose of the project is to modify and expand the current wind energy curriculum at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and to develop plans to expand the graduate program to a national scale. The expansion plans include the foundational steps to establish the American Academy of Wind Energy (AAWE). The AAWE is intended to be a cooperative organization of wind energy research, development, and deployment institutes and universities across North America, whose mission will be to develop and execute joint RD&D projects and to organize high-level science and education in wind energy

Energy efficiency in urban management: Russian and world experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pryadko, Igor

2017-10-01

The article discusses the role of energetics in creating a comfortable and safe environment of modern megacities, and the problem is considered in the socio-economic aspect. The object is the energy security of the city, and the subject is the influence of urban society on the formation of energy security. In particular, the problems are raised: ecological problems of urban energy supply, the condition of surface layer of the atmosphere near electric power lines. The author assesses the actions, implemented by the urban authorities in Mytischi, in the southwestern areas of New Moscow. The author assesses these sample areas on the basis of Ch. Landry’s concept of self-training, designated for municipal authorities and urban communities, and offers several successfully implemented self-study cases and in the light of modern methods of ensuring energy security. The forecasts of creation of energy-safe space, made by modern sociologist-urbanist Leo Hollis, are taken into account. The author also considers some of the economic aspects of biosphere safety. In particular, he insists that biosphere safety, convenience, and comfort have developed into competitive advantages in the housing market.

Undergraduate research studies program at participating institutions of the HBCU fossil energy consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhatia, S.C.; Cardelino, B.H.; Hall, J.H. Jr.

1990-04-30

The objectives of this research program are to expose students in minority institutions to energy and fossil fuels research, to stimulate their interest in the sciences and engineering, and to encourage them to pursue graduate studies, thereby ensuring the necessary supply of manpower for the industrial and energy sectors of the national economy. This report describes a project focused on the surface chemical properties of coal and their influence on the adsorption of aqueous soluble catalyst metals, and research on the characterization of coal liquids. 2 refs., 1 fig.

Indoor characterization of the receiver for the novel InPhoCUS concrete tracker CPV system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pravettoni, Mauro; Cooper, Thomas; Ambrosetti, Gianluca; Steinfeld, Aldo

2012-10-01

The Swiss consortium InPhoCUS has been formed between Airlight Energy Manufacturing SA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (thermal modelling and CPV characterization and qualification, respectively). The consortium is developing an innovative 50-meter long, 9-meter wide, 2-axis concentrating system. The secondary tracking axis allows reaching concentration ratios as high as 500X. Indoor characterization of the 5-cell receiver has been performed to test the effects of the cell-to-cell non-uniformity of irradiance. Results are presented in this work and are also helpful in the development of new techniques for the indoor characterization of CPV receivers.

Biodegradation of 2-nitrotoluene by Micrococcus sp. strain SMN-1.

PubMed

Mulla, Sikandar I; Hoskeri, Robertcyril S; Shouche, Yogesh S; Ninnekar, Harichandra Z

2011-02-01

A bacterial consortium capable of degrading nitroaromatic compounds was isolated from pesticide-contaminated soil samples by selective enrichment on 2-nitrotoluene as a sole source of carbon and energy. The three different bacterial isolates obtained from bacterial consortium were identified as Bacillus sp. (A and C), Bacillus flexus (B) and Micrococcus sp. (D) on the basis of their morphological and biochemical characteristics and by phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The pathway for the degradation of 2-nitrotoluene by Micrococcus sp. strain SMN-1 was elucidated by the isolation and identification of metabolites, growth and enzymatic studies. The organism degraded 2-nitrotoluene through 3-methylcatechol by a meta-cleavage pathway, with release of nitrite.

Impact of urban sprawl on United States residential energy use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rong, Fang

Improving energy efficiency through technological advances has been the focus of U.S. energy policy for decades. However, there is evidence that technology alone will be neither sufficient nor timely enough to solve looming crises associated with fossil fuel dependence and resulting greenhouse gas accumulation. Hence attention is shifting to demand-side measures. While the impact of urban sprawl on transportation energy use has been studied to a degree, the impact of sprawl on non-transport residential energy use represents a new area of inquiry. This dissertation is the first study linking sprawl to residential energy use and provides empirical support for compact land-use developments, which, as a demand-side measure, might play an important role in achieving sustainable residential energy consumption. This dissertation develops an original conceptual framework linking urban sprawl to residential energy use through electricity transmission and distribution losses and two mediators, housing stock and formation of urban heat islands. These two mediators are the focuses of this dissertation. By tapping multiple databases and performing statistical and geographical spatial analyses, this dissertation finds that (1) big houses consume more energy than small ones and single-family detached housing consumes more energy than multifamily or single-family attached housing; (2) residents of sprawling metro areas are more likely to live in single-family detached rather than attached or multifamily housing and are also expected to live in big houses; (3) a compact metro area is expected to have stronger urban heat island effects; (4) nationwide, urban heat island phenomena bring about a small energy reward, due to less energy demand on space heating, while they impose an energy penalty in States with a hot climate like Texas, due to higher energy demand for cooling; and taken all these together, (5) residents of sprawling metro areas are expected to consume more energy at home than residents of compact metro areas. This dissertation concludes with the policy implications that emerged from this study and suggestions for future research as well.

Microbial fuel cells: Running on gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Zhiyong Jason

2017-06-01

Methane is an abundant energy source that is used for power generation in thermal power plants via combustion, but direct conversion to electricity in fuel cells remains challenging. Now, a microbial fuel cell is demonstrated to efficiently convert methane directly to current by careful selection of a consortium of microorganisms.

Energy and Obesity--The 2008 Keystone Youth Policy Summits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

NCSSSMST Journal, 2009

2009-01-01

Keystone Science School and Keystone Center for Science and Public Policy programs blend learning in the natural world with developing mediation and conflict resolution skills. Since 2004, these two divisions of The Keystone Center in Colorado have partnered with the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and…

East Bay Consortium of Educational Institutions Visits Berkeley Lab

Science.gov Websites

) Website Submit Comment Connect twitter instagram LinkedIn facebook youtube Calendar Instructions »  facebook youtube A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Managed by the University of California Questions & Comments Privacy & Security Notice twitter instagram LinkedIn facebook youtube

Genome wide association analyses based on a multiple trait approach for modeling feed efficiency

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Genome wide association (GWA) of feed efficiency (FE) could help target important genomic regions influencing FE. Data provided by an international dairy FE research consortium consisted of phenotypic records on dry matter intakes (DMI), milk energy (MILKE), and metabolic body weight (MBW) on 6,937 ...

Electroactive polymers for gaining sea power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scherber, Benedikt; Grauer, Matthias; Köllnberger, Andreas

2013-04-01

Target of this article will be the energy harvesting with dielectric elastomers for wave energy conversion. The main goal of this article is to introduce a new developed material profile enabling a specific amount of energy, making the harvesting process competitive against other existing offshore generation technologies. Electroactive polymers offer the chance to start with small wave energy converters to gain experiences and carry out a similar development as wind energy. Meanwhile there is a consortium being formed in Germany to develop such materials and processes for future products in this new business area. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the technological advancements, a scale demonstrator of a wave energy generator will be developed as well.

Life cycle implications of urban green infrastructure.

PubMed

Spatari, Sabrina; Yu, Ziwen; Montalto, Franco A

2011-01-01

Low Impact Development (LID) is part of a new paradigm in urban water management that aims to decentralize water storage and movement functions within urban watersheds. LID strategies can restore ecosystem functions and reduce runoff loadings to municipal water pollution control facilities (WPCF). This research examines the avoided energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of select LID strategies using life cycle assessment (LCA) and a stochastic urban watershed model. We estimate annual energy savings and avoided GHG emissions of 7.3 GJ and 0.4 metric tons, respectively, for a LID strategy implemented in a neighborhood in New York City. Annual savings are small compared to the energy and GHG intensity of the LID materials, resulting in slow environmental payback times. This preliminary analysis suggests that if implemented throughout an urban watershed, LID strategies may have important energy cost savings to WPCF, and can make progress towards reducing their carbon footprint. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measure for Measure: Urban Water and Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chini, C.; Stillwell, A. S.

2017-12-01

Urban environments in the United States account for a majority of the population and, as such, require large volumes of treated drinking water supply and wastewater removal, both of which need energy. Despite the large share of water that urban environments demand, there is limited accounting of these water resources outside of the city itself. In this study, we provide and analyze a database of drinking water and wastewater utility flows and energy that comprise anthropogenic fluxes of water through the urban environment. We present statistical analyses of the database at an annual, spatial, and intra-annual scale. The average daily per person water flux is estimated as 563 liters of drinking water and 496 liters of wastewater, requiring 340 kWh/1000 m3 and 430 kWh/1000 m3 of energy, respectively, to treat these resources. This energy demand accounts for 1% of the total annual electricity production of the United States. Additionally, the water and embedded energy loss associated with non-revenue water (estimated at 15.8% annually) accounts for 9.1 km3of water and 3600 GWh, enough electricity to power 300,000 U.S. households annually. Through the analysis and benchmarking of the current state of urban water fluxes, we propose the term `blue city,' which promotes urban sustainability and conservation policy focusing on water resources. As the nation's water resources become scarcer and more unpredictable, it is essential to include water resources in urban sustainability planning and continue data collection of these vital resources.

Surface temperatures in New York City: Geospatial data enables the accurate prediction of radiative heat transfer.

PubMed

Ghandehari, Masoud; Emig, Thorsten; Aghamohamadnia, Milad

2018-02-02

Despite decades of research seeking to derive the urban energy budget, the dynamics of thermal exchange in the densely constructed environment is not yet well understood. Using New York City as a study site, we present a novel hybrid experimental-computational approach for a better understanding of the radiative heat transfer in complex urban environments. The aim of this work is to contribute to the calculation of the urban energy budget, particularly the stored energy. We will focus our attention on surface thermal radiation. Improved understanding of urban thermodynamics incorporating the interaction of various bodies, particularly in high rise cities, will have implications on energy conservation at the building scale, and for human health and comfort at the urban scale. The platform presented is based on longwave hyperspectral imaging of nearly 100 blocks of Manhattan, in addition to a geospatial radiosity model that describes the collective radiative heat exchange between multiple buildings. Despite assumptions in surface emissivity and thermal conductivity of buildings walls, the close comparison of temperatures derived from measurements and computations is promising. Results imply that the presented geospatial thermodynamic model of urban structures can enable accurate and high resolution analysis of instantaneous urban surface temperatures.

New Energy Efficient Housing Has Reduced Carbon Footprints in Outer but Not in Inner Urban Areas.

PubMed

Ottelin, Juudit; Heinonen, Jukka; Junnila, Seppo

2015-08-18

Avoiding urban sprawl and increasing density are often considered as effective means to mitigate climate change through urban planning. However, there have been rapid technological changes in the fields of housing energy and private driving, and the development is continuing. In this study, we analyze the carbon footprints of the residents living in new housing in different urban forms in Finland. We compare the new housing to existing housing stock. In all areas, the emissions from housing energy were significantly lower in new buildings. However, in the inner urban areas the high level of consumption, mostly due to higher affluence, reverse the gains of energy efficient new housing. The smallest carbon footprints were found in newly built outer and peri-urban areas, also when income level differences were taken into account. Rather than strengthening the juxtaposition of urban and suburban areas, we suggest that it would be smarter to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both modes of living and develop a more systemic strategy that would result in greater sustainability in both areas. Since such strategy does not exist yet, it should be researched and practically developed. It would be beneficial to focus on area specific mitigation measures.

Lakeside: Merging Urban Design with Scientific Analysis

ScienceCinema

Guzowski, Leah; Catlett, Charlie; Woodbury, Ed

2018-01-16

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago are developing tools that merge urban design with scientific analysis to improve the decision-making process associated with large-scale urban developments. One such tool, called LakeSim, has been prototyped with an initial focus on consumer-driven energy and transportation demand, through a partnership with the Chicago-based architectural and engineering design firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Clean Energy Trust and developer McCaffery Interests. LakeSim began with the need to answer practical questions about urban design and planning, requiring a better understanding about the long-term impact of design decisions on energy and transportation demand for a 600-acre development project on Chicago's South Side - the Chicago Lakeside Development project.

Feigned Ignorance is Bliss: Chinese Energy Investments in Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-23

foreboding economic competitor on a massive scale. Among such are those in the U.S. who argue that China’s aggressive quest for oil jeopardizes U.S. energy...might offer a glimpse of this reality. According to Anne Korin, Co-Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, “I don’t think there...largest shareholder in a major consortium in Sudan called the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, which includes as shareholders Petronas

The role of universities in energy and environmental R & D: An extended outline

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Drucker, H.

1995-12-31

Issues related to university research and development roles in energy and environmental areas are very briefly outlined in the paper. Fundamental issues discussed include basic versus applied science, and applied science versus technology development. Some specific issues appropriate for university research are identified, such as desulfurizing coal and managing mixed wastes in groundwater. The Plant Biotechnology consortium is described as a model that builds on university strengths in basic and applied technology.

Developing a landscape of urban building energy use with improved spatiotemporal representations in a cool-humid climate

DOE PAGES

Li, Wenliang; Zhou, Yuyu; Cetin, Kristen S.; ...

2018-03-24

Urban buildings account for up to 75% of total energy use in the United States (U.S.). Understanding urban building energy use is important for developing feasible options to mitigate energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, an improved bottom-up building energy use model, named City Building Energy Use Model (CityBEUM), was developed to estimate building energy use for all buildings in Polk County, Iowa. First, 28 commercial and 6 residential building prototypes were designed by combing Assessor's parcel data and building footprint data. Then, the EnergyPlus in the CityBEUM was calibrated for all building prototypes using the U.S.more » Energy Information Administration's survey data, monthly utility meter data, and actual weather data. Finally, spatial and temporal variations of building energy use in the study area were estimated using the CityBEUM. Results indicate that the spatial variation of building energy use in the study area can be captured using the CityBEUM. With the monthly-calibrated model, the temporal pattern of urban building energy use can be well represented. The comparison of building energy use using the Typical Meteorological Year and actual weather data demonstrates the importance of using actual weather data in building energy modeling for an improved temporal representation.« less

Developing a landscape of urban building energy use with improved spatiotemporal representations in a cool-humid climate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Wenliang; Zhou, Yuyu; Cetin, Kristen S.

Urban buildings account for up to 75% of total energy use in the United States (U.S.). Understanding urban building energy use is important for developing feasible options to mitigate energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, an improved bottom-up building energy use model, named City Building Energy Use Model (CityBEUM), was developed to estimate building energy use for all buildings in Polk County, Iowa. First, 28 commercial and 6 residential building prototypes were designed by combing Assessor's parcel data and building footprint data. Then, the EnergyPlus in the CityBEUM was calibrated for all building prototypes using the U.S.more » Energy Information Administration's survey data, monthly utility meter data, and actual weather data. Finally, spatial and temporal variations of building energy use in the study area were estimated using the CityBEUM. Results indicate that the spatial variation of building energy use in the study area can be captured using the CityBEUM. With the monthly-calibrated model, the temporal pattern of urban building energy use can be well represented. The comparison of building energy use using the Typical Meteorological Year and actual weather data demonstrates the importance of using actual weather data in building energy modeling for an improved temporal representation.« less

Urban energy consumption and related carbon emission estimation: a study at the sector scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Weiwei; Chen, Chen; Su, Meirong; Chen, Bin; Cai, Yanpeng; Xing, Tao

2013-12-01

With rapid economic development and energy consumption growth, China has become the largest energy consumer in the world. Impelled by extensive international concern, there is an urgent need to analyze the characteristics of energy consumption and related carbon emission, with the objective of saving energy, reducing carbon emission, and lessening environmental impact. Focusing on urban ecosystems, the biggest energy consumer, a method for estimating energy consumption and related carbon emission was established at the urban sector scale in this paper. Based on data for 1996-2010, the proposed method was applied to Beijing in a case study to analyze the consumption of different energy resources (i.e., coal, oil, gas, and electricity) and related carbon emission in different sectors (i.e., agriculture, industry, construction, transportation, household, and service sectors). The results showed that coal and oil contributed most to energy consumption and carbon emission among different energy resources during the study period, while the industrial sector consumed the most energy and emitted the most carbon among different sectors. Suggestions were put forward for energy conservation and emission reduction in Beijing. The analysis of energy consumption and related carbon emission at the sector scale is helpful for practical energy saving and emission reduction in urban ecosystems.

Empirical Research on Decoupling Relationship between Energy-Related Carbon Emission and Economic Growth in Guangdong Province Based on Extended Kaya Identity

PubMed Central

Wang, Wenxiu; Huang, Ningsheng; Zhao, Daiqing

2014-01-01

The decoupling elasticity decomposition quantitative model of energy-related carbon emission in Guangdong is established based on the extended Kaya identity and Tapio decoupling model for the first time, to explore the decoupling relationship and its internal mechanism between energy-related carbon emission and economic growth in Guangdong. Main results are as follows. (1) Total production energy-related carbon emissions in Guangdong increase from 4128 × 104 tC in 1995 to 14396 × 104 tC in 2011. Decoupling elasticity values of energy-related carbon emission and economic growth increase from 0.53 in 1996 to 0.85 in 2011, and its decoupling state turns from weak decoupling in 1996–2004 to expansive coupling in 2005–2011. (2) Land economic output and energy intensity are the first inhibiting factor and the first promoting factor to energy-related carbon emission decoupling from economic growth, respectively. The development speeds of land urbanization and population urbanization, especially land urbanization, play decisive roles in the change of total decoupling elasticity values. (3) Guangdong can realize decoupling of energy-related carbon emission from economic growth effectively by adjusting the energy mix and industrial structure, coordinating the development speed of land urbanization and population urbanization effectively, and strengthening the construction of carbon sink. PMID:24782666

Empirical research on decoupling relationship between energy-related carbon emission and economic growth in Guangdong province based on extended Kaya identity.

PubMed

Wang, Wenxiu; Kuang, Yaoqiu; Huang, Ningsheng; Zhao, Daiqing

2014-01-01

The decoupling elasticity decomposition quantitative model of energy-related carbon emission in Guangdong is established based on the extended Kaya identity and Tapio decoupling model for the first time, to explore the decoupling relationship and its internal mechanism between energy-related carbon emission and economic growth in Guangdong. Main results are as follows. (1) Total production energy-related carbon emissions in Guangdong increase from 4128 × 10⁴ tC in 1995 to 14396 × 10⁴ tC in 2011. Decoupling elasticity values of energy-related carbon emission and economic growth increase from 0.53 in 1996 to 0.85 in 2011, and its decoupling state turns from weak decoupling in 1996-2004 to expansive coupling in 2005-2011. (2) Land economic output and energy intensity are the first inhibiting factor and the first promoting factor to energy-related carbon emission decoupling from economic growth, respectively. The development speeds of land urbanization and population urbanization, especially land urbanization, play decisive roles in the change of total decoupling elasticity values. (3) Guangdong can realize decoupling of energy-related carbon emission from economic growth effectively by adjusting the energy mix and industrial structure, coordinating the development speed of land urbanization and population urbanization effectively, and strengthening the construction of carbon sink.

Pooling academic resources for public health.

PubMed

Michael, J M; Hayakawa, J M

1994-01-01

In January 1984, the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) was established, bringing together 5 schools of public health with the objectives: to raise the quality of professional education in public health; to enhance the knowledge and skills of health workers through joint projects; to solve health problems through closer links with each other and with ministries of health; to increase opportunities for graduate students through curriculum development; and to make child survival a major priority. The Consortium now comprises 31 academic institutions or units in 16 countries, and is supported by UNICEF, The World Health Organization, the China Medical Board of New York, and the governments of Japan and Malaysia. During 1985-1992, it also received major support from the United States through the US Agency for International Development and the University of Hawaii. During the past 10 years, APACPH has carried out such activities as setting up a data bank on the programs of its members, assessing public health problems, designing new curriculum and systems for service delivery, facilitating information and faculty exchanges, and running workshops for academic administrators. It has also organized conferences on the impact of urbanization on health, aging, child survival, AIDS, and occupational health. Since 1987 it has published the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, the only English language journal on public health issues in the Asia and Pacific region, which will feature work being done by non-English-speaking researchers. Emphasis in the coming years will be placed on setting common standards for teaching and research, so that members can make more use of each other's programs. It is hoped that membership of the Consortium will continue to expand. A particular concern will be to focus more resources on preventive care rather than curative.

Nested High Resolution Modeling of the Impact of Urbanization on Regional Climate in Three Vast Urban Agglomerations in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jun; Feng, Jinming; Yan, Zhongwei; Hu, Yonghong; Jia, Gensuo

2013-04-01

In this paper, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled to the Urban Canopy Model (UCM) is employed to simulate the impact of urbanization on the regional climate over three vast city agglomerations in China. Based on high resolution land use and land cover data, two scenarios are designed to represent the non-urban and current urban land use distributions. By comparing the results of two nested, high resolution numerical experiments, the spatial and temporal changes on surface air temperature, heat stress index, surface energy budget and precipitation due to urbanization are analyzed and quantified. Urban expansion increases the surface air temperature in urban areas by about 1? and this climatic forcing of urbanization on temperature is more pronounced in summer and nighttime than other seasons and daytime. The heat stress intensity, which reflects the combined effects of temperature and humidity, is enhanced by about 0.5 units in urban areas. The regional incoming solar radiation increases after urban expansion, which may be caused by the reduction of cloud fraction. The increased temperature and roughness of the urban surface lead to enhanced convergence. Meanwhile, the planetary boundary layer is deepened and water vapor is mixed more evenly in the lower atmosphere. The deficit of water vapor leads to less convective available potential energy and more convective inhibition energy. Finally, these combined effects may reduce the rainfall amount over urban area mainly in summer and change the regional precipitation pattern to a certain extent.

Synergies and trade-offs between energy-efficient urbanization and health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Sohail; Pachauri, Shonali; Creutzig, Felix

2017-11-01

Energy-efficient urbanization and public health pose major development challenges for India. While both issues are intensively studied, their interaction is not well understood. Here we explore the relationship between urban infrastructures, public health, and household-related emissions, identifying potential synergies and trade-offs of specific interventions by analyzing nationally representative household surveys from 2005 and 2012. Our analysis confirms previous characterizations of the environmental-health transition, but also points to an important role of energy use and urbanization as modifiers of this transition. We find that non-motorized transport may prove a sweet spot for development, as its use is associated with lower emissions and better public health in cities. Urbanization and improved access to basic services correlate with lower short-term morbidity (STM), such as fever, cough and diarrhea. Our analysis suggests that a 10% increase in urbanization from current levels and concurrent improvement in access to modern cooking and clean water could lower STM for 2.4 million people. This would be associated with a modest increase in electricity related emissions of 84 ktCO2e annually. Promoting energy-efficient mobility systems, for instance by a 10% increase in bicycling, could lower chronic conditions like diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases for 0.3 million people while also abating emissions. These findings provide empirical evidence to validate that energy-efficient and sustainable urbanization can address both public health and climate change challenges simultaneously.

Water-energy links in cities: the urban metabolism of London

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mijic, A.; Ruiz Cazorla, J.; Keirstead, J.

2014-12-01

Rapid urbanisation results in increased water consumption in cities, requiring improved tools for understanding adaptive measures for water resources management under climate change. The energy sector is facing the same challenges and requires equally comprehensive solutions. More frequent water shortages due to climate and land use changes and potential limits on CO2 emissions from fossil fuels that science demands indicate clearly that the next step in the sustainable city development will be to look for the most efficient use of these highly interdependent resources. One of the concepts that could be used for quantifying fundamental flows in an urban environment such as water and energy is the urban metabolism framework. This paper will examine the concept of urban metabolism by quantifying amounts and trends of water and energy consumed in London by four main sectors: residential, industrial, commercial and public. Key data requirements at the sector level will be identified and initial mapping of critical factors for urban sustainability will be provided. Finally, the work will examine the potential of urban metabolism framework to provide data and information for implementing water, energy and greenhouse emissions trade-off 'fit-for-purpose' strategy for water supply security. The paper is a part of the Panta Rhei Research Initiative of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) under the working group of Energy and Food Impacts on Water.

Volatile organic compound fluxes and concentrations in London (ClearfLo)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valach, Amy; Langford, Ben; Nemitz, Eiko; MacKenzie, Rob; Hewitt, Nick

2014-05-01

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from anthropogenic sources such as fuel combustion or evaporative emissions can directly and indirectly affect human health. Some VOCs, such as benzene and 1,3- butadiene are carcinogens. These and other VOCs contribute to the formation of ozone (O3) and aerosol particles, which have effects on human health and the radiative balance of the atmosphere. Although in the UK VOC emissions are subject to control under European Commission Directive 2008/50/EC and emission reducing technologies have been implemented, urban air pollution remains a concern. Urban air quality is likely to remain a priority since currently >50% of the global population live in urban areas with trends in urbanization and population migration predicted to increase. The ClearfLo project is a large multi-institutional consortium funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and provides integrated measurements of meteorology, gas phase and particulate composition of the atmosphere over London. Both long term and IOP measurements were made at street and elevated locations at a range of sites across London and its surroundings during 2011 and 2012. Mixing ratios of a selection of nine VOCs were measured using a high sensitivity proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer (PTR-MS) at a ground level urban background (North Kensington) and kerbside (Marylebone Road) site during the winter IOP. VOC fluxes were measured by virtually disjunct eddy covariance (vDEC) at an elevated urban site (King's College Strand) in Aug-Dec 2012. Our results for the first IOP showed that most of the selected compound concentrations depended on traffic emissions, although there was a marked difference between the urban background and kerbside sites. We identified some temperature effects on VOC concentrations. We also present the first analyses of VOC flux measurements over London. Preliminary analyses indicate most compounds associated with vehicle emissions closely followed diurnal traffic counts. Fluxes of isoprene and methanol appear to be controlled by light intensity and temperature, consistent with a predominantly biogenic source of these compounds.

Microbial dynamics in anaerobic digestion reactors for treating organic urban residues during the start-up process.

PubMed

Alcántara-Hernández, R J; Taş, N; Carlos-Pinedo, S; Durán-Moreno, A; Falcón, L I

2017-06-01

Anaerobic digestion of organic residues offers economic benefits via biogas production, still methane (CH 4 ) yield relies on the development of a robust microbial consortia for adequate substrate degradation, among other factors. In this study, we monitor biogas production and changes in the microbial community composition in two semi-continuous stirred tank reactors during the setting process under mesophilic conditions (35°C) using a 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing method. Reactors were initially inoculated with anaerobic granular sludge from a brewery wastewater treatment plant, and gradually fed organic urban residues (4·0 kg VS m -3  day -1 ) . The inocula and biomass samples showed changes related to adaptations of the community to urban organic wastes including a higher relative proportion of Clostridiales, with Ruminococcus spp. and Syntrophomonas spp. as recurrent species. Candidatus Cloacamonas spp. (Spirochaetes) also increased from ~2·2% in the inoculum to >10% in the reactor biomass. The new community consolidated the cellulose degradation and the propionate and amino acids fermentation processes. Acetoclastic methanogens were more abundant in the reactor, where Methanosaeta spp. was found as a key player. This study demonstrates a successful use of brewery treatment plant granular sludge to obtain a robust consortium for methane production from urban organic solid waste in Mexico. This study describes the selection of relevant bacteria and archaea in anaerobic digesters inoculated with anaerobic granular sludge from a brewery wastewater treatment plant. Generally, these sludge granules are used to inoculate reactors digesting organic urban wastes. Though, it is still not clearly understood how micro-organisms respond to substrate variations during the reactor start-up process. After feeding two reactors with organic urban residues, it was found that a broader potential for cellulose degradation was developed including Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Spirochaetes. These results clarify the bacterial processes behind new reactors establishment for treating organic wastes in urban areas. © 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

An Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather Events Framework for Development of Post Event Learning and Transformative Adaptation in Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solecki, W. D.; Friedman, E. S.; Breitzer, R.

2016-12-01

Increasingly frequent extreme weather events are becoming an immediate priority for urban coastal practitioners and stakeholders, adding complexity to decisions concerning risk management for short-term action and long-term needs of city climate stakeholders. The conflict between the prioritization of short versus long-term events by decision-makers creates disconnect between climate science and its applications. The Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), a NOAA RISA team, is developing a set of mechanisms to help bridge this gap. The mechanisms are designed to promote the application of climate science on extreme weather events and their aftermath. It is in the post event policy window where significant opportunities for science-policy linkages exist. In particular, CCRUN is interested in producing actionable and useful information for city managers to use in decision-making processes surrounding extreme weather events and climate change. These processes include a sector specific needs assessment survey instrument and two tools for urban coastal practitioners and stakeholders. The tools focus on post event learning and connections between resilience and transformative adaptation. Elements of the two tools are presented. Post extreme event learning supports urban coastal practitioners and decision-makers concerned about maximizing opportunities for knowledge transfer and assimilation, and policy initiation and development following an extreme weather event. For the urban U.S. Northeast, post event learning helps coastal stakeholders build the capacity to adapt to extreme weather events, and inform and develop their planning capacity through analysis of past actions and steps taken in response to Hurricane Sandy. Connecting resilience with transformative adaptation is intended to promote resilience in urban Northeast coastal settings to the long-term negative consequences of extreme weather events. This is done through a knowledge co-production engagement process that links innovative and flexible adaptation pathways that can address requirements for short-term action and long-term needs.

An impact assessment of sustainable technologies for the Chinese urban residential sector at provincial level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xing, Rui; Hanaoka, Tatsuya; Kanamori, Yuko; Dai, Hancheng; Masui, Toshihiko

2015-06-01

Recently, energy use in the urban residential sector of China has drastically increased due to higher incomes and urbanization. The fossil fuels dominant energy supply has since worsened the air quality, especially in urban areas. In this study we estimate the future energy service demands in Chinese urban residential areas, and then use an AIM/Enduse model to evaluate the emission reduction potential of CO2, SO2, NOx and PM. Considering the climate diversity and its impact on household energy service demands, our analysis is down-scaled to the provincial-level. The results show that in most of the regions, penetration of efficient technologies will bring CO2 emission reductions of over 20% compared to the baseline by the year 2030. Deployment of energy efficient technologies also co-benefits GHG emission reduction. However, efficient technology selection appears to differ across provinces due to climatic variation and economic disparity. For instance, geothermal heating technology is effective for the cold Northern areas while biomass technology contributes to emission reduction the most in the warm Southern areas.

Nested high-resolution modeling of the impact of urbanization on regional climate in three vast urban agglomerations in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jun; Feng, Jinming; Yan, Zhongwei; Hu, Yonghong; Jia, Gensuo

2012-11-01

In this paper, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, coupled to the Urban Canopy Model, is employed to simulate the impact of urbanization on the regional climate over three vast city agglomerations in China. Based on high-resolution land use and land cover data, two scenarios are designed to represent the nonurban and current urban land use distributions. By comparing the results of two nested, high-resolution numerical experiments, the spatial and temporal changes on surface air temperature, heat stress index, surface energy budget, and precipitation due to urbanization are analyzed and quantified. Urban expansion increases the surface air temperature in urban areas by about 1°C, and this climatic forcing of urbanization on temperature is more pronounced in summer and nighttime than other seasons and daytime. The heat stress intensity, which reflects the combined effects of temperature and humidity, is enhanced by about 0.5 units in urban areas. The regional incoming solar radiation increases after urban expansion, which may be caused by the reduction of cloud fraction. The increased temperature and roughness of the urban surface lead to enhanced convergence. Meanwhile, the planetary boundary layer is deepened, and water vapor is mixed more evenly in the lower atmosphere. The deficit of water vapor leads to less convective available potential energy and more convective inhibition energy. Finally, these combined effects may reduce the rainfall amount over urban areas, mainly in summer, and change the regional precipitation pattern to a certain extent.

Virtual Modeling for Cities of the Future. State-Of Art and Virtual Modeling for Cities of the Future. State-Of Art AN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valencia, J.; Muñoz-Nieto, A.; Rodriguez-Gonzalvez, P.

2015-02-01

3D virtual modeling, visualization, dissemination and management of urban areas is one of the most exciting challenges that must face geomatics in the coming years. This paper aims to review, compare and analyze the new technologies, policies and software tools that are in progress to manage urban 3D information. It is assumed that the third dimension increases the quality of the model provided, allowing new approaches to urban planning, conservation and management of architectural and archaeological areas. Despite the fact that displaying 3D urban environments is an issue nowadays solved, there are some challenges to be faced by geomatics in the coming future. Displaying georeferenced linked information would be considered the first challenge. Another challenge to face is to improve the technical requirements if this georeferenced information must be shown in real time. Are there available software tools ready for this challenge? Are they useful to provide services required in smart cities? Throughout this paper, many practical examples that require 3D georeferenced information and linked data will be shown. Computer advances related to 3D spatial databases and software that are being developed to convert rendering virtual environment to a new enriched environment with linked information will be also analyzed. Finally, different standards that Open Geospatial Consortium has assumed and developed regarding the three-dimensional geographic information will be reviewed. Particular emphasis will be devoted on KML, LandXML, CityGML and the new IndoorGML.

CO2 emissions, real output, energy consumption, trade, urbanization and financial development: testing the EKC hypothesis for the USA.

PubMed

Dogan, Eyup; Turkekul, Berna

2016-01-01

This study aims to investigate the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption, real output (GDP), the square of real output (GDP(2)), trade openness, urbanization, and financial development in the USA for the period 1960-2010. The bounds testing for cointegration indicates that the analyzed variables are cointegrated. In the long run, energy consumption and urbanization increase environmental degradation while financial development has no effect on it, and trade leads to environmental improvements. In addition, this study does not support the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the USA because real output leads to environmental improvements while GDP(2) increases the levels of gas emissions. The results from the Granger causality test show that there is bidirectional causality between CO2 and GDP, CO2 and energy consumption, CO2 and urbanization, GDP and urbanization, and GDP and trade openness while no causality is determined between CO2 and trade openness, and gas emissions and financial development. In addition, we have enough evidence to support one-way causality running from GDP to energy consumption, from financial development to output, and from urbanization to financial development. In light of the long-run estimates and the Granger causality analysis, the US government should take into account the importance of trade openness, urbanization, and financial development in controlling for the levels of GDP and pollution. Moreover, it should be noted that the development of efficient energy policies likely contributes to lower CO2 emissions without harming real output.

Demonstration of ISCO Treatment of a DNAPL Source Zone at Launch Complex 34 in Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL

EPA Science Inventory

The Interagency DNAPL Consortium (IDC) was formally established in 1999 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), Department of Defense (DoD), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a vehicle for marshalling the resourc...

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aldrich, Robb; Williamson, James

With support from the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program, the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) worked with a developer in western Massachusetts to evaluate a SDHW system on a 12-unit apartment building. Olive Street Development completed construction in the spring of 2014, and CARB has been monitoring the performance of the water-heating systems since May 2014.

CRADA opportunities in pressurized combustion research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maloney, D J; Norton, T S; Casleton, K H

1995-06-01

The Morgantown Energy Technology Center recently began operation of a Low Emissions Combustor Test and Research (LECTR) Facility. This facility was built to support the development of Advanced Gas Turbine Systems (ATS) by providing test facilities and engineering support to METC customers through the ATS University-Industry Consortium and through CRADA participation with industrial partners.

Final Report to the National Energy Technology Laboratory on FY09-FY13 Cooperative Research with the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vittal, Vijay

2015-11-04

The Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS) was formed in 1999 in response to a call from U.S. Congress to restart a federal transmission reliability R&D program to address concerns about the reliability of the U.S. electric power grid. CERTS is a partnership between industry, universities, national laboratories, and government agencies. It researches, develops, and disseminates new methods, tools, and technologies to protect and enhance the reliability of the U.S. electric power system and the efficiency of competitive electricity markets. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE). This reportmore » provides an overview of PSERC and CERTS, of the overall objectives and scope of the research, a summary of the major research accomplishments, highlights of the work done under the various elements of the NETL cooperative agreement, and brief reports written by the PSERC researchers on their accomplishments, including research results, publications, and software tools.« less

Impacts of Urbanization on Water Use and Energy-related CO2 Emissions of Residential Consumption in China: A Spatio-temporal Analysis during 2003-2012

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, J.; Yin, H.; Varis, O.

2017-12-01

China has been undergoing unprecedented urbanization since the 1978 economic reform, especially with the present growth rate for the last decade at approximately 20 million people per year. This rapid and perennial progress has been raising soaring concerns on environmental sustainability, due to a severe nationwide deterioration of China's environment and ecosystems in the context of ceaselessly increasing demand for water and energy. It is therefore of prime necessity and importance to comprehend China's water and energy security under the effect of its dramatic demographic changes. Analyses of this issue still remain few and far between, and a comprehensive picture has not been available that would help understand China's recent development in urbanization, its spatial features and links to water and energy security, particularly regarding residential consumption, as well as national policy-making in the context of its water-energy nexus. Consequently, we addressed these knowledge gaps by performing an integrated and quantitative spatio-temporal analysis of the impacts of China's urbanization on water use of residential consumption (WURC) and energy-related CO2 emissions of residential consumption (ERCERC). We proposed per capita WURC and per capita ERCERC as potential national indicators for policy-making targets of its water and energy security. Our study, conducted over the period 2003-2012, for the first time demonstrated strong evidence of the significant impacts of China's urbanization on WURC and ERCERC. Its highlights can be portrayed as follows: (1) rural areas dominated per capita WURC at both national and provincial scales, with a significant increasing trend, while WURC share and per capita WURC in urban areas decreased, despite the fact that the urban population was soaring; (2) per capita ERCERC was significantly augmented in both urban and rural areas nationwide; and (3) per capita WURC and per capita ERCERC had a significant positive correlation, so did rural per capita WURC and per capita ERCERC, however, urban per capita WURC and per capita ERCERC manifested a significant negative correlation.

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Requirements in Anaerobic Methane Oxidizing Consortia Exclude Hydrogen, Acetate, and Methanol as Possible Electron Shuttles.

PubMed

Sørensen, K.B.; Finster, K.; Ramsing, N.B.

2001-07-01

Anaerobic methane oxidation (AMO) has long remained an enigma in microbial ecology. In the process the net reaction appears to be an oxidation of methane with sulfate as electron acceptor. In order to explain experimental data such as effects of inhibitors and isotopic signals in biomarkers it has been suggested that the process is carried out by a consortium of bacteria using an unknown compound to shuttle electrons between the participants. The overall change in free energy during AMO with sulfate is very small (?22 kJ mol-1) at in situ concentrations of methane and sulfate. In order to share the available free energy between the members of the consortium, the concentration of the intermediate electron shuttle compound becomes crucial. Diffusive flux of a substrate (i.e, the electron shuttle) between bacteria requires a stable concentration gradient where the concentration is higher in the producing organism than in the consuming organism. Since changes in concentrations cause changes in reaction free energies, the diffusive flux of a catabolic product/substrate between bacteria is associated with a net loss of available energy. This restricts maximal inter-bacterial distances in consortia composed of stationary bacteria. A simple theoretical model was used to describe the relationship between inter-bacterial distances and the energy lost due to concentration differences in consortia. Key parameters turned out to be the permissible concentration range of the electron shuttle in the consortium (i.e., the concentration range that allows both participants to gain sufficient energy) and the stoichiometry of the partial reactions. The model was applied to two known consortia degrading ethanol and butyrate and to four hypothetical methane-oxidizing consortia (MOC) based on interspecies transfer of hydrogen, methanol, acetate, or formate, respectively. In the first three MOCs the permissible distances between producers and consumers of the transferred compounds were less than two times prokaryotic cell wall diameters. Consequently, it is not possible that a MOC can be based on inter-species transfer of hydrogen, methanol, or acetate. Formate, on the other hand, is a possible shuttle candidate provided the bacteria are attached to one another. In general the model predicts that members of consortia thriving on low energy such as the MOC must adhere to each other and utilize a compound for the exchange of electrons that has a high permissible concentration range and a high diffusion coefficient and transfers as many electrons as possible per molecule.

The inhabited environment, infrastructure development and advanced urbanization in China’s Yangtze River Delta Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Xiaoqing; Gao, Weijun; Zhou, Nan; Kammen, Daniel M.; Wu, Yiqun; Zhang, Yao; Chen, Wei

2016-12-01

This paper analyzes the relationship among the inhabited environment, infrastructure development and environmental impacts in China’s heavily urbanized Yangtze River Delta region. Using primary human environment data for the period 2006-2014, we examine factors affecting the inhabited environment and infrastructure development: urban population, GDP, built-up area, energy consumption, waste emission, transportation, real estate and urban greenery. Then we empirically investigate the impact of advanced urbanization with consideration of cities’ differences. Results from this study show that the growth rate of the inhabited environment and infrastructure development is strongly influenced by regional development structure, functional orientations, traffic network and urban size and form. The effect of advanced urbanization is more significant in large and mid-size cities than huge and mega cities. Energy consumption, waste emission and real estate in large and mid-size cities developed at an unprecedented rate with the rapid increase of economy. However, urban development of huge and mega cities gradually tended to be saturated. The transition development in these cities improved the inhabited environment and ecological protection instead of the urban construction simply. To maintain a sustainable advanced urbanization process, policy implications included urban sprawl control polices, ecological development mechanisms and reforming the economic structure for huge and mega cities, and construct major cross-regional infrastructure, enhance the carrying capacity and improvement of energy efficiency and structure for large and mid-size cities.

Exploring relationships between building and transportation energy use of residents in U.S. metropolitan regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pede, Timothy J.

There is much potential to decrease energy consumption in the U.S. by encouraging compact, centralized development. Although many studies have examined the extent to which built environment and demographic factors are related to household energy use, few have considered both building and transportation energy together. We hypothesized that residents living further from city centers, or urban cores, consume more energy for both purposes than their inner city counterparts, resulting in a direct relationship between building and transportation energy usage. This hypothesis was tested with two case studies. The first focused on New York City. Annual building energy per unit of parcels, or tax lots, containing large multi-family structures was compared to the daily transportation energy use per household of traffic analysis zones (TAZs) (estimated with a regional travel demand model). Transportation energy showed a strong spatial pattern, with distance to urban core explaining 63% of variation in consumption. Building energy use was randomly distributed, resulting in a weak negative correlation with transportation energy. However, both correlation with distance to urban core and transportation energy became significant and positive when portion of detached single-family units for TAZs was used as a proxy for building energy. Structural equation models (SEMs) revealed a direct relationship between log lot depth and both uses of energy, and inverse relationship between portion of attached housing units and transportation energy. This supports the notion that sprawling development increases both the building and transportation energy consumption of households. For the second analysis, annual building and automobile energy use per household were estimated for block groups across the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan regions with Esri Consumer Expenditure Data. Both forms of energy consumption per household were lowest in inner cities and increased at greater distances from urban cores. Although there may be some error in estimates from modeled expenditure data, characteristics associated with lower energy use, such as portion of attached housing units and commuters that utilize transit or pedestrian modes, were negatively correlated with distance to urban core. Overall, this work suggests there are spatial patterns to household energy consumption, with households further from urban cores using more building and transportation energy. There is the greatest gain in efficiency to be had by suburban residents.

Collaboration essential for an energy neutral urban water cycle.

PubMed

Frijns, Jos; Mulder, Mirabella; Roorda, Jelle; Schepman, Hans; Voskamp, Tom

2013-01-01

Two Dutch water boards prepared a Master Plan with measures to substantially reduce their energy use by 2027. In total, more than 100 measures were identified such as bubble aeration and heat recovery from effluent. Together these measures result in a 90-95% reduction in energy use at the water boards. However, for the whole urban water cycle, thus including the energy required for warm water use in households, the total energy reduction from these measures at the water boards is only 5-6%. To attain the objective to have an energy neutral urban water cycle, collaboration with other sectors such as housing, energy, agriculture and industry will be essential. Active collaboration of the water boards through the incorporation of energy efficient water measures as part of the carbon neutral effort of cities is recognized to be a promising strategy.

Impacts of Urban Water Conservation Strategies on Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Health: Southern California as a Case Study.

PubMed

Sokolow, Sharona; Godwin, Hilary; Cole, Brian L

2016-05-01

To determine how urban water conservation strategies in California cities can affect water and energy conservation efforts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit public health. We expanded upon our 2014 health impact assessment of California's urban water conservation strategies by comparing the status quo to 2 options with the greatest potential impact on the interrelated issues of water and energy in California: (1) banning landscape irrigation and (2) expanding alternative water sources (e.g., desalination, recycled water). Among the water conservation strategies evaluated, expanded use of recycled water stood out as the water conservation strategy with potential to reduce water use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions, with relatively small negative impacts for the public's health. Although the suitability of recycled water for urban uses depends on local climate, geography, current infrastructure, and finances, analyses similar to that presented here can help guide water policy decisions in cities across the globe facing challenges of supplying clean, sustainable water to urban populations.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

After progressively incorporating ENERGY STAR for Homes Versions 1, 2, and 3 into its standard practices over the years, builder Brookside Development was seeking to build an even more sustainable product that would further increase energy efficiency, while also addressing indoor air quality, water conservation, renewable-ready, and resiliency. These objectives align with the framework of the U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home program, which builds upon the comprehensive building science requirements of ENERGY STAR for Homes Version 3 and proven Building America innovations and best practices. To meet this goal, Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings partnered with Brooksidemore » Development to design and construct the first zero energy ready home in a development of seven new homes on the old Singer Estate in Derby, Connecticut.« less

Optimization and parallelization of the thermal–hydraulic subchannel code CTF for high-fidelity multi-physics applications

DOE PAGES

Salko, Robert K.; Schmidt, Rodney C.; Avramova, Maria N.

2014-11-23

This study describes major improvements to the computational infrastructure of the CTF subchannel code so that full-core, pincell-resolved (i.e., one computational subchannel per real bundle flow channel) simulations can now be performed in much shorter run-times, either in stand-alone mode or as part of coupled-code multi-physics calculations. These improvements support the goals of the Department Of Energy Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) Energy Innovation Hub to develop high fidelity multi-physics simulation tools for nuclear energy design and analysis.

Assessing the Impact of Urbanization Using Remote Sensing On A Global Scale, Past Present And Future Directions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luvall, J. C.

2016-12-01

It is estimated that by the year 2025, 80% of the world's population will live in cities. This conversion of the natural landscape vegetation into man-made urban structures such as roads and buildings drastically alter the regional surface energy budgets, hydrology, precipitation patterns, and meteorology. The urban heat island (UHI) results from the energy that is absorbed by man-made materials during the day and is released at night resulting in the heating of the air within the urban area. The magnitude of the air temperature differences between the urban and surrounding countryside can be 2-8 o C. The UHI was one of the earliest recognized and measured phenomena of urbanization which was reported as early as 1833 for London (Howard, 1833) and 1862 for Paris. Research studies from many cities have documented that these effects range from decreases in air quality, increased energy consumption, and alteration of regional climate to direct effects on human health. To understand why the UHI phenomena exists, it is useful to define the surface in terms of the surface energy budget. Surface temperature and albedo are major components of the surface energy budget. Knowledge of it is important in any attempt to describe the radiative and mass fluxes that occur at the surface. Use of energy terms in modeling surface energy budgets allows the direct comparison of various land surfaces encountered in an urban landscape, from vegetated (forest and herbaceous) to non-vegetated (bare soil, roads, and buildings). These terms are also easily measured using remote sensing from aircraft or satellite platforms allowing one to examine the spatial variability of the urban surface. Planned NASA space borne missions include an ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) a five channel, 37x 50m resolution thermal instrument on space station and a Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI), a 30m resolution hyperspectral and 60m resolution multispectral channel mid/thermal infrared instrument. These instruments build on a long heritage of NASA funded research using aircraft based urban remote sensing instruments to develop techniques for assessing the UHI. HyspIRI will provide the global datasets necessary to monitor and study the impacts of urbanization on a global scale.

Physical activity, energy intake, and obesity prevalence among urban and rural schoolchildren aged 11-12 years in Japan.

PubMed

Itoi, Aya; Yamada, Yosuke; Watanabe, Yoshiyuki; Kimura, Misaka

2012-12-01

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has been shown to differ among regions, including rural-urban regional differences within nations. This study obtained simultaneous accelerometry-derived physical activity, 24 h activity, and food records to clarify the potential contributing factors to rural-urban differences in childhood overweight and obesity in Japan. Sixth-grade children (n = 227, 11-12 years old) from two urban elementary schools in Kyoto and four rural elementary schools in Tohoku participated in the study. The children were instructed to wear a pedometer that included a uniaxial accelerometer and, assisted by their parents, keep minute-by-minute 24 h activity and food records. For 12 children, the total energy expenditure was measured by the doubly labeled water method that was used to correct the Lifecorder-predicted activity energy expenditure and physical activity level. The overweight and obesity prevalence was significantly higher in rural than in urban children. The number of steps per day, activity energy expenditure, physical activity level, and duration of walking to school were significantly lower in rural than in urban children. In contrast, the reported energy intake did not differ significantly between the regions. The physical activity and duration of the walk to school were significantly correlated with body mass index. Rural children had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity, and this may be at least partly caused by lower physical activity, especially less time spent walking to school, than urban children.

Urban biomass - not an urban legend

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Utilizing biomass from urban landscapes could significantly contribute to the nation’s renewable energy needs. There is an estimated 16.4 million hectares of land in urban areas cultivated with turfgrass and associated vegetation. Vegetation in urban areas is intensely managed which lead to regula...

Resource Assessment | Energy Analysis | NREL

Science.gov Websites

water bodies, urban areas, cropland, forests, very steep terrain, and protected areas. Once resource study concluded that in Afghanistan: Biogas generation from animal manure and waste-to-energy from urban

25 CFR 1000.73 - Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information from a non-BIA bureau? 1000.73 Section 1000.73 Indians OFFICE OF THE... § 1000.73 Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information...

An energy and mortality impact assessment of the urban heat island in the US

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lowe, Scott A., E-mail: Scott.lowe@manhattan.edu

Increased summer energy use and increased summer heat related mortality are the two most cited detrimental impacts of the urban heat island (UHI). An assessment of these impacts was made that considered the annual impact of the UHI, not just the summer impact. It was found that in north of the US there was a net decrease in energy use from the UHI, as heating energy reductions were larger than the increase in cooling energy. In the south there was a net energy increase from the UHI. The impact of the UHI on heat related deaths was an estimated increasemore » of 1.1 deaths per million people. The impact of the UHI on cold related deaths was an estimated decrease of 4.0 deaths per million people. These estimates are caveated by the acknowledgement that compounding factors influence mortality. Hypothermia related death rates were three times higher in rural areas than urban areas. This is surprising as the homeless population is usually considered the most at risk, yet they mostly live in urban areas. - Highlights: • The urban heat island (UHI) may actually be beneficial in colder cities in the US in terms of energy use • The UHI may cause an increase in heat related mortality of ~ 1 deaths per million • In winter the UHI may decrease cold related mortality by ~ 4 deaths per million • Cold related death rates were 3 times higher in rural areas although the homeless population live mainly in urban areas.« less

Converting Paddy Rice Field to Urban Use Dramatically Altered the Water and Energy Balances in Southern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, L.; Sun, G.; Liu, Y.; Qin, M.; Huang, X.; Fang, D.

2017-12-01

Paddy rice wetlands are the main land use type across southern China, which impact the regional environments by affecting evapotranspiration (ET) and other water and energy related processes. Our study focuses on the effects of land-cover change on water and energy processes in the Qinhuai River Basin, a typical subtropical humid region that is under rapid ecological and economical transformations. This study integrates multiple methods and techniques including remote sensing, water and energy balance model (i.e., Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land, SEBAL), ecohydrological model (i.e., Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT), and ground observation (Eddy Covariance measurement, etc.). We found that conversion of paddy rice field to urban use led to rise in vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and reduction in ET, and thus resulted in changes in local and regional water and heat balance. The effects of the land-use change on ET and VPD overwhelmed the effects of regional climate warming and climate variability. We conclude that the ongoing large-scale urbanization of the rice paddy-dominated regions in humid southern China and East Asia will likely exacerbate environmental consequences (e.g., elevated storm-flow volume, aggravated flood risks, and intensified urban heat island and urban dry island effects). The potential role of vegetated land cover in moderating water and energy balances and maintaining a stable climate should be considered in massive urban planning and global change impact assessment in southern China.

Energy in the urban environment. Proceedings of the 22. annual Illinois energy conference

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1994-12-31

The conference addressed the energy and environmental challenges facing large metropolitan areas. The topics included a comparison of the environmental status of cities twenty years ago with the challenges facing today`s large cities, sustainable economic development, improving the energy and environmental infrastructure, and the changing urban transportation sector. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

Evaluation des apports solaires a l'echelle d'un quartier urbain en periode de chauffe selon sa typologie, son orientation et sa latitude dans un contexte de densification de la ville

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chenard, Laurent

Mass urbanization is a major issue for town administrators. Population increase will have an impact on the quality of the environment for citizens. Government will have to take decisions to limit those effects. Green energies are part of the solution to reach fixed goals by the public administration for sustainable development. Passive solar energy is studied in this work in an urban canopy located in five different towns: San Francisco, Montreal, Bordeaux, Lyon and Stockholm. Passive solar energy is calculated in the heating season. Direct and diffuse solar radiation is considered by using the Perez model. Radiosity is not taken into account. Heating demand is calculated by the heating degree day method. Seven urban forms have been created to determine the amount of solar energy entering in every window of the urban canopy while taking into account urban context and forms. Optimal orientation of the canopy shows an increase of 5% of the passive solar radiation from original orientation, 180 degrees rotation from first orientation straight south. This value goes lower when stories are added to the urban context. A rotation of 90 degrees from the first orientation shows a decrease of 6 to 15% in solar passive gain. Densification of the urban canopy by adding stories to the buildings results in a loss up to 65% of the solar gain for the first story. It is showed that solar passive energy has a low ratio of 5% for space heating for old buildings, 1960 constructions. Today's buildings have a difference between passive solar energy and heating demand of 10 to 75% depending on the model and location.

Urban surface energy fluxes based on remotely-sensed data and micrometeorological measurements over the Kansai area, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukeyasu, T.; Ueyama, M.; Ando, T.; Kosugi, Y.; Kominami, Y.

2017-12-01

The urban heat island is associated with land cover changes and increases in anthropogenic heat fluxes. Clear understanding of the surface energy budget at urban area is the most important for evaluating the urban heat island. In this study, we develop a model based on remotely-sensed data for the Kansai area in Japan and clarify temporal transitions and spatial distributions of the surface energy flux from 2000 to 2016. The model calculated the surface energy fluxes based on various satellite and GIS products. The model used land surface temperature, surface emissivity, air temperature, albedo, downward shortwave radiation and land cover/use type from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) under cloud free skies from 2000 to 2016 over the Kansai area in Japan (34 to 35 ° N, 135 to 136 ° E). Net radiation was estimated by a radiation budget of upward/downward shortwave and longwave radiation. Sensible heat flux was estimated by a bulk aerodynamic method. Anthropogenic heat flux was estimated by the inventory data. Latent heat flux was examined with residues of the energy budget and parameterization of bulk transfer coefficients. We validated the model using observed fluxes from five eddy-covariance measurement sites: three urban sites and two forested sites. The estimated net radiation roughly agreed with the observations, but the sensible heat flux were underestimated. Based on the modeled spatial distributions of the fluxes, the daytime net radiation in the forested area was larger than those in the urban area, owing to higher albedo and land surface temperatures in the urban area than the forested area. The estimated anthropogenic heat flux was high in the summer and winter periods due to increases in energy-requirements.

A Remote Sensing Approach for Urban Environmental Decision-Making: An Atlanta, Georgia Case Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Rickman, Douglas L.; Laymon, Charles A.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.; Howell, Burgess F.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Unquestionably, urbanization causes tremendous changes in land cover and land use, as well as impacting a host of environmental characteristics. For example, unlike natural surfaces, urban surfaces have very different thermal energy properties whereby they store solar energy throughout the day and continue to release it as heat well after sunset. This effect, known as the 'Urban Heat Island', serves as a catalyst for chemical reactions from vehicular exhaust and industrial activities leading to the deterioration in air quality, especially exacerbating the production of ground level ozone. 'Cool Community' strategies that utilize remote sensing data, are now being implemented as a way to reduce the impacts of the urban heat island and its subsequent environmental impacts. This presentation focuses on how remote sensing data have been used to provide descriptive and quantitative data for characterizing the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area - particularly for measuring surface energy fluxes, such as the thermal or "heat" energy that emanates from different land cover types across the Atlanta urban landscape. In turn, this information is useful for developing a better understanding of how the thermal characteristics of the city surface affect the urban heat island phenomena and, ultimately, air quality and other environmental parameters over the Atlanta metropolitan region. Additionally, this paper also provides insight on how remote sensing, with its synoptic approach, can be used to provide urban planners, local, state, and federal government officials, and other decision-makers, as well as the general public, with information to better manage urban areas as sustainable environments.

Demonstration of Steam Injection/Extraction Treatment of a DNAPL Source Zone at Launch Complex 34 in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Final Innovative Technology Evaluation Report

EPA Science Inventory

The Interagency DNAPL Consortium (IDC) was formally established in 1999 by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The IDC performed five remediation techniques: ...

Demonstration of Resistive Heating Treatment of DNAPL Source Zone at Launch Complex 34 in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Final Innovative Technology Evaluation Report

EPA Science Inventory

The Interagency DNAPL Consortium (IDC) was formally established in 1999 by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The IDC performed five remediation techniques: ...

Assessment of Urban Infrastructure Impact on New York City Neighborhoods Thermal Variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nazari, R.; Ghandehari, M.; Karimi, M.; Vant-hull, B.; Khanbilvardi, R.

2013-12-01

New York City (NYC) is a highly urbanized city with most of the population living in tall buildings. Despite technological improvements and stricter regulations, cities still show increasing signs of environmental stress such as traffic congestion, noise and air quality degradation. Rethinking the current models of city planning could enable to limit these detrimental effects of urbanization. In addition, the built environment creates a new climatic regime which needs a better understanding. Building density, height and emission has a major impact on local temperature and other air quality indicators. Studies have shown that during extreme weather conditions and heat waves the mortality rate in urban areas increases. Cities are comprised of a wide variety of urban settings and various neighborhoods have different physical responses to meteorological events, so it is expected that the temperature and heat stress across a given city to fluctuate sharply. Therefore, this research has focused on neighborhood-scale field campaigns to downscale temperature and air quality predictions from city to neighborhood scale in NYC. In order to assess the temperature variability within the city at street level, during the hottest part of the day, this project used eight mobile units bearing temperature and relative humidity sensors, as well as ten weather stations mounted on light poles in various NYC neighborhoods. This study also looks at fine scale structures in the urban heat island of Manhattan at street level through an infrared camera with the spectral range of 7.5-13 μm in order to relate heat and emissions from building surfaces to land surface characteristics such as building density, vegetation coverage, proximity to water, and albedo. LandSat TM5 images were used (with 30 m resolution) for land surface classification. During the summer and early fall of 2011, 2012 and 2013 extensive field campaigns were performed, the results of which show some persistent patterns that could be related to surface characteristics. This work is a collaboration between the health component of the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), funded by NOAA Regional Integrated Science Assessment (RISA), and New York University Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP).

An improved cellular automata model for train operation simulation with dynamic acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wen-Jun; Nie, Lei

2018-03-01

Urban rail transit plays an important role in the urban public traffic because of its advantages of fast speed, large transport capacity, high safety, reliability and low pollution. This study proposes an improved cellular automaton (CA) model by considering the dynamic characteristic of the train acceleration to analyze the energy consumption and train running time. Constructing an effective model for calculating energy consumption to aid train operation improvement is the basis for studying and analyzing energy-saving measures for urban rail transit system operation.

Taking Battery Technology from the Lab to the Big City

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Banerjee, Sanjoy; Shmukler, Michael; Martin, Cheryl

2013-07-29

Urban Electric Power, a startup formed by researchers from the City University of New York (CUNY) Energy Institute, is taking breakthroughs in battery technology from the lab to the market. With industry and government funding, including a grant from the Energy Department, Urban Electric Power developed a zinc-nickel oxide battery electrolyte that circulates constantly, eliminating dendrite formation and preventing battery shortages. Their new challenge is to take this technology to the market, where they can scale up the batteries for reducing peak energy demand in urban areas and storing variable renewable electricity.

Smart thermal networks for smart cities - Introduction of concepts and measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, R. R.; Pol, O.; Basciotti, D.; Page, J.

2012-10-01

In order to contribute to high living standards, climate mitigation and energy supply security, future urban energy systems require a holistic approach. In particular an intelligent integration of thermal networks is necessary. This paper will briefly present the "smart city" concept and introduce an associated definition for smart thermal networks defined on three levels: 1. the interaction with urban planning processes and the interface to the overall urban energy system, 2. the adaptation of the temperature level and 3. supply and demand-side management strategies.

Taking Battery Technology from the Lab to the Big City

ScienceCinema

Banerjee, Sanjoy; Shmukler, Michael; Martin, Cheryl

2018-02-02

Urban Electric Power, a startup formed by researchers from the City University of New York (CUNY) Energy Institute, is taking breakthroughs in battery technology from the lab to the market. With industry and government funding, including a grant from the Energy Department, Urban Electric Power developed a zinc-nickel oxide battery electrolyte that circulates constantly, eliminating dendrite formation and preventing battery shortages. Their new challenge is to take this technology to the market, where they can scale up the batteries for reducing peak energy demand in urban areas and storing variable renewable electricity.

DengueTools: innovative tools and strategies for the surveillance and control of dengue

PubMed Central

Wilder-Smith, Annelies; Renhorn, Karl-Erik; Tissera, Hasitha; Abu Bakar, Sazaly; Alphey, Luke; Kittayapong, Pattamaporn; Lindsay, Steve; Logan, James; Hatz, Christoph; Reiter, Paul; Rocklöv, Joacim; Byass, Peter; Louis, Valérie R.; Tozan, Yesim; Massad, Eduardo; Tenorio, Antonio; Lagneau, Christophe; L'Ambert, Grégory; Brooks, David; Wegerdt, Johannah; Gubler, Duane

2012-01-01

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease estimated to cause about 230 million infections worldwide every year, of which 25,000 are fatal. Global incidence has risen rapidly in recent decades with some 3.6 billion people, over half of the world's population, now at risk, mainly in urban centres of the tropics and subtropics. Demographic and societal changes, in particular urbanization, globalization, and increased international travel, are major contributors to the rise in incidence and geographic expansion of dengue infections. Major research gaps continue to hamper the control of dengue. The European Commission launched a call under the 7th Framework Programme with the title of ‘Comprehensive control of Dengue fever under changing climatic conditions’. Fourteen partners from several countries in Europe, Asia, and South America formed a consortium named ‘DengueTools’ to respond to the call to achieve better diagnosis, surveillance, prevention, and predictive models and improve our understanding of the spread of dengue to previously uninfected regions (including Europe) in the context of globalization and climate change. The consortium comprises 12 work packages to address a set of research questions in three areas: Research area 1: Develop a comprehensive early warning and surveillance system that has predictive capability for epidemic dengue and benefits from novel tools for laboratory diagnosis and vector monitoring. Research area 2: Develop novel strategies to prevent dengue in children. Research area 3: Understand and predict the risk of global spread of dengue, in particular the risk of introduction and establishment in Europe, within the context of parameters of vectorial capacity, global mobility, and climate change. In this paper, we report on the rationale and specific study objectives of ‘DengueTools’. DengueTools is funded under the Health theme of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community, Grant Agreement Number: 282589 Dengue Tools. PMID:22451836

DengueTools: innovative tools and strategies for the surveillance and control of dengue.

PubMed

Wilder-Smith, Annelies; Renhorn, Karl-Erik; Tissera, Hasitha; Abu Bakar, Sazaly; Alphey, Luke; Kittayapong, Pattamaporn; Lindsay, Steve; Logan, James; Hatz, Christoph; Reiter, Paul; Rocklöv, Joacim; Byass, Peter; Louis, Valérie R; Tozan, Yesim; Massad, Eduardo; Tenorio, Antonio; Lagneau, Christophe; L'Ambert, Grégory; Brooks, David; Wegerdt, Johannah; Gubler, Duane

2012-01-01

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease estimated to cause about 230 million infections worldwide every year, of which 25,000 are fatal. Global incidence has risen rapidly in recent decades with some 3.6 billion people, over half of the world's population, now at risk, mainly in urban centres of the tropics and subtropics. Demographic and societal changes, in particular urbanization, globalization, and increased international travel, are major contributors to the rise in incidence and geographic expansion of dengue infections. Major research gaps continue to hamper the control of dengue. The European Commission launched a call under the 7th Framework Programme with the title of 'Comprehensive control of Dengue fever under changing climatic conditions'. Fourteen partners from several countries in Europe, Asia, and South America formed a consortium named 'DengueTools' to respond to the call to achieve better diagnosis, surveillance, prevention, and predictive models and improve our understanding of the spread of dengue to previously uninfected regions (including Europe) in the context of globalization and climate change.The consortium comprises 12 work packages to address a set of research questions in three areas:Research area 1: Develop a comprehensive early warning and surveillance system that has predictive capability for epidemic dengue and benefits from novel tools for laboratory diagnosis and vector monitoring.Research area 2: Develop novel strategies to prevent dengue in children.Research area 3: Understand and predict the risk of global spread of dengue, in particular the risk of introduction and establishment in Europe, within the context of parameters of vectorial capacity, global mobility, and climate change.In this paper, we report on the rationale and specific study objectives of 'DengueTools'. DengueTools is funded under the Health theme of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community, Grant Agreement Number: 282589 Dengue Tools.

The dependency analysis between energy consumption, sanitation, forest area, financial development, and greenhouse gas: a continent-wise comparison of lower middle-income countries.

PubMed

Khan, Muhammad Tariq Iqbal; Yaseen, Muhammad Rizwan; Ali, Qamar

2018-06-08

This study explored the long-run association among greenhouse gases (GHGs), financial development, forest area, improved sanitation, renewable energy, urbanization, and trade in 24 lower middle-income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa, and America (South and North) by using panel data from 1990 to 2015. Granger causality was tested by Toda and Yamamoto approach. The bi-directional causality was established among urbanization and GHGs (Asia), financial development and forest (Asia), energy use and renewable energy (Asia), renewable energy and forest (Asia), improved sanitation and forest (Asia, Africa, America), urbanization and forest (Asia), and improved sanitation and financial development (Europe). The GHG emission also shows one-way causality is running from financial development to GHG (America), energy to GHG (Asia), renewable energy to GHG (America), forest area to GHG (America), trade openness to GHG (Africa), urbanization to GHG (Europe), GHG to financial development (Europe), GHG to energy use (Europe, Africa, and America), and GHG to trade openness (Asia). On the basis of fully modified ordinary least square and generalized method of moment, the reciprocal relationship of GHGs was observed due to financial development in Asia and Africa; renewable energy in all panels; forest area in Asia, Europe, and America; improved sanitation in Asia, Africa, and America; trade openness in Africa; and urbanization in Europe and America. Policymakers should concentrate on these variables for the reduction in GHGs. The annual convergence towards long-run equilibrium was 50.5, 31.9, and 20.9% for America, Asia, and Africa, respectively.

The Consortium of Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) - A Building America Energy Efficient Housing Partnership

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb Aldrich; Lois Arena; Dianne Griffiths

2010-12-31

This final report summarizes the work conducted by the Consortium of Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) (http://www.carb-swa.com/), one of the 'Building America Energy Efficient Housing Partnership' Industry Teams, for the period January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010. The Building America Program (BAP) is part of the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Program (BTP). The long term goal of the BAP is to develop cost effective, production ready systems in five major climate zones that will result in zero energy homes (ZEH) that produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis bymore » 2020. CARB is led by Steven Winter Associates, Inc. with Davis Energy Group, Inc. (DEG), MaGrann Associates, and Johnson Research, LLC as team members. In partnership with our numerous builders and industry partners, work was performed in three primary areas - advanced systems research, prototype home development, and technical support for communities of high performance homes. Our advanced systems research work focuses on developing a better understanding of the installed performance of advanced technology systems when integrated in a whole-house scenario. Technology systems researched included: - High-R Wall Assemblies - Non-Ducted Air-Source Heat Pumps - Low-Load HVAC Systems - Solar Thermal Water Heating - Ventilation Systems - Cold-Climate Ground and Air Source Heat Pumps - Hot/Dry Climate Air-to-Water Heat Pump - Condensing Boilers - Evaporative condensers - Water Heating CARB continued to support several prototype home projects in the design and specification phase. These projects are located in all five program climate regions and most are targeting greater than 50% source energy savings over the Building America Benchmark home. CARB provided technical support and developed builder project case studies to be included in near-term Joule Milestone reports for the following community scale projects: - SBER Overlook at Clipper Mill (mixed, humid climate) - William Ryan Homes - Tampa (hot, humid climate).« less

Urban Heat Island Effect on the Energy Consumption of Institutional Buildings in Rome

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calice, Claudia; Clemente, Carola; Salvati, Agnese; Palme, Massimo; Inostroza, Luis

2017-10-01

The urban heat island (UHI) effect is constantly increasing the energy consumption of buildings, especially in summer periods. The energy gap between the estimated energy performance - often simulated without considering UHI - and the real operational consumption is especially relevant for institutional buildings, where the cooling needs are in general higher than in other kind of buildings, due to more internal gains (people, appliances) and different architectural design (more transparent façades and light walls). This paper presents a calculation of the energy penalty due to UHI in two institutional buildings in Rome. Urban Weather Generator (UWG) is used to generate a modified weather file, taking into account the UHI phenomenon. Then, two building performance simulations are done for each case: the first simulation uses a standard weather file and the second uses the modified one. Results shows how is it necessary to re-develop mitigation strategies and a new energy retrofit approach, in order to include urbanization ad UHI effect, especially in this kind of buildings, characterized by very poor conditions of comfort during summer, taking into account users and occupant-driven demand.

Technology in the high entropy world.

PubMed

Tambo, N

2006-01-01

Modern growing society is mainly driven by oils and may be designated "petroleum civilisation". However, the basic energy used to drive the global ecosystem is solar radiation. The amount of fossil energy consumption is minimal in the whole global energy balance. Economic growth is mainly controlled by the fossil (commercial) energy consumption rate in urban areas. Water and sanitation systems are bridging economical activities and global ecosystems. Therefore, vast amounts of high entropy solar energy should always be taken into account in the water industry. Only in urban/industrial areas where most of the GDP is earned, are commercial energy driven systems inevitably introduced with maximum effort for energy saving. A water district concept to ensure appropriate quality use with the least deterioration of the environment is proposed. In other areas, decentralised water and sanitation systems driven on soft energy paths would be recommended. A process and system designed on a high entropy energy system would be the foundation for a future urban metabolic system revolution for when oil-based energy become scarce.

Evaluating Water and Energy Fluxes across Three Land Cover Types in a Desert Urban Environment through a Mobile Eddy Covariance Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierini, N.; Vivoni, E. R.; Schreiner-McGraw, A.; Lopez-Castrillo, I.

2015-12-01

The urbanization process transforms a natural landscape into a built environment with many engineered surfaces, leading to significant impacts on surface energy and water fluxes across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Nevertheless, the effects of different urban land covers on energy and water fluxes has been rarely quantified across the large varieties of construction materials, landscaping and vegetation types, and industrial, commercial and residential areas in cities. In this study, we deployed a mobile eddy covariance tower at three different locations in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area to capture a variety of urban land covers. The three locations each represent a common urban class in Phoenix: 1) a dense, xeric landscape (gravel cover and native plants with drip-irrigation systems near tall buildings); 2) a high-density urban site (asphalt-paved parking lot near a high-traffic intersection); and 3) a suburban mesic landscape (sprinkler-irrigated turf grass in a suburban neighborhood). At each site, we measured meteorological variables, including air temperature and relative humidity at three heights, precipitation and pressure, surface temperature, and soil moisture and temperature (where applicable), to complement the eddy covariance measurements of radiation, energy, carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes. We evaluated the tower footprint at each site to characterize the contributing surface area to the flux measurements, including engineered and landscaping elements, as a function of time for each deployment. The different sites allowed us to compare how turbulent fluxes of water vapor and carbon dioxide vary for these representative urban land covers, in particular with respect to the role of precipitation events and irrigation. While the deployments covered different seasons, from winter to summer in 2015, the variety of daily conditions allowed quantification of the differential response to precipitation events during the winter, pre-monsoon, and monsoon seasons in relation to irrigation input or lack thereof. As desert urban areas continue to grow worldwide, it is essential to gain an improved understanding of how the energy and water balances vary across the built environment and their implications on urban climate, energy, hydrologic conditions, and air quality.

Modeling Transport of Turbulent Fluxes in a Heterogeneous Urban Canopy Using a Spatially Explicit Energy Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moody, M.; Bailey, B.; Stoll, R., II

2017-12-01

Understanding how changes in the microclimate near individual plants affects the surface energy budget is integral to modeling land-atmosphere interactions and a wide range of near surface atmospheric boundary layer phenomena. In urban areas, the complex geometry of the urban canopy layer results in large spatial deviations of turbulent fluxes further complicating the development of models. Accurately accounting for this heterogeneity in order to model urban energy and water use requires a sub-plant level understanding of microclimate variables. We present analysis of new experimental field data taken in and around two Blue Spruce (Picea pungens) trees at the University of Utah in 2015. The test sites were chosen in order study the effects of heterogeneity in an urban environment. An array of sensors were placed in and around the conifers to quantify transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum: radiative fluxes, temperature, sap fluxes, etc. A spatial array of LEMS (Local Energy Measurement Systems) were deployed to obtain pressure, surrounding air temperature and relative humidity. These quantities are used to calculate the radiative and turbulent fluxes. Relying on measurements alone is insufficient to capture the complexity of microclimate distribution as one reaches sub-plant scales. A spatially-explicit radiation and energy balance model previously developed for deciduous trees was extended to include conifers. The model discretizes the tree into isothermal sub-volumes on which energy balances are performed and utilizes incoming radiation as the primary forcing input. The radiative transfer component of the model yields good agreement between measured and modeled upward longwave and shortwave radiative fluxes. Ultimately, the model was validated through an examination of the full energy budget including radiative and turbulent fluxes through isolated Picea pungens in an urban environment.

Impacts of Urban Water Conservation Strategies on Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Health: Southern California as a Case Study

PubMed Central

Sokolow, Sharona; Godwin, Hilary

2016-01-01

Objectives. To determine how urban water conservation strategies in California cities can affect water and energy conservation efforts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and benefit public health. Methods. We expanded upon our 2014 health impact assessment of California's urban water conservation strategies by comparing the status quo to 2 options with the greatest potential impact on the interrelated issues of water and energy in California: (1) banning landscape irrigation and (2) expanding alternative water sources (e.g., desalination, recycled water). Results. Among the water conservation strategies evaluated, expanded use of recycled water stood out as the water conservation strategy with potential to reduce water use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions, with relatively small negative impacts for the public’s health. Conclusions. Although the suitability of recycled water for urban uses depends on local climate, geography, current infrastructure, and finances, analyses similar to that presented here can help guide water policy decisions in cities across the globe facing challenges of supplying clean, sustainable water to urban populations. PMID:26985606

The Tri-lab Tantalum Strength Consortium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flicker, Dawn G.; Arsenlis, Thomas A.; Austin, Ryan; Barton, Nathan R.; Benage, John F.; Bronkhorst, Curt A.; Brown, Justin L.; Brown, Staci L.; Buttler, William T.; Shen, Shuh-Rong; Dattelbaum, Dana M.; Fensin, Sayu J.; Gray, George T., III; Lane, J. Matthew D.; Lim, Hojun; Luscher, D. J.; Mattsson, Thomas R.; McNabb, Dennis P.; Remington, Bruce A.; Park, Hye-Sook; Prisbrey, Shon T.; Prime, Michael B.; Scharff, Robert J.; Schraad, Mark W.; Sun, Amy C.

2017-06-01

A Tri-lab consortium of experimentalists and theorists at SNL, LLNL, and LANL is joining forces to better understand tantalum strength across an unprecedented range of loading conditions. The team is collecting and comparing tantalum strength data from Hopkinson bar, Taylor cylinder, guns, Z, Omega and the NIF. These experiments, all using Ta from a single lot, span pressures from tenths to hundreds of GPa and strain rates from 103 to 107. New experiments are underway to provide more overlap between the platforms. The experiments are being simulated with a variety of models in order to determine which processes are important under which conditions. The presentation will show results to date. Sandia is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Managing the urban water-energy nexus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escriva-Bou, Alvar; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel; Lund, Jay R.

2016-04-01

Water use directly causes a significant amount of energy use in cities. In this paper we assess energy and greenhouse emissions related with each part of the urban water cycle and the consequences of several changes in residential water use for customers, water and energy utilities, and the environment. First, we develop an hourly model of urban water uses by customer category including water-related energy consumption. Next, using real data from East Bay Municipal Utility District in California, we calibrate a model of the energy used in water supply, treatment, pumping and wastewater treatment by the utility. Then, using data from the California Independent System Operator, we obtain hourly costs of energy for the energy utility. Finally, and using emission factors reported by the energy utilities we estimate greenhouse gas emissions for the entire urban water cycle. Results of the business-as-usual scenario show that water end uses account for almost 95% of all water-related energy use, but the 5% managed by the utility is still worth over 12 million annually. Several simulations analyze the potential benefits for water demand management actions showing that moving some water end-uses from peak to off-peak hours such as outdoor use, dishwasher or clothes washer use have large benefits for water and energy utilities, especially for locations with a high proportion of electric water heaters. Other interesting result is that under the current energy rate structures with low or no fixed charges, energy utilities burden most of the cost of the conservation actions.

Demonstration of reduced-order urban scale building energy models

DOE PAGES

Heidarinejad, Mohammad; Mattise, Nicholas; Dahlhausen, Matthew; ...

2017-09-08

The aim of this study is to demonstrate a developed framework to rapidly create urban scale reduced-order building energy models using a systematic summary of the simplifications required for the representation of building exterior and thermal zones. These urban scale reduced-order models rely on the contribution of influential variables to the internal, external, and system thermal loads. OpenStudio Application Programming Interface (API) serves as a tool to automate the process of model creation and demonstrate the developed framework. The results of this study show that the accuracy of the developed reduced-order building energy models varies only up to 10% withmore » the selection of different thermal zones. In addition, to assess complexity of the developed reduced-order building energy models, this study develops a novel framework to quantify complexity of the building energy models. Consequently, this study empowers the building energy modelers to quantify their building energy model systematically in order to report the model complexity alongside the building energy model accuracy. An exhaustive analysis on four university campuses suggests that the urban neighborhood buildings lend themselves to simplified typical shapes. Specifically, building energy modelers can utilize the developed typical shapes to represent more than 80% of the U.S. buildings documented in the CBECS database. One main benefits of this developed framework is the opportunity for different models including airflow and solar radiation models to share the same exterior representation, allowing a unifying exchange data. Altogether, the results of this study have implications for a large-scale modeling of buildings in support of urban energy consumption analyses or assessment of a large number of alternative solutions in support of retrofit decision-making in the building industry.« less

Demonstration of reduced-order urban scale building energy models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heidarinejad, Mohammad; Mattise, Nicholas; Dahlhausen, Matthew

The aim of this study is to demonstrate a developed framework to rapidly create urban scale reduced-order building energy models using a systematic summary of the simplifications required for the representation of building exterior and thermal zones. These urban scale reduced-order models rely on the contribution of influential variables to the internal, external, and system thermal loads. OpenStudio Application Programming Interface (API) serves as a tool to automate the process of model creation and demonstrate the developed framework. The results of this study show that the accuracy of the developed reduced-order building energy models varies only up to 10% withmore » the selection of different thermal zones. In addition, to assess complexity of the developed reduced-order building energy models, this study develops a novel framework to quantify complexity of the building energy models. Consequently, this study empowers the building energy modelers to quantify their building energy model systematically in order to report the model complexity alongside the building energy model accuracy. An exhaustive analysis on four university campuses suggests that the urban neighborhood buildings lend themselves to simplified typical shapes. Specifically, building energy modelers can utilize the developed typical shapes to represent more than 80% of the U.S. buildings documented in the CBECS database. One main benefits of this developed framework is the opportunity for different models including airflow and solar radiation models to share the same exterior representation, allowing a unifying exchange data. Altogether, the results of this study have implications for a large-scale modeling of buildings in support of urban energy consumption analyses or assessment of a large number of alternative solutions in support of retrofit decision-making in the building industry.« less

Nuclear Fabrication Consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Levesque, Stephen

2013-04-05

This report summarizes the activities undertaken by EWI while under contract from the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) for the management and operation of the Nuclear Fabrication Consortium (NFC). The NFC was established by EWI to independently develop, evaluate, and deploy fabrication approaches and data that support the re-establishment of the U.S. nuclear industry: ensuring that the supply chain will be competitive on a global stage, enabling more cost-effective and reliable nuclear power in a carbon constrained environment. The NFC provided a forum for member original equipment manufactures (OEM), fabricators, manufacturers, and materials suppliers to effectivelymore » engage with each other and rebuild the capacity of this supply chain by : Identifying and removing impediments to the implementation of new construction and fabrication techniques and approaches for nuclear equipment, including system components and nuclear plants. Providing and facilitating detailed scientific-based studies on new approaches and technologies that will have positive impacts on the cost of building of nuclear plants. Analyzing and disseminating information about future nuclear fabrication technologies and how they could impact the North American and the International Nuclear Marketplace. Facilitating dialog and initiate alignment among fabricators, owners, trade associations, and government agencies. Supporting industry in helping to create a larger qualified nuclear supplier network. Acting as an unbiased technology resource to evaluate, develop, and demonstrate new manufacturing technologies. Creating welder and inspector training programs to help enable the necessary workforce for the upcoming construction work. Serving as a focal point for technology, policy, and politically interested parties to share ideas and concepts associated with fabrication across the nuclear industry. The report the objectives and summaries of the Nuclear Fabrication Consortium projects. Full technical reports for each of the projects have been submitted as well.« less

Urban Impact at the Urban-Agricultural Interface in Madison, WI: an Ecosystem Modeling Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logan, K. E.; Kucharik, C. J.; Schneider, A.

2009-12-01

Global population and the proportion of people living in urban areas both continue to grow while average urban density is decreasing worldwide. Because urban areas are often located in the most agriculturally productive lands, expansion of the built environment can cause sharp reductions in land available for cultivation. Conversion of land to urban use also significantly alters climate variables. Urban materials differ from natural land covers in terms of albedo, thermal properties, and permeability, altering energy and water cycles. Anthropogenic heat emissions also alter the energy balance in and around a city. Preliminary analysis of urban impacts around Madison, WI, a small city located in a thriving agricultural region, was performed using the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), MODIS albedo products, ground-based observations, and a simulation of urban expansion, within a geographic information system (GIS). Population of the county is expected to increase by 58% while urban density is projected to decrease by 49% between 1992 and 2030, reflecting projected worldwide patterns. Carbon stored in the top 25cm of soil was found to be over 2.5 times greater in remnant prairies than in croplands and was calculated to be even less in urban areas; projected urban development may thus lead to large losses in carbon storage. Albedo measurements also show a significant decrease with urban development. Projected urban expansion between 2001 and 2030 is expected to convert enough agricultural lands to urban areas to result in a loss of 247,000 tons of crop yield in Dane County alone, based on current yields. For a more complete analysis of these impacts, urban parameters are incorporated into a terrestrial ecosystem model known as Agro-IBIS. This approach allows for detailed comparison of energy balance and biogeochemical cycles between local crop systems, lawns, and impervious city surfaces. Changes in these important cycles, in soil carbon storage, and in crop productivity/yield for 1992 - 2001 and projected 2030 development around Madison, WI will be shown.

Could urban greening mitigate suburban thermal inequity?: the role of residents’ dispositions and household practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrne, Jason; Ambrey, Christopher; Portanger, Chloe; Lo, Alex; Matthews, Tony; Baker, Douglas; Davison, Aidan

2016-09-01

Over the past decade research on urban thermal inequity has grown, with a focus on denser built environments. In this letter we examine thermal inequity associated with climate change impacts and changes to urban form in a comparatively socio-economically disadvantaged Australian suburb. Local urban densification policies designed to counteract sprawl have reduced block sizes, increased height limits, and diminished urban tree canopy cover (UTC). Little attention has been given to the combined effects of lower UTC and increased heat on disadvantaged residents. Such impacts include rising energy expenditure to maintain thermal comfort (i.e. cooling dwellings). We used a survey of residents (n = 230) to determine their perceptions of climate change impacts; household energy costs; household thermal comfort practices; and dispositions towards using green infrastructure to combat heat. Results suggest that while comparatively disadvantaged residents spend more on energy as a proportion of their income, they appear to have reduced capacity to adapt to climate change at the household scale. We found most residents favoured more urban greening and supported tree planting in local parks and streets. Findings have implications for policy responses aimed at achieving urban climate justice.

Assessing summertime urban air conditioning consumption in a semiarid environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salamanca, F.; Georgescu, M.; Mahalov, A.; Moustaoui, M.; Wang, M.; Svoma, B. M.

2013-09-01

Evaluation of built environment energy demand is necessary in light of global projections of urban expansion. Of particular concern are rapidly expanding urban areas in environments where consumption requirements for cooling are excessive. Here, we simulate urban air conditioning (AC) electric consumption for several extreme heat events during summertime over a semiarid metropolitan area with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled to a multilayer building energy scheme. Observed total load values obtained from an electric utility company were split into two parts, one linked to meteorology (i.e., AC consumption) which was compared to WRF simulations, and another to human behavior. WRF-simulated non-dimensional AC consumption profiles compared favorably to diurnal observations in terms of both amplitude and timing. The hourly ratio of AC to total electricity consumption accounted for ˜53% of diurnally averaged total electric demand, ranging from ˜35% during early morning to ˜65% during evening hours. Our work highlights the importance of modeling AC electricity consumption and its role for the sustainable planning of future urban energy needs. Finally, the methodology presented in this article establishes a new energy consumption-modeling framework that can be applied to any urban environment where the use of AC systems is prevalent.

Transportation Energy Conservation Data Book: A Selected Bibliography. Edition 3,

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-11-01

Charlottesville, VA 22901 TITLE: Couputer-Based Resource Accounting Model TT1.1: Methodology for the Design of Urban for Automobile Technology Impact...Evaluation System ACCOUNTING; INDUSTRIAL SECTOR; ENERGY tPIESi Documentation. volume 6. CONSUM PTION: PERFORANCE: DESIGN : NASTE MEAT: Methodology for... Methodology for the Design of Urban Transportation 000172 Energy Flows In the U.S., 1973 and 1974. Volume 1: Methodology * $opdate to the Fational Energy

Which are the factors that may explain the differences in water and energy consumptions in urban and rural environments?

PubMed

Matos, C; Bentes, I; Pereira, S; Gonçalves, A M; Faria, D; Briga-Sá, A

2018-06-12

Rural and urban environments present significant differences between water and energy consumptions. It is important to know, in detail, which factors related to the consumption of these two resources are different in both environments, once that will be those important to manage and discuss in order to improve its use efficiency and sustainability. This research work involves a survey whose aim is to find the factors that in rural and urban environments may justify the differences found in water and energy consumptions. Besides the collection of water and energy consumption data, this survey analyzed 80 variables (socio-demographic, economic, household characterization, among others), that were chosen among the bibliography as possible factors that should influence water and energy consumptions. After the survey application in rural and urban areas and the data statistical treatment, 42 variables remained as truly differentiating factors of rural and urban environments and so as possible determinants of water and energy consumptions. In order to achieve these objectives, a descriptive data analysis and statistical inference (Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test and the Chi-square test of homogeneity) were performed. All the 42 differentiating variables that result from this study may be able to justify these differences, however this will not be presented in the paper and it is reserved for future work. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Satellite data based approach for the estimation of anthropogenic heat flux over urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nitis, Theodoros; Tsegas, George; Moussiopoulos, Nicolas; Gounaridis, Dimitrios; Bliziotis, Dimitrios

2017-09-01

Anthropogenic effects in urban areas influence the thermal conditions in the environment and cause an increase of the atmospheric temperature. The cities are sources of heat and pollution, affecting the thermal structure of the atmosphere above them which results to the urban heat island effect. In order to analyze the urban heat island mechanism, it is important to estimate the anthropogenic heat flux which has a considerable impact on the urban energy budget. The anthropogenic heat flux is the result of man-made activities (i.e. traffic, industrial processes, heating/cooling) and thermal releases from the human body. Many studies have underlined the importance of the Anthropogenic Heat Flux to the calculation of the urban energy budget and subsequently, the estimation of mesoscale meteorological fields over urban areas. Therefore, spatially disaggregated anthropogenic heat flux data, at local and city scales, are of major importance for mesoscale meteorological models. The main objectives of the present work are to improve the quality of such data used as input for mesoscale meteorological models simulations and to enhance the application potential of GIS and remote sensing in the fields of climatology and meteorology. For this reason, the Urban Energy Budget concept is proposed as the foundation for an accurate determination of the anthropogenic heat discharge as a residual term in the surface energy balance. The methodology is applied to the cities of Athens and Paris using the Landsat ETM+ remote sensing data. The results will help to improve our knowledge on Anthropogenic Heat Flux, while the potential for further improvement of the methodology is also discussed.

Biomass power for rural development. Technical progress report, October 1--December 31, 1997

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neuhauser, E.

The focus of the DOE/USDA sponsored biomass power for rural development project is to develop commercial energy crops for power generation by the year 2000. The New York based Salix Consortium project is a multi-partner endeavor, implemented in three stages. Phase-1, Final Design and Project Development, will conclude with the preparation of construction and/or operating permits, feedstock production plans, and contracts ready for signature. Field trials of willow (Salix) have been initiated at several locations in New York (Tully, Lockport, King Ferry, La Fayette, Massena, and Himrod) and co-firing tests are underway at Greenidge Station (NYSEG) and Dunkirk Station (NMPC).more » Phase-2 of the project will focus on scale-up of willow crop acreage, construction of co-firing facilities at Dunkirk Station (NMPC), and final modifications for Greenidge Station. Cofiring willow is also under consideration for GPU`s Seward Station where testing is underway. There will be an evaluation of the energy crop as part of the gasification trials occurring at BED`s McNeill Power Station. Phase-3 will represent fullscale commercialization of the energy crop and power generation on a sustainable basis. During the fourth quarter of 1997 the Consortium submitted a Phase-2 proposal. A few of the other more important milestones are outlined below. The first quarter of 1998 will be dominated by pre-planting activity in the spring.« less

Spatio-Temporal Variability of Urban Heat Island and Urban Mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kar, B.; Omitaomu, O.

2017-12-01

A 2016 report by the U.S. Census stated that while the rural areas cover 97% of the U.S. landmass, these areas house only 19.7% of the nation's population. Given that the U.S. coastal counties are home to more than 50% of the U.S. population, these urban areas are clustered along the coast that is susceptible to sea level rise induced impacts. In light of increasing climate variability and extreme events, it is pertinent to understand the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect that results from increasing population density and mobility in the urban areas, and that contributes to increased energy consumption and temperature as well as unmitigated flooding events. For example, in Illinois, warmer summers contribute to heavy precipitation that overwhelms the region's drainage capacity. This study focuses on understanding the spatio-temporal variability of the relationship between population density and mobility distribution, and creation of UHI due to temperature change in selected cities across the U.S. This knowledge will help us understand the role of UHI in energy-water nexus in urban areas, specifically, energy consumption.

Experimental data of lithium-ion battery and ultracapacitor under DST and UDDS profiles at room temperature.

PubMed

Wang, Yujie; Liu, Chang; Pan, Rui; Chen, Zonghai

2017-06-01

This article provides the dataset of both the LiFePO 4 type lithium-ion battery (LIB) behavior and the Maxwell ultracapacitor behavior. The dynamic stress test (DST) condition and the urban dynamometer driving schedule (UDDS) condition were carried out to analyze the battery/ultracapacitor features. The datasets were achieved at room temperature, in August, 2016. The shared data contributes to clarify the behavior of the LIBs and ultracapacitors and can be used to predict the state-of-charge (SOC) of the LIBs and ultracapacitors, which is also shown in the article of "Modeling and state-of-charge prediction of lithium-ion battery and ultracapacitor hybrids with a co-estimator" (United States Advanced Battery Consortium, 1996) [1].

Dynamic impact of urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria.

PubMed

Ali, Hamisu Sadi; Law, Siong Hook; Zannah, Talha Ibrahim

2016-06-01

The objective of this paper is to examine the dynamic impact of urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria based on autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) approach for the period of 1971-2011. The result shows that variables were cointegrated as null hypothesis was rejected at 1 % level of significance. The coefficients of long-run result reveal that urbanization does not have any significant impact on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria, economic growth, and energy consumption has a positive and significant impact on CO 2 emissions. However, trade openness has negative and significant impact on CO 2 emissions. Consumption of energy is among the main determinant of CO 2 emissions which is directly linked to the level of income. Despite the high level of urbanization in the country, consumption of energy still remains low due to lower income of the majority populace and this might be among the reasons why urbanization does not influence emissions of CO 2 in the country. Initiating more open economy policies will be welcoming in the Nigerian economy as the openness leads to the reduction of pollutants from the environment particularly CO 2 emissions which is the major gases that deteriorate physical environment.

Cooling Effect of Evapotranspiration (ET) and ET Measurement by Thermal Remote Sensing in Urban

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, G. Y.; Yang, B.; Li, X.; Guo, Q.; Tan, S.

2015-12-01

Affected by global warming and rapid urbanization, urban thermal environment and livability are getting worse over the world. Global terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) can annually consume 1.483 × 1023 joules of solar energy, which is about 300 times of the annual human energy use on the earth (4.935×1020 joules). This huge amount of energy use by ET indicates that there is great potential to cool the urban by regulating ET. However, accurately measurement of urban ET is quiet difficult because of the great spatial heterogeneity in urban. This study focuses on to quantify the cooling effects ET by mobile traverse method and improve a methodology to measure the urban ET by thermal remote sensing. The verifying experiment was carried out in Shenzhen, a sub-tropical mega city in China. Results showed that ET of vegetation could obviously reduce the urban temperature in hot season. Daily transpiration rate of a small-sized Ficus tree (Ficus microcarpa, 5 m in height and 20 cm of trunk diameter, measured by sap-flow method) was 36-55 kg and its cooling effect was equivalent to a 1.6-2.4 kWh air conditioner working for 24 hours. A 10% increase in the vegetated area could decrease urban temperature by 0.60°C at hot night. Moreover, it was found that a region with a vegetated area ratio over 55% had obvious effect on temperature decreasing. In addition, a methodology by using "thermal remote sensing + three-temperature model" was improved to measure the urban ET. Results showed that the urban ET could be reasonably measured by the proposed method. The daily ET of an urban lawn was 0.01-2.86 mm and monthly ET was 21-60 mm. This result agreed well with the verification study (Bowen ratio method, r=0.953). These results are very useful for urban planning, urban lower impact development, and improving of urban thermal environment.

Biomass power for rural development. Revised design report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neuhauser, Edward

The retrofit of Dunkirk Steam Station to fire biomass fuels is an important part of the Consortium's goal--demonstrating the viability of commercial scale willow energy crop production and conversion to power. The goal for th biomass facilities at Dunkirk is to reliably cofire a combination of wood wastes and willow biomass with coal at approximately 20% by heat input.

Energy Crisis In Pakistan

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

huge shortfall in gas supplies will be unavoidable. In an effort to mitigate this looming threat, the materialization of transnational gas pipeline ...original financing terms, to kick-start the TAPI gas pipeline project. Despite reaching a consensus, the consortium leader’s selection is still pending...is testimony of the government’s institutional, political, and policy inefficiency. Materialization of IPI and TAPI gas pipeline projects will add

Development of lifetime test procedure for powder evacuated panel insulation. CRADA final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wilkes, K E; Graves, R S; Childs, K W

This CRADA is between Appliance Research Consortium (ARC) of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) and the Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp. A Powder Evacuated Panel (PEP) is a "super" thermal insulation, having a thermal resistivity (R) substantially above that of existing insulation without the environmental problems of some insulations such as Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) blown foam.

Developing a mesophilic co-culture for direct conversion of cellulose to butanol in consolidated bioprocess.

PubMed

Wang, Zhenyu; Cao, Guangli; Zheng, Ju; Fu, Defeng; Song, Jinzhu; Zhang, Junzheng; Zhao, Lei; Yang, Qian

2015-01-01

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) of butanol production from cellulosic biomass is a promising strategy for cost saving compared to other processes featuring dedicated cellulase production. CBP requires microbial strains capable of hydrolyzing biomass with enzymes produced on its own with high rate and high conversion and simultaneously produce a desired product at high yield. However, current reported butanol-producing candidates are unable to utilize cellulose as a sole carbon source and energy source. Consequently, developing a co-culture system using different microorganisms by taking advantage of their specific metabolic capacities to produce butanol directly from cellulose in consolidated bioprocess is of great interest. This study was mainly undertaken to find complementary organisms to the butanol producer that allow simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of cellulose to butanol in their co-culture under mesophilic condition. Accordingly, a highly efficient and stable consortium N3 on cellulose degradation was first developed by multiple subcultures. Subsequently, the functional microorganisms with 16S rRNA sequences identical to the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profile were isolated from consortium N3. The isolate Clostridium celevecrescens N3-2 exhibited higher cellulose-degrading capability was thus chosen as the partner strain for butanol production with Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC824. Meanwhile, the established stable consortium N3 was also investigated to produce butanol by co-culturing with C. acetobutylicum ATCC824. Butanol was produced from cellulose when C. acetobutylicum ATCC824 was co-cultured with either consortium N3 or C. celevecrescens N3-2. Co-culturing C. acetobutylicum ATCC824 with the stable consortium N3 resulted in a relatively higher butanol concentration, 3.73 g/L, and higher production yield, 0.145 g/g of glucose equivalent. The newly isolated microbial consortium N3 and strain C. celevecrescens N3-2 displayed effective degradation of cellulose and produced considerable amounts of butanol when they were co-cultured with C. acetobutylicum ATCC824. This is the first report of application of co-culture to produce butanol directly from cellulose under mesophilic condition. Our results indicated that co-culture of mesophilic cellulolytic microbe and butanol-producing clostridia provides a technically feasible and more simplified way for producing butanol directly from cellulose.

Quantifying Water and Energy Fluxes Over Different Urban Land Covers in Phoenix, Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Templeton, Nicole P.; Vivoni, Enrique R.; Wang, Zhi-Hua; Schreiner-McGraw, Adam P.

2018-02-01

The impact of urbanization on water and energy fluxes varies according to the characteristics of the urban patch type. Nevertheless, urban flux observations are limited, particularly in arid climates, given the wide variety of land cover present in cities. To help address this need, a mobile eddy covariance tower was deployed at three locations in Phoenix, Arizona, to sample the surface energy balance at a parking lot, a xeric landscaping (irrigated trees with gravel) and a mesic landscaping (irrigated turf grass). These deployments were compared to a stationary eddy covariance tower in a suburban neighborhood. A comparison of the observations revealed key differences between the mobile and reference sites tied to the urban land cover within the measurement footprints. For instance, the net radiation varied substantially among the sites in manners consistent with albedo and shallow soil temperature differences. The partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat fluxes was modulated strongly by the presence of outdoor water use, with the irrigated turf grass exhibiting the highest evaporative fraction. At this site, we identified a lack of sensitivity of turbulent flux partitioning to precipitation events, which suggests that frequent outdoor water use removes water limitations in an arid climate, thus leading to mesic conditions. Other urban land covers with less irrigation, however, exhibited sensitivity to the occurrence of precipitation, as expected for an arid climate. As a result, quantifying the frequency and magnitude of outdoor water use is critical for understanding evapotranspiration losses in arid urban areas.

PanScan, the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium, and the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium

Cancer.gov

The Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium consists of more than a dozen prospective epidemiologic cohort studies within the NCI Cohort Consortium, whose leaders work together to investigate the etiology and natural history of pancreatic cancer.

Developing 3D morphologies for simulating building energy demand in urban microclimates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

New, Joshua Ryan; Omitaomu, Olufemi A.; Allen, Melissa R.

In order to simulate the effect of interactions between urban morphology and microclimate on demand for heating and cooling in buildings, we utilize source elevation data to create 3D building geometries at the neighborhood and city scale. Additionally, we use urban morphology concepts to design virtual morphologies for simulation scenarios in an undeveloped land parcel. Using these morphologies, we compute building-energy parameters such as the density for each surface and the frontal area index for each of the buildings to be able to effectively model the microclimate for the urban area.

Degradation of paracetamol by pure bacterial cultures and their microbial consortium.

PubMed

Zhang, Lili; Hu, Jun; Zhu, Runye; Zhou, Qingwei; Chen, Jianmeng

2013-04-01

Three bacterial strains utilizing paracetamol as the sole carbon, nitrogen, and energy source were isolated from a paracetamol-degrading aerobic aggregate, and assigned to species of the genera Stenotrophomonas and Pseudomonas. The Stenotrophomonas species have not included any known paracetamol degraders until now. In batch cultures, the organisms f1, f2, and fg-2 could perform complete degradation of paracetamol at concentrations of 400, 2,500, and 2,000 mg/L or below, respectively. A combination of three microbial strains resulted in significantly improved degradation and mineralization of paracetamol. The co-culture was able to use paracetamol up to concentrations of 4,000 mg/L, and mineralized 87.1 % of the added paracetamol at the initial of 2,000 mg/L. Two key metabolites of the biodegradation pathway of paracetamol, 4-aminophenol, and hydroquinone were detected. Paracetamol was degraded predominantly via 4-aminophenol to hydroquinone with subsequent ring fission, suggesting new pathways for paracetamol-degrading bacteria. The degradation of paracetamol could thus be performed by the single isolates, but is stimulated by a synergistic interaction of the three-member consortium, suggesting a possible complementary interaction among the various isolates. The exact roles of each of the strains in the consortium need to be further elucidated.

North America - The Energy Picture II

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

Desarrollo Urbano), of the National Urban System ( Sistema Urbano Nacional), and of the specific urban North America – The Energy Picture II...and guide for participants in international electricity trade. In January 2005, the Group released a companion to the 2002 electricity report, the

Quantification of the urban water-energy nexus in México City, México, with an assessment of water-system related carbon emissions.

PubMed

Valek, Adrián Moredia; Sušnik, Janez; Grafakos, Stelios

2017-07-15

Global urbanisation will put considerable stress on both water and energy resources. While there is much research at the national and regional levels on the energy implications of water supply (the urban water-energy 'nexus'), there is relatively little at the city scale. This literature is further diminished when attempting to account for the climate impact of urban water systems. A study of the urban water-energy-climate nexus is presented for México City. It is shown that 50% of México City water comes from a local aquifer with a further 30% deriving from energy-intensive surface sources which are pumped over considerable topography. The water supply system consumes 90% of the water system energy demand, and is responsible for the majority (90%) of the CO 2 e emissions. In the wastewater sector, 80-90% is discharged with no or little treatment, with correspondingly low energy demand. The small fraction that is treated accounts for the majority of energy use in the wastewater sector. This study shows the uncertainty in energy demand and CO 2 e emissions when reliant on secondary data which considerably over/under-estimate energy use compared with primary data. This has implications when assessing energy and carbon budgets. Three water savings options are assessed for their impact on energy and CO 2 e emissions reductions. Considerable reductions in water supply volumes and concomitant energy consumption and CO 2 e emissions are possible. However the extent of implementation, and the effectiveness of any implemented solutions depend on financing, institutional backing and public support. An additional measure to reduce the climate impact is to switch from traditional to renewable fuels. This work adds city-level quantification of the urban water-energy-climate nexus, allowing policy makers to discern which water-system elements are responsible for the greatest energy use and climate impact, and are better equipped to make targeted operational decisions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pricing the urban cooling benefits of solar panel deployment in Sydney, Australia

PubMed Central

Ma, S.; Goldstein, M.; Pitman, A. J.; Haghdadi, N.; MacGill, I.

2017-01-01

Cities import energy, which in combination with their typically high solar absorption and low moisture availability generates the urban heat island effect (UHI). The UHI, combined with human-induced warming, makes our densely populated cities particularly vulnerable to climate change. We examine the utility of solar photovoltaic (PV) system deployment on urban rooftops to reduce the UHI, and we price one potential value of this impact. The installation of PV systems over Sydney, Australia reduces summer maximum temperatures by up to 1 °C because the need to import energy is offset by local generation. This offset has a direct environmental benefit, cooling local maximum temperatures, but also a direct economic value in the energy generated. The indirect benefit associated with the temperature changes is between net AUD$230,000 and $3,380,000 depending on the intensity of PV systems deployment. Therefore, even very large PV installations will not offset global warming, but could generate enough energy to negate the need to import energy, and thereby reduce air temperatures. The energy produced, and the benefits of cooling beyond local PV installation sites, would reduce the vulnerability of urban populations and infrastructure to temperature extremes. PMID:28262843

Carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, energy use, and urbanization in Saudi Arabia: evidence from the ARDL approach and impulse saturation break tests.

PubMed

Raggad, Bechir

2018-05-01

This study investigates the existence of long-run relationship between CO 2 emissions, economic growth, energy use, and urbanization in Saudi Arabia over the period 1971-2014. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach with structural breaks, where structural breaks are identified with the recently impulse saturation break tests, is applied to conduct the analysis. The bounds test result supports the existence of long-run relationship among the variables. The existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis has also been tested. The results reveal the non-validity of the EKC hypothesis for Saudi Arabia as the relationship between GDP and pollution is positive in both the short and the long run. Moreover, energy use increases pollution both in short and long run in the country. On the contrary, the results show a negative and significant impact of urbanization on carbon emissions in Saudi Arabia, which means that urban development is not an obstacle to the improvement of environmental quality. Consequently, policy-makers in Saudi Arabia should consider the efficiency enhancement, frugality in energy consumption, and especially increase the share of renewable energies in the total energy mix.

Pricing the urban cooling benefits of solar panel deployment in Sydney, Australia.

PubMed

Ma, S; Goldstein, M; Pitman, A J; Haghdadi, N; MacGill, I

2017-03-06

Cities import energy, which in combination with their typically high solar absorption and low moisture availability generates the urban heat island effect (UHI). The UHI, combined with human-induced warming, makes our densely populated cities particularly vulnerable to climate change. We examine the utility of solar photovoltaic (PV) system deployment on urban rooftops to reduce the UHI, and we price one potential value of this impact. The installation of PV systems over Sydney, Australia reduces summer maximum temperatures by up to 1 °C because the need to import energy is offset by local generation. This offset has a direct environmental benefit, cooling local maximum temperatures, but also a direct economic value in the energy generated. The indirect benefit associated with the temperature changes is between net AUD$230,000 and $3,380,000 depending on the intensity of PV systems deployment. Therefore, even very large PV installations will not offset global warming, but could generate enough energy to negate the need to import energy, and thereby reduce air temperatures. The energy produced, and the benefits of cooling beyond local PV installation sites, would reduce the vulnerability of urban populations and infrastructure to temperature extremes.

Urban Form Energy Use and Emissions in China: Preliminary Findings and Model Proof of Concept

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aden, Nathaniel; Qin, Yining; Fridley, David

Urbanization is reshaping China's economy, society, and energy system. Between 1990 and 2008 China added more than 300 million new urban residents, bringing the total urbanization rate to 46%. The ongoing population shift is spurring energy demand for new construction, as well as additional residential use with the replacement of rural biomass by urban commercial energy services. This project developed a modeling tool to quantify the full energy consequences of a particular form of urban residential development in order to identify energy- and carbon-efficient modes of neighborhood-level development and help mitigate resource and environmental implications of swelling cities. LBNL developedmore » an integrated modeling tool that combines process-based lifecycle assessment with agent-based building operational energy use, personal transport, and consumption modeling. The lifecycle assessment approach was used to quantify energy and carbon emissions embodied in building materials production, construction, maintenance, and demolition. To provide more comprehensive analysis, LBNL developed an agent-based model as described below. The model was applied to LuJing, a residential development in Jinan, Shandong Province, to provide a case study and model proof of concept. This study produced results data that are unique by virtue of their scale, scope and type. Whereas most existing literature focuses on building-, city-, or national-level analysis, this study covers multi-building neighborhood-scale development. Likewise, while most existing studies focus exclusively on building operational energy use, this study also includes embodied energy related to personal consumption and buildings. Within the boundaries of this analysis, food is the single largest category of the building energy footprint, accounting for 23% of the total. On a policy level, the LCA approach can be useful for quantifying the energy and environmental benefits of longer average building lifespans. In addition to prospective analysis for standards and certification, urban form modeling can also be useful in calculating or verifying ex post facto, bottom-up carbon emissions inventories. Emissions inventories provide a benchmark for evaluating future outcomes and scenarios as well as an empirical basis for valuing low-carbon technologies. By highlighting the embodied energy and emissions of building materials, the LCA approach can also be used to identify the most intensive aspects of industrial production and the supply chain. The agent based modeling aspect of the model can be useful for understanding how policy incentives can impact individual behavior and the aggregate effects thereof. The most useful elaboration of the urban form assessment model would be to further generalize it for comparative analysis. Scenario analysis could be used for benchmarking and identification of policy priorities. If the model is to be used for inventories, it is important to disaggregate the energy use data for more accurate emissions modeling. Depending on the policy integration of the model, it may be useful to incorporate occupancy data for per-capita results. On the question of density and efficiency, it may also be useful to integrate a more explicit spatial scaling mechanism for modeling neighborhood and city-level energy use and emissions, i.e. to account for scaling effects in public infrastructure and transportation.« less

Urban Heat Islands and Their Mitigation vs. Local Impacts of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taha, H.

2007-12-01

Urban heat islands and their mitigation take on added significance, both negative and positive, when viewed from a climate-change perspective. In negative terms, urban heat islands can act as local exacerbating factors, or magnifying lenses, to the effects of regional and large-scale climate perturbations and change. They can locally impact meteorology, energy/electricity generation and use, thermal environment (comfort and heat waves), emissions of air pollutants, photochemistry, and air quality. In positive terms, on the other hand, mitigation of urban heat islands (via urban surface modifications and control of man-made heat, for example) can potentially have a beneficial effect of mitigating the local negative impacts of climate change. In addition, mitigation of urban heat islands can, in itself, contribute to preventing regional and global climate change, even if modestly, by helping reduce CO2 emissions from power plants and other sources as a result of decreased energy use for cooling (both direct and indirect) and reducing the rates of meteorology-dependent emissions of air pollutants. This presentation will highlight aspects and characteristics of heat islands, their mitigation, their modeling and quantification techniques, and recent advances in meso-urban modeling of California (funded by the California Energy Commission). In particular, the presentation will focus on results from quantitative, modeling-based analyses of the potential benefits of heat island mitigation in 1) reducing point- and area-source emissions of CO2, NOx, and VOC as a result of reduced cooling energy demand and ambient/surface temperatures, 2) reducing evaporative and fugitive hydrocarbon emissions as a result of lowered temperatures, 3) reducing biogenic hydrocarbon emissions from existing vegetative cover, 4) slowing the rates of tropospheric/ground-level ozone formation and/or accumulation in the urban boundary layer, and 5) helping improve air quality. Quantitative estimates of the above will be presented based on recent and earlier meteorological, energy, thermal environmental, emissions, and photochemical modeling studies for California and Texas.

Northern New Jersey Nursing Education Consortium: a partnership for graduate nursing education.

PubMed

Quinless, F W; Levin, R F

1998-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution and implementation of the Northern New Jersey Nursing Education consortium--a consortium of seven member institutions established in 1992. Details regarding the specific functions of the consortium relative to cross-registration of students in graduate courses, financial disbursement of revenue, faculty development activities, student services, library privileges, and institutional research review board mechanisms are described. The authors also review the administrative organizational structure through which the work conducted by the consortium occurs. Both the advantages and disadvantages of such a graduate consortium are explored, and specific examples of recent potential and real conflicts are fully discussed. The authors detail governance and structure of the consortium as a potential model for replication in other environments.

Connecting the resource nexus to basic urban service provision – with a focus on water-energy interactions in New York City

DOE PAGES

Engström, Rebecka Ericsdotter; Howells, Mark; Destouni, Georgia; ...

2017-05-01

Urban water and energy systems are crucial for sustainably meeting basic service demands in cities. Therefore, this paper proposes and applies a technology-independent “reference resource-to-service system” framework for concurrent evaluation of urban water and energy system interventions and their ‘nexus’ or ‘interlinkages’. In a concrete application, data that approximate New York City conditions are used to evaluate a limited set of interventions in the residential sector, spanning from low-flow toilet shifts to extensive green roof installations. Results indicate that interventions motivated primarily by water management goals can considerably reduce energy use and contribute to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly,more » energy efficiency interventions can considerably reduce water use in addition to lowering emissions. However, interventions yielding the greatest reductions in energy use and emissions are not necessarily the most water conserving ones, and vice versa. Useful further research, expanding the present analysis should consider a broader set of resource interactions, towards a full climate, land, energy and water (CLEW) nexus approach. Overall, assessing the impacts, trade-offs and co-benefits from interventions in one urban resource system on others also holds promise as support for increased resource efficiency through integrated decision making.« less

Connecting the resource nexus to basic urban service provision – with a focus on water-energy interactions in New York City

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Engström, Rebecka Ericsdotter; Howells, Mark; Destouni, Georgia

Urban water and energy systems are crucial for sustainably meeting basic service demands in cities. Therefore, this paper proposes and applies a technology-independent “reference resource-to-service system” framework for concurrent evaluation of urban water and energy system interventions and their ‘nexus’ or ‘interlinkages’. In a concrete application, data that approximate New York City conditions are used to evaluate a limited set of interventions in the residential sector, spanning from low-flow toilet shifts to extensive green roof installations. Results indicate that interventions motivated primarily by water management goals can considerably reduce energy use and contribute to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly,more » energy efficiency interventions can considerably reduce water use in addition to lowering emissions. However, interventions yielding the greatest reductions in energy use and emissions are not necessarily the most water conserving ones, and vice versa. Useful further research, expanding the present analysis should consider a broader set of resource interactions, towards a full climate, land, energy and water (CLEW) nexus approach. Overall, assessing the impacts, trade-offs and co-benefits from interventions in one urban resource system on others also holds promise as support for increased resource efficiency through integrated decision making.« less

Project ATLANTA (Atlanta Land use Analysis: Temperature and Air Quality): Use of Remote Sensing and Modeling to Analyze How Urban Land Use Change Affects Meteorology and Air Quality Through Time

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.

1999-01-01

This paper presents an overview of Project ATLANTA (ATlanta Land use ANalysis: Temperature and Air-quality) which is an investigation that seeks to observe, measure, model, and analyze how the rapid growth of the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area since the early 1970's has impacted the region's climate and air quality. The primary objectives for this research effort are: (1) To investigate and model the relationships between land cover change in the Atlanta metropolitan, and the development of the urban heat island phenomenon through time; (2) To investigate and model the temporal relationships between Atlanta urban growth and land cover change on air quality; and (3) To model the overall effects of urban development on surface energy budget characteristics across the Atlanta urban landscape through time. Our key goal is to derive a better scientific understanding of how land cover changes associated with urbanization in the Atlanta area, principally in transforming forest lands to urban land covers through time, has, and will, effect local and regional climate, surface energy flux, and air quality characteristics. Allied with this goal is the prospect that the results from this research can be applied by urban planners, environmental managers and other decision-makers, for determining how urbanization has impacted the climate and overall environment of the Atlanta area. Multiscaled remote sensing data, particularly high resolution thermal infrared data, are integral to this study for the analysis of thermal energy fluxes across the Atlanta urban landscape.

25 CFR 1000.33 - What amount of funding is to be removed from the Consortium's AFA for the withdrawing Tribe?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Participation in Tribal Self-Governance Withdrawal from A Consortium Annual Funding Agreement § 1000.33 What... the Consortium agreement is reduced if: (1) The Consortium, Tribe, OSG, and bureau agree it is...

Modeling Impact of Urbanization in US Cities Using Simple Biosphere Model SiB2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Ping; Bounoua, Lahouari; Thome, Kurtis; Wolfe, Robert

2016-01-01

We combine Landsat- and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based products, as well as climate drivers from Phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2) in a Simple Biosphere land surface model (SiB2) to assess the impact of urbanization in continental USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). More than 300 cities and their surrounding suburban and rural areas are defined in this study to characterize the impact of urbanization on surface climate including surface energy, carbon budget, and water balance. These analyses reveal an uneven impact of urbanization across the continent that should inform upon policy options for improving urban growth including heat mitigation and energy use, carbon sequestration and flood prevention.

Symbiosis insights through metagenomic analysis of a microbial consortium.

PubMed

Woyke, Tanja; Teeling, Hanno; Ivanova, Natalia N; Huntemann, Marcel; Richter, Michael; Gloeckner, Frank Oliver; Boffelli, Dario; Anderson, Iain J; Barry, Kerrie W; Shapiro, Harris J; Szeto, Ernest; Kyrpides, Nikos C; Mussmann, Marc; Amann, Rudolf; Bergin, Claudia; Ruehland, Caroline; Rubin, Edward M; Dubilier, Nicole

2006-10-26

Symbioses between bacteria and eukaryotes are ubiquitous, yet our understanding of the interactions driving these associations is hampered by our inability to cultivate most host-associated microbes. Here we use a metagenomic approach to describe four co-occurring symbionts from the marine oligochaete Olavius algarvensis, a worm lacking a mouth, gut and nephridia. Shotgun sequencing and metabolic pathway reconstruction revealed that the symbionts are sulphur-oxidizing and sulphate-reducing bacteria, all of which are capable of carbon fixation, thus providing the host with multiple sources of nutrition. Molecular evidence for the uptake and recycling of worm waste products by the symbionts suggests how the worm could eliminate its excretory system, an adaptation unique among annelid worms. We propose a model that describes how the versatile metabolism within this symbiotic consortium provides the host with an optimal energy supply as it shuttles between the upper oxic and lower anoxic coastal sediments that it inhabits.

Proceedings -- US Russian workshop on fuel cell technologies (in English;Russian)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baker, B.; Sylwester, A.

1996-04-01

On September 26--28, 1995, Sandia National Laboratories sponsored the first Joint US/Russian Workshop on Fuel Cell Technology at the Marriott Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This workshop brought together the US and Russian fuel cell communities as represented by users, producers, R and D establishments and government agencies. Customer needs and potential markets in both countries were discussed to establish a customer focus for the workshop. Parallel technical sessions defined research needs and opportunities for collaboration to advance fuel cell technology. A desired outcome of the workshop was the formation of a Russian/American Fuel Cell Consortium to advance fuel cellmore » technology for application in emerging markets in both countries. This consortium is envisioned to involve industry and national labs in both countries. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.« less

Industry/University Consortium for ATS research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allen, R.P.; Golan, L.P.

1993-11-01

The Industry/University ATS research program is the result of two planning workshops. Workshop I was held April 8--10, 1991 and had the goal of identifying research needs for advanced gas turbine cycles that would permit rapid commercialization of cycles with significant improvements over the machines currently under development, in terms of the cost of electricity produced and the environmental burdens resulting from their use in power producing. Workshop II was held in January 1992 and continued the identification of the research needs to develop advanced gas turbine systems. The goals established for the ATS systems were: (1) efficiency exceeding 60%more » for large utility turbine system and 15% improvement in heat rate for industrial systems; (2) busbar energy costs 10% less than current state of the art and (3) fuel flexible designs. In addition Workshop II participants agreed that an industry driven research consortium was an acceptable mechanism to achieve base technology development needs.« less

Wastewater treatment and reuse in urban agriculture: exploring the food, energy, water, and health nexus in Hyderabad, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller-Robbie, Leslie; Ramaswami, Anu; Amerasinghe, Priyanie

2017-07-01

Nutrients and water found in domestic treated wastewater are valuable and can be reutilized in urban agriculture as a potential strategy to provide communities with access to fresh produce. In this paper, this proposition is examined by conducting a field study in the rapidly developing city of Hyderabad, India. Urban agriculture trade-offs in water use, energy use and GHG emissions, nutrient uptake, and crop pathogen quality are evaluated, and irrigation waters of varying qualities (treated wastewater, versus untreated water and groundwater) are compared. The results are counter-intuitive, and illustrate potential synergies and key constraints relating to the food-energy-water-health (FEW-health) nexus in developing cities. First, when the impact of GHG emissions from untreated wastewater diluted in surface streams is compared with the life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment with reuse in agriculture, the treatment-plus-reuse case yields a 33% reduction in life cycle system-wide GHG emissions. Second, despite water cycling benefits in urban agriculture, only <1% of the nutrients are able to be captured in urban agriculture, limited by the small proportion of effluent divertible to urban agriculture due to land constraints. Thus, water treatment plus reuse in urban farms can enhance GHG mitigation and also directly save groundwater; however, very large amounts of land are needed to extract nutrients from dilute effluents. Third, although energy use for wastewater treatment results in pathogen indicator organism concentrations in irrigation water to be reduced by 99.9% (three orders of magnitude) compared to the untreated case, crop pathogen content was reduced by much less, largely due to environmental contamination and farmer behavior and harvesting practices. The study uncovers key physical, environmental, and behavioral factors that constrain benefits achievable at the FEW-health nexus in urban areas.

Japan's Methane Hydrate R&D Program, Accomplishments and Future Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimada, T.

2009-12-01

JOGMEC have been searching for methane hydrate offshore around Japan for use as a future energy resource as a member of the research consortium of methane hydrate resources in Japan (MH21 Research Consortium). The MH21 Research Consortium was established in 2002 to carry out "Japan's Methane Hydrate R&D Program" published by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in July 2001. The program has been extended over 18 years (until 2018) and is divided into three phases. During phase 1, the following key accomplishments had been achieved. Revealed and confirmed the occurrence of methane hydrate filling pore spaces of sand layers in the marine environment for the first time in the eastern Nankai Trough. Established methodology to delineate the thick methane hydrate concentrated zones composed of alternations of highly hydrate-saturated turbidite sand mainly by geophysical measures. Evaluated the amount of gas trapped in the eastern Nankai Trough, applied a probabilistic method based on the borehole data and seismic data, contained in methane hydrate-bearing layers. Tested and achieved substantial methane gas production through the wellbore from subsurface hydrate-bearing layers by dissociating hydrates in Canadian arctic area under international collaboration. Both depressurization method and hot water circulation method were successfully conducted to produce methane gas, and the depressurization method was proved to be effective as a production method that could be utilized in the future. We accumulated a significant amount of knowledge and experience during phase 1. However, many technical and economic challenges still remain for the development of methane hydrate. The research program proceeded to phase 2 in 2009. This time we would like to present summary of phase 1 and challenges during phase 2. The author would like to express sincere appreciation to MH21 Research Consortium and METI for permission for this presentation.

Urban outdoor water use and response to drought assessed through mobile energy balance and vegetation greenness measurements

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Urban vegetation provides many highly valued ecosystem services but also requires extensive urban water resources. Increasingly, cities are experiencing water limitations and managing outdoor urban water use is an important concern. Quantifying the water lost via evapotranspiration (ET) is critical ...

Petroleum contamination and bioaugmentation in bacterial rhizosphere communities from Avicennia schaueriana.

PubMed

Dealtry, Simone; Ghizelini, Angela Michelato; Mendonça-Hagler, Leda C S; Chaloub, Ricardo Moreira; Reinert, Fernanda; Campos, Tácio M P de; Gomes, Newton C M; Smalla, Kornelia

2018-06-01

Anthropogenic activity, such as accidental oil spills, are typical sources of urban mangrove pollution that may affect mangrove bacterial communities as well as their mobile genetic elements. To evaluate remediation strategies, we followed over the time the effects of a petroleum hydrocarbon degrading consortium inoculated on mangrove tree Avicennia schaueriana against artificial petroleum contamination in a phytoremediation greenhouse experiment. Interestingly, despite plant protection due to the inoculation, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene fragments amplified from the total community DNA indicated that the different treatments did not significantly affect the bacterial community composition. However, while the bacterial community was rather stable, pronounced shifts were observed in the abundance of bacteria carrying plasmids. A PCR-Southern blot hybridization analysis indicated an increase in the abundance of IncP-9 catabolic plasmids. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of naphthalene dioxygenase (ndo) genes amplified from cDNA (RNA) indicated the dominance of a specific ndo gene in the inoculated petroleum amendment treatment. The petroleum hydrocarbon degrading consortium characterization indicated the prevalence of bacteria assigned to Pseudomonas spp., Comamonas spp. and Ochrobactrum spp. IncP-9 plasmids were detected for the first time in Comamonas sp. and Ochrobactrum spp., which is a novelty of this study. Copyright © 2018 Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

25 CFR 1000.310 - What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.310 What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain? (a) The Tribe's/Consortium's response must indicate the specific measures that...

25 CFR 1000.255 - May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Construction § 1000.255 May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs? Yes, a Tribe/Consortium may reallocate funds among construction...

25 CFR 1000.310 - What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.310 What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain? (a) The Tribe's/Consortium's response must indicate the specific measures that...

25 CFR 1000.255 - May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Construction § 1000.255 May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs? Yes, a Tribe/Consortium may reallocate funds among construction...

Renewable Energy Feasibility Study Leading to Development of the Native Spirit Solar Energy Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carolyn Stewart; Tracey LeBeau

2008-01-31

DOE-funded renewable energy feasibility study conducted by Red Mountain Tribal Energy on behalf of the Southwest Tribal Energy Consortium (SWTEC). During the course of the study, SWTEC members considered multiple options for the organization structure, selected a proposed organization structure, and drafted a Memorandum of Understanding for the SWTEC organization. High-level resource assessments for SWTEC members were completed; surveys were developed and completed to determine each member’s interest in multiple participation options, including on-reservation projects. With the survey inputs in mind, multiple energy project options were identified and evaluated on a high-level basis. That process led to a narrowing ofmore » the field of technology options to solar generation, specifically, utility-scale Concentrating Solar-Powered Generation projects, with a specific, tentative project location identified at the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation -- the Native Spirit Solar Energy Facility.« less

Wind potential assessment in urban area of Surakarta city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tjahjana, Dominicus Danardono Dwi Prija; Halomoan, Arnold Thamrin; Wibowo, Andreas; Himawanto, Dwi Aries; Wicaksono, Yoga Arob

2018-02-01

Wind energy is one of the promising energy resource in urban area that has not been deeply explored in Indonesia. Generally the wind velocity in Indonesia is relatively low, however on the roof top of the high rise building in urban area the wind velocity is high enough to be converted for supporting the energy needs of the building. In this research a feasibility study of wind energy in urban area of Surakarta was done. The analysis of the wind energy potential on the height of 50 m was done by using Weibull distribution. The wind data based on the daily wind speed taken from 2011-2015. From the result of the wind speed analysis, a wind map in Surakarta was developed for helping to determine the places that have good potential in wind energy. The result showed that in five years the city of Surakarta had mean energy density (ED) of 139.43 W/m2, yearly energy available (EI) of 1221.4 kWh/m2/year, the most frequent wind velocity (VFmax) of 4.79 m/s, and the velocity contributing the maximum energy (VEmax) of 6.97 m/s. The direction of the wind was mostly from south, with frequency of 38%. The south and west area of the city had higher wind velocity than the other parts of the city. Also in those areas there are many high rise buildings, which are appropriate for installation of small wind turbine on the roof top (building mounted wind turbine/ BMWT).

Modelling regional climate change and urban planning scenarios and their impacts on the urban environment in two cities with WRF-ACASA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falk, M.; Pyles, R. D.; Marras, S.; Spano, D.; Paw U, K. T.

2011-12-01

The number of urban metabolism studies has increased in recent years, due to the important impact that energy, water and carbon exchange over urban areas have on climate change. Urban modeling is therefore crucial in the future design and management of cities. This study presents the ACASA model coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) mesoscale model to simulate urban fluxes at a horizontal resolution of 200 meters for urban areas of roughly 100 km^2. As part of the European Project "BRIDGE", these regional simulations were used in combination with remotely sensed data to provide constraints on the land surface types and the exchange of carbon and energy fluxes from urban centers. Surface-atmosphere exchanges of mass and energy were simulated using the Advanced Canopy Atmosphere Soil Algorithm (ACASA). ACASA is a multi-layer high-order closure model, recently modified to work over natural, agricultural as well as urban environments. In particular, improvements were made to account for the anthropogenic contribution to heat and carbon production. For two cities four climate change and four urban planning scenarios were simulated: The climate change scenarios include a base scenario (Sc0: 2008 Commit in IPCC), a medium emission scenario (Sc1: IPCC A2), a worst case emission scenario (Sce2: IPCC A1F1) and finally a best case emission scenario (Sce3: IPCC B1). The urban planning scenarios include different development scenarios such as smart growth. The two cities are a high latitude city, Helsinki (Finland) and an historic city, Florence (Italy). Helsinki is characterized by recent, rapid urbanization that requires a substantial amount of energy for heating, while Florence is representative of cities in lower latitudes, with substantial cultural heritage and a comparatively constant architectural footprint over time. In general, simulated fluxes matched the point observations well and showed consistent improvement in the energy partitioning over urban regions. We present comparisons of observed (EC) tower flux observations from the Florence (Ximeniano) site for 1-9 April, 2008 with results from two sets of high-resolution simulations: the first using dynamically-downscaled input/boundary conditions (Model-0) and the second using fully nested WRF-ACASA (Model-1). In each simulation the model physics are the same; only the WRF domain configuration differs. Preliminary results (Figure 1) indicate a degree of parity (and a slight statistical improvement), in the performances of Model-1 vs. that of Model-0 with respect to observed. Figure 1 (below) shows air temperature values from observed and both model estimates. Additional results indicate that care must be taken to configure the WRF domain, as performance appears to be sensitive to model configuration.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

Achieving aggressive energy efficiency targets requires tight coordination and clear communication among owners, designers, builders, and subcontractors. For this townhome project, MassDevelopment, the quasi-governmental agency owner, selected Metric Development of Boston, teaming with Building America team Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) and Cambridge Seven Architects, to build very high performing market-rate homes. Fort Devens is part of a decommissioned army base in working-class Harvard, Massachusetts, approximately one hour northwest of Boston. The team proposed 12 net zero energy-ready townhomes that were also designed to achieve a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index Score of 41 before adding renewables. Themore » team carefully planned the site to maximize solar access, daylighting, and efficient building forms.« less

Can Aerosol Offset Urban Heat Island Effect?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, M. S.; Shepherd, J. M.

2009-12-01

The Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) refers to urban skin or air temperature exceeding the temperatures in surrounding non-urban regions. In a warming climate, the UHI may intensify extreme heat waves and consequently cause significant health and energy problems. Aerosols reduce surface insolation via the direct effect, namely, scattering and absorbing sunlight in the atmosphere. Combining the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) observations over large cities together with Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) simulations, we find that the aerosol direct reduction of surface insolation range from 40-100 Wm-2, depending on seasonality and aerosol loads. As a result, surface skin temperature can be reduced by 1-2C while 2-m surface air temperature by 0.5-1C. This study suggests that the aerosol direct effect is a competing mechanism for the urban heat island effect (UHI). More importantly, both aerosol and urban land cover effects must be adequately represented in meteorological and climate modeling systems in order to properly characterize urban surface energy budgets and UHI.

Recov'Heat: An estimation tool of urban waste heat recovery potential in sustainable cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goumba, Alain; Chiche, Samuel; Guo, Xiaofeng; Colombert, Morgane; Bonneau, Patricia

2017-02-01

Waste heat recovery is considered as an efficient way to increase carbon-free green energy utilization and to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Especially in urban area, several sources such as sewage water, industrial process, waste incinerator plants, etc., are still rarely explored. Their integration into a district heating system providing heating and/or domestic hot water could be beneficial for both energy companies and local governments. EFFICACITY, a French research institute focused on urban energy transition, has developed an estimation tool for different waste heat sources potentially explored in a sustainable city. This article presents the development method of such a decision making tool which, by giving both energetic and economic analysis, helps local communities and energy service companies to make preliminary studies in heat recovery projects.

25 CFR 1000.396 - Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain minimum standards for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... requirements to maintain minimum standards for Tribe/Consortium management systems? 1000.396 Section 1000.396... AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT... minimum standards for Tribe/Consortium management systems? Yes, the Tribe/Consortium must maintain...

25 CFR 1000.169 - How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information... of Initial Annual Funding Agreements § 1000.169 How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase? A Tribe/Consortium initiates the information phase by submitting a letter of interest to the...

25 CFR 1000.169 - How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information... of Initial Annual Funding Agreements § 1000.169 How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase? A Tribe/Consortium initiates the information phase by submitting a letter of interest to the...

Biodegradation of phenanthrene in bioaugmented microcosm by consortium ASP developed from coastal sediment of Alang-Sosiya ship breaking yard.

PubMed

Patel, Vilas; Patel, Janki; Madamwar, Datta

2013-09-15

A phenanthrene-degrading bacterial consortium (ASP) was developed using sediment from the Alang-Sosiya shipbreaking yard at Gujarat, India. 16S rRNA gene-based molecular analyses revealed that the bacterial consortium consisted of six bacterial strains: Bacillus sp. ASP1, Pseudomonas sp. ASP2, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia strain ASP3, Staphylococcus sp. ASP4, Geobacillus sp. ASP5 and Alcaligenes sp. ASP6. The consortium was able to degrade 300 ppm of phenanthrene and 1000 ppm of naphthalene within 120 h and 48 h, respectively. Tween 80 showed a positive effect on phenanthrene degradation. The consortium was able to consume maximum phenanthrene at the rate of 46 mg/h/l and degrade phenanthrene in the presence of other petroleum hydrocarbons. A microcosm study was conducted to test the consortium's bioremediation potential. Phenanthrene degradation increased from 61% to 94% in sediment bioaugmented with the consortium. Simultaneously, bacterial counts and dehydrogenase activities also increased in the bioaugmented sediment. These results suggest that microbial consortium bioaugmentation may be a promising technology for bioremediation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energy saving and recovery measures in integrated urban water systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freni, Gabriele; Sambito, Mariacrocetta

2017-11-01

The present paper describes different energy production, recovery and saving measures which can be applied in an integrated urban water system. Production measures are often based on the installation of photovoltaic systems; the recovery measures are commonly based on hydraulic turbines, exploiting the available pressure potential to produce energy; saving measures are based on substitution of old pumps with higher efficiency ones. The possibility of substituting some of the pipes of the water supply system can be also considered in a recovery scenario in order to reduce leakages and recovery part of the energy needed for water transport and treatment. The reduction of water losses can be obtained through the Active Leakage Control (ALC) strategies resulting in a reduction in energy consumption and in environmental impact. Measures were applied to a real case study to tested it the efficiency, i.e., the integrated urban water system of the Palermo metropolitan area in Sicily (Italy).

Energy sustainable cities. From eco villages, eco districts towards zero carbon cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaręba, Anna; Krzemińska, Alicja; Łach, Janusz

2017-11-01

Minimizing energy consumption is the effect of sustainable design technics as among many others: designing buildings with solar access and natural ventilation, using climate responsive design materials and effective insulation. Contemporary examples of zero-carbon cities: Masdar City, United Arab Emirates and Dongtan, China, confirm technical feasibility of renewable energy by implementation of solar PV and wind technologies. The ecological city - medium or high density urban settlement separated by greenspace causes the smallest possible ecological footprint on the surrounding countryside through efficient use of land and its resources, recycling used materials and converting waste to energy. This paper investigates the concept of energy sustainable cities, examines, how urban settlements might affect building energy design in eco-villages, eco-districts (e.g. Vauban, Freiburg in Germany, Bo01 Malmo in Sweden), and discuss the strategies for achieving Zero Emission Cities principles in densely populated areas. It is focused on low energy architectural design solutions which could be incorporated into urban settlements to create ecological villages, districts and cities, designed with consideration of environmental impact, required minimal inputs of energy, water, food, waste and pollution.

Proceedings of the second national urban forestry conference

Treesearch

Deborah J. Gangloff; George H. Moeller

1982-01-01

The National Urban and Community Forestry Leaders Council and the American Forestry Association believed it was time to reconvene the nation's urban foresters. It had been four years since the first National Urban Forestry Conference was held in Washington, DC. The ideas, excitement, and energy of those that attended this second conference were a convincing...

Urbanization, Extreme Climate Hazards and Food, Energy Water Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romero-Lankao, P.; Davidson, D.; McPhearson, T.

2016-12-01

Research is urgently needed that incorporates the interconnected nature of three critical resources supporting our cities: food, energy and water. Cities are increasing demands for food, water and energy resources that in turn stress resource supplies, creating risks of negative impacts to human and ecological wellbeing. Simultaneously, shifts in climatic conditions, including extremes such as floods, heat, and droughts, threaten the sustainable availability of adequate quantities and qualities of food, energy and water (FEW) resources needed for resilient cities and ecosystems. These resource flows cannot be treated in isolation simply because they are interconnected: shifts in food, energy or water dynamics in turn affect the others, affecting the security of the whole - i.e., FEW nexus security. We present a framework to examine the dynamic interactions of urbanization, FEW nexus security and extreme hazard risks, with two overarching research questions: Do existing and emerging actions intended to enhance a population's food, water and energy security have the capacity to ensure FEW nexus security in the face of changing climate and urban development conditions? Can we identify a common set of social, ecological and technological conditions across a diversity of urban-regions that support the emergence of innovations that can lead to structural transformations for FEW nexus security?

Stormwater management impacts on urban stream water quality and quantity during and after development in Clarksburg, MD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loperfido, J. V.; Noe, G. B.; Jarnagin, S.; Mohamoud, Y. M.; Van Ness, K.; Hogan, D. M.

2012-12-01

Urbanization and urban land use leads to degradation of local stream habitat and 'urban stream syndrome.' Best Management Practices (BMPs) are often used in an attempt to mitigate the impact of urban land use on stream water quality and quantity. Traditional development has employed stormwater BMPs that were placed in a centralized manner located either in the stream channel or near the riparian zone to treat stormwater runoff from large drainage areas; however, urban streams have largely remained impaired. Recently, distributed placement of BMPs throughout the landscape has been implemented in an attempt to detain, treat, and infiltrate stormwater runoff from smaller drainage areas near its source. Despite increasing implementation of distributed BMPs, little has been reported on the catchment-scale (1-10 km^2) performance of distributed BMPs and how they compare to centralized BMPs. The Clarksburg Special Protection Area (CSPA), located in the Washington, DC exurbs within the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed, is undergoing rapid urbanization and employs distributed BMPs on the landscape that treat small drainage areas with the goal of preserving high-quality stream resources in the area. In addition, the presence of a nearby traditionally developed (centralized BMPs) catchment and an undeveloped forested catchment makes the CSPA an ideal setting to understand how the best available stormwater management technology implemented during and after development affects stream water quality and quantity through a comparative watershed analysis. The Clarksburg Integrated Monitoring Partnership is a consortium of local and federal agencies and universities that conducts research in the CSPA including: monitoring of stream water quality, geomorphology, and biology; analysis of stream hydrological and water quality data; and GIS mapping and analysis of land cover, elevation change and BMP implementation data. Here, the impacts of urbanization on stream water quantity, geomorphology, and biology during development while implementing advanced sediment and erosion control BMPs are discussed. Also, effects of centralized versus distributed stormwater BMPs and land cover on stream water quantity and quality following suburban development are presented. This includes stream response to precipitation events, baseflow and stormflow export of water, and water chemistry data. Results from this work have informed land use planning at the local level and are being incorporated through adaptive management to maintain the high-quality stream resources in the CSPA. More generally, results from this work could inform urban development stakeholders on effective strategies to curtail urban stream syndrome.

Does Size Matter? Scaling of CO2 Emissions and U.S. Urban Areas

PubMed Central

Fragkias, Michail; Lobo, José; Strumsky, Deborah; Seto, Karen C.

2013-01-01

Urban areas consume more than 66% of the world’s energy and generate more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With the world’s population expected to reach 10 billion by 2100, nearly 90% of whom will live in urban areas, a critical question for planetary sustainability is how the size of cities affects energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Are larger cities more energy and emissions efficient than smaller ones? Do larger cities exhibit gains from economies of scale with regard to emissions? Here we examine the relationship between city size and CO2 emissions for U.S. metropolitan areas using a production accounting allocation of emissions. We find that for the time period of 1999–2008, CO2 emissions scale proportionally with urban population size. Contrary to theoretical expectations, larger cities are not more emissions efficient than smaller ones. PMID:23750213

Urban sound energy reduction by means of sound barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iordache, Vlad; Ionita, Mihai Vlad

2018-02-01

In urban environment, various heating ventilation and air conditioning appliances designed to maintain indoor comfort become urban acoustic pollution vectors due to the sound energy produced by these equipment. The acoustic barriers are the recommended method for the sound energy reduction in urban environment. The current sizing method of these acoustic barriers is too difficult and it is not practical for any 3D location of the noisy equipment and reception point. In this study we will develop based on the same method a new simplified tool for acoustic barriers sizing, maintaining the same precision characteristic to the classical method. Abacuses for acoustic barriers sizing are built that can be used for different 3D locations of the source and the reception points, for several frequencies and several acoustic barrier heights. The study case presented in the article represents a confirmation for the rapidity and ease of use of these abacuses in the design of the acoustic barriers.

Multi-scale modelling to evaluate building energy consumption at the neighbourhood scale.

PubMed

Mauree, Dasaraden; Coccolo, Silvia; Kaempf, Jérôme; Scartezzini, Jean-Louis

2017-01-01

A new methodology is proposed to couple a meteorological model with a building energy use model. The aim of such a coupling is to improve the boundary conditions of both models with no significant increase in computational time. In the present case, the Canopy Interface Model (CIM) is coupled with CitySim. CitySim provides the geometrical characteristics to CIM, which then calculates a high resolution profile of the meteorological variables. These are in turn used by CitySim to calculate the energy flows in an urban district. We have conducted a series of experiments on the EPFL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, to show the effectiveness of the coupling strategy. First, measured data from the campus for the year 2015 are used to force CIM and to evaluate its aptitude to reproduce high resolution vertical profiles. Second, we compare the use of local climatic data and data from a meteorological station located outside the urban area, in an evaluation of energy use. In both experiments, we demonstrate the importance of using in building energy software, meteorological variables that account for the urban microclimate. Furthermore, we also show that some building and urban forms are more sensitive to the local environment.

Multi-scale modelling to evaluate building energy consumption at the neighbourhood scale

PubMed Central

Coccolo, Silvia; Kaempf, Jérôme; Scartezzini, Jean-Louis

2017-01-01

A new methodology is proposed to couple a meteorological model with a building energy use model. The aim of such a coupling is to improve the boundary conditions of both models with no significant increase in computational time. In the present case, the Canopy Interface Model (CIM) is coupled with CitySim. CitySim provides the geometrical characteristics to CIM, which then calculates a high resolution profile of the meteorological variables. These are in turn used by CitySim to calculate the energy flows in an urban district. We have conducted a series of experiments on the EPFL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, to show the effectiveness of the coupling strategy. First, measured data from the campus for the year 2015 are used to force CIM and to evaluate its aptitude to reproduce high resolution vertical profiles. Second, we compare the use of local climatic data and data from a meteorological station located outside the urban area, in an evaluation of energy use. In both experiments, we demonstrate the importance of using in building energy software, meteorological variables that account for the urban microclimate. Furthermore, we also show that some building and urban forms are more sensitive to the local environment. PMID:28880883

DEVELOPING AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR URBAN AND ENERGY PLANNING TOWARDS A LOW-CARBON CITY

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeda, Hideto; Nakakubo, Toyohiko; Tokai, Akihiro

In this study, we developed an integrated management model that supports local government to make a promising energy saving measure on a block-scale combined with urban planning. We applied the model to Osaka city and estimated CO2 emissions from the residential and commercial buildings to 2050. The urban renewal cases selected in this study included advanced multipole accumulation case, normal multipole accumulation case, and actual trend continuation case. The energy saving options introduced in each case included all-electric HP system, micro grid system, and we also set the option where the greater CO2 reduction one is selected in each block. The results showed that CO2 emission in 2050 would be reduced by 54.8-57.6% relative to the actual condition by introducing the new energy system in all cases. In addition, the amount of CO2 reduction in actual trend continuation case was highest. The major factor was that the effect of CO2 emission reductions by installing the solar power generation panel was higher than the effect by utilizing heated water mutually on the high-density blocks in terms of total urban buildings' energy consumption.

Offshore Wind Turbines - Estimated Noise from Offshore Wind Turbine, Monhegan Island, Maine: Environmental Effects of Offshore Wind Energy Development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aker, Pamela M.; Jones, Anthony M.; Copping, Andrea E.

2010-11-23

Deep C Wind, a consortium headed by the University of Maine will test the first U.S. offshore wind platforms in 2012. In advance of final siting and permitting of the test turbines off Monhegan Island, residents of the island off Maine require reassurance that the noise levels from the test turbines will not disturb them. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, at the request of the University of Maine, and with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Program, modeled the acoustic output of the planned test turbines.

Citywide Impacts of Cool Roof and Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Deployment on Near-Surface Air Temperature and Cooling Energy Demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salamanca, F.; Georgescu, M.; Mahalov, A.; Moustaoui, M.; Martilli, A.

2016-10-01

Assessment of mitigation strategies that combat global warming, urban heat islands (UHIs), and urban energy demand can be crucial for urban planners and energy providers, especially for hot, semi-arid urban environments where summertime cooling demands are excessive. Within this context, summertime regional impacts of cool roof and rooftop solar photovoltaic deployment on near-surface air temperature and cooling energy demand are examined for the two major USA cities of Arizona: Phoenix and Tucson. A detailed physics-based parametrization of solar photovoltaic panels is developed and implemented in a multilayer building energy model that is fully coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting mesoscale numerical model. We conduct a suite of sensitivity experiments (with different coverage rates of cool roof and rooftop solar photovoltaic deployment) for a 10-day clear-sky extreme heat period over the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas at high spatial resolution (1-km horizontal grid spacing). Results show that deployment of cool roofs and rooftop solar photovoltaic panels reduce near-surface air temperature across the diurnal cycle and decrease daily citywide cooling energy demand. During the day, cool roofs are more effective at cooling than rooftop solar photovoltaic systems, but during the night, solar panels are more efficient at reducing the UHI effect. For the maximum coverage rate deployment, cool roofs reduced daily citywide cooling energy demand by 13-14 %, while rooftop solar photovoltaic panels by 8-11 % (without considering the additional savings derived from their electricity production). The results presented here demonstrate that deployment of both roofing technologies have multiple benefits for the urban environment, while solar photovoltaic panels add additional value because they reduce the dependence on fossil fuel consumption for electricity generation.

25 CFR 1000.425 - How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Appeals § 1000.425 How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference? The Tribe/Consortium shall file its request for an informal conference with the office...

25 CFR 1000.396 - Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain minimum standards for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain minimum standards for Tribe/Consortium management systems? 1000.396 Section 1000.396... Miscellaneous Provisions § 1000.396 Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain...

25 CFR 1000.222 - How does a Tribe/Consortium obtain a waiver?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium obtain a waiver? 1000.222...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Waiver of Regulations § 1000.222 How does a Tribe/Consortium obtain a waiver? To obtain a waiver, the Tribe/Consortium must: (a) Submit a written request from the designated Tribal...

25 CFR 1000.333 - How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? 1000.333...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Retrocession § 1000.333 How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? The Tribe/Consortium must submit: (a) A written notice to: (1) The Office of Self-Governance for BIA...

25 CFR 1000.425 - How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Appeals § 1000.425 How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference? The Tribe/Consortium shall file its request for an informal conference with the office...

25 CFR 1000.400 - Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs? 1000...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Miscellaneous Provisions § 1000.400 Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs? Yes, for BIA programs, the Tribe/Consortium may retain savings for each fiscal year during which...

25 CFR 1000.315 - When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.315 When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department? The Tribe/Consortium must repay funds to the Department as soon as practical...

25 CFR 1000.333 - How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? 1000.333...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Retrocession § 1000.333 How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? The Tribe/Consortium must submit: (a) A written notice to: (1) The Office of Self-Governance for BIA...

25 CFR 1000.315 - When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.315 When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department? The Tribe/Consortium must repay funds to the Department as soon as practical...

Metro-Minnesota Community Clinical Oncology Program (MM-CCOP) | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The Metro-Minnesota Community Clinical Oncology (MMCCOP) program has a long-standing history which clearly demonstrates the success of the consortium, as demonstrated by both the ongoing commitment of the original consortium members and the growth of the consortium from 1979 through 2014. The MMCCOP consortium represents an established community program base which began in

Modeling the Surface Energy Balance of the Core of an Old Mediterranean City: Marseille.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemonsu, A.; Grimmond, C. S. B.; Masson, V.

2004-02-01

The Town Energy Balance (TEB) model, which parameterizes the local-scale energy and water exchanges between urban surfaces and the atmosphere by treating the urban area as a series of urban canyons, coupled to the Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere (ISBA) scheme, was run in offline mode for Marseille, France. TEB's performance is evaluated with observations of surface temperatures and surface energy balance fluxes collected during the field experiments to constrain models of atmospheric pollution and transport of emissions (ESCOMPTE) urban boundary layer (UBL) campaign. Particular attention was directed to the influence of different surface databases, used for input parameters, on model predictions. Comparison of simulated canyon temperatures with observations resulted in improvements to TEB parameterizations by increasing the ventilation. Evaluation of the model with wall, road, and roof surface temperatures gave good results. The model succeeds in simulating a sensible heat flux larger than heat storage, as observed. A sensitivity comparison using generic dense city parameters, derived from the Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land cover database, and those from a surface database developed specifically for the Marseille city center shows the importance of correctly documenting the urban surface. Overall, the TEB scheme is shown to be fairly robust, consistent with results from previous studies.

The National Land Cover Database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Homer, Collin G.; Fry, Joyce A.; Barnes, Christopher A.

2012-01-01

The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) serves as the definitive Landsat-based, 30-meter resolution, land cover database for the Nation. NLCD provides spatial reference and descriptive data for characteristics of the land surface such as thematic class (for example, urban, agriculture, and forest), percent impervious surface, and percent tree canopy cover. NLCD supports a wide variety of Federal, State, local, and nongovernmental applications that seek to assess ecosystem status and health, understand the spatial patterns of biodiversity, predict effects of climate change, and develop land management policy. NLCD products are created by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium, a partnership of Federal agencies led by the U.S. Geological Survey. All NLCD data products are available for download at no charge to the public from the MRLC Web site: http://www.mrlc.gov.

Modelling of surface fluxes and Urban Boundary Layer over an old mediterannean city core

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemonsu, A.; Masson, V.; Grimmond, Cs. B.

2003-04-01

In the frameworks of the UBL(Urban Boundary Layer)-ESCOMPTE campaign, the Town Energy Balance (TEB) model was run in off-line mode for Marseille. TEB's performance is evaluated with observations of surface temperatures and surface energy balance fluxes collected during the campaign. Parameterization improvements allow to better represent the energy exchanges between the air inside the canyon and the atmosphere above the roof level. Then, high resolution Méso-NH simulations are done to study the 3-D structure and the evolution of the Urban Boundary Layer (UBL) over Marseille. Will will give a special attention to the impact of the seabord effects (sea-breeze circulation) on the UBL.

Modeling high resolution space-time variations in energy demand/CO2 emissions of human inhabited landscapes in the United States under a changing climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Godbole, A. V.; Gurney, K. R.

2010-12-01

With urban and exurban areas now accounting for more than 50% of the world's population, projected to increase 20% by 2050 (UN World Urbanization Prospects, 2009), urban-climate interactions are of renewed interest to the climate change scientific community (Karl et. al, 1988; Kalnay and Cai, 2003; Seto and Shepherd, 2009). Until recently, climate modeling efforts treated urban-human systems as independent of the earth system. With studies pointing to the disproportionately large influence of urban areas on their surrounding environment (Small et. al, 2010), modeling efforts have begun to explicitly account for urban processes in land models, like the CLM 4.0 urban layer, for example (Oleson.et. al, 2008, 2010). A significant portion of the urban energy demand comes from the space heating and cooling requirement of the residential and commercial sectors - as much as 51% (DOE, RECS 2005) and 11% (Belzer, D. 2006) respectively, in the United States. Thus, these sectors are both responsible for a significant fraction of fossil fuel CO2 emissions and will be influenced by a changing climate through changes in energy use and energy supply planning. This points to the possibility of interactive processes and feedbacks with the climate system. Space conditioning energy demand is strongly driven by external air temperature (Ruth, M. et.al, 2006) in addition to other socio-economic variables such as building characteristics (age of structure, activity cycle, weekend/weekday usage profile), occupant characteristics (age of householder, household income) and energy prices (Huang, 2006; Santin et. al, 2009; Isaac and van Vuuren, 2009). All of these variables vary both in space and time. Projections of climate change have begun to simulate changes in temperature at much higher resolution than in the past (Diffenbaugh et. al, 2005). Hence, in order to understand how climate change and variability will potentially impact energy use/emissions and energy planning, these two components of the human-climate system must be coupled in climate modeling efforts to better understand the impacts and feedbacks. To implement modeling strategies for coupling the human and climate systems, their interactions must first be examined in greater detail at high spatial and temporal resolutions. This work attempts to quantify the impact of high resolution variations in projected climate change on energy use/emissions in the United States. We develop a predictive model for the space heating component of residential and commercial energy demand by leveraging results from the high resolution fossil fuel CO2 inventory of the Vulcan Project (Gurney et al., 2009). This predictive model is driven by high resolution temperature data from the RegCM3 model obtained by implementing a downscaling algorithm (Chow and Levermore, 2007). We will present the energy use/emissions in both the space and time domain from two different predictive models highlighting strengths and weaknesses in both. Furthermore, we will explore high frequency variations in the projected temperature field and how these might place potentially large burdens on energy supply and delivery.

Urban outdoor water use and response to drought assessed through mobile energy balance and vegetation greenness measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, L. L.; Anderson, R. G.; Shiflett, S. A.; Jenerette, G. D.

2017-08-01

Urban vegetation provides many highly valued ecosystem services but also requires extensive urban water resources. Increasingly, cities are experiencing water limitations and managing outdoor urban water use is an important concern. Quantifying the water lost via evapotranspiration (ET) is critical for urban water management and conservation, especially in arid or semi-arid regions. In this study, we deployed a mobile energy balance platform to measure evaporative fraction throughout Riverside, California, a warm, semi-arid, city. We observed the relationship between evaporative fraction and satellite derived vegetation index across 29 sites, which was then used to map whole-city ET for a representative mid-summer period. Resulting ET distributions were strongly associated with both neighborhood population density and income. By comparing 2014 and 2015 summer-period water uses, our results show 7.8% reductions in evapotranspiration, which were also correlated with neighborhood demographic characteristics. Our findings suggest a mobile energy balance measurement platform coupled with satellite imagery could serve as an effective tool in assessing the outdoor water use at neighborhood to whole city scales.

Project Ci-Nergy Towards AN Integrated Energy Urban Planning System from a Data Modelling and System Architecture Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agugiaro, G.; Robineau, J.-L.; Rodrigues, P.

2017-09-01

Growing urbanisation, its related environmental impacts, and social inequalities in cities are challenges requiring a holistic urban planning perspective that takes into account the different aspects of sustainable development. One crucial point is to reconcile urban planning with environmental targets, which include decreasing energy demand and CO2 emissions, and increasing the share of renewable energy. Within this context, the project CI-NERGY aims to develop urban energy modelling, simulation and optimisation methods and tools to support decision making in urban planning. However, there are several barriers to the implementation of such tools, such as: fragmentation of involved disciplines, different stakeholders, multiplicity of scales in a city and extreme heterogeneity of data regarding all the processes to be addressed. Project CI-NERGY aims, among other goals, at overcoming these barriers, and focuses on two case study cities, Geneva in Switzerland and Vienna in Austria. In particular, project CI-NERGY faces several challenges starting with different cities, heterogeneous data sources and simulation tools, diverse user groups and their individual needs. This paper describes the experiences gathered during the project. After giving a brief overview of the project, the two case study cities, Geneva and Vienna, are briefly presented, and the focus shifts then on overall system architecture of the project, ranging from urban data modelling topics to the implementation of a Service-Oriented Architecture. Some of the challenges faced, the solutions found, as well some plans for future improvements are described and commented.

Evolving urban water and residuals management paradigms: water reclamation and reuse, decentralization, and resource recovery.

PubMed

Daigger, Glen T

2009-08-01

Population growth and improving standards of living, coupled with dramatically increased urbanization, are placing increased pressures on available water resources, necessitating new approaches to urban water management. The tradition linear "take, make, waste" approach to managing water increasingly is proving to be unsustainable, as it is leading to water stress (insufficient water supplies), unsustainable resource (energy and chemicals) consumption, the dispersion of nutrients into the aquatic environment (especially phosphorus), and financially unstable utilities. Different approaches are needed to achieve economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Fortunately, a toolkit consisting of stormwater management/rainwater harvesting, water conservation, water reclamation and reuse, energy management, nutrient recovery, and source separation is available to allow more closed-loop urban water and resource management systems to be developed and implemented. Water conservation and water reclamation and reuse (multiple uses) are becoming commonplace in numerous water-short locations. Decentralization, enabled by new, high-performance treatment technologies and distributed stormwater management/rainwater harvesting, is furthering this transition. Likewise, traditional approaches to residuals management are evolving, as higher levels of energy recovery are desired, and nutrient recovery and reuse is to be enhanced. A variety of factors affect selection of the optimum approach for a particular urban area, including local hydrology, available water supplies, water demands, local energy and nutrient-management situations, existing infrastructure, and utility governance structure. A proper approach to economic analysis is critical to determine the most sustainable solutions. Stove piping (i.e., separate management of drinking, storm, and waste water) within the urban water and resource management profession must be eliminated. Adoption of these new approaches to urban water and resource management can lead to more sustainable solutions, defined as financially stable, using locally sustainable water supplies, energy-neutral, providing responsible nutrient management, and with access to clean water and appropriate sanitation for all.

Understanding the Impact of Anthropogenic and Environmental Changes on Dengue Fever Cases in Puerto Rico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akanda, A. S.; Serman, E. A.; Couret, J.; Puggioni, G.; Ginsberg, H. S.

2016-12-01

Worldwide, there are an estimated 50-100 million cases of dengue fever each year, roughly 30 times the number of cases as 50 years ago. Dengue was introduced to Puerto Rico (PR) in 1963 and it has experienced epidemic activity ever since. There have been 4 large epidemics since 1990, the most recent in 2010 where almost 27,000 cases were reported. Vaccine development remains in the testing stages, and years away from mass distribution. Effective control thus depends on our understanding of the complex relationships between environmental and anthropogenic factors, mosquito vector ecology, and disease epidemiology. Dengue virus is primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also carry the Zika virus, and humans in urban environments are their preferred hosts. The purpose of our analysis is to identify trends between anthropogenic and environmental changes and dengue fever cases in PR over the past 15 years. Data on housing and population density, percent impervious surface, and percent tree canopy at the municipality level were procured from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MLRC) project, respectively. Land cover data from the National Land Cover Database, created by USGS and NOAA, as well as environmental data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), were also used. Smaller land cover and green space analysis studies have been performed for PR, but this is the first study to consider the island as a whole, and in six distinct regions, with regards to increases in dengue fever cases. The results from this study can be used to understand the effects of urbanization and climate change on vector-borne disease transmission in PR and to project the impact of growing sub-urban and urban areas on dengue cases in coming years. Our results could also be used to assess Dengue and Zika transmission in growing megacites of the world, where urban slums provide a favorable habitat for Ae. aegypti and foster efficient transmission patterns.

Developing Energy Literacy in US Middle-Level Students Using the Geospatial Curriculum Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bodzin, Alec M.; Fu, Qiong; Peffer, Tamara E.; Kulo, Violet

2013-06-01

This quantitative study examined the effectiveness of a geospatial curriculum approach to promote energy literacy in an urban school district and examined factors that may account for energy content knowledge achievement. An energy literacy measure was administered to 1,044 eighth-grade students (ages 13-15) in an urban school district in Pennsylvania, USA. One group of students received instruction with a geospatial curriculum approach (geospatial technologies (GT)) and another group of students received 'business as usual' (BAU) curriculum instruction. For the GT students, findings revealed statistically significant gains from pretest to posttest (p < 0.001) on knowledge of energy resource acquisition, energy generation, storage and transport, and energy consumption and conservation. The GT students had year-end energy content knowledge scores significantly higher than those who learned with the BAU curriculum (p < 0.001; effect size being large). A multiple regression found that prior energy content knowledge was the only significant predictor to the year-end energy content knowledge achievement for the GT students (p < 0.001). The findings support that the implementation of a geospatial curriculum approach that employs learning activities that focus on the spatial nature of energy resources can improve the energy literacy of urban middle-level education students.

Sustainability and Resilience in the Urban Environment

EPA Science Inventory

Urban systems are formed by a diversity of actors and activities, and consist of complex interactions involving financial, information, energy, ecological, and material stocks and flows that operate on different spatial and temporal scales. The urban systems that emerge from thes...

Wild inside: Urban wild boar select natural, not anthropogenic food resources.

PubMed

Stillfried, Milena; Gras, Pierre; Busch, Matthias; Börner, Konstantin; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie; Ortmann, Sylvia

2017-01-01

Most wildlife species are urban avoiders, but some became urban utilizers and dwellers successfully living in cities. Often, they are assumed to be attracted into urban areas by easily accessible and highly energetic anthropogenic food sources. We macroscopically analysed stomachs of 247 wild boar (Sus scrofa, hereafter WB) from urban areas of Berlin and from the surrounding rural areas. From the stomach contents we determined as predictors of food quality modulus of fineness (MOF,), percentage of acid insoluble ash (AIA) and macronutrients such as amount of energy and percentage of protein, fat, fibre and starch. We run linear mixed models to test: (1) differences in the proportion of landscape variables, (2) differences of nutrients consumed in urban vs. rural WB and (3) the impact of landscape variables on gathered nutrients. We found only few cases of anthropogenic food in the qualitative macroscopic analysis. We categorized the WB into five stomach content categories but found no significant difference in the frequency of those categories between urban and rural WB. The amount of energy was higher in stomachs of urban WB than in rural WB. The analysis of landscape variables revealed that the energy of urban WB increased with increasing percentage of sealing, while an increased human density resulted in poor food quality for urban and rural WB. Although the percentage of protein decreased in areas with a high percentage of coniferous forests, the food quality increased. High percentage of grassland decreased the percentage of consumed fat and starch and increased the percentage of fibre, while a high percentage of agricultural areas increased the percentage of consumed starch. Anthropogenic food such as garbage might serve as fallback food when access to natural resources is limited. We infer that urban WB forage abundant, natural resources in urban areas. Urban WB might use anthropogenic resources (e.g. garbage) if those are easier to exploit and more abundant than natural resources. This study shows that access to natural resources still is mandatory and drives the amount of protein, starch, fat or fibre in wild boar stomachs in urban as well as rural environments.

Wild inside: Urban wild boar select natural, not anthropogenic food resources

PubMed Central

Stillfried, Milena; Gras, Pierre; Busch, Matthias; Börner, Konstantin; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie; Ortmann, Sylvia

2017-01-01

Most wildlife species are urban avoiders, but some became urban utilizers and dwellers successfully living in cities. Often, they are assumed to be attracted into urban areas by easily accessible and highly energetic anthropogenic food sources. We macroscopically analysed stomachs of 247 wild boar (Sus scrofa, hereafter WB) from urban areas of Berlin and from the surrounding rural areas. From the stomach contents we determined as predictors of food quality modulus of fineness (MOF,), percentage of acid insoluble ash (AIA) and macronutrients such as amount of energy and percentage of protein, fat, fibre and starch. We run linear mixed models to test: (1) differences in the proportion of landscape variables, (2) differences of nutrients consumed in urban vs. rural WB and (3) the impact of landscape variables on gathered nutrients. We found only few cases of anthropogenic food in the qualitative macroscopic analysis. We categorized the WB into five stomach content categories but found no significant difference in the frequency of those categories between urban and rural WB. The amount of energy was higher in stomachs of urban WB than in rural WB. The analysis of landscape variables revealed that the energy of urban WB increased with increasing percentage of sealing, while an increased human density resulted in poor food quality for urban and rural WB. Although the percentage of protein decreased in areas with a high percentage of coniferous forests, the food quality increased. High percentage of grassland decreased the percentage of consumed fat and starch and increased the percentage of fibre, while a high percentage of agricultural areas increased the percentage of consumed starch. Anthropogenic food such as garbage might serve as fallback food when access to natural resources is limited. We infer that urban WB forage abundant, natural resources in urban areas. Urban WB might use anthropogenic resources (e.g. garbage) if those are easier to exploit and more abundant than natural resources. This study shows that access to natural resources still is mandatory and drives the amount of protein, starch, fat or fibre in wild boar stomachs in urban as well as rural environments. PMID:28403244

International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium

Cancer.gov

The InterLymph Consortium, or formally the International Consortium of Investigators Working on Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Epidemiologic Studies, is an open scientific forum for epidemiologic research in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Smart Mobility Stakeholders - Curating Urban Data & Models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sperling, Joshua

This presentation provides an overview of the curation of urban data and models through engaging SMART mobility stakeholders. SMART Mobility Urban Science Efforts are helping to expose key data sets, models, and roles for the U.S. Department of Energy in engaging across stakeholders to ensure useful insights. This will help to support other Urban Science and broader SMART initiatives.

Removing PAHs from urban runoff water by combining ozonation and carbon nano-onions.

PubMed

Sakulthaew, Chainarong; Comfort, Steve D; Chokejaroenrat, Chanat; Li, Xu; Harris, Clifford E

2015-12-01

Ozone (O3) is a chemical oxidant capable of transforming polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban runoff within minutes but complete oxidation to CO2 can take days to weeks. We developed and tested a flow-through system that used ozone to quickly transform PAHs in a runoff stream and then removed the ozone-transformed PAHs via adsorption to carbon nano-onions (CNOs). To quantify the efficacy of this approach, (14)C-labeled phenanthrene and benzo(a)pyrene, as well as a mixture of 16 unlabeled PAHs were used as test compounds. These PAHs were pumped from a reservoir into a flow-through reactor that continuously ozonated the solution. Outflow from the reactor then went to a chamber that contained CNOs to adsorb the ozone-transformed PAHs and allowed clean water to pass. By adding a microbial consortium to the CNOs following adsorption, we observed that bacteria were able to degrade the adsorbed products and release more soluble, biodegradable products back into solution. Control treatments confirmed that parent PAH structures (i.e., non-ozonated) were not biologically degraded following CNO adsorption and that O3-transformed PAHs were not released from the CNOs in the absence of bacteria. These results support the combined use of ozone, carbon nano-onions with subsequent biological degradation as a means of removing PAHs from urban runoff or a commercial waste stream. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A global analysis of the urban heat island effect based on multisensor satellite data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, J.; Frolking, S. E.; Milliman, T. E.; Schneider, A.; Friedl, M. A.

2017-12-01

Human population is rapidly urbanizing. In much of the world, cities are prone to hotter weather than surrounding rural areas - so-called `urban heat islands' - and this effect can have mortal consequences during heat waves. During the daytime, when the surface energy balance is driven by incoming solar radiation, the magnitude of urban warming is strongly influenced by surface albedo and the capacity to evaporate water (i.e., there is a strong relationship between vegetated land fraction and the ratio of sensible to latent heat loss or Bowen ratio). At nighttime, urban cooling is often inhibited by the thermal inertia of the built environment and anthropogenic heat exhaust from building and transportation energy use. We evaluated a suite of global remote sensing data sets representing a range of urban characteristics against MODIS-derived land-surface temperature differences between urban and surrounding rural areas. We included two new urban datasets in this analysis - MODIS-derived change in global urban extent and global urban microwave backscatter - along with several MODIS standard products and DMSP/OLS nighttime lights time series data. The global analysis spanned a range of urban characteristics that likely influence the magnitude of daytime and/or nighttime urban heat islands - urban size, population density, building density, state of development, impervious fraction, eco-climatic setting. Specifically, we developed new satellite datasets and synthesizing these with existing satellite data into a global database of urban land surface parameters, used two MODIS land surface temperature products to generate time series of daytime and nighttime urban heat island effects for 30 large cities across the globe, and empirically analyzed these data to determine specifically which remote sensing-based characterizations of global urban areas have explanatory power with regard to both daytime and nighttime urban heat islands.

Optical photometry of TX0506+056

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keel, William; Santander, Marcos

2017-10-01

The blazar TX0506+056 has attracted recent attention through its location in the error box of a high-energy Ice Cube neutrino detection (https://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/21916.gcn3) and gamma-ray flaring (Atel #10791) We report recent photometry of TX0506+056 obtained in Johnson V and Cousins R passbands using the 1-meter Kapteyn telescope at La Palma, operated remotely by the SARA consortium.

Urban pavement surface temperature. Comparison of numerical and statistical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchetti, Mario; Khalifa, Abderrahmen; Bues, Michel; Bouilloud, Ludovic; Martin, Eric; Chancibaut, Katia

2015-04-01

The forecast of pavement surface temperature is very specific in the context of urban winter maintenance. to manage snow plowing and salting of roads. Such forecast mainly relies on numerical models based on a description of the energy balance between the atmosphere, the buildings and the pavement, with a canyon configuration. Nevertheless, there is a specific need in the physical description and the numerical implementation of the traffic in the energy flux balance. This traffic was originally considered as a constant. Many changes were performed in a numerical model to describe as accurately as possible the traffic effects on this urban energy balance, such as tires friction, pavement-air exchange coefficient, and infrared flux neat balance. Some experiments based on infrared thermography and radiometry were then conducted to quantify the effect fo traffic on urban pavement surface. Based on meteorological data, corresponding pavement temperature forecast were calculated and were compared with fiels measurements. Results indicated a good agreement between the forecast from the numerical model based on this energy balance approach. A complementary forecast approach based on principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-square regression (PLS) was also developed, with data from thermal mapping usng infrared radiometry. The forecast of pavement surface temperature with air temperature was obtained in the specific case of urban configurtation, and considering traffic into measurements used for the statistical analysis. A comparison between results from the numerical model based on energy balance, and PCA/PLS was then conducted, indicating the advantages and limits of each approach.

Establishment of a Multi-State Experiential Pharmacy Program Consortium

PubMed Central

Unterwagner, Whitney L.; Byrd, Debbie C.

2008-01-01

In 2002, a regional consortium was created for schools and colleges of pharmacy in Georgia and Alabama to assist experiential education faculty and staff members in streamlining administrative processes, providing required preceptor development, establishing a professional network, and conducting scholarly endeavors. Five schools and colleges of pharmacy with many shared experiential practice sites formed a consortium to help experiential faculty and staff members identify, discuss, and solve common experience program issues and challenges. During its 5 years in existence, the Southeastern Pharmacy Experiential Education Consortium has coordinated experiential schedules, developed and implemented uniform evaluation tools, coordinated site and preceptor development activities, established a work group for educational research and scholarship, and provided opportunities for networking and professional development. Several consortium members have received national recognition for their individual experiential education accomplishments. Through the activities of a regional consortium, members have successfully developed programs and initiatives that have streamlined administrative processes and have the potential to improve overall quality of experiential education programs. Professionally, consortium activities have resulted in 5 national presentations. PMID:18698386

The urban harvest approach as framework and planning tool for improved water and resource cycles.

PubMed

Leusbrock, I; Nanninga, T A; Lieberg, K; Agudelo-Vera, C M; Keesman, K J; Zeeman, G; Rijnaarts, H H M

2015-01-01

Water and resource availability in sufficient quantity and quality for anthropogenic needs represents one of the main challenges in the coming decades. To prepare for upcoming challenges such as increased urbanization and climate change related consequences, innovative and improved resource management concepts are indispensable. In recent years we have developed and applied the urban harvest approach (UHA). The UHA aims to model and quantify the urban water cycle on different temporal and spatial scales. This approach allowed us to quantify the impact of the implementation of water saving measures and new water treatment concepts in cities. In this paper we will introduce the UHA and its application for urban water cycles. Furthermore, we will show first results for an extension to energy cycles and highlight future research items (e.g. nutrients, water-energy-nexus).

Quantification and mapping of urban fluxes under climate change: Application of WRF-SUEWS model to Greater Porto area (Portugal)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rafael, S., E-mail: sandra.rafael@ua.pt

Climate change and the growth of urban populations are two of the main challenges facing Europe today. These issues are linked as climate change results in serious challenges for cities. Recent attention has focused on how urban surface-atmosphere exchanges of heat and water will be affected by climate change and the implications for urban planning and sustainability. In this study energy fluxes for Greater Porto area, Portugal, were estimated and the influence of the projected climate change evaluated. To accomplish this, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and the Surface Urban Energy and Water Balance Scheme (SUEWS) were appliedmore » for two climatological scenarios: a present (or reference, 1986–2005) scenario and a future scenario (2046–2065), in this case the Representative Concentration Pathway RCP8.5, which reflects the worst set of expectations (with the most onerous impacts). The results show that for the future climate conditions, the incoming shortwave radiation will increase by around 10%, the sensible heat flux around 40% and the net storage heat flux around 35%. In contrast, the latent heat flux will decrease about 20%. The changes in the magnitude of the different fluxes result in an increase of the net all-wave radiation by 15%. The implications of the changes of the energy balance on the meteorological variables are discussed, particularly in terms of temperature and precipitation. - Highlights: • Assessment of energy fluxes behaviour under past period and medium-term climate change projection. • Evaluation of climate change at urban scale. • Meteorological variables alters the partitioning of the energy fluxes. • Changes in the partition of the annual energy balance are found between the two analysed periods. • Increase in the magnitude of sensible and storage heat fluxes.« less

Evaluating Cool Impervious Surfaces: Application to an Energy-Efficient Residential Roof and to City Pavements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosado, Pablo Javier

Summer urban heat island (UHI) refers to the phenomenon of having higher urban temperatures compared to the those in surrounding suburban and rural areas. Higher urban air temperatures lead to increased cooling demand, accelerates the formation of smog, and contributes to the generation of greenhouse gas emissions. Dark-colored impervious surfaces cover a significant fraction of an urban fabric, and as hot and dry surfaces, are a major contributor to the UHI effect. Adopting solar-reflective ("cool") roofs and cool pavements, and increasing the urban vegetation, are strategies proven to mitigate urban heat islands. These strategies often have an "indirect" effect (ambient cooling) and "direct" effect (change in solar energy flux entering the conditioned space) on the energy use of buildings. This work investigates some elements of the UHI mitigation strategies, specifically the annual direct effect of a cool roof, and the direct and indirect effects of cool pavements. The first topic researched in this paper consists in an experimental assessment of the direct effects from replacing a conventional dark roof with a highly energy-efficient cool roof. The study measures and calculates the annual benefits of the cool roof on the cooling and heating energy uses, and the associated emission reductions. The energy savings attributed to the cool roof are validated by measuring the difference between the homes in the heat loads that entered the conditioned space through the ceiling and HVAC ducts. Fractional annual cooling energy savings (26%) were 2.6 times the 10% daily cooling energy savings measured in a previous study that used a white coating to increase the albedo of an asphalt shingle roof by the same amount (0.44). The improved cooling energy savings (26% vs. 10%) may be attributed to the cool tile's above-sheathing ventilation, rather than to its high thermal mass. The roof also provided energy savings during the heating season, yielding fractional annual gas heating savings of 4% and electric heating savings of 3%. The slightly positive fractional annual heating energy savings likely resulted from the tile roof's high thermal capacitance, which increased the overnight temperature of the attic air. Thus cool tile roofs should be perceived as a technology that provides energy and environmental benefits during the cooling season as well as the heating season. The second topic investigates the direct and indirect effects of cool pavements on the energy use of California's building stock. First, a simple urban canyon model was developed to calculate the canyon albedo after the user provides the solar position, canyon orientation, and dimensions of the canyon walls, road, and setbacks. Next, a method is presented to correct the values of temperature changes obtained from previous urban climate models to values that would be obtained from canyon geometries that distinguish between road and setbacks (e.g. sidewalk, front yard). The new canyon model is used to scale the temperature changes obtained from a recent urban climate model that simulated the climatological impact of cool pavements on various California cities. The adjusted temperature changes are then combined with building energy simulations to investigate the effect of cool pavements on the cooling, heating, and lighting energy uses of buildings as well as the environmental impact related to these energy uses. Net (direct + indirect) conditioning (cooling + heating) energy savings and environmental savings from cool pavements were smaller in residential buildings than in commercial buildings. Additionally, residential buildings strongly dominate the building stock in all of the evaluated cities. Therefore, even though most cities yielded conditioning energy and environmental savings, they were small due to the minuscule savings from the residential buildings. When increasing the albedo by 0.20 of all public pavements in different California cities, Los Angeles was the city with the largest savings, yielding only 0.60% in Primary Energy Demand and 0.30% in Global Warming Potential (GWP). Some of the cities experienced even a small net penalty in GWP of up to 0.20%.

Three Essays In and Tests of Theoretical Urban Economics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Weihua

This dissertation consists of three essays on urban economics. The three essays are related to urban spatial structure change, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and housing redevelopment. Chapter 1 answers the question: Does the classic Standard Urban Model still describe the growth of cities? Chapter 2 derives the implications of telework on urban spatial structure, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. Chapter 3 investigates the long run effects of minimum lot size zoning on neighborhood redevelopment. Chapter 1 identifies a new implication of the classic Standard Urban Model, the "unitary elasticity property (UEP)", which is the sum of the elasticity of central density and the elasticity of land area with respect to population change is approximately equal to unity. When this implication of the SUM is tested, it fits US cities fairly well. Further analysis demonstrates that topographic barriers and age of housing stock are the key factors explaining deviation from the UEP. Chapter 2 develops a numerical urban simulation model with households that are able to telework to investigate the urban form, congestion, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission implications of telework. Simulation results suggest that by reducing transportation costs, telework causes sprawl, with associated longer commutes and consumption of larger homes, both of which increase energy consumption. Overall effects depend on who captures the gains from telework (workers versus firms), urban land use regulation such as height limits or greenbelts, and the fraction of workers participating in telework. The net effects of telework on energy use and GHG emissions are generally negligible. Chapter 3 applies dynamic programming to investigate the long run effects of minimum lot size zoning on neighborhood redevelopment. With numerical simulation, comparative dynamic results show that minimum lot size zoning can delay initial land conversion and slow down demolition and housing redevelopment. Initially, minimum lot size zoning is not binding. However, as city grows, it becomes binding and can effectively distort housing supply. It can lower both floor area ratio and residential density, and reduce aggregate housing supply. Overall, minimum lot size zoning can stabilize the path of structure/land ratios, housing service levels, structure density, and housing prices. In addition, minimum lot size zoning provides more incentive for developer to maintain the building, slow structure deterioration, and raise the minimum level of housing services provided over the life cycle of development.

The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions in China: an empirical study using 1980-2014 provincial data.

PubMed

Wang, Shijin; Li, Cunfang

2018-01-01

Towns and cities are not only the focus of attention for their consumption of energy and resources; they are also scrutinized closely for their emissions of greenhouse gases. China's urbanization level now exceeds 50%, but there is still much disparity compared with the level of urbanization in developed countries. This study selects China's urban population and carbon emissions data for the years 1980-2014 and discusses the timing and cause effect of urbanization and the corresponding carbon emissions using the Granger causality test and an error correction model (ECM) then uses STIRPAT models to extract six indicators to measure the quality of urbanization, namely, the level of urbanization, area of built-up regions, added value of tertiary industries, disposable income per capita, green areas per capita, and energy intensity. These six indicators represent population agglomeration, the expansion of urban areas, industrial agglomeration, quality of life improvements, ecological conservation, and technological improvements, respectively. The study divides 29 provinces in China into three groups based on the quality of urbanization and analyzes the impacts of the six indicators of urbanization quality on carbon emissions. The findings show that the impacts of different factors on carbon emissions vary substantially among the provinces. Finally, the study uses the findings to give suggestions on how to develop low-carbon urbanization.

Southeast Clinical Oncology Research Consortium, Inc. (SCOR) | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The SCCC-Upstate is a merger of two successful legacy CCOPs known as Southeast Cancer Control Consortium, Inc. (SCCC) and Upstate Carolina (hereafter the Consortium) comprised of 23 components and 63 sub-components, located in a five-state area of the Southeast US (GA, NC, SC, TN, and VA) with a nonclinical Administrative Office (AO) in Winston-Salem, NC. The Consortium

25 CFR 1000.390 - How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? 1000.390 Section 1000.390 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN... Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? If a Tribe/Consortium chooses to hire...

25 CFR 1000.390 - How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? 1000.390 Section 1000.390 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN... Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? If a Tribe/Consortium chooses to hire...

45 CFR 287.25 - May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2014-10-01 2012-10-01 true May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW... SERVICES THE NATIVE EMPLOYMENT WORKS (NEW) PROGRAM Eligible Tribes § 287.25 May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program? (a) Yes, as long as each Tribe forming the consortium is an “eligible Indian tribe...

45 CFR 287.25 - May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2013-10-01 2012-10-01 true May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW... SERVICES THE NATIVE EMPLOYMENT WORKS (NEW) PROGRAM Eligible Tribes § 287.25 May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program? (a) Yes, as long as each Tribe forming the consortium is an “eligible Indian tribe...

45 CFR 287.25 - May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW... SERVICES THE NATIVE EMPLOYMENT WORKS (NEW) PROGRAM Eligible Tribes § 287.25 May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program? (a) Yes, as long as each Tribe forming the consortium is an “eligible Indian tribe...

AFT-QuEST Consortium Yearbook. Proceedings of the QuEST Consortium (April 2-6, 1972).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Federation of Teachers, Washington, DC.

This book contains the proceedings from the QuEST Consortium held on April 2-6, 1972, which focused on problems of method and technique in teaching as well as on resource organization. The program schedule for the Consortium is presented with the following goals: (a) investigation of educational policy issues, action programs, and projects and (b)…

Electricity Consumption Risk Map - The use of Urban Climate Mapping for smarter analysis: Case study for Birmingham, UK.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antunes Azevedo, Juliana; Burghardt, René; Chapman, Lee; Katzchner, Lutz; Muller, Catherine L.

2015-04-01

Climate is a key driving factor in energy consumption. However, income, vegetation, building mass structure, topography also impact on the amount of energy consumption. In a changing climate, increased temperatures are likely to lead to increased electricity consumption, affecting demand, distribution and generation. Furthermore, as the world population becomes more urbanized, increasing numbers of people will need to deal with not only increased temperatures from climate change, but also from the unintentional modification of the urban climate in the form of urban heat islands. Hence, climate and climate change needs to be taken into account for future urban planning aspects to increase the climate and energy resilience of the community and decrease the future social and economic costs. Geographical Information Systems provide a means to create urban climate maps as part of the urban planning process. Geostatistical analyses linking these maps with demographic and social data, enables a geo-statistical analysis to identify linkages to high-risk groups of the community and vulnerable areas of town and cities. Presently, the climatope classification is oriented towards thermal aspects and the ventilation quality (roughness) of the urban areas but can also be adapted to take into account other structural "environmental factors". This study aims to use the climatope approach to predict areas of potential high electricity consumption in Birmingham, UK. Several datasets were used to produce an average surface temperature map, vegetation map, land use map, topography map, building height map, built-up area roughness calculations, an average air temperature map and a domestic electricity consumption map. From the correlations obtained between the layers it is possible to average the importance of each factor and create a map for domestic electricity consumption to understand the influence of environmental aspects on spatial energy consumption. Based on these results city planners and local authorities can guide their directives and policies towards electricity consumption, demand, generation and distribution.

Computational Astrophysics Consortium 3 - Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts and Nucleosynthesis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Woosley, Stan

Final project report for UCSC's participation in the Computational Astrophysics Consortium - Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts and Nucleosynthesis. As an appendix, the report of the entire Consortium is also appended.

Technical geothermal potential of urban subsurface influenced by land surface effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivera, Jaime A.; Blum, Philipp; Bayer, Peter

2016-04-01

Changes in land use are probably one of the most notorious anthropogenic perturbations in urban environments. They significantly change the coupled thermal regime at the ground surface leading in most cases to increased ground surface temperatures (GST). The associated elevated vertical heat fluxes act at different scales and can influence the thermal conditions in several tens of meters in the subsurface. Urban subsurface thus often stores a higher amount of heat than less affected rural surroundings. The stored heat is regarded as a potential source of low-enthalpy geothermal energy to supply the heating energy demands in urban areas. In this work, we explore the technical geothermal potential of urban subsurface via ground coupled heat pumps with borehole heat exchangers (BHE). This is tackled by semi-analytical line-source equations. The commonly used response factors or g-functions are modified to include transient land surface effects. By including this additional source of heat, the new formulation allows to analyse the effect of pre-existing urban warming as well as different exploitation schemes fulfilling standard renewable and sustainable criteria. In our generalized reference scenario, it is demonstrated that energy gains for a single BHE may be up to 40 % when compared to non-urbanized conditions. For a scenario including the interaction of multiple BHEs, results indicate that it would be possible to supply between 6 % and 27 % of the heating demands in Central European urban settlements in a renewable way. The methodology is also applied to a study case of the city of Zurich, Switzerland, where the detailed evolution of land use is available.

Effects of urban tree canopy loss on land surface temperature magnitude and timing

Treesearch

Arthur Elmes; John Rogan; Christopher Williams; Samuel Ratick; David Nowak; Deborah Martin

2017-01-01

Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) plays an important role in moderating the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) effect, which poses threats to human health due to substantially increased temperatures relative to rural areas. UTC coverage is associated with reduced urban temperatures, and therefore benefits both human health and reducing energy use in cities. Measurement of this...

75 FR 80487 - Paradise Solar Urban Renewal, L.L.C.; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate Filing...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-22

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. ER11-2365-000] Paradise...-referenced proceeding of Paradise Solar Urban Renewal, L.L.C.'s application for market-based rate authority... electronic submission of protests and interventions in lieu of paper, using the FERC Online links at http...

Complex assessment of urban housing energy sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popova, Olga; Glebova, Julia; Karakozova, Irina

2018-03-01

The article presents the results of a complex experimental-analytical research of residential development energy parameters - survey of construction sites and determination of calculated energy parameters (resistance to heat transfer) considering their technical condition. The authors suggest a methodology for assessing residential development energy parameters on the basis of construction project's structural analysis with the use of advanced intelligent collection systems, processing (self-organizing maps - SOM) and data visualization (geo-informational systems - GIS). SOM clustering permitted to divide the housing stock (on the example of Arkhangelsk city) into groups with similar technical-operational and energy parameters. It is also possible to measure energy parameters of construction project of each cluster by comparing them with reference (normative) measures and also with each other. The authors propose mechanisms for increasing the area's energy stability level by implementing a set of reproduction activities for residential development of various groups. The analysis showed that modern multilevel and high-rise construction buildings have the least heat losses. At present, however, ow-rise wood buildings is the dominant styles of buildings of Arkhangelsk city. Data visualisation on the created heat map showed that such housing stock covers the largest urban area. The development strategies for depressed areas is in a high-rise building, which show the economic, social and environmental benefits of upward growth of the city. An urban regeneration programme for severely rundown urban housing estates is in a high-rise construction building, which show the economic, social and environmental benefits of upward growth of the city.

77 FR 43237 - Genome in a Bottle Consortium-Work Plan Review Workshop

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-24

... in human whole genome variant calls. A principal motivation for this consortium is to enable... principal motivation for this consortium is to enable science-based regulatory oversight of clinical...

Midwest Transportation Consortium : 2003-2004 annual report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-01-01

Introduction: The Midwest Transportation Consortium (MTC) recently completed its fifth year : of operation. In doing so, the consortium has established itself as an effective : network that promotes the education of future transportation professional...

Consortium for military LCD display procurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Echols, Gregg

2002-08-01

International Display Consortium (IDC) is the joining together of display companies to combined their buying power and obtained favorable terms with a major LCD manufacturer. Consolidating the buying power and grouping the demand enables the rugged display industry of avionics, ground vehicles, and ship based display manufacturers to have unencumbered access to high performance AMLCDs while greatly reducing risk and lowering cost. With an unrestricted supply of AMLCD displays, the consortium members have total control of their risk, cost, deliveries and added value partners. Every display manufacturer desires a very close relationship with a display vender. With IDC each consortium member achieves a close relationship. Consortium members enjoy cost effective access to high performance, industry standard sized LCD panels, and modified commercial displays with 100 degree C clearing points and portrait configurations. Consortium members also enjoy proposal support, technical support and long-term support.

Biodegradability of fluoxetine, mefenamic acid, and metoprolol using different microbial consortiums.

PubMed

Velázquez, Yolanda Flores; Nacheva, Petia Mijaylova

2017-03-01

The biodegradation of fluoxetine, mefenamic acid, and metoprolol using ammonium-nitrite-oxidizing consortium, nitrite-oxidizing consortium, and heterotrophic biomass was evaluated in batch tests applying different retention times. The ammonium-nitrite-oxidizing consortium presented the highest biodegradation percentages for mefenamic acid and metoprolol, of 85 and 64% respectively. This consortium was also capable to biodegrade 79% of fluoxetine. The heterotrophic consortium showed the highest ability to biodegrade fluoxetine reaching 85%, and it also had a high potential for biodegrading mefenamic acid and metoprolol, of 66 and 58% respectively. The nitrite-oxidizing consortium presented the lowest biodegradation of the three pharmaceuticals, of less than 48%. The determination of the selected pharmaceuticals in the dissolved phase and in the biomass indicated that biodegradation was the major removal mechanism of the three compounds. Based on the obtained results, the biodegradation kinetics was adjusted to pseudo-first-order for the three pharmaceuticals. The values of k biol for fluoxetine, mefenamic acid, and metoprolol determined with the three consortiums indicated that ammonium-nitrite-oxidizing and heterotrophic biomass allow a partial biodegradation of the compounds, while no substantial biodegradation can be expected using nitrite-oxidizing consortium. Metoprolol was the less biodegradable compound. The sorption of fluoxetine and mefenamic acid onto biomass had a significant contribution for their removal (6-14%). The lowest sorption coefficients were obtained for metoprolol indicating that the sorption onto biomass is poor (3-4%), and the contribution of this process to the global removal can be neglected.

ICONE: An International Consortium of Neuro Endovascular Centres.

PubMed

Raymond, J; White, P; Kallmes, D F; Spears, J; Marotta, T; Roy, D; Guilbert, F; Weill, A; Nguyen, T; Molyneux, A J; Cloft, H; Cekirge, S; Saatci, I; Bracard, S; Meder, J F; Moret, J; Cognard, C; Qureshi, A I; Turk, A S; Berenstein, A

2008-06-30

The proliferation of new endovascular devices and therapeutic strategies calls for a prudentand rational evaluation of their clinical benefit. This evaluation must be done in an effective manner and in collaboration with industry. Such research initiative requires organisation a land methodological support to survive and thrive in a competitive environment. We propose the formation of an international consortium, an academic alliance committed to the pursuit of effective neurovascular therapies. Such a consortium would be dedicated to the designand execution of basic science, device developmentand clinical trials. The Consortium is owned and operated by its members. Members are international leaders in neurointerventional research and clinical practice. The Consortium brings competency, knowledge, and expertise to industry as well as to its membership across aspectrum of research initiatives such as: expedited review of clinical trials, protocol development, surveys and systematic reviews; laboratory expertise and support for research design and grant applications to public agencies. Once objectives and protocols are approved, the Consortium provides a stable network of centers capable of timely realization of clinical trials or pre clinical investigations in an optimal environment. The Consortium is a non-profit organization. The potential revenue generated from clientsponsored financial agreements will be redirected to the academic and research objectives of the organization. The Consortium wishes to work inconcert with industry, to support emerging trends in neurovascular therapeutic development. The Consortium is a realistic endeavour optimally structured to promote excellence through scientific appraisal of our treatments, and to accelerate technical progress while maximizing patients' safety and welfare.

Nutrition Transition and Biocultural Determinants of Obesity among Cameroonian Migrants in Urban Cameroon and France

PubMed Central

Cohen, Emmanuel; Amougou, Norbert; Ponty, Amandine; Loinger-Beck, Juliette; Nkuintchua, Téodyl; Monteillet, Nicolas; Bernard, Jonathan Y.; Saïd-Mohamed, Rihlat; Holdsworth, Michelle; Pasquet, Patrick

2017-01-01

Native of rural West Cameroon, the Bamiléké population is traditionally predisposed to obesity. Bamiléké who migrated to urban areas additionally experience the nutrition transition. We investigated the biocultural determinants of obesity in Bamiléké who migrated to urban Cameroon (Yaoundé), or urban France (Paris). We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 36; 18 men) and a quantitative survey (n = 627; 266 men) of adults using two-stage sampling strategy, to determine the association of dietary intake, physical activity and body weight norms with obesity of Bamiléké populations in these three socio-ecological areas (rural Cameroon: n = 258; urban Cameroon: n = 319; urban France: n = 50). The Bamiléké valued overweight and traditional energy-dense diets in rural and urban Cameroon. Physical activity levels were lower, consumption of processed energy-dense food was frequent and obesity levels higher in new migrants living in urban Cameroon and France. Female sex, age, duration of residence in urban areas, lower physical activity and valorisation of overweight were independently associated with obesity status. This work argues in favour of local and global health policies that account for the origin and the migration trajectories to prevent obesity in migrants. PMID:28661463

Nutrition Transition and Biocultural Determinants of Obesity among Cameroonian Migrants in Urban Cameroon and France.

PubMed

Cohen, Emmanuel; Amougou, Norbert; Ponty, Amandine; Loinger-Beck, Juliette; Nkuintchua, Téodyl; Monteillet, Nicolas; Bernard, Jonathan Y; Saïd-Mohamed, Rihlat; Holdsworth, Michelle; Pasquet, Patrick

2017-06-29

Native of rural West Cameroon, the Bamiléké population is traditionally predisposed to obesity. Bamiléké who migrated to urban areas additionally experience the nutrition transition. We investigated the biocultural determinants of obesity in Bamiléké who migrated to urban Cameroon (Yaoundé), or urban France (Paris). We conducted qualitative interviews ( n = 36; 18 men) and a quantitative survey ( n = 627; 266 men) of adults using two-stage sampling strategy, to determine the association of dietary intake, physical activity and body weight norms with obesity of Bamiléké populations in these three socio-ecological areas (rural Cameroon: n = 258; urban Cameroon: n = 319; urban France: n = 50). The Bamiléké valued overweight and traditional energy-dense diets in rural and urban Cameroon. Physical activity levels were lower, consumption of processed energy-dense food was frequent and obesity levels higher in new migrants living in urban Cameroon and France. Female sex, age, duration of residence in urban areas, lower physical activity and valorisation of overweight were independently associated with obesity status. This work argues in favour of local and global health policies that account for the origin and the migration trajectories to prevent obesity in migrants.

Measurement and Analysis of Thermal Energy Responses from Discrete Urban Surfaces Using Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, D. A.; Ridd, M. K.

1993-01-01

This study employs data from the airborne Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) to measure thermal (i.e., longwave) energy responses, emitted or upwelling, from discrete surfaces that are typical of the city landscape within Salt Lake City, Utah, over a single diurnal time period (i.e., a single day, night-time sequence). These data are used to quantify the disposition of thermal energy for selected urban surfaces during the daytime and night-time, and the amount of change in thermal response or flux recorded between day and night. An analysis is presented on the thermal interrelationships observed for common urban materials for day, night, and flux, as identified from the TIMS data through the delineation of discrete surface type polygons. The results from the study illustrate that such factors as heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and the amount of soil moisture available have a profound impact on the magnitude of thermal energy emanating from a specific surface and on the dynamics of longwave energy response between day and night.

25 CFR 1000.54 - How will a Tribe/Consortium know whether or not it has been selected to receive an advance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...) Planning and Negotiation Grants Advance Planning Grant Funding § 1000.54 How will a Tribe/Consortium know... Director will notify the Tribe/Consortium by letter whether it has been selected to receive an advance... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How will a Tribe/Consortium know whether or not it has...

Improving urban district heating systems and assessing the efficiency of the energy usage therein

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orlov, M. E.; Sharapov, V. I.

2017-11-01

The report describes issues in connection with improving urban district heating systems from combined heat power plants (CHPs), to propose the ways for improving the reliability and the efficiency of the energy usage (often referred to as “energy efficiency”) in such systems. The main direction of such urban district heating systems improvement suggests transition to combined heating systems that include structural elements of both centralized and decentralized systems. Such systems provide the basic part of thermal power via highly efficient methods for extracting thermal power plants turbines steam, while peak loads are covered by decentralized peak thermal power sources to be mounted at consumers’ locations, with the peak sources being also reserve thermal power sources. The methodology was developed for assessing energy efficiency of the combined district heating systems, implemented as a computer software product capable of comparatively calculating saving on reference fuel for the system.

Investigation of Future Thermal Comforts in a Tropical Megacity Using Coupling of Energy Balance Model and Large Eddy Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sueishi, T.; Yucel, M.; Ashie, Y.; Varquez, A. C. G.; Inagaki, A.; Darmanto, N. S.; Nakayoshi, M.; Kanda, M.

2017-12-01

Recently, temperature in urban areas continue to rise as an effect of climate change and urbanization. Specifically, Asian megacities are projected to expand rapidly resulting to serious in the future atmospheric environment. Thus, detailed analysis of urban meteorology for Asian megacities is needed to prescribe optimum against these negative climate modifications. A building-resolving large eddy simulation (LES) coupled with an energy balance model is conducted for a highly urbanized district in central Jakarta on typical daytime hours. Five cases were considered; case 1 utilizes present urban scenario and four cases representing different urban configurations in 2050. The future configurations were based on representative concentration pathways (RCP) and shared socio-economic pathways (SSP). Building height maps and land use maps of simulation domains are shown in the attached figure (top). Case 1 3 focuses on the difference of future scenarios. Case 1 represents current climatic and urban conditions, case 2 and 3 was an idealized future represented by RCP2.6/SSP1 and RCP8.5/SSP3, respectively. More complex urban morphology was applied in case 4, vegetation and building area were changed in case 5. Meteorological inputs and anthropogenic heat emission (AHE) were calculated using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (Varquez et al [2017]). Sensible and latent heat flux from surfaces were calculated using an energy balance model (Ashie et al [2011]), with considers multi-reflection, evapotranspiration and evaporation. The results of energy balance model (shown in the middle line of figure), in addition to WRF outputs, were used as input into the PArallelized LES Model (PALM) (Raasch et al [2001]). From standard new effective temperature (SET*) which included the effects of temperature, wind speed, humidity and radiation, thermal comfort in urban area was evaluated. SET* contours at 1 m height are shown in the bottom line of the figure. Extreme climate change increase average SET* as expected; however, construction of dense high-rise buildings (case 2) can minimize this effect due to increased shading throughout the district. Acknowledgement: This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-14) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

Progressive growth deterioration in a context of nutritional transition: a case study from Vientiane (Lao PDR).

PubMed

Benefice, Eric; Lévi, Pierre; Banouvong, Phonetip

2012-05-01

The high rates of rapid urban and economic growth occurring in Asia are bringing about parallel changes in both food consumption patterns and nutritional status. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of these changes on the nutritional and health status of mothers and their offspring in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Over 2 consecutive years, a follow-up study of 150 infant-mother pairs living at three different levels of urbanization was performed in Vientiane. The mothers completed a questionnaire on their eating habits. Clinical examinations and anthropometric measurements were also carried out. The results showed that, in general, the dietary energy content was low (providing only 83% of the energy requirement) and there were deficiencies in calcium, vitamin A, Folate and iron. The main energy source was rice (providing 40.9%), while 40% of the protein provided by meat and fish provided 19.8%. The differences observed in the food contribution to energy intakes and in food diversity varied with the level of urbanization. The prevalence of stunting (13.9%; CI 10.0 ∼ 18.6%) was less than that reported at the country level. Stunting was related to age, the sex of the child and the mother's physique and varied according to the level of urbanization. The level of urbanization in Vientiane influences the pace of the ongoing process of nutritional transition.

Smart urban design to reduce transportation impact in city centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fezzai, Soufiane; Mazouz, Said; Ahriz, Atef

2018-05-01

Air pollution is one of the most serious problems facing human being; urban wastes are in first range of energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gasses. Transportation or car traffic is one of the most consumer sectors of fuel, and most pollutant. Reducing energy consumption in transportation and the emission of pollutant gasses becomes an important objective for urban designers; many solutions may be proposed to help solving this problem in future designs, but it depend on other factors in existing urban space especially in city centers characterized with high occupation density. In this paper we investigate traffic rate in the city center of the case study, looking for the causes of the high traffic using gate count method and estimating fuel consumption. We try to propose some design solutions to reduce distances so fuel consumption and emission of pollutant gasses. We use space syntax techniques to evaluate urban configuration and verify the proposed solutions.

GENIUS: A tool for multi-disciplinary and multi-scalar databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonhomme, M.; Masson, V.; Adolphe, L.; Faraut, S.

2013-12-01

Cities are responsible for the majority of energy consumption on the planet. As a consequence, researches regarding energy use in urban context have been increasing for the last decades. Recently the interrelationship between city, energy consumption and urban microclimate appeared as a key component of urban sustainability. To be accurate, those studies must take into account a multidisciplinary urban context and modelling tools need high definition data. Nevertheless, at the city scale, input data is either imprecise or only available for small areas. In particular, there is a lack of information about buildings footprints, roofs sloping, envelope materials, etc. Moreover, the existing data do not allow researchers to explore prospective issues such as climate change or future urban development. In this sense, we developed a new tool called GENIUS (GENerator of Interactive Urban blockS) to build high definition and evolutionary maps from available databases. GENIUS creates maps composed of archetypical neighbourhood coming as shape-files of polygons with additional information (height, age, use, thermal insulation, etc.). Those archetypical neighbourhoods come to seven types of urban blocks that can be found in most European cities. Those types can be compared with Stewart and Oke Local Climate Zones (LCZ). The first step of our method is to transform an existing map into an 'archetypical map'. To do this, the urban database of the IGN (French Geographical Institute) was used. The maps were divided into cells of 250 meters resolution. For each cell, about 40 morphological indicators were calculated. Seven groups of blocks were then identified by means of Principal Component Analysis. GENIUS databases are also able to evolve through time. As a matter of fact, the initial map is transformed, year after year, by taking into account changes in density and urban history. In that sense, GENIUS communicates with NEDUM, a model developed by the CIRED (International Centre for Environment and Development), that simulates the spread of the city and provides information on build density. Under the influence of those density evolutions and of different urban planning scenarios, GENIUS changes the type of urban blocks and their parameters (height, plot ratio, thermal properties, etc.). The paper will present the validation of GENIUS and its application on the French city of Toulouse. Six scenarios have been designed taking into account demographic evolutions, economic contexts and urban planning policies. For each of those scenarios, we generated maps of the city and its surroundings from 2010 to 2100. The obtained maps enabled us to come up with simulations of Toulouse energy consumptions and microclimate both present and future.

Optimal urban water conservation strategies considering embedded energy: coupling end-use and utility water-energy models.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escriva-Bou, A.; Lund, J. R.; Pulido-Velazquez, M.; Spang, E. S.; Loge, F. J.

2014-12-01

Although most freshwater resources are used in agriculture, a greater amount of energy is consumed per unit of water supply for urban areas. Therefore, efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of water in cities, including the energy embedded within household uses, can be an order of magnitude larger than for other water uses. This characteristic of urban water systems creates a promising opportunity to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, particularly given rapidly growing urbanization worldwide. Based on a previous Water-Energy-CO2 emissions model for household water end uses, this research introduces a probabilistic two-stage optimization model considering technical and behavioral decision variables to obtain the most economical strategies to minimize household water and water-related energy bills given both water and energy price shocks. Results show that adoption rates to reduce energy intensive appliances increase significantly, resulting in an overall 20% growth in indoor water conservation if household dwellers include the energy cost of their water use. To analyze the consequences on a utility-scale, we develop an hourly water-energy model based on data from East Bay Municipal Utility District in California, including the residential consumption, obtaining that water end uses accounts for roughly 90% of total water-related energy, but the 10% that is managed by the utility is worth over 12 million annually. Once the entire end-use + utility model is completed, several demand-side management conservation strategies were simulated for the city of San Ramon. In this smaller water district, roughly 5% of total EBMUD water use, we found that the optimal household strategies can reduce total GHG emissions by 4% and utility's energy cost over 70,000/yr. Especially interesting from the utility perspective could be the "smoothing" of water use peaks by avoiding daytime irrigation that among other benefits might reduce utility energy costs by 0.5% according to our assessment.

Oil Production by a Consortium of Oleaginous Microorganisms grown on primary effluent wastewater

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hall, Jacqueline; Hetrick, Mary; French, Todd

Municipal wastewater could be a potential growth medium that has not been considered for cultivating oleaginous microorganisms. This study is designed to determine if a consortium of oleaginous microorganism can successfully compete for carbon and other nutrients with the indigenous microorganisms contained in primary effluent wastewater. RESULTS: The oleaginous consortium inoculated with indigenous microorganisms reached stationary phase within 24 h, reaching a maximum cell concentration of 0.58 g L -1. Water quality post-oleaginous consortium growth reached a maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of approximately 81%, supporting the consumption of the glucose within 8 h. The oleaginous consortium increased themore » amount of oil produced per gram by 13% compared with indigenous microorganisms in raw wastewater. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results show a substantial population increase in bacteria within the first 24 h when the consortium is inoculated into raw wastewater. This result, along with the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) results, suggests that conditions tested were not sufficient for the oleaginous consortium to compete with the indigenous microorganisms.« less

Biostimulation of metal-resistant microbial consortium to remove zinc from contaminated environments.

PubMed

Mejias Carpio, Isis E; Franco, Diego Castillo; Zanoli Sato, Maria Inês; Sakata, Solange; Pellizari, Vivian H; Seckler Ferreira Filho, Sidney; Frigi Rodrigues, Debora

2016-04-15

Understanding the diversity and metal removal ability of microorganisms associated to contaminated aquatic environments is essential to develop metal remediation technologies in engineered environments. This study investigates through 16S rRNA deep sequencing the composition of a biostimulated microbial consortium obtained from the polluted Tietê River in São Paulo, Brazil. The bacterial diversity of the biostimulated consortium obtained from the contaminated water and sediment was compared to the original sample. The results of the comparative sequencing analyses showed that the biostimulated consortium and the natural environment had γ-Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and uncultured bacteria as the major classes of microorganisms. The consortium optimum zinc removal capacity, evaluated in batch experiments, was achieved at pH=5 with equilibrium contact time of 120min, and a higher Zn-biomass affinity (KF=1.81) than most pure cultures previously investigated. Analysis of the functional groups found in the consortium demonstrated that amine, carboxyl, hydroxyl, and phosphate groups present in the consortium cells were responsible for zinc uptake. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-term Energy and Emissions Savings Potential in New York City Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhatt, Vatsal; Lee, John; Klein, Yehuda

2012-09-30

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) partnered with the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the City University of New York (CUNY) to develop an integrated methodology that is capable of quantifying the impact of energy efficiency and load management options in buildings, including CUNY’s campus buildings, housing projects, hospitals, and hotels, while capturing the synergies and offsets in a complex and integrated energy-environmental system. The results of this work serve as a guideline in implementing urban energy efficiency and other forms of urban environmental improvement through cost-effective planning at the institutional and local level.

Energy shortage: a benign crisis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Armstrong, E.L.

The energy crisis is real and the days of cheap and plentiful energy are gone, perhaps forever. Resources and technology are available to meet the energy austerity. The good evolving from the energy crisis means conservation in many considerations of city planning such as master planning for transportation, water supply, sewers, and utilities; urban construction; and recreation facilities near subdivisions. Urban and suburban areas are evolving from low density residential communities clustering around a well-defined central city to a collection of regional subcenters around the central-city area, each consisting of malls, high- rise office buildings, industrial areas, and apartment complexesmore » linked by belt highways. (MCW)« less

Energy Saving Performance Analysis of An Inverter-based Regenerative Power Re-utilization Device for Urban Rail Transit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jin; Qiu, Zhiling; Hu, Leilei

2018-04-01

The inverter-based regenerative braking power utilization devices can re-utilize the regenerative energy, thus reduce the energy consumption of urban rail transit. In this paper the power absorption principle of the inverter-based device is introduced, then the key influencing factors of energy saving performance are analyzed based on the absorption model. The field operation data verified that the control DC voltage plays an important role and lower control DC voltage yields more energy saving. Also, the one year energy saving performance data of an inverter-based re-utilization device located in NanJing S8 line is provided, and more than 1.2 million kWh energy is recovered in the one year operation.

Compact Power Conditioning and RF Systems for a High Power RF Source

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

RF systems have increasing potential for application by the Army. High power RF, or high power microwave ( HPM ), systems can disrupt or disable...that are small, lightweight, portable, and use an independent energy source. The resulting system will be able to produce HPM from a compact package...The consortium was formed to advance the technology of the components required for a compact HPM source with the final goal of full system

Urban water transactions: the search of a comprehensive framework for interactions between water and urban systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angarita, Hector; Domínguez, Efraín

2013-04-01

United Nations global demographic prospects show that from 1950 to 2050, the number of people living in cities will increase from 0.7 to 6.3 billion, which represents a 9 times fold in 100 years. In contrast, human population as a whole doesn't show the same trends of the urban subset. For instance, rural population is in some regions almost stalled or reducing at small rates, with an average growth rate 50% less than the urban population. This progressive change in global population structure, with more people living mostly in urban areas, already places urban settlements as the main node driving the interaction of human population and other earth systems, at local, regional and global scales. This population dynamics is a major source of concern, mainly because the need to comprehensively understand the two apparent contradictory faces of the urbanization phenomena: Despite cities tend to perform more efficiently in terms of mass and energy requirements as function of population size, the agglomeration process in cities typically implies an increase of overall throughput of mass and energy over time. Thus, a central question is to understand how the apparent per capita energy and material flows minimization occurring in cities can propagate its effects towards other geosystems in future population scenarios. The magnitude of scaled (temporal and spatial) effects is crucial to determine if limits of supporting systems capacity is or will be exceeded for a system of cities, or if otherwise is within steady limits. The Urban Water Transaction (UWT) framework aims for the study of the above question from the perspective of water. Typically between 50 and 70% of mass throughput in urban areas is water, however, that figure doesn't account for other teleconnected flows, such as energy production (hydropower facilities) and food production (virtual water), etc. Therefore, a comprehensive view of actual dependence of urban areas and water faces - in the view of the authors - faces two main limitations: (1) Most of water urban-water interactions occur at temporal or spatial scales associated with groups of cities - the urban system - rather than at the scale of an individual city, (2) Water, as a renewable resource, imposes some conceptual difficulties to quantify its availability if seen only through the lens of "metabolism" or "budget", because many water related activities use, but don't consume water. Understand this changes requires the integration of complementary metrics, such as variations in flow, energy or quality regime of a water systems. The Urban Water Transaction (UWT) framework is proposed as conceptual tool to set a common ground for the different types of direct and indirect interactions of urban systems and water, and to study the urban system properties associated with water integration. Import and export flows constitute the primary and most common examples of UWT that fundamentally occur at the Watershed level, and are mediated mostly by physical hydroclimatic water cycles and human basic water needs. However, with the advent of more complex systems of cities and their supporting water dependent systems, indirect, wider range and legacy flows such as hydrological regimes redistribution, virtual water flows and quality changes, are integrated through the concept of water transactions. In the view of the authors, the importance of this framework deals three aspects of study of the urbanization phenomena: The coupling characteristics urban systems and hydrological systems, the patterns in urban system as a result of the influence of water related constraints and the identification of urban systems properties that result critical towards the long-term viability of water resources.

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2007 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-02-02

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2006 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-04-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2009 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-03-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 1996 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

Midwest Transportation Consortium : 2006-2007 annual report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

Introduction: The Midwest Transportation Consortium (MTC) began year 8 by having the funding it receives from the Research and Innovative Technology Administration doubled, and by losing its regional grant to a consortium led by the University of Neb...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2008 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-04-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2002 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-11-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2003 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-09-22

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2004 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-12-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2001 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-12-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

ANNUAL REPORT For Calendar Year 2005 : NEW ENGLAND TRANSPORTATION CONSORTIUM

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-08-01

The New England Transportation Consortium (NETC) is a cooperative effort of the transportation agencies of the six New England States. Through the Consortium, the states pool professional, academic and financial resources for transportation research ...

Establishing a Consortium for the Study of Rare Diseases: The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium

PubMed Central

Seminara, Jennifer; Tuchman, Mendel; Krivitzky, Lauren; Krischer, Jeffrey; Lee, Hye-Seung; LeMons, Cynthia; Baumgartner, Matthias; Cederbaum, Stephen; Diaz, George A.; Feigenbaum, Annette; Gallagher, Renata C.; Harding, Cary O.; Kerr, Douglas S.; Lanpher, Brendan; Lee, Brendan; Lichter-Konecki, Uta; McCandless, Shawn E.; Merritt, J. Lawrence; Oster-Granite, Mary Lou; Seashore, Margretta R.; Stricker, Tamar; Summar, Marshall; Waisbren, Susan; Yudkoff, Marc; Batshaw, Mark L.

2010-01-01

The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (UCDC) was created as part of a larger network established by the National Institutes of Health to study rare diseases. This paper reviews the UCDC’s accomplishments over the first six years, including how the Consortium was developed and organized, clinical research studies initiated, and the importance of creating partnerships with patient advocacy groups, philanthropic foundations and biotech and pharmaceutical companies. PMID:20188616

Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NAIC) Review of Technical Tasks. Volume 2, Part 2.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-07-01

A-A19 774 NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUN (MIC) 1/5 YVIEN OF TEOICR. T.. (U) NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM SYRACUSE MY J...NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM (NAIC) *p,* ~ Review of Technical Tasks ,.. 12 PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) (See reverse) . P VI J.F. Allen, P.B. Berra...See reverse) /" I ABSTRACT (Coninue on ’.wrse if necessary and identify by block number) % .. *. -. ’ The Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium

Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium Annual Report. 1988 Interference Techniques for Knowledge Base Maintenance Using Logic Programming Methodologies. Volume 11

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-01

Northeast Aritificial Intelligence Consortium (NAIC). i Table of Contents Execu tive Sum m ary...o g~nIl ’vLr COPY o~ T- RADC-TR-89-259, Vol XI (of twelve) N Interim Report SOctober 1989 NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM ANNUAL REPORT...ORGANIZATION 6b. OFFICE SYMBOL 7a. NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION Northeast Artificial (If applicable) Intelligence Consortium (NAIC) . Rome Air Development

A consortium of three brings real geothermal power for California's Imperial valley -- at last

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wehlage, E.F.

1983-04-01

Imperial Valley's geothermal history gets a whole new chapter with dedication ceremony for southern California's unusual 10,000 kilowatt power station-SCE in joint corporate venture with Southern Pacific and Union Oil. America's newest and unique electric power generation facility, The Salton Sea Geothermal-Electric Project, was the the site of a formal dedication ceremony while the sleek and stainless jacketed piping and machinery were displayed against a flawlessly brilliant January sky - blue and flecked with a few whisps of high white clouds, while plumes of geothermal steam rose across the desert. The occasion was the January 19, 1983, ceremonial dedication ofmore » the unique U.S.A. power generation facility constructed by an energy consortium under private enterprise, to make and deliver electricity, using geothermal steam released (with special cleaning and treatment) from magma-heated fluids produced at depths of 3,000 to 6,000 feet beneath the floor of the Imperial Valley near Niland and Brawley, California.« less

Metabolism and biotransformation of azo dye by bacterial consortium studied in a bioreaction calorimeter.

PubMed

Shanmugam, Bhuvanesh Kumar; Mahadevan, Surianarayanan

2015-11-01

Effluents from leather and textile industries are difficult for treatment owing to its recalcitrant nature. Since the volume of effluent generated are high, a robust and active microbial consortia is required for effective treatment. The focus in the present study is the calorimetric traceability of the metabolic behaviors of mixed microbial consortia, while it grows and degrades recalcitrant substance such as an azo dye acid blue 113. The consortium exhibited a syntrophic division of substrate and was effective in degrading dye up to 0.8g/l. Notably, it was able to degrade 93.7% of the azo dye in 12-16h whereas its monocultures required 48-72h to reach 82.1%. The products of biodegradation were analyzed and the chemical pathway substantiated using chemical thermodynamic and energy release patterns. MTT assay confirmed that emanates are eco-friendly. Heat profile pattern and bioenergetics provide fundamental data for a feasible application in commercial level. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing the effects of the Great Eastern China urbanization on the East Asian summer monsoon by coupling an urban canopy model with a Regional Climate Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Z.; Xue, Y.; Liu, S.; Oleson, K. W.

2012-12-01

The urbanization causes one of the most significant land cover changes. Especially over the eastern China from Beijing to Shanghai, the great urbanization occurs during the past half century.It modifies the physical characteristics of land surface, including land surface albedo, surface roughness length and aerodynamicresistanceand thermodynamic conduction over land. All of these play very important role in regional climate change. Afteremploying several WRF/Urban models to tests land use and land cover change(LUCC) caused by urbanization in East Asia, we decided to introducea urban canopy submodule,the Community Land surface Model urban scheme(CLMU)to the WRF and coupled with the WRF-SSiB3 regional climate model. The CLMU and SSIB share the similar principal to treat the surface energy and water balances and aerodynamic resistance between land and atmosphere. In the urban module, the energy balances on the five surface conditions are considered separately: building roof, sun side building wall, shade side building wall, pervious land surface and impervious road. The surface turbulence calculation is based on Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. We have made further improvements for the urban module. Over each surface condition, a method to calculate sky view factor (SVF) is developed based on the physically process while most urban models simply provide an empirical value for SVF. Our approach along with other improvement in short and long wave radiation transfer improves the accuracy of long-wave and shortwave radiation processing over urban surface. The force-restore approximation is employed to calculate the temperature of each outer surfaces of building. The inner side temperature is used as the restore term and was assigned as a tuning constant. Based on the nature of the force-restore method and our tests, we decide to employ the air mean temperature of last 72 hours as a restore term, which substantially improve the surface energy balance. We evaluate the ability of the newly coupled model by two runs: one without and one with the urban canopy module. The coupled model is integrated from March through September, covering a summer monsoon season. The preliminary results show more significant urban heat island (UHI) effect over urban areas with the urban canopy model. The existence of the UHIs enhances the convection in lower atmosphere, affects the water vapor transportation and precipitation of the surrounding area, consistent with the phenomena that occur in urban areas. We further test the effect of urbanization on the monsoon by introducing two maps, one with and one without urbanization and the effect of the urbanization on the monsoon evolution and low level circulation will be discussed in the presentation.

Synthesis of rainfall and runoff data used for Texas Department of Transportation Research Projects 0-4193 and 0-4194

USGS Publications Warehouse

Asquith, William H.; Thompson, David B.; Cleveland, Theodore G.; Fang, Xing

2004-01-01

In the early 2000s, the Texas Department of Transportation funded several research projects to examine the unit hydrograph and rainfall hyetograph techniques for hydrologic design in Texas for the estimation of design flows for stormwater drainage systems. A research consortium comprised of Lamar University, Texas Tech University, the University of Houston, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), was chosen to examine the unit hydrograph and rainfall hyetograph techniques. Rainfall and runoff data collected by the USGS at 91 streamflow-gaging stations in Texas formed a basis for the research. These data were collected as part of USGS small-watershed projects and urban watershed studies that began in the late 1950s and continued through most of the 1970s; a few gages were in operation in the mid-1980s. Selected hydrologic events from these studies were available in the form of over 220 printed reports, which offered the best aggregation of hydrologic data for the research objectives. Digital versions of the data did not exist. Therefore, significant effort was undertaken by the consortium to manually enter the data into a digital database from the printed record. The rainfall and runoff data for over 1,650 storms were entered. To enhance data integrity, considerable quality-control and quality-assurance efforts were conducted as the database was assembled and after assembly to enhance data integrity. This report documents the database and informs interested parties on its usage.

24 CFR 92.206 - Eligible project costs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Eligible project costs. 92.206 Section 92.206 Housing and Urban Development Office of the Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban... participating jurisdiction and the Model Energy Code referred to in § 92.251; (2) For rehabilitation, costs: (i...

The Megafauna: People of the Urban Ecosystem.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petit, Jack; Gangloff, Deborah

1995-01-01

Addresses the need to make urban forestry information and resources available and understandable to everyone in an effort to organize and educate communities. The seemingly hidden aspects of the urban ecosystem are examined; and a sidebar looks at the air, carbon, and energy cycles and sustaining quality of life, in particular. (LZ)

Traditional Chinese medicine research in the post-genomic era: good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Uzuner, Halil; Bauer, Rudolf; Fan, Tai-Ping; Guo, De-An; Dias, Alberto; El-Nezami, Hani; Efferth, Thomas; Williamson, Elizabeth M; Heinrich, Michael; Robinson, Nicola; Hylands, Peter J; Hendry, Bruce M; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Xu, Qihe

2012-04-10

GP-TCM is the 1st EU-funded Coordination Action consortium dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. This paper aims to summarise the objectives, structure and activities of the consortium and introduces the position of the consortium regarding good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Serving as the introductory paper for the GP-TCM Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, this paper describes the roadmap of this special issue and reports how the main outputs of the ten GP-TCM work packages are integrated, and have led to consortium-wide conclusions. Literature studies, opinion polls and discussions among consortium members and stakeholders. By January 2012, through 3 years of team building, the GP-TCM consortium had grown into a large collaborative network involving ∼200 scientists from 24 countries and 107 institutions. Consortium members had worked closely to address good practice issues related to various aspects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and acupuncture research, the focus of this Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, leading to state-of-the-art reports, guidelines and consensus on the application of omics technologies in TCM research. In addition, through an online survey open to GP-TCM members and non-members, we polled opinions on grand priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Based on the poll, although consortium members and non-members had diverse opinions on the major challenges in the field, both groups agreed that high-quality efficacy/effectiveness and mechanistic studies are grand priorities and that the TCM legacy in general and its management of chronic diseases in particular represent grand opportunities. Consortium members cast their votes of confidence in omics and systems biology approaches to TCM research and believed that quality and pharmacovigilance of TCM products are not only grand priorities, but also grand challenges. Non-members, however, gave priority to integrative medicine, concerned on the impact of regulation of TCM practitioners and emphasised intersectoral collaborations in funding TCM research, especially clinical trials. The GP-TCM consortium made great efforts to address some fundamental issues in TCM research, including developing guidelines, as well as identifying priorities, challenges and opportunities. These consortium guidelines and consensus will need dissemination, validation and further development through continued interregional, interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaborations. To promote this, a new consortium, known as the GP-TCM Research Association, is being established to succeed the 3-year fixed term FP7 GP-TCM consortium and will be officially launched at the Final GP-TCM Congress in Leiden, the Netherlands, in April 2012. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Review of Urban Low-carbon Traffic Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jing; Yao, Jingjing

2017-12-01

Transportation not only promote social and economic development, but also improve people’s living standards, but its high energy consumption and high pollution brought a series of energy and environmental problems. In order to reduce the impact on the environment, countries are developing low-carbon transport as part of the socio-economic development mentioned on the agenda. On the basis of understanding the background and connotation of low-carbon transportation, this paper reviews and collates the evaluation index system and evaluation method of urban low-carbon transportation, which is used to provide reference for urban low-carbon transportation research.

Using Cool Roofs to Reduce Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Urban Heat-island Effects: Findings from an India Experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akbari, Hashem; Xu, Tengfang; Taha, Haider

Cool roofs, cool pavements, and urban vegetation reduce energy use in buildings, lower local air pollutant concentrations, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas. This report summarizes the results of a detailed monitoring project in India and related simulations of meteorology and air quality in three developing countries. The field results quantified direct energy savings from installation of cool roofs on individual commercial buildings. The measured annual energy savings potential from roof-whitening of previously black roofs ranged from 20-22 kWh/m2 of roof area, corresponding to an air-conditioning energy use reduction of 14-26% in commercial buildings. The study estimated thatmore » typical annual savings of 13-14 kWh/m2 of roof area could be achieved by applying white coating to uncoated concrete roofs on commercial buildings in the Metropolitan Hyderabad region, corresponding to cooling energy savings of 10-19%. With the assumption of an annual increase of 100,000 square meters of new roof construction for the next 10 years in the Metropolitan Hyderabad region, the annual cooling energy savings due to whitening concrete roof would be 13-14 GWh of electricity in year ten alone, with cumulative 10-year cooling energy savings of 73-79 GWh for the region. The estimated savings for the entire country would be at least 10 times the savings in Hyderabad, i.e., more than 730-790 GWh. We estimated that annual direct CO2 reduction associated with reduced energy use would be 11-12 kg CO2/m2 of flat concrete roof area whitened, and the cumulative 10-year CO2 reduction would be approximately 0.60-0.65 million tons in India. With the price of electricity estimated at seven Rupees per kWh, the annual electricity savings on air-conditioning would be approximately 93-101 Rupees per m2 of roof. This would translate into annual national savings of approximately one billion Rupees in year ten, and cumulative 10-year savings of over five billion Rupees for cooling energy in India. Meteorological simulations in this study indicated that a reduction of 2C in air temperature in the Hyderabad area would be likely if a combination of increased surface albedo and vegetative cover are used as urban heat-island control strategies. In addition, air-temperature reductions on the order of 2.5-3.5C could be achieved if moderate and aggressive heat-island mitigation measures are adopted, respectively. A large-scale deployment of mitigation measures can bring additional indirect benefit to the urban area. For example, cooling outside air can improve the efficiency of cooling systems, reduce smog and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and indirectly reduce pollution from power plants - all improving environmental health quality. This study has demonstrated the effectiveness of cool-roof technology as one of the urban heat-island control strategies for the Indian industrial and scientific communities and has provided an estimate of the national energy savings potential of cool roofs in India. These outcomes can be used for developing cool-roof building standards and related policies in India. Additional field studies, built upon the successes and lessons learned from this project, may be helpful to further confirm the scale of potential energy savings from the application of cooler roofs in various regions of India. In the future, a more rigorous meteorological simulation using urbanized (meso-urban) meteorological models should be conducted, which may produce a more accurate estimate of the air-temperature reductions for the entire urban area.« less

The Cherenkov Telescope Array For Very High-Energy Astrophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaaret, Philip

2015-08-01

The field of very high energy (VHE) astrophysics had been revolutionized by the results from ground-based gamma-ray telescopes, including the current imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (IACT) arrays: HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS. A worldwide consortium of scientists from 29 countries has formed to propose the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) that will capitalize on the power of this technique to greatly expand the scientific reach of ground-based gamma-ray telescopes. CTA science will include key topics such as the origin of cosmic rays and cosmic particle acceleration, understanding extreme environments in regions close to neutron stars and black holes, and exploring physics frontiers through, e.g., the search for WIMP dark matter, axion-like particles and Lorentz invariance violation. CTA is envisioned to consist of two large arrays of Cherenkov telescopes, one in the southern hemisphere and one in the north. Each array will contain telescopes of different sizes to provide a balance between cost and array performance over an energy range from below 100 GeV to above 100 TeV. Compared to the existing IACT arrays, CTA will have substantially better angular resolution and energy resolution, will cover a much wider energy range, and will have up to an order of magnitude better sensitivity. CTA will also be operated as an open observatory and high-level CTA data will be placed into the public domain; these aspects will enable broad participation in CTA science from the worldwide scientific community to fully capitalize on CTA's potential. This talk will: 1) review the scientific motivation and capabilities of CTA, 2) provide an overview of the technical design and the status of prototype development, and 3) summarize the current status of the project in terms of its proposed organization and timeline. The plans for access to CTA data and opportunities to propose for CTA observing time will be highlighed.Presented on behalf of the CTA Consortium.

A Global-Scale Estimate of Ecosystem Services from Urban Agriculture: Understanding Incentives for Natural Capital in Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clinton, N.; Stuhlmacher, M.; Miles, A.; Uludere, N.; Wagner, M.; Georgescu, M.; Herwig, C.; Gong, P.

2017-12-01

Despite substantial interest in urban agriculture, little is known about the aggregate benefits conferred by natural capital for growing food in cities. Here we perform a scenario-based analysis to quantify ecosystem services from adoption of urban agriculture at varying intensity. To drive the scenarios, we created global-scale estimates of vacant land, rooftop and building surface area, at one kilometer resolution, from remotely sensed and modeled geospatial data. We used national scale agricultural reports, climate and other geospatial data at global scale to estimate agricultural production and economic returns, storm-water avoidance, energy savings from avoided heating and cooling costs, and ecosystem services provided by nitrogen sequestration, pollination and biocontrol of pests. The results indicate that vacant lands, followed by rooftops, represent the largest opportunities for natural capital put to agricultural use in urban areas. Ecosystem services from putting such spaces to productive use are dominated by agricultural returns, but energy savings conferred by insulative characteristics of growth substrate also provide economic incentives. Storm water avoidance was estimated to be substantial, but no economic value was estimated. Relatively low economic returns were estimated from the other ecosystem services examined. In aggregate, approximately $10-100 billion in economic incentives, before costs, were estimated. The results showed that relatively developed, high-income countries stand the most to gain from urban agricultural adoption due to the unique combination of climate, crop mixture and crop prices. While the results indicate that urban agriculture is not a panacea for urban food security issues, there is potential to simultaneously ameliorate multiple issues around food, energy and water in urbanized areas.

NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium: Defining the Path to Elegance in Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Michael D.; Farrington, Phillip A.

2016-01-01

The NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium was formed at the end of 2010 to study the approaches to producing elegant systems on a consistent basis. This has been a transformative study looking at the engineering and organizational basis of systems engineering. The consortium has engaged in a variety of research topics to determine the path to elegant systems. In the second year of the consortium, a systems engineering framework emerged which structured the approach to systems engineering and guided our research. This led in the third year to set of systems engineering postulates that the consortium is continuing to refine. The consortium has conducted several research projects that have contributed significantly to the understanding of systems engineering. The consortium has surveyed the application of the NASA 17 systems engineering processes, explored the physics and statistics of systems integration, and considered organizational aspects of systems engineering discipline integration. The systems integration methods have included system exergy analysis, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), State Variable Analysis, Multidisciplinary Coupling Analysis (MCA), Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), System Cost Modelling, System Robustness, and Value Modelling. Organizational studies have included the variability of processes in change evaluations, margin management within the organization, information theory of board structures, social categorization of unintended consequences, and initial looks at applying cognitive science to systems engineering. Consortium members have also studied the bidirectional influence of policy and law with systems engineering.

Ecotoxicological effects of enrofloxacin and its removal by monoculture of microalgal species and their consortium.

PubMed

Xiong, Jiu-Qiang; Kurade, Mayur B; Jeon, Byong-Hun

2017-07-01

Enrofloxacin (ENR), a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, has gained big scientific concern due to its ecotoxicity on aquatic microbiota. The ecotoxicity and removal of ENR by five individual microalgae species and their consortium were studied to correlate the behavior and interaction of ENR in natural systems. The individual microalgal species (Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlamydomonas mexicana, Chlorella vulgaris, Ourococcus multisporus, Micractinium resseri) and their consortium could withstand high doses of ENR (≤1 mg L -1 ). Growth inhibition (68-81%) of the individual microalgae species and their consortium was observed in ENR (100 mg L -1 ) compared to control after 11 days of cultivation. The calculated 96 h EC 50 of ENR for individual microalgae species and microalgae consortium was 9.6-15.0 mg ENR L -1 . All the microalgae could recover from the toxicity of high concentrations of ENR during cultivation. The biochemical characteristics (total chlorophyll, carotenoid, and malondialdehyde) were significantly influenced by ENR (1-100 mg L -1 ) stress. The individual microalgae species and microalgae consortium removed 18-26% ENR at day 11. Although the microalgae consortium showed a higher sensitivity (with lower EC 50 ) toward ENR than the individual microalgae species, the removal efficiency of ENR by the constructed microalgae consortium was comparable to that of the most effective microalgal species. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National University Consortium on Microwave Research (NUCOMR)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barker, R.J.; Agee, F.J.

1995-11-01

This paper introduces a new cooperative research program of national scale that is focused on crucial research issues in the development of high energy microwave sources. These have many applications in the DOD and industry. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), in cooperation with the Phillips Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Army Research Laboratory, has established a tri-service research consortium to investigate novel high energy microwave sources. To facilitate the rapid transition of research results into the industrial community, formal collaborative subcontracts are already in-place with James Benford at Physics International, Carter Armstrong at Northrop, andmore » Glen Huffman at Varian Associates. Although this new program officially only came into existence in mid-March of this year, it builds on over a decade of microwave research efforts funded by the plasma physics office at AFOSR. It also is synergistic with the ongoing Tri-Service Vacuum Electronics Initiative led by Robert Parker of NRL as well as with the AFOSR`s and Rome Laboratory`s long-standing Advanced Thermionic Research Initiative (ATRI). An overview will be given of the broad spectrum of research objectives encompassed by NUCOMR. Areas of collaboration and technology transfer will be highlighted. The areas in which the three university consortia will conduct research are described, and the connectivity to industry and to the DOD laboratories are discussed. There are a number of critical technical barriers to reaching the desired goals for high power and high energy sources. These are discussed and the planned focus of research to resolve them is also presented.« less

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

THE FEDERAL INTEGRATED BIOTREATMENT RESEARCH CONSORTIUM (FLASK TO FIELD)

EPA Science Inventory

The Federal Integrated Biotreatment Research Consortium (Flask to Field) represented a 7-year concerted effort by several research laboratories to develop bioremediation technologies for contaminated DoD sites. The consortium structure consisted of a director and four thrust are...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

An urban systems framework to assess the trans-boundary food-energy-water nexus: implementation in Delhi, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramaswami, Anu; Boyer, Dana; Singh Nagpure, Ajay; Fang, Andrew; Bogra, Shelly; Bakshi, Bhavik; Cohen, Elliot; Rao-Ghorpade, Ashish

2017-02-01

This paper develops a generalizable systems framework to analyze the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus from an urban systems perspective, connecting in- and trans-boundary interactions, quantifying multiple environmental impacts of community-wide FEW provisioning to cities, and visualizing FEW supply-chain risks posed to cities by the environment. Delhi’s community-wide food demand includes household consumption by socio-economic-strata, visitors- and industrial food-use. This demand depends 90%, 76%, and 86% on trans-boundary supply of FEW, respectively. Supply chain data reveal unique features of trans-boundary FEW production regions (e.g. irrigation-electricity needs and GHG intensities of power-plants), yielding supply chain-informed coupled energy-water-GHG footprints of FEW provisioning to Delhi. Agri-food supply contributes to both GHG (19%) and water-footprints (72%-82%) of Delhi’s FEW provisioning, with milk, rice and wheat dominating these footprints. Analysis of FEW interactions within Delhi found >75% in-boundary water-use for food is for urban agriculture and >76% in-boundary energy-use for food is from cooking fuels. Food waste-to-energy and energy-intensity of commercial and industrial food preparation are key data gaps. Visualizing supply chains shows >75% of water embodied in Delhi’s FEW supply is extracted from locations over-drafting ground water. These baseline data enable evaluation of future urban FEW scenarios, comparing impacts of demand shifts, production shifts, and emerging technologies and policies, within and outside of cities.

Dynamic analysis of the urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics: Focused on housing and green space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Taehoon; Kim, Jimin; Koo, Choongwan; Jeong, Kwangbok

2015-02-01

To systematically manage the energy consumption of existing buildings, the government has to enforce greenhouse gas reduction policies. However, most of the policies are not properly executed because they do not consider various factors from the urban level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a dynamic analysis of an urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics, with a specific focus on housing and green space. This study was conducted in the following steps: (i) establishing the variables of urban-based greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions; (ii) creating a stock/flow diagram of urban-based GHGs emissions; (iii) conducting an information analysis using the system dynamics; and (iv) proposing the urban-based low-carbon policy. If a combined energy policy that uses the housing sector (30%) and the green space sector (30%) at the same time is implemented, 2020 CO2 emissions will be 7.23 million tons (i.e., 30.48% below 2020 business-as-usual), achieving the national carbon emissions reduction target (26.9%). The results of this study could contribute to managing and improving the fundamentals of the urban-based low-carbon policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Evaluating robustness of a diesel-degrading bacterial consortium isolated from contaminated soil.

PubMed

Sydow, Mateusz; Owsianiak, Mikołaj; Szczepaniak, Zuzanna; Framski, Grzegorz; Smets, Barth F; Ławniczak, Łukasz; Lisiecki, Piotr; Szulc, Alicja; Cyplik, Paweł; Chrzanowski, Łukasz

2016-12-25

It is not known whether diesel-degrading bacterial communities are structurally and functionally robust when exposed to different hydrocarbon types. Here, we exposed a diesel-degrading consortium to model either alkanes, cycloalkanes or aromatic hydrocarbons as carbon sources to study its structural resistance. The structural resistance was low, with changes in relative abundances of up to four orders of magnitude, depending on hydrocarbon type and bacterial taxon. This low resistance is explained by the presence of hydrocarbon-degrading specialists in the consortium and differences in growth kinetics on individual hydrocarbons. However, despite this low resistance, structural and functional resilience were high, as verified by re-exposing the hydrocarbon-perturbed consortium to diesel fuel. The high resilience is either due to the short exposure time, insufficient for permanent changes in consortium structure and function, or the ability of some consortium members to be maintained during exposure on degradation intermediates produced by other members. Thus, the consortium is expected to cope with short-term exposures to narrow carbon feeds, while maintaining its structural and functional integrity, which remains an advantage over biodegradation approaches using single species cultures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prebiotics Mediate Microbial Interactions in a Consortium of the Infant Gut Microbiome.

PubMed

Medina, Daniel A; Pinto, Francisco; Ovalle, Aline; Thomson, Pamela; Garrido, Daniel

2017-10-04

Composition of the gut microbiome is influenced by diet. Milk or formula oligosaccharides act as prebiotics, bioactives that promote the growth of beneficial gut microbes. The influence of prebiotics on microbial interactions is not well understood. Here we investigated the transformation of prebiotics by a consortium of four representative species of the infant gut microbiome, and how their interactions changed with dietary substrates. First, we optimized a culture medium resembling certain infant gut parameters. A consortium containing Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis , Bacteroides vulgatus , Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus was grown on fructooligosaccharides (FOS) or 2'-fucosyllactose (2FL) in mono- or co-culture. While Bi. infantis and Ba. vulgatus dominated growth on 2FL, their combined growth was reduced. Besides, interaction coefficients indicated strong competition, especially on FOS. While FOS was rapidly consumed by the consortium, B. infantis was the only microbe displaying significant consumption of 2FL. Acid production by the consortium resembled the metabolism of microorganisms dominating growth in each substrate. Finally, the consortium was tested in a bioreactor, observing similar predominance but more pronounced acid production and substrate consumption. This study indicates that the chemical nature of prebiotics modulate microbial interactions in a consortium of infant gut species.

A review on potential use of low-temperature water in the urban environment as a thermal-energy source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laanearu, J.; Borodinecs, A.; Rimeika, M.; Palm, B.

2017-10-01

The thermal-energy potential of urban water sources is largely unused to accomplish the up-to-date requirements of the buildings energy demands in the cities of Baltic Sea Region. A reason is that the natural and excess-heat water sources have a low temperature and heat that should be upgraded before usage. The demand for space cooling should increase in near future with thermal insulation of buildings. There are a number of options to recover heat also from wastewater. It is proposed that a network of heat extraction and insertion including the thermal-energy recovery schemes has potential to be broadly implemented in the region with seasonally alternating temperature. The mapping of local conditions is essential in finding the suitable regions (hot spots) for future application of a heat recovery schemes by combining information about demands with information about available sources. The low-temperature water in the urban environment is viewed as a potential thermal-energy source. To recover thermal energy efficiently, it is also essential to ensure that it is used locally, and adverse effects on environment and industrial processes are avoided. Some characteristics reflecting the energy usage are discussed in respect of possible improvements of energy efficiency.

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions Environmental Technology Consortium annual report, 1991--1992

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1992-12-31

The member institutions of the Consortium continue to play a significant role in increasing the number of African Americans who enter the environmental professions through the implementation of the Consortium`s RETT Plan for Research, Education, and Technology Transfer. The four major program areas identified in the RETT Plan are as follows: (1) minority outreach and precollege education; (2) undergraduate education and postsecondary training; (3) graduate and postgraduate education and research; and (4) technology transfer.

25 CFR 1000.84 - Does a Tribe/Consortium have the right to include provisions of Title I of Pub. L. 93-638 in an AFA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Does a Tribe/Consortium have the right to include.../Consortium have the right to include provisions of Title I of Pub. L. 93-638 in an AFA? Yes, under Pub. L. 104-109, a Tribe/Consortium has the right to include any provision of Title I of Pub. L. 93-638 in an...

Migrating from Informal to Formal Consortium — COSTLI Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birdie, C.; Patil, Y. M.

2010-10-01

There are many models of library consortia which have come into existence due to various reasons and compulsions. FORSA (Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy) is an informal consortium born from the links between academic institutions specializing in astronomy in India. FORSA is a cooperative venture initiated by library professionals. Though this consortium was formed mainly for inter-lending activities and bibliographic access, it has matured over the years to adopt the consortium approach on cooperative acquisitions, due to increased requirements.

Long-term monitoring of Sacramento Shade program trees: tree survival, growth and energy-saving performance

Treesearch

Yekang Ko; Jun-Hak Lee; E. Gregory McPherson; Lara A. Roman

2015-01-01

Long-term survival and growth of urban forests are critical to achieve the targeted benefits of urban tree planting programs, such as building energy savings from tree shade. However, little is known about how trees perform in the long-term, especially in residential areas. Given this gap in the literature, we monitored 22-years of post-planting survival, growth, and...

Influence of urban resilience measures in the magnitude and behaviour of energy fluxes in the city of Porto (Portugal) under a climate change scenario.

PubMed

Rafael, S; Martins, H; Sá, E; Carvalho, D; Borrego, C; Lopes, M

2016-10-01

Different urban resilience measures, such as the increase of urban green areas and the application of white roofs, were evaluated with the WRF-SUEWS modelling system. The case study consists of five heat waves occurring in Porto (Portugal) urban area in a future climate scenario. Meteorological forcing and boundary data were downscaled for Porto urban area from the CMIP5 earth system model MPI-ESM, for the Representative Concentration Pathway RCP8.5 scenario. The influence of different resilience measures on the energy balance components was quantified and compared between each other. Results show that the inclusion of green urban areas increases the evaporation and the availability of surface moisture, redirecting the energy to the form of latent heat flux (maximum increase of +200Wm(-2)) rather than to sensible heat. The application of white roofs increases the solar radiation reflection, due to the higher albedo of such surfaces, reducing both sensible and storage heat flux (maximum reductions of -62.8 and -35Wm(-2), respectively). The conjugations of the individual benefits related to each resilience measure shows that this measure is the most effective one in terms of improving the thermal comfort of the urban population, particularly due to the reduction of both sensible and storage heat flux. The obtained results contribute to the knowledge of the surface-atmosphere exchanges and can be of great importance for stakeholders and decision-makers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Urban sustainable energy development: A case study of the city of Philadelphia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argyriou, Iraklis

This study explores the role of cities in sustainable energy development through a governance-informed analysis. Despite the leading position of municipalities in energy sustainability, cities have been mostly conceptualized as sites where energy development is shaped by external policy scales, i.e. the national level. A growing body of research, however, critiques this analytical perspective, and seeks to better understand the type of factors and dynamics that influence energy sustainability within a multi-level policy context for urban energy. Given that particular circumstances are applicable across cities, a context-specific analysis can provide insight regarding how sustainable energy development takes place in urban areas. In applying such an analytical perspective on urban energy sustainability, this study undertakes a qualitative case study analysis for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by looking at four key local policy initiatives relevant to building energy efficiency and solar electricity development at the municipal government and city-wide level. The evaluation of the initiatives suggests that renewable electricity use has increased substantially in the city over the last years but the installed capacity of local renewable electricity systems, including solar photovoltaics, is low. On the other hand, although the city has made little progress in meeting its building energy efficiency targets, more comprehensive action is taken in this area. The study finds that the above outcomes have been shaped mainly by four factors. The first is the city government's incremental policy approach aiming to develop a facilitative context for local action. The second is the role that a diverse set of stakeholders have in local sustainable energy development. The third is the constraints that systemic policy barriers create for solar power development. The fourth is the ways through which the relevant multi-level policy environment structures the city's possibilities on sustainable energy. In this context, the study identifies four areas of policy recommendation that could enhance Philadelphia's prospects for energy sustainability: integrated municipal energy planning; stable financing for market development; enhanced actor interactions; and multi-level policymaking that facilitates local action. These policy directions could be of interest to a broader body of metropolitan cities regarding their efforts in sustainable energy development.

Determinism and Contingency Shape Metabolic Complementation in an Endosymbiotic Consortium

PubMed Central

Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel; Tamarit, Daniel; Calle-Espinosa, Jorge; Mori, Matteo; Latorre, Amparo; Montero, Francisco; Pereto, Juli

2017-01-01

Bacterial endosymbionts and their insect hosts establish an intimate metabolic relationship. Bacteria offer a variety of essential nutrients to their hosts, whereas insect cells provide the necessary sources of matter and energy to their tiny metabolic allies. These nutritional complementations sustain themselves on a diversity of metabolite exchanges between the cell host and the reduced yet highly specialized bacterial metabolism—which, for instance, overproduces a small set of essential amino acids and vitamins. A well-known case of metabolic complementation is provided by the cedar aphid Cinara cedri that harbors two co-primary endosymbionts, Buchnera aphidicola BCc and Ca. Serratia symbiotica SCc, and in which some metabolic pathways are partitioned between different partners. Here we present a genome-scale metabolic network (GEM) for the bacterial consortium from the cedar aphid iBSCc. The analysis of this GEM allows us the confirmation of cases of metabolic complementation previously described by genome analysis (i.e., tryptophan and biotin biosynthesis) and the redefinition of an event of metabolic pathway sharing between the two endosymbionts, namely the biosynthesis of tetrahydrofolate. In silico knock-out experiments with iBSCc showed that the consortium metabolism is a highly integrated yet fragile network. We also have explored the evolutionary pathways leading to the emergence of metabolic complementation between reduced metabolisms starting from individual, complete networks. Our results suggest that, during the establishment of metabolic complementation in endosymbionts, adaptive evolution is significant in the case of tryptophan biosynthesis, whereas vitamin production pathways seem to adopt suboptimal solutions. PMID:29213256

Determinism and Contingency Shape Metabolic Complementation in an Endosymbiotic Consortium.

PubMed

Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel; Tamarit, Daniel; Calle-Espinosa, Jorge; Mori, Matteo; Latorre, Amparo; Montero, Francisco; Pereto, Juli

2017-01-01

Bacterial endosymbionts and their insect hosts establish an intimate metabolic relationship. Bacteria offer a variety of essential nutrients to their hosts, whereas insect cells provide the necessary sources of matter and energy to their tiny metabolic allies. These nutritional complementations sustain themselves on a diversity of metabolite exchanges between the cell host and the reduced yet highly specialized bacterial metabolism-which, for instance, overproduces a small set of essential amino acids and vitamins. A well-known case of metabolic complementation is provided by the cedar aphid Cinara cedri that harbors two co-primary endosymbionts, Buchnera aphidicola BCc and Ca . Serratia symbiotica SCc, and in which some metabolic pathways are partitioned between different partners. Here we present a genome-scale metabolic network (GEM) for the bacterial consortium from the cedar aphid i BSCc. The analysis of this GEM allows us the confirmation of cases of metabolic complementation previously described by genome analysis (i.e., tryptophan and biotin biosynthesis) and the redefinition of an event of metabolic pathway sharing between the two endosymbionts, namely the biosynthesis of tetrahydrofolate. In silico knock-out experiments with i BSCc showed that the consortium metabolism is a highly integrated yet fragile network. We also have explored the evolutionary pathways leading to the emergence of metabolic complementation between reduced metabolisms starting from individual, complete networks. Our results suggest that, during the establishment of metabolic complementation in endosymbionts, adaptive evolution is significant in the case of tryptophan biosynthesis, whereas vitamin production pathways seem to adopt suboptimal solutions.

The Influence of Urban Planning Affected Static and Stable Meteorological Field on Air Pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yue; Zhang, Liyuan; Zhang, Yunwei

2018-02-01

Accompany with the rapid urbanized and industrialized process, the built-up area and the number of high-rise buildings increased fast. Urban air quality is facing with the challenge caused by the rapid increase in energy consumption, motor vehicles owned, and the city construction. Long term high precision analysis on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been conducted in this article, so as to explore the influence of rapid increase in urban size and tall building amount on occurrence frequency of urban static and stable meteorological conditions as well as the contribution to urban PM2.5 pollution.

Geohydrology of the shallow aquifers in the Boulder-Longmont area, Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robson, Stanley G.; Heiny, Janet S.; Arnold, L.R.

2000-01-01

Urban areas commonly rely on ground water for at least part of the municipal water supply, and as population increases, urban areas expand and require larger volumes of water. However, the expansion of an urban area can reduce ground-water availability. This may occur through processes of depletion (withdrawal of most of the available ground water), degradation (chemicals used in the urban area keep into the ground and contaminate the ground water), and preemption (cost or restrictions on pumping ground water from under extensively urbanized areas may he prohibitive). Thus, a vital natural resource needed to support the growth of an urban area and its infrastructure can become less available because of growth itself.The diminished availability of natural resources caused by expansion of urban areas is not unique to water resources. For example, large volumes of aggregate (sand and gravel) are used in concrete and asphalt to build and maintain the infrastructure (buildings, roads, airports, and so forth) of an urban area. Yet, mining of aggregate commonly is preempted by urban expansion; for example, it cannot he mined from under a subdivision. Energy resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas likewise are critical to the growth and existence of an urban area but may become less available as an urban area expands and preempts mining and drilling.In 1996, the U.S. Geological Survey began work on a national initiative designed to provide information on the availability of those natural resources (water, minerals, energy, and biota) that are critical to maintaining the Nation's infrastructure or that may become less available because of urban expansion. The initiative began with a 3-year demonstration project to develop procedures for assessing resources and methods for interpreting and publishing information in digital and traditional paper formats. The Front Range urban corridor of Colorado was chosen as the demonstration area (fig. 1), and the project was titled the Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project (FRIRP). This report and those of Robson (1996), Robson and others (1998), and Robson and others (2000a, 2000b, 2000c) (fig. 1) are the results of FRIRP water resources investigations; reports pertaining to geology, minerals, energy, biota, and cartography of the FRIRP are published separately. The water-resources studies of the FRIRP were undertaken in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Resources, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Geohydrology of the shallow aquifers in the Greeley-Nunn area, Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robson, Stanley G.; Arnold, L.R.; Heiny, Janet S.

2000-01-01

Urban areas commonly rely on ground water for at least part of the municipal water supply, and as population increases, urban areas expand and require larger volumes of water. However, the expansion of an urban area can reduce ground-water availability. This may occur through processes of depletion (withdrawal of most of the available ground water), degradation (chemicals used in the urban area seep into the ground and contaminate the ground water), and preemption (cost or restrictions on pumping ground water from under extensively urbanized areas may be prohibitive). Thus, a vital natural resource needed to support the growth of an urban area and its infrastructure can become less available because of growth itself.The diminished availability of natural resources caused by expansion of urban areas is not unique to water resources. For example, large volumes of aggregate (sand and gravel) are used in concrete and asphalt to build and maintain the infrastructure (buildings, roads, airports, and so forth) of an urban area. Yet, mining of aggregate commonly is preempted by urban expansion; for example, it cannot be mined from under a subdivision. Energy resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas likewise are critical to the growth and vitality of an urban area but may become less available as an urban area expands and preempts mining and drilling.In 1996, the U.S. Geological Survey began work on a national initiative designed to provide information on the availability of those natural resources (water, minerals, energy, and biota) that are critical to maintaining the Nation's infrastructure or that may become less available because of urban expansion. The initiative began with a 3-year demonstration project to develop procedures for assessing resources and methods for interpreting and publishing information in digital and traditional paper formats. The Front Range urban corridor of Colorado was chosen as the demonstration area (fig. 1), and the project was titled the Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project (FRIRP). This report and those of Robson (1996), Robson and others (1998), and Robson and others (2000a, 2000b, 2000c) are the results of FRIRP water-resources investigations; reports pertaining to geology, minerals, energy, biota, and cartography of the FRIRP are published separately. The water resources studies of the FRIRP were undertaken in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Resources. and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Geohydrology of the shallow aquifers in the Fort Lupton-Gilchrest area, Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robson, Stanley G.; Heiny, Janet S.; Arnold, L.R.

2000-01-01

Urban areas commonly rely on ground water for at least part of the municipal water supply, and as population increases, urban areas expand and require larger volumes of water. However, the expansion of an urban area can reduce ground-water availability. This may occur through processes of depletion (withdrawal of most of the available ground water), degradation (chemicals used in the urban area seep into the ground and contaminate the ground water), and preemption (cost or restrictions on pumping ground water from under extensively urbanized areas may be prohibitive). Thus, a vital natural resource needed to support the growth of an urban area and its infrastructure can become less available because of growth itself.The diminished availability of natural resources caused by expansion of urban areas is not unique to water resources. For example, large volumes of aggregate (sand and gravel) are used in concrete and asphalt to build and maintain the infrastructure (buildings, roads, airports, and so forth) of an urban area. Yet, mining of aggregate commonly is preempted by urban expansion; for example, it cannot be mined from under a subdivision. Energy resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas likewise are critical to the growth and existence of an urban area but may become less available as an urban area expands and preempts mining and drilling.In 1996, the U.S. Geological Survey began work on a national initiative designed to provide information on the availability of those natural resources (water, minerals, energy, and biota) that are critical to maintaining the Nation's infrastructure or that may become less available because of urban expansion. The initiative began with a 3-year demonstration project to develop procedures for assessing resources and methods for interpreting and publishing information in digital and traditional paper formats. The Front Range urban corridor of Colorado was chosen as the demonstration area (fig. 1), and the project was titled the Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project (FRIRP). This report and those of Robson (1996), Robson and others (1998), and Robson and others (2000a, 2000b, 2000c) are the results of FRIRP water-resources investigations; reports pertaining to geology, minerals, energy, biota, and cartography of the FRIRP are published separately. The water resources studies of the FRIRP were undertaken in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Resources, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Numerical Study of the Wintertime Planetary Boundary Layer Development in the Urban Area of Sao Paulo - Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ribeiro, F. N. D.; Soares, J.; Oliveira, A. P.; Miranda, R. M.; Chen, F.

2015-12-01

The gradual replacement of natural by built surfaces and the ongoing emission of particulate matter and other pollutants that happens in urban environments, besides degrading the environment, influence the local weather and climate patterns. Urban areas have different albedo, heat and hydraulic capacity and conductivity, roughness, emissivity, and transmissivity, when compared to naturally vegetated areas. This set of characteristics may change the surface energy budget, air temperature, humidity, atmospheric chemical composition, wind direction and velocity, and therefore the planetary boundary layer (PBL) development. The effects of urbanization on the PBL have been studied in many mid-latitude areas, however in the tropical or subtropical areas they are scarce. The MCITY Brazil project developed in 2 cities of Brazil, Sao Paulo (23°32' S) and Rio de Janeiro (latitude 22° 55' S), has provided the necessary data to properly investigate the effects of urbanization in these two cities. The project included a campaign of soundings launched every 3 hours for 10 consecutive days in August (Austral winter) from an airport at the north part of the city of Sao Paulo, that allowed the study of the PBL development, and also the measurements of the components of the energy budget equation by micrometeorological towers. Therefore, the goal of this work is to simulate the development of the PBL in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo during winter, comparing its characteristics in urbanized and non urbanized sites, in order to assess the impact of urbanization on the development of the PBL in this area. The model used is the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) with a single layer urban canopy parameterization (SLUCM) and realistic anthropogenic heat diurnal evolution. Preliminary results showed that the model is able to reproduce the PBL development during the campaign, including the passage of a cold-frontal system. The urban PBL reaches greater heights during the day than the PBL in non urban sites, suggesting that the urban sites generate more turbulence. Daytime urban PBL height reaches up to 2000 m and nighttime is usually less than 200 m. The surface turbulent fluxes and the energy budget near the surface will also be compared to observations and discussed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hong, Taehoon, E-mail: hong7@yonsei.ac.kr; Kim, Jimin, E-mail: cookie6249@yonsei.ac.kr; Jeong, Kwangbok, E-mail: kbjeong7@yonsei.ac.kr

To systematically manage the energy consumption of existing buildings, the government has to enforce greenhouse gas reduction policies. However, most of the policies are not properly executed because they do not consider various factors from the urban level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a dynamic analysis of an urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics, with a specific focus on housing and green space. This study was conducted in the following steps: (i) establishing the variables of urban-based greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions; (ii) creating a stock/flow diagram of urban-based GHGs emissions; (iii) conducting an information analysis using the systemmore » dynamics; and (iv) proposing the urban-based low-carbon policy. If a combined energy policy that uses the housing sector (30%) and the green space sector (30%) at the same time is implemented, 2020 CO{sub 2} emissions will be 7.23 million tons (i.e., 30.48% below 2020 business-as-usual), achieving the national carbon emissions reduction target (26.9%). The results of this study could contribute to managing and improving the fundamentals of the urban-based low-carbon policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.« less

Thermal Characteristics of Urban Landscapes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Quattrochi, Dale A.

1998-01-01

Although satellite data are very useful for analysis of the urban heat island effect at a coarse scale, they do not lend themselves to developing a better understanding of which surfaces across the city contribute or drive the development of the urban heat island effect. Analysis of thermal energy responses for specific or discrete surfaces typical of the urban landscape (e.g., asphalt, building rooftops, vegetation) requires measurements at a very fine spatial scale (i.e., less than 15 m) to adequately resolve these surfaces and their attendant thermal energy regimes. Additionally, very fine scale spatial resolution thermal infrared data, such as that obtained from aircraft, are very useful for demonstrating to planning officials, policy makers, and the general populace the benefits of the urban forest. These benefits include mitigating the urban heat island effect, making cities more aesthetically pleasing and more habitable environments, and aid in overall cooling of the community. High spatial resolution thermal data are required to quantify how artificial surfaces within the city contribute to an increase in urban heating and the benefit of cool surfaces (e.g., surface coatings that reflect much of the incoming solar radiation as opposed to absorbing it thereby lowering urban temperatures). The TRN (thermal response number) is a technique using aircraft remotely sensed surface temperatures to quantify the thermal response of urban surfaces. The TRN was used to quantify the thermal response of various urban surface types ranging from completely vegetated surfaces to asphalt and concrete parking lots for Huntsville, AL.

Introducing the CTA concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acharya, B. S.; Actis, M.; Aghajani, T.; Agnetta, G.; Aguilar, J.; Aharonian, F.; Ajello, M.; Akhperjanian, A.; Alcubierre, M.; Aleksić, J.; Alfaro, R.; Aliu, E.; Allafort, A. J.; Allan, D.; Allekotte, I.; Amato, E.; Anderson, J.; Angüner, E. O.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Aravantinos, A.; Arlen, T.; Armstrong, T.; Arnaldi, H.; Arrabito, L.; Asano, K.; Ashton, T.; Asorey, H. G.; Awane, Y.; Baba, H.; Babic, A.; Baby, N.; Bähr, J.; Bais, A.; Baixeras, C.; Bajtlik, S.; Balbo, M.; Balis, D.; Balkowski, C.; Bamba, A.; Bandiera, R.; Barber, A.; Barbier, C.; Barceló, M.; Barnacka, A.; Barnstedt, J.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Basili, A.; Basso, S.; Bastieri, D.; Bauer, C.; Baushev, A.; Becerra, J.; Becherini, Y.; Bechtol, K. C.; Becker Tjus, J.; Beckmann, V.; Bednarek, W.; Behera, B.; Belluso, M.; Benbow, W.; Berdugo, J.; Berger, K.; Bernard, F.; Bernardino, T.; Bernlöhr, K.; Bhat, N.; Bhattacharyya, S.; Bigongiari, C.; Biland, A.; Billotta, S.; Bird, T.; Birsin, E.; Bissaldi, E.; Biteau, J.; Bitossi, M.; Blake, S.; Blanch Bigas, O.; Blasi, P.; Bobkov, A.; Boccone, V.; Boettcher, M.; Bogacz, L.; Bogart, J.; Bogdan, M.; Boisson, C.; Boix Gargallo, J.; Bolmont, J.; Bonanno, G.; Bonardi, A.; Bonev, T.; Bonifacio, P.; Bonnoli, G.; Bordas, P.; Borgland, A.; Borkowski, J.; Bose, R.; Botner, O.; Bottani, A.; Bouchet, L.; Bourgeat, M.; Boutonnet, C.; Bouvier, A.; Brau-Nogué, S.; Braun, I.; Bretz, T.; Briggs, M.; Bringmann, T.; Brook, P.; Brun, P.; Brunetti, L.; Buanes, T.; Buckley, J.; Buehler, R.; Bugaev, V.; Bulgarelli, A.; Bulik, T.; Busetto, G.; Buson, S.; Byrum, K.; Cailles, M.; Cameron, R.; Camprecios, J.; Canestrari, R.; Cantu, S.; Capalbi, M.; Caraveo, P.; Carmona, E.; Carosi, A.; Carr, J.; Carton, P.-H.; Casanova, S.; Casiraghi, M.; Catalano, O.; Cavazzani, S.; Cazaux, S.; Cerruti, M.; Chabanne, E.; Chadwick, P.; Champion, C.; Chen, A.; Chiang, J.; Chiappetti, L.; Chikawa, M.; Chitnis, V. R.; Chollet, F.; Chudoba, J.; Cieślar, M.; Cillis, A.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Colafrancesco, S.; Colin, P.; Colome, J.; Colonges, S.; Compin, M.; Conconi, P.; Conforti, V.; Connaughton, V.; Conrad, J.; Contreras, J. L.; Coppi, P.; Corona, P.; Corti, D.; Cortina, J.; Cossio, L.; Costantini, H.; Cotter, G.; Courty, B.; Couturier, S.; Covino, S.; Crimi, G.; Criswell, S. J.; Croston, J.; Cusumano, G.; Dafonseca, M.; Dale, O.; Daniel, M.; Darling, J.; Davids, I.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Caprio, V.; De Frondat, F.; de Gouveia Dal Pino, E. M.; de la Calle, I.; De La Vega, G. A.; de los Reyes Lopez, R.; De Lotto, B.; De Luca, A.; de Mello Neto, J. R. T.; de Naurois, M.; de Oliveira, Y.; de Oña Wilhelmi, E.; de Souza, V.; Decerprit, G.; Decock, G.; Deil, C.; Delagnes, E.; Deleglise, G.; Delgado, C.; Della Volpe, D.; Demange, P.; Depaola, G.; Dettlaff, A.; Di Paola, A.; Di Pierro, F.; Díaz, C.; Dick, J.; Dickherber, R.; Dickinson, H.; Diez-Blanco, V.; Digel, S.; Dimitrov, D.; Disset, G.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Doert, M.; Dohmke, M.; Domainko, W.; Dominis Prester, D.; Donat, A.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Dournaux, J.-L.; Drake, G.; Dravins, D.; Drury, L.; Dubois, F.; Dubois, R.; Dubus, G.; Dufour, C.; Dumas, D.; Dumm, J.; Durand, D.; Dyks, J.; Dyrda, M.; Ebr, J.; Edy, E.; Egberts, K.; Eger, P.; Einecke, S.; Eleftheriadis, C.; Elles, S.; Emmanoulopoulos, D.; Engelhaupt, D.; Enomoto, R.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Errando, M.; Etchegoyen, A.; Evans, P.; Falcone, A.; Fantinel, D.; Farakos, K.; Farnier, C.; Fasola, G.; Favill, B.; Fede, E.; Federici, S.; Fegan, S.; Feinstein, F.; Ferenc, D.; Ferrando, P.; Fesquet, M.; Fiasson, A.; Fillin-Martino, E.; Fink, D.; Finley, C.; Finley, J. P.; Fiorini, M.; Firpo Curcoll, R.; Flores, H.; Florin, D.; Focke, W.; Föhr, C.; Fokitis, E.; Font, L.; Fontaine, G.; Fornasa, M.; Förster, A.; Fortson, L.; Fouque, N.; Franckowiak, A.; Fransson, C.; Fraser, G.; Frei, R.; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Fresnillo, L.; Fruck, C.; Fujita, Y.; Fukazawa, Y.; Fukui, Y.; Funk, S.; Gäbele, W.; Gabici, S.; Gabriele, R.; Gadola, A.; Galante, N.; Gall, D.; Gallant, Y.; Gámez-García, J.; García, B.; Garcia López, R.; Gardiol, D.; Garrido, D.; Garrido, L.; Gascon, D.; Gaug, M.; Gaweda, J.; Gebremedhin, L.; Geffroy, N.; Gerard, L.; Ghedina, A.; Ghigo, M.; Giannakaki, E.; Gianotti, F.; Giarrusso, S.; Giavitto, G.; Giebels, B.; Gika, V.; Giommi, P.; Girard, N.; Giro, E.; Giuliani, A.; Glanzman, T.; Glicenstein, J.-F.; Godinovic, N.; Golev, V.; Gomez Berisso, M.; Gómez-Ortega, J.; Gonzalez, M. M.; González, A.; González, F.; González Muñoz, A.; Gothe, K. S.; Gougerot, M.; Graciani, R.; Grandi, P.; Grañena, F.; Granot, J.; Grasseau, G.; Gredig, R.; Green, A.; Greenshaw, T.; Grégoire, T.; Grimm, O.; Grube, J.; Grudzinska, M.; Gruev, V.; Grünewald, S.; Grygorczuk, J.; Guarino, V.; Gunji, S.; Gyuk, G.; Hadasch, D.; Hagiwara, R.; Hahn, J.; Hakansson, N.; Hallgren, A.; Hamer Heras, N.; Hara, S.; Hardcastle, M. J.; Harris, J.; Hassan, T.; Hatanaka, K.; Haubold, T.; Haupt, A.; Hayakawa, T.; Hayashida, M.; Heller, R.; Henault, F.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hermel, R.; Herrero, A.; Hidaka, N.; Hinton, J.; Hoffmann, D.; Hofmann, W.; Hofverberg, P.; Holder, J.; Horns, D.; Horville, D.; Houles, J.; Hrabovsky, M.; Hrupec, D.; Huan, H.; Huber, B.; Huet, J.-M.; Hughes, G.; Humensky, T. B.; Huovelin, J.; Ibarra, A.; Illa, J. M.; Impiombato, D.; Incorvaia, S.; Inoue, S.; Inoue, Y.; Ioka, K.; Ismailova, E.; Jablonski, C.; Jacholkowska, A.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Jean, P.; Jeanney, C.; Jimenez, J. J.; Jogler, T.; Johnson, T.; Journet, L.; Juffroy, C.; Jung, I.; Kaaret, P.; Kabuki, S.; Kagaya, M.; Kakuwa, J.; Kalkuhl, C.; Kankanyan, R.; Karastergiou, A.; Kärcher, K.; Karczewski, M.; Karkar, S.; Kasperek, J.; Kastana, D.; Katagiri, H.; Kataoka, J.; Katarzyński, K.; Katz, U.; Kawanaka, N.; Kellner-Leidel, B.; Kelly, H.; Kendziorra, E.; Khélifi, B.; Kieda, D. B.; Kifune, T.; Kihm, T.; Kishimoto, T.; Kitamoto, K.; Kluźniak, W.; Knapic, C.; Knapp, J.; Knödlseder, J.; Köck, F.; Kocot, J.; Kodani, K.; Köhne, J.-H.; Kohri, K.; Kokkotas, K.; Kolitzus, D.; Komin, N.; Kominis, I.; Konno, Y.; Köppel, H.; Korohoda, P.; Kosack, K.; Koss, G.; Kossakowski, R.; Kostka, P.; Koul, R.; Kowal, G.; Koyama, S.; Kozioł, J.; Krähenbühl, T.; Krause, J.; Krawzcynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Krepps, A.; Kretzschmann, A.; Krobot, R.; Krueger, P.; Kubo, H.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Kushida, J.; Kuznetsov, A.; La Barbera, A.; La Palombara, N.; La Parola, V.; La Rosa, G.; Lacombe, K.; Lamanna, G.; Lande, J.; Languignon, D.; Lapington, J.; Laporte, P.; Lavalley, C.; Le Flour, T.; Le Padellec, A.; Lee, S.-H.; Lee, W. H.; Leigui de Oliveira, M. A.; Lelas, D.; Lenain, J.-P.; Leopold, D. J.; Lerch, T.; Lessio, L.; Lieunard, B.; Lindfors, E.; Liolios, A.; Lipniacka, A.; Lockart, H.; Lohse, T.; Lombardi, S.; Lopatin, A.; Lopez, M.; López-Coto, R.; López-Oramas, A.; Lorca, A.; Lorenz, E.; Lubinski, P.; Lucarelli, F.; Lüdecke, H.; Ludwin, J.; Luque-Escamilla, P. L.; Lustermann, W.; Luz, O.; Lyard, E.; Maccarone, M. C.; Maccarone, T. J.; Madejski, G. M.; Madhavan, A.; Mahabir, M.; Maier, G.; Majumdar, P.; Malaguti, G.; Maltezos, S.; Manalaysay, A.; Mancilla, A.; Mandat, D.; Maneva, G.; Mangano, A.; Manigot, P.; Mannheim, K.; Manthos, I.; Maragos, N.; Marcowith, A.; Mariotti, M.; Marisaldi, M.; Markoff, S.; Marszałek, A.; Martens, C.; Martí, J.; Martin, J.-M.; Martin, P.; Martínez, G.; Martínez, F.; Martínez, M.; Masserot, A.; Mastichiadis, A.; Mathieu, A.; Matsumoto, H.; Mattana, F.; Mattiazzo, S.; Maurin, G.; Maxfield, S.; Maya, J.; Mazin, D.; Mc Comb, L.; McCubbin, N.; McHardy, I.; McKay, R.; Medina, C.; Melioli, C.; Melkumyan, D.; Mereghetti, S.; Mertsch, P.; Meucci, M.; Michałowski, J.; Micolon, P.; Mihailidis, A.; Mineo, T.; Minuti, M.; Mirabal, N.; Mirabel, F.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Mizuno, T.; Moal, B.; Moderski, R.; Mognet, I.; Molinari, E.; Molinaro, M.; Montaruli, T.; Monteiro, I.; Moore, P.; Moralejo Olaizola, A.; Mordalska, M.; Morello, C.; Mori, K.; Mottez, F.; Moudden, Y.; Moulin, E.; Mrusek, I.; Mukherjee, R.; Munar-Adrover, P.; Muraishi, H.; Murase, K.; Murphy, A.; Nagataki, S.; Naito, T.; Nakajima, D.; Nakamori, T.; Nakayama, K.; Naumann, C.; Naumann, D.; Naumann-Godo, M.; Nayman, P.; Nedbal, D.; Neise, D.; Nellen, L.; Neustroev, V.; Neyroud, N.; Nicastro, L.; Nicolau-Kukliński, J.; Niedźwiecki, A.; Niemiec, J.; Nieto, D.; Nikolaidis, A.; Nishijima, K.; Nolan, S.; Northrop, R.; Nosek, D.; Nowak, N.; Nozato, A.; O'Brien, P.; Ohira, Y.; Ohishi, M.; Ohm, S.; Ohoka, H.; Okuda, T.; Okumura, A.; Olive, J.-F.; Ong, R. A.; Orito, R.; Orr, M.; Osborne, J.; Ostrowski, M.; Otero, L. A.; Otte, N.; Ovcharov, E.; Oya, I.; Ozieblo, A.; Padilla, L.; Paiano, S.; Paillot, D.; Paizis, A.; Palanque, S.; Palatka, M.; Pallota, J.; Panagiotidis, K.; Panazol, J.-L.; Paneque, D.; Panter, M.; Paoletti, R.; Papayannis, A.; Papyan, G.; Paredes, J. M.; Pareschi, G.; Parks, G.; Parraud, J.-M.; Parsons, D.; Paz Arribas, M.; Pech, M.; Pedaletti, G.; Pelassa, V.; Pelat, D.; Perez, M. d. C.; Persic, M.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Peyaud, B.; Pichel, A.; Pita, S.; Pizzolato, F.; Platos, Ł.; Platzer, R.; Pogosyan, L.; Pohl, M.; Pojmanski, G.; Ponz, J. D.; Potter, W.; Poutanen, J.; Prandini, E.; Prast, J.; Preece, R.; Profeti, F.; Prokoph, H.; Prouza, M.; Proyetti, M.; Puerto-Gimenez, I.; Pühlhofer, G.; Puljak, I.; Punch, M.; Pyzioł, R.; Quel, E. J.; Quinn, J.; Quirrenbach, A.; Racero, E.; Rajda, P. J.; Ramon, P.; Rando, R.; Rannot, R. C.; Rataj, M.; Raue, M.; Reardon, P.; Reimann, O.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Reitberger, K.; Renaud, M.; Renner, S.; Reville, B.; Rhode, W.; Ribó, M.; Ribordy, M.; Richer, M. G.; Rico, J.; Ridky, J.; Rieger, F.; Ringegni, P.; Ripken, J.; Ristori, P. R.; Riviére, A.; Rivoire, S.; Rob, L.; Roeser, U.; Rohlfs, R.; Rojas, G.; Romano, P.; Romaszkan, W.; Romero, G. E.; Rosen, S.; Rosier Lees, S.; Ross, D.; Rouaix, G.; Rousselle, J.; Rousselle, S.; Rovero, A. C.; Roy, F.; Royer, S.; Rudak, B.; Rulten, C.; Rupiński, M.; Russo, F.; Ryde, F.; Sacco, B.; Saemann, E. O.; Saggion, A.; Sahakian, V.; Saito, K.; Saito, T.; Saito, Y.; Sakaki, N.; Sakonaka, R.; Salini, A.; Sanchez, F.; Sanchez-Conde, M.; Sandoval, A.; Sandaker, H.; Sant'Ambrogio, E.; Santangelo, A.; Santos, E. M.; Sanuy, A.; Sapozhnikov, L.; Sarkar, S.; Sartore, N.; Sasaki, H.; Satalecka, K.; Sawada, M.; Scalzotto, V.; Scapin, V.; Scarcioffolo, M.; Schafer, J.; Schanz, T.; Schlenstedt, S.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schmidt, T.; Schmoll, J.; Schovanek, P.; Schroedter, M.; Schultz, C.; Schultze, J.; Schulz, A.; Schure, K.; Schwab, T.; Schwanke, U.; Schwarz, J.; Schwarzburg, S.; Schweizer, T.; Schwemmer, S.; Segreto, A.; Seiradakis, J.-H.; Sembroski, G. H.; Seweryn, K.; Sharma, M.; Shayduk, M.; Shellard, R. C.; Shi, J.; Shibata, T.; Shibuya, A.; Shum, E.; Sidoli, L.; Sidz, M.; Sieiro, J.; Sikora, M.; Silk, J.; Sillanpää, A.; Singh, B. B.; Sitarek, J.; Skole, C.; Smareglia, R.; Smith, A.; Smith, D.; Smith, J.; Smith, N.; Sobczyńska, D.; Sol, H.; Sottile, G.; Sowiński, M.; Spanier, F.; Spiga, D.; Spyrou, S.; Stamatescu, V.; Stamerra, A.; Starling, R.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Steiner, S.; Stergioulas, N.; Sternberger, R.; Sterzel, M.; Stinzing, F.; Stodulski, M.; Straumann, U.; Strazzeri, E.; Stringhetti, L.; Suarez, A.; Suchenek, M.; Sugawara, R.; Sulanke, K.-H.; Sun, S.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Suric, T.; Sutcliffe, P.; Sykes, J.; Szanecki, M.; Szepieniec, T.; Szostek, A.; Tagliaferri, G.; Tajima, H.; Takahashi, H.; Takahashi, K.; Takalo, L.; Takami, H.; Talbot, G.; Tammi, J.; Tanaka, M.; Tanaka, S.; Tasan, J.; Tavani, M.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Tejedor, L. A.; Telezhinsky, I.; Temnikov, P.; Tenzer, C.; Terada, Y.; Terrier, R.; Teshima, M.; Testa, V.; Tezier, D.; Thuermann, D.; Tibaldo, L.; Tibolla, O.; Tiengo, A.; Tluczykont, M.; Todero Peixoto, C. J.; Tokanai, F.; Tokarz, M.; Toma, K.; Torii, K.; Tornikoski, M.; Torres, D. F.; Torres, M.; Tosti, G.; Totani, T.; Toussenel, F.; Tovmassian, G.; Travnicek, P.; Trifoglio, M.; Troyano, I.; Tsinganos, K.; Ueno, H.; Umehara, K.; Upadhya, S. S.; Usher, T.; Uslenghi, M.; Valdes-Galicia, J. F.; Vallania, P.; Vallejo, G.; van Driel, W.; van Eldik, C.; Vandenbrouke, J.; Vanderwalt, J.; Vankov, H.; Vasileiadis, G.; Vassiliev, V.; Veberic, D.; Vegas, I.; Vercellone, S.; Vergani, S.; Veyssiére, C.; Vialle, J. P.; Viana, A.; Videla, M.; Vincent, P.; Vincent, S.; Vink, J.; Vlahakis, N.; Vlahos, L.; Vogler, P.; Vollhardt, A.; von Gunten, H.-P.; Vorobiov, S.; Vuerli, C.; Waegebaert, V.; Wagner, R.; Wagner, R. G.; Wagner, S.; Wakely, S. P.; Walter, R.; Walther, T.; Warda, K.; Warwick, R.; Wawer, P.; Wawrzaszek, R.; Webb, N.; Wegner, P.; Weinstein, A.; Weitzel, Q.; Welsing, R.; Werner, M.; Wetteskind, H.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Wiesand, S.; Wilkinson, M.; Williams, D. A.; Willingale, R.; Winiarski, K.; Wischnewski, R.; Wiśniewski, Ł.; Wood, M.; Wörnlein, A.; Xiong, Q.; Yadav, K. K.; Yamamoto, H.; Yamamoto, T.; Yamazaki, R.; Yanagita, S.; Yebras, J. M.; Yelos, D.; Yoshida, A.; Yoshida, T.; Yoshikoshi, T.; Zabalza, V.; Zacharias, M.; Zajczyk, A.; Zanin, R.; Zdziarski, A.; Zech, A.; Zhao, A.; Zhou, X.; Ziętara, K.; Ziolkowski, J.; Ziółkowski, P.; Zitelli, V.; Zurbach, C.; Żychowski, P.; CTA Consortium

2013-03-01

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a new observatory for very high-energy (VHE) gamma rays. CTA has ambitions science goals, for which it is necessary to achieve full-sky coverage, to improve the sensitivity by about an order of magnitude, to span about four decades of energy, from a few tens of GeV to above 100 TeV with enhanced angular and energy resolutions over existing VHE gamma-ray observatories. An international collaboration has formed with more than 1000 members from 27 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. In 2010 the CTA Consortium completed a Design Study and started a three-year Preparatory Phase which leads to production readiness of CTA in 2014. In this paper we introduce the science goals and the concept of CTA, and provide an overview of the project.

Undergraduate research studies program at participating institutions of the HBCU Fossil Energy Consortium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhatia, S.C.; Cardelino, B.H.; Hall, J.H. Jr.

1990-07-31

The objectives of this research program are to expose students in minority institutions of energy and fossil fuels research, to stimulate their interest in the sciences and engineering, and to encourage them to pursue graduate studies, thereby ensuring the necessary supply of manpower for the industrial and energy sectors of the national economy. Two projects are discussed here. The first is focused on the surface chemical properties of coal and their influence on the adsorption of aqueous soluble catalyst metals. The objective of the second project is to characterize coal derived liquids for distribution of oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur heteroatomsmore » relative to the average molecular weight distribution of the coal liquid. The technique of size exclusion chromatography will be used. 2 refs., 2 figs.« less

Increasing Sales by Developing Production Consortiums.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Christopher A.; Russo, Robert

Intended to help rehabilitation facility administrators increase organizational income from manufacturing and/or contracted service sources, this document provides a decision-making model for the development of a production consortium. The document consists of five chapters and two appendices. Chapter 1 defines the consortium concept, explains…

14 CFR 1274.205 - Consortia as recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... agreement with a consortium is the consortium's Articles of Collaboration, which is a definitive description of the roles and responsibilities of the consortium's members. The Articles of Collaboration must... the Articles of Collaboration only if they are inclusive of all of the required information. (e) An...

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... is not formally incorporated must provide a collaboration agreement, commonly referred to as the articles of collaboration, which sets out the rights and responsibilities of each consortium member. This... the consortium's collaboration agreement to ensure that the management plan is sound and that it...

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... is not formally incorporated must provide a collaboration agreement, commonly referred to as the articles of collaboration, which sets out the rights and responsibilities of each consortium member. This... the consortium's collaboration agreement to ensure that the management plan is sound and that it...

14 CFR 1274.205 - Consortia as recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... agreement with a consortium is the consortium's Articles of Collaboration, which is a definitive description of the roles and responsibilities of the consortium's members. The Articles of Collaboration must... the Articles of Collaboration only if they are inclusive of all of the required information. (e) An...

25 CFR 1000.21 - When does a Tribe/Consortium have a “material audit exception”?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...-Governance Eligibility § 1000.21 When does a Tribe/Consortium have a “material audit exception”? A Tribe/Consortium has a material audit exception if any of the audits that it submitted under § 1000.17(c...

Consortium List of African-American Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jordan, Casper L., Ed.

A bibliography is provided of the materials identified by the consortium participating in the African-American Materials Project. Members of the consortium include: Atlanta University, Fisk University, Hampton Institute, North Carolina Central University, South Carolina State College, and Tuskegee Institute. The materials listed were located in…

76 FR 66040 - Announcement of Meeting To Explore Feasibility of Establishing a NIST/Industry Consortium on...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-25

... Explore Feasibility of Establishing a NIST/Industry Consortium on ``Concrete Rheology: Enabling Metrology... meeting. SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites interested parties to attend a pre-consortium meeting on November 8, [[Page 66041

Development of Technology for Image-Guided Proton Therapy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

develop data analysis software  Install and test tablet PCs Year 2 ending 9/30/2009  Design PET scanner  Design mechanical gantry...of the PET instrument  Measure positron-emitting isotope production  Use dual-energy CT and MRI to determine the composition of materials Year...forms on tablet PCs Phase 5 Scope of Work Year 1 ending 9/30/2009  Identify a vendor consortium to develop a solution for CBCT on or near

Development of compact particle detectors for space based instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barner, Lindsey; Grove, Andrew; Mohler, Jacob; Sisson, Caleb; Roth, Alex; Kryemadhi, Abaz

2017-01-01

The Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are new photon-detectors which have been increasingly used in particle physics. Their small size, good single photon resolution, simple readout, and immunity to magnetic fields offers benefits compared to traditional photomultipliers. LYSO and CeBr3 crystals are relatively new scintillators with high stopping power, very good light yield and fast decay time. The response of these detectors to low energy gamma rays will be presented. NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium.

FermiGrid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yocum, D.R.; Berman, E.; Canal, P.

2007-05-01

As one of the founding members of the Open Science Grid Consortium (OSG), Fermilab enables coherent access to its production resources through the Grid infrastructure system called FermiGrid. This system successfully provides for centrally managed grid services, opportunistic resource access, development of OSG Interfaces for Fermilab, and an interface to the Fermilab dCache system. FermiGrid supports virtual organizations (VOs) including high energy physics experiments (USCMS, MINOS, D0, CDF, ILC), astrophysics experiments (SDSS, Auger, DES), biology experiments (GADU, Nanohub) and educational activities.

Recovery of valuable metals from polymetallic mine tailings by natural microbial consortium.

PubMed

Vardanyan, Narine; Sevoyan, Garegin; Navasardyan, Taron; Vardanyan, Arevik

2018-05-28

Possibilities for the recovery of non-ferrous and precious metals from Kapan polymetallic mine tailings (Armenia) were studied. The aim of this paper was to study the possibilities of bioleaching of samples of concentrated tailings by the natural microbial consortium of drainage water. The extent of extraction of metals from the samples of concentrated tailings by natural microbial consortium reached 41-55% and 53-73% for copper and zinc, respectively. Metal leaching efficiencies of pure culture Leptospirillum ferrooxidans Teg were higher, namely 47-93% and 73-81% for copper and zinc, respectively. The content of gold in solid phase of tailings increased about 7-16% and 2-9% after bio-oxidation process by L. ferrooxidans Teg and natural microbial consortium, respectively. It was shown that bioleaching of the samples of tailings could be performed using the natural consortium of drainage water. However, to increase the intensity of the recovery of valuable metals, natural consortium of drainage water combined with iron-oxidizing L. ferrooxidans Teg has been proposed.

Pretreatment of piggery wastewater by a stable constructed microbial consortium for improving the methane production.

PubMed

Cai, Jian; Mo, Xiwei; Cheng, Guojun; Du, Dongyun

2015-01-01

A stable aerobic microbial consortium, established by successive subcultivation, was employed to solubilize the solid organic fraction in swine wastewater. In the 30 days' successive biological pretreatments, 30-38% of volatile solids and 19-28% total solids in raw slurry were solubilized after 10 hours at 37 °C. Meanwhile, soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile fatty acid increased by 48%-56% and 600%-750%, respectively. Furthermore, the molecular microbial profile of the consortium in successive pretreatment was conducted by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The results indicated that bacterial species of the consortium rapidly overgrew the indigenous microbial community of raw water, and showed a stable predominance at the long-term treatment. As a consequence of biological pretreatment, pretreatment shortened digestion time by 50% and increased biogas production by 45% compared to raw water in the anaerobic process. The microbial consortium constructed herein is a potential candidate consortium for biological pretreatment of swine wastewater to enhance biogas production.

Negotiating the labyrinth of modernity's promise a paradigm analysis of energy poverty in peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odarno, Lily Ameley

Energy poverty in developing countries has been conventionally attributed to a lack of access to sufficient, sustainable and modern forms of energy (ESMAP 2001; Modi et al. 2006). Per this definition, Sub--Saharan Africa is the most energy poor region in the world today. In line with this, efforts at addressing energy poverty in the region have concentrated on the expansion of access to modern energy sources, particularly electricity. In spite of the implementation of diverse energy development interventions, access to modern energy services remains limited. That energy poverty remains one of the most pressing challenges in Sub--Saharan Africa today in spite of the many decades of energy development necessitates a candid and thorough re--evaluation of the questions that have been traditionally asked about this issue and the solutions that have been offered in response to it. Based on theoretical analyses and empirical studies in peri--urban Kumasi, Ghana, this study attempts to offer some of the much needed re--evaluations. Using Kuhn's paradigm approach as a conceptual tool, this dissertation identifies peri--urban energy poverty as a paradigm--scale conflict in the modern arrangement of energy--development relations. By emphasizing the importance of context and political economy in understanding energy poverty, the study proposes strategies for an alternative paradigm in which energy--development relations are fundamentally redefined; one which enlists appropriate knowledge, technologies, and institutions in addressing the needs of the energy poor in ways which promote environmental values, social equity and sustainable livelihoods.

A high-resolution x-ray spectrometer for a kaon mass measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phelan, Kevin; Suzuki, Ken; Zmeskal, Johann; Tortorella, Daniele; Bühler, Matthias; Hertrich, Theo

2017-02-01

The ASPECT consortium (Adaptable Spectrometer Enabled by Cryogenic Technology) is currently constructing a generalised cryogenic platform for cryogenic detector work which will be able to accommodate a wide range of sensors. The cryogenics system is based on a small mechanical cooler with a further adiabatic demagnetisation stage and will work with cryogenic detectors at sub-Kelvin temperatures. The commercial aim of the consortium is to produce a compact, user-friendly device with an emphasis on reliability and portability which can easily be transported for specialised on-site work, such as beam-lines or telescope facilities. The cryogenic detector platform will accommodate a specially developed cryogenic sensor, either a metallic magnetic calorimeter or a magnetic penetration-depth thermometer. The detectors will be designed to work in various temperatures regions with an emphasis on optimising the various detector resolutions for specific temperatures. One resolution target is of about 10 eV at the energies range typically created in kaonic atoms experiments (soft x-ray energies). A following step will see the introduction of continuous, high-power, sub-Kelvin cooling which will bring the cryogenic basis for a high resolution spectrometer system to the market. The scientific goal of the project will produce an experimental set-up optimised for kaon-mass measurements performing high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy on a beam-line provided foreseeably by the J-PARC (Tokai, Japan) or DAΦNE (Frascati, Italy) facilities.

Bio-hydrogen production from tempeh and tofu processing wastes via fermentation process using microbial consortium: A mini-review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rengga, Wara Dyah Pita; Wati, Diyah Saras; Siregar, Riska Yuliana; Wulandari, Ajeng Riswanti; Lestari, Adela Ayu; Chafidz, Achmad

2017-03-01

One of alternative energies that can replace fossil fuels is hydrogen. Hydrogen can be used to generate electricity and to power combustion engines for transportation. Bio-hydrogen produced from tempeh and tofu processing waste can be considered as a renewable energy. Bio-hydrogen produced from tempeh and tofu processing waste is beneficial because the waste of soybean straw and tofu processing waste is plentiful, cheap, renewable and biodegradable. Specification of tempeh and tofu processing waste were soybean straw and sludge of tofu processing. They contain carbohydrates (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) and methane. This paper reviews the optimal condition to produce bio-hydrogen from tempeh and tofu processing waste. The production of bio-hydrogen used microbial consortium which were enriched from cracked cereals and mainly dominated by Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium roseum. The production process of bio-hydrogen from tempeh and tofu processing waste used acid pre-treatment with acid catalyzed hydrolysis to cleave the bond of hemicellulose and cellulose chains contained in biomass. The optimal production of bio-hydrogen has a yield of 6-6.8 mL/g at 35-60 °C, pH 5.5-7 in hydraulic retention time (HRT) less than 16 h. The production used a continuous system in an anaerobic digester. This condition can be used as a reference for the future research.

SUMIRAD: a near real-time MMW radiometer imaging system for threat detection in an urban environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dill, Stephan; Peichl, Markus; Rudolf, Daniel

2012-10-01

The armed forces are nowadays confronted with a wide variety of types of operations. During peace keeping missions in an urban environment, where small units patrol the streets with armored vehicles, the team leader is confronted with a very complex threat situation. The asymmetric imminence arises in most cases from so called IEDs (Improvised explosive devices) which are found in a multitude of versions. In order to avoid risky situations the early detection of possible threats due to advanced reconnaissance and surveillance sensors will provide an important advantage. A European consortium consisting of GMV S.A. (Spain, "Grupo Tecnològico e Industrial"), RMA (Belgium, "Royal Military Academy"), TUM ("Technische Universität München") and DLR (Germany, "Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt") developed in the SUM project (Surveillance in an urban environment using mobile sensors) a low-cost multi-sensor vehicle based surveillance system in order to enhance situational awareness for moving security and military patrols as well as for static checkpoints. The project was funded by the European Defense Agency (EDA) in the Joint Investment Program on Force Protection (JIP-FP). The SUMIRAD (SUM imaging radiometer) system, developed by DLR, is a fast radiometric imager and part of the SUM sensor suite. This paper will present the principle of the SUMIRAD system and its key components. Furthermore the image processing will be described. Imaging results from several measurement campaigns will be presented. The overall SUM system and the individual subsystems are presented in more detail in separate papers during this conference.

Quantifying the Contribution of Urban-Industrial Efficiency and Symbiosis to Deep Decarbonization: Impact of 637 Chinese Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramaswami, A.; Tong, K.; Fang, A.; Lal, R.; Nagpure, A.; Li, Y.; Yu, H.; Jiang, D.; Russell, A. G.; Shi, L.; Chertow, M.; Wang, Y.; Wang, S.

2016-12-01

Urban activities in China contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to local air pollution-related health risks. Co-location analysis can help inform the potential for energy- and material-exchanges across homes, businesses, infrastructure and industries co-located in cities. Such co-location dependent urban-industrial symbiosis strategies offer a new pathway toward urban energy efficiency and health that have not previously been quantified. Key examples includes the use of waste industrial heat in other co-located industries, and in residential-commercial district heating-cooling systems of cities. To quantify the impact of these strategies: (1) We develop a new data-set of 637 Chinese cities to assess the potential for efficiency and symbiosis across co-located homes, businesses, industries and the energy and construction sectors in the different cities. (2) A multi-scalar urban systems model quantifies trans-boundary CO2 impacts as well as local health benefits of these uniquely urban, co-location-dependent strategies. (3) CO2 impacts are aggregated across the 637 Chinese cities (home to 701 million people) to quantify national CO2 mitigation potential. (4) The local health benefits are modeled specific to each city and mapped geospatially to identify areas where co-benefits between GHG mitigation and health are maximized. Results: A first order conservative analysis of co-location dependent urban symbiosis indicates potential for reducing 6% of China's national total CO2 emissions in a relatively short time period, yielding a new pathway not previously considered in China's energy futures models. The magnitude of these reductions (6%) was similar in magnitude to sector specific industrial, power sector and buildings efficiency strategeies that together contributed 9% CO2 reduction aggregated across the nation. CO2 reductions mapped to the 637 cities ranged from <1% to 40%, depending upon co-location patterns, climate and other features of the cities. The modeled reductions in fossil-fuel use yield reductions in PM-2.5 emissions from <1% to 73%, depending on the city, and avoided annual mortality >40,000 premature deaths (avoided) across all cities. These results demonstrate the contribution urban symbiosis on decarbonization and health co-benefits.

Measuring Thermal Characteristics of Urban Landscapes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Rickman, Doug L.

1999-01-01

The additional heating of the air over the city is the result of the replacement of naturally vegetated surfaces with those composed of asphalt, concrete, rooftops and other man-made materials. The temperatures of these artificial surfaces can be 20 to 40 C higher than vegetated surfaces. Materials such as asphalt store much of the sun's energy and remains hot long after sunset. This produces a dome of elevated air temperatures 5 to 8 C greater over the city, compared to the air temperatures over adjacent rural areas. This effect is called the "urban heat island". Urban landscapes are a complex mixture of vegetated and nonvegetated surfaces. It is difficult to take enough temperature measurements over a large city area to characterize the complexity of urban radiant surface temperature variability. However, the use of remotely sensed thermal data from airborne scanners are ideal for the task. In a study funded by NASA, a series of flights over Huntsville, Alabama were performed in September 1994 and over Atlanta, Georgia in May 1997. Analysis of thermal energy responses for specific or discrete surfaces typical of the urban landscape (e.g., asphalt, building rooftops, vegetation) requires measurements at a very fine spatial scale (i.e., <15 m) to adequately resolve these surfaces and their attendant thermal energy regimes. Additionally, very fine scale spatial resolution thermal infrared data, such as that obtained from aircraft, are very useful for demonstrating to planning officials, policy makers, and the general populace, what the benefits are of the urban forest in both mitigating the urban heat island effect, in making cities more aesthetically pleasing and more habitable environments, and in overall cooling of the community. In this presentation we will examine the techniques of analyzing remotely sensed data for measuring the effect of various urban surfaces on their contribution to the urban heat island effect.

[Activity of NTDs Drug-discovery Research Consortium].

PubMed

Namatame, Ichiji

2016-01-01

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are an extremely important issue facing global health care. To improve "access to health" where people are unable to access adequate medical care due to poverty and weak healthcare systems, we have established two consortiums: the NTD drug discovery research consortium, and the pediatric praziquantel consortium. The NTD drug discovery research consortium, which involves six institutions from industry, government, and academia, as well as an international non-profit organization, is committed to developing anti-protozoan active compounds for three NTDs (Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and African sleeping sickness). Each participating institute will contribute their efforts to accomplish the following: selection of drug targets based on information technology, and drug discovery by three different approaches (in silico drug discovery, "fragment evolution" which is a unique drug designing method of Astellas Pharma, and phenotypic screening with Astellas' compound library). The consortium has established a brand new database (Integrated Neglected Tropical Disease Database; iNTRODB), and has selected target proteins for the in silico and fragment evolution drug discovery approaches. Thus far, we have identified a number of promising compounds that inhibit the target protein, and we are currently trying to improve the anti-protozoan activity of these compounds. The pediatric praziquantel consortium was founded in July 2012 to develop and register a new praziquantel pediatric formulation for the treatment of schistosomiasis. Astellas Pharma has been a core member in this consortium since its establishment, and has provided expertise and technology in the area of pediatric formulation development and clinical development.

Changing Urban Work Ethic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pagano, Helen P.

1974-01-01

In an urbanized society, work and leisure include an orientation toward control, achievement, and the mobilization of energy to specific ends. Workers' attitudes, both white and blue collar, are becoming increasingly permissive and exploratory. (Author)

A microscale three-dimensional urban energy balance model for studying surface temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krayenhoff, E. Scott; Voogt, James A.

2007-06-01

A microscale three-dimensional (3-D) urban energy balance model, Temperatures of Urban Facets in 3-D (TUF-3D), is developed to predict urban surface temperatures for a variety of surface geometries and properties, weather conditions, and solar angles. The surface is composed of plane-parallel facets: roofs, walls, and streets, which are further sub-divided into identical square patches, resulting in a 3-D raster-type model geometry. The model code is structured into radiation, conduction and convection sub-models. The radiation sub-model uses the radiosity approach and accounts for multiple reflections and shading of direct solar radiation. Conduction is solved by finite differencing of the heat conduction equation, and convection is modelled by empirically relating patch heat transfer coefficients to the momentum forcing and the building morphology. The radiation and conduction sub-models are tested individually against measurements, and the complete model is tested against full-scale urban surface temperature and energy balance observations. Modelled surface temperatures perform well at both the facet-average and the sub-facet scales given the precision of the observations and the uncertainties in the model inputs. The model has several potential applications, such as the calculation of radiative loads, and the investigation of effective thermal anisotropy (when combined with a sensor-view model).

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

Validation of the Martilli's Urban Boundary Layer Scheme with measurements from two mid-latitude European cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdi, R.; Schayes, G.

2005-07-01

The Martilli's urban parameterization scheme is improved and implemented in a mesoscale model in order to take into account the typical effects of a real city on the air temperature near the ground and on the surface exchange fluxes. The mesoscale model is run on a single column using atmospheric data and radiation recorded above roof level as forcing. Here, the authors validate the Martilli's urban boundary layer scheme using measurements from two mid-latitude European cities: Basel, Switzerland and Marseilles, France. For Basel, the model performance is evaluated with observations of canyon temperature, surface radiation, and energy balance fluxes obtained during the Basel urban boundary layer experiment (BUBBLE). The results show that the urban parameterization scheme is able to reproduce the generation of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect over urban area and represents correctly most of the behavior of the fluxes typical of the city center of Basel, including the large heat uptake by the urban fabric and the positive sensible heat flux at night. For Marseilles, the model performance is evaluated with observations of surface temperature, canyon temperature, surface radiation, and energy balance fluxes collected during the field experiments to constrain models of atmospheric pollution and transport of emissions (ESCOMPTE) and its urban boundary layer (UBL) campaign. At both urban sites, vegetation cover is less than 20%, therefore, particular attention was directed to the ability of the Martilli's urban boundary layer scheme to reproduce the observations for the Marseilles city center, where the urban parameters and the synoptic forcing are totally different from Basel. Evaluation of the model with wall, road, and roof surface temperatures gave good results. The model correctly simulates the net radiation, canyon temperature, and the partitioning between the turbulent and storage heat fluxes.

Resource management as a key factor for sustainable urban planning.

PubMed

Agudelo-Vera, Claudia M; Mels, Adriaan R; Keesman, Karel J; Rijnaarts, Huub H M

2011-10-01

Due to fast urbanization and increasing living standards, the environmental sustainability of our global society becomes more and more questionable. In this historical review we investigate the role of resources management (RM) and urban planning (UP) and propose ways for integration in sustainable development (SD). RM follows the principle of circular causation, and we reflect on to what extent RM has been an element for urban planning. Since the existence of the first settlements, a close relationship between RM, urbanization and technological development has been present. RM followed the demand for urban resources like water, energy, and food. In history, RM has been fostered by innovation and technology developments and has driven population growth and urbanization. Recent massive resource demand, especially in relation to energy and material flows, has altered natural ecosystems and has resulted in environmental degradation. UP has developed separately in response to different questions. UP followed the demand for improved living conditions, often associated to safety, good manufacturing and trading conditions and appropriate sanitation and waste management. In history UP has been a developing research area, especially since the industrial era and the related strong urbanization at the end of the 18th century. UP responded to new emerging problems in urban areas and became increasingly complex. Nowadays, UP has to address many objectives that are often conflicting, including, the urban sustainability. Our current urban un-sustainability is rooted in massive resource consumption and waste production beyond natural limits, and the absence of flows from waste to resources. Therefore, sustainable urban development requires integration of RM into UP. We propose new ways to this integration. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environment and air pollution: health services bequeath to grotesque menace.

PubMed

Qureshi, Muhammad Imran; Rasli, Amran Md; Awan, Usama; Ma, Jian; Ali, Ghulam; Faridullah; Alam, Arif; Sajjad, Faiza; Zaman, Khalid

2015-03-01

The objective of the study is to establish the link between air pollution, fossil fuel energy consumption, industrialization, alternative and nuclear energy, combustible renewable and wastes, urbanization, and resulting impact on health services in Malaysia. The study employed two-stage least square regression technique on the time series data from 1975 to 2012 to possibly minimize the problem of endogeniety in the health services model. The results in general show that air pollution and environmental indicators act as a strong contributor to influence Malaysian health services. Urbanization and nuclear energy consumption both significantly increases the life expectancy in Malaysia, while fertility rate decreases along with the increasing urbanization in a country. Fossil fuel energy consumption and industrialization both have an indirect relationship with the infant mortality rate, whereas, carbon dioxide emissions have a direct relationship with the sanitation facility in a country. The results conclude that balancing the air pollution, environment, and health services needs strong policy vistas on the end of the government officials.

Energy flux parametrization as an opportunity to get Urban Heat Island insights: The case of Athens, Greece (Thermopolis 2009 Campaign).

PubMed

Loupa, G; Rapsomanikis, S; Trepekli, A; Kourtidis, K

2016-01-15

Energy flux parameterization was effected for the city of Athens, Greece, by utilizing two approaches, the Local-Scale Urban Meteorological Parameterization Scheme (LUMPS) and the Bulk Approach (BA). In situ acquired data are used to validate the algorithms of these schemes and derive coefficients applicable to the study area. Model results from these corrected algorithms are compared with literature results for coefficients applicable to other cities and their varying construction materials. Asphalt and concrete surfaces, canyons and anthropogenic heat releases were found to be the key characteristics of the city center that sustain the elevated surface and air temperatures, under hot, sunny and dry weather, during the Mediterranean summer. A relationship between storage heat flux plus anthropogenic energy flux and temperatures (surface and lower atmosphere) is presented, that results in understanding of the interplay between temperatures, anthropogenic energy releases and the city characteristics under the Urban Heat Island conditions.

Traffic pollution and countermeasures of urban traffic environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yuhong; Zheng, Chaocheng

2018-01-01

Background: Traffic environment has become a serious social problem in China currently, therefore, urban traffic environment governance is the requirement to solve this issue because as an important place in people's social life, urban traffic environment shows a strong city's energy. Objective: Based on analysis on social function of city traffic environment and its influence of traffic on urban environment in this paper, the goal to establish a healthy urban traffic environment must be included under the aim of sustainable development eternally and feasible measures were put forward afterwards. Method, result, conclusion and possible applications.

Lighting for Tomorrow: Building on the results of the first national energy-efficient lighting fixture design competition in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gordon, Kelly L.; Foster, Rebecca; McGowan, Terry

2005-05-09

Lighting for Tomorrow was the first residential lighting fixture design competition conducted in the United States to focus on energy-efficient light sources. Sponsored by the American Lighting Association, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and the U.S. Department of Energy, the competition was carried out in two phases between 2002 and 2004. Five winning fixture designs were selected from a field of 24 finalists. The paper describes the competition in detail, including its origins, sponsors, structure and rules, timeline, prizes, selection criteria, and judges. The paper describes the results of the competition, including industry response, promotion and publicity efforts, technical andmore » design innovations demonstrated by the winners, and retail placements to date. Finally, the paper offers several lessons learned that are instructive for future efforts to promote high-efficiency lighting through the design competition approach.« less

Urban Heat Islands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Rickman, Doug L.; Estes, Maury G.

2011-01-01

It is estimated that by the year 2025, 80% of the world's population will live in cities. This conversion of the natural landscape vegetation into man-made urban structures such as roads and buildings drastically alter the regional surface energy budgets, hydrology, precipitation patterns, and meteorology. Research studies from many cities have documented these effects range from decreases in air quality, increased energy consumption and alteration of regional climate to direct effects on human health.

Boston Community Energy Study - Zonal Analysis for Urban Microgrids

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

ordinarily rural systems that have generation assets such as wind turbines (WTs) [14] or photovoltaic (PV) panels [15] that power loads such as lights and...movers powered by internal combustion engines, diesel engines, microturbines, geothermal systems, hydro systems, or wind turbines ; they also could include...can have on urban areas such as New York City. While flooding and wind damaged or destroyed some of the energy infrastructure, all installed