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Abstract Convenience stores are known to have higher Energy Use Intensities (EUIs) than most other commercial building types. However, convenience store energy performance analyses have not been systematically investigated. Moreover, current national convenience store benchmarks are inconsistent from one data base to another due to lack of relevant energy data. This paper assesses the energy performance of more than five hundred convenience stores in the same fleet in Eastern United States. The investigation aims to establish benchmarks for convenience stores with and without gasoline pumping stations. The main factors influencing the actual convenience store building energy use were determined. Multiple regression models were developed to find relationships between annual energy consumption per unit area and gross floor area, customer transaction count, building operating year, etc. The statistically characterized results are meant to serve as a reference data set in comparing the whole-building energy performance index for buildings of similar functionality. The statistical correlation analyses can strengthen the robust prediction of energy performance in convenience stores, enabling proper assessment of energy conservation measurements (ECMs) for convenience store operations, as well as guiding additional such energy performance studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper we examine how decision makers can more precisely assess the costs of disruptive weather events and the value of resilient distributed energy systems such as combined heat and power (CHP). CHP makes up a small percentage of the energy infrastructure in the United States despite its substantial efficiency and resilience benefits. In part this is because the resilience value of CHP is not fully accounted for in energy infrastructure project cost screenings. To capture this benefit in investment decisions, we propose a framework for a metric called the Distributed Energy Resource Resiliency Value (DERRV) and discuss how such a metric might be applied to CHP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a brief overview of air-breathing propulsion research conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) over the last 70 years. It includes a historical perspective of the center and its various stages of propulsion research in response to the country's different periods of crises and growth opportunities. The GRC's research and technology development covered a broad spectrum, from a short-term focus on improving the energy efficiency of aircraft engines to advancing the frontier technologies of high-speed aviation in the supersonic and hypersonic speed regimes. This paper highlights major research programs, showing their impact on industry and aircraft propulsion, and briefly discusses current research programs and future aeropropulsion technology trends in related areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-energy benefits of energy efficiency programs have been studied as early as 1993, and there have been hundreds of papers and reports published since then, many of them finding that NEB are significant. Yet many U.S. states do not include NEB in their cost-benefit analyses. This article tries to provide some insight into this mismatch between the findings of NEB research and policy by analyzing the empirical basis of such research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential weatherization programs have become a major component of U.S. energy policy. Through these programs, households receive heavily subsidized energy efficiency upgrades as well as informational and behavioral treatments designed to encourage conservation. While previous work demonstrates that weatherization programs provide sizable energy savings, all have measured the composite effect of efficiency upgrades and behavioral treatments. In this paper, we present the first estimates which disentangle the energy savings provided by each of the individual interventions. Our results reveal that the actual energy savings achieved by the efficiency upgrades are substantially smaller than exante, engineering predictions. Moreover, we present evidence that the energy savings provided by the simple behavioral interventions can exceed the savings resulting from the much more costly efficiency upgrades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To maintain ultra-low particle concentrations, cleanrooms can require several hundred air changes per hour. These ventilation rates make cleanrooms 30–50 times more energy intensive than the average U.S. commercial building. There are an estimated 12millionm2 of cleanroom space in the U.S., consuming over 370PJ of energy each year. This paper explores opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of cleanrooms while maintaining or improving operating conditions. This paper documents the modeling of a 1600m2 cleanroom in upstate New York. The TRNSYS model includes TMY2 weather data; building geometry and material properties; empirical data on occupancy, lighting and process equipment; and sophisticated HVAC systems. The model was validated based on metered steam, chilled water and electricity usage. Under 8% error was achieved in all fields. Four strategies were simulated: a heat recovery system for exhaust air, resulting in an 11.4% energy reduction with a 2.7-year simple payback; solar preheating of desiccant dehumidifier regeneration air (2.4% energy reduction, 11.5-year payback); improved lighting controls (0.3% energy reduction, 1.5-year payback); and demand-controlled filtration (4.4% energy reduction, 3.1-year payback). Implementation of recommended strategies is predicted to save 9TJ, 862tonnes of CO2, and $164k annually. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Utility incentive programs are an important channel to support the deployment of energy efficiency in buildings. To date, these programs have largely been limited to single-component strategies. However, many utilities are now motivated to identify and develop multi-component system retrofits to achieve deeper energy savings, which are essential to achieving broader energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals in the buildings sector. In this paper we present the energy savings, demand reductions, and cost-effectiveness of 16 systems retrofit packages in six utility regions in the United States. These results are being used by these utilities to inform and develop incentive programs for systems retrofits. Our analysis shows that packages with proven lighting and HVAC measures can provide 5–22% whole building annual energy savings, and 13–22% annual energy costs savings, using utility incentive program baselines (code and existing building). The packages are reasonably cost effective for replace-on-burnout but generally not for a retrofit scenario prior to end of equipment life. Demand response can increase both the energy savings and energy cost savings, further improving the cost effectiveness of these packages. We analyzed the impact of using existing building vs. code baselines for calculating savings, showing that the choice of baseline in developing utility incentive programs has a substantial impact on the attributable energy savings to a program, with significant implications for the overall viability of a program (generally savings against existing building condition are higher and improve project and program cost-effectiveness). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Energy Information Administration two fifths of the energy used by US wood products manufacturers comes from electricity and natural gas, the costs of which have pointedly increased over the last decade. Empirical indications exist that higher energy prices affect the industry's profitability. Together with other developments such as, for example, unfavorable trends in hardwood stumpage prices, higher transportation costs, increasing government regulations, a challenging economic situation, or the ongoing globalization of markets, the US hardwood industry has to cope with some serious challenges threatening its profit potential. To understand the impact of energy prices on wood products manufacturers' profitability and to gain insights regarding actions the industry is taking to respond to energy-related challenges, a survey was conducted among Eastern US primary hardwood products manufacturers in late 2010. Results show that, overall, the share of energy expenses on total production costs of respondents was 7.9%. A majority of respondents (61.8%) agreed that their energy expenses have increased by an average of 18.7% during the last five years. Half of the respondents reported a 5% or higher negative impact of higher energy prices on their profits over the same period. Actions undertaken by the industry to alleviate the negative impact of rising energy prices are presented in a second paper in this two-part series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Energy efficiency in new building construction has become a key target to lower nation-wide energy use. The goals of this paper are to estimate life-cycle energy savings, carbon emission reduction, and cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures in new commercial buildings using an integrated design approach, and estimate the implications from a cost on energy-based carbon emissions. A total of 576 energy simulations are run for 12 prototypical buildings in 16 cities, with 3 building designs for each building-location combination. Simulated energy consumption and building cost databases are used to determine the life-cycle cost-effectiveness and carbon emissions of each design. The results show conventional energy efficiency technologies can be used to decrease energy use in new commercial buildings by 20–30% on average and up to over 40% for some building types and locations. These reductions can often be done at negative life-cycle costs because the improved efficiencies allow the installation of smaller, cheaper HVAC equipment. These improvements not only save money and energy, but reduce a building’s carbon footprint by 16% on average. A cost on carbon emissions from energy use increases the return on energy efficiency investments because energy is more expensive, making some cost-ineffective projects economically feasible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, a novel multihop virtual multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication protocol is proposed by the cross-layer design to jointly improve the energy efficiency, reliability, and end-to-end (ETE) QoS provisioning in wireless sensor network (WSN). In the protocol, the traditional low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy protocol is extended by incorporating the cooperative MIMO communication, multihop routing, and hop-by-hop recovery schemes. Based on the protocol, the overall energy consumption per packet transmission is modeled and the optimal set of transmission parameters is found. Then, the issues of ETE QoS provisioning of the protocol are considered. The ETE latency and throughput of the protocol are modeled in terms of the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of each link. Then, a nonlinear constrained programming model is developed to find the optimal BER performance of each link to meet the ETE QoS requirements with a minimum energy consumption. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to solve the problem. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed protocol in energy saving and QoS provisioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]