Award Data

The high energy physics (HEP) community, scientific and medical communities and the public at large, will benefit from the availability of high sensitivity photo- sensors with improved spatial and temporal resolution that scaled to large areas, and manufactured in a robust, durable compact package at low cost. The Phase I program will address this need, demonstrating feasibility of commercial pro ...

Production of liquid transportation fuels from abundant and renewable lignocellulosic biomass represents a promising and sustainable alternative to present petroleum feedstock platforms. However, despite several decades of substantial efforts, commercialization of cellulosic biofuels has been limited and faces critical challenges, which include increased fossil fuel supply from hydraulic ...

The rate of climate change in the Arctic is larger than elsewhere on Earth. The Arctic has unique and complex couplings and feedbacks between the surface and the atmosphere that in turn modify the radiative balance there differently than elsewhere. Current understanding holds that an increase in downwelling long wave radiative flux, driven by increased water vapor and clouds, may be accelerating c ...

The development of radiation detection materials would benefit with greater access to computational models that relate physical traits seen in manufacture with complex energy transitions occurring in the material that control operating performance. However, the HPC requirements behind these models remain beyond the reach of most businesses involved in this small yet vital field impacting National ...

Statement of Problem: The US DOE has set a goal to advance photovoltaics (PV) technology to reach installed costs of less than $1/Watt. This requires module costs below $0.50/ Watt. Thin film PV provides the lowest documented production cost per watt ($0.67) of any PV technology. Module reliability has a direct impact on the levalized cost of energy (LCOE), or the cost of the energy produced by ...

International demand for wood has grown steadily in the past few decades due to the growth in the world’s population and is expected to continue to grow rapidly as policies promoting greater use of renewable energy are adopted globally. Providing over 9% of the global primary energy supply, wood energy is as important as other renewable energy sources. Due to wood’s potential for large-scale c ...

Quantifying atmospheric aerosol, clouds and precipitation processes are critical needs for understanding and interpreting Earth’s changing energy budget, is a DOE objective, and is of broader benefit to the public. Specifically, the formation of ice in the atmosphere depends on the nature and abundance of ice nucleating particles, and has major implications for precipitation and cloud interactio ...

Currently the chemical composition of atmospheric particulate matter is measured either by off-line analyses of time-integrated filter samples, or by in-situ instruments requiring near-constant operator oversight. These measurement approaches result in sparse or limited data coverage. Despite the critical role of composition on the health and environmental impacts of particulate matter, there exis ...

There is significant opportunity for energy efficiency improvements in the industrial and manufacturing sectors in the U.S., both from the production and consumption perspective. Higher energy density battery materials will play a role in both, through improved storage of electricity from renewable sources, the enabling of electric vehicles, and through the development of longer lasting, higher po ...

Accurate measurement of consumption profiles for utility services like electricity, water, and gas consumed in their buildings is essential to understand and optimize energy consumption, detect and solve equipment failures and problems, and facilitate predictive maintenance of various utility loads. Currently, multiple sensors and wiring and extensive tracking and monitoring is required to obtain ...