In 2003, the U.S. Department of Energy created regional joint governmentindustry partnerships as part of a larger incentive to develop carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies to address the issue of climate change. As part of their missions, DOE and their partners are responsible for creating and distributing public outreach and education materials discussing climate change and CCS technologies. In this dissertation, I sought to evaluate processes for communicating CCS to the public by examining different pathways including direct communication through DOE and regional partnership websites (Chapter I), news media from states with energy projects proposed or underway (Chapter II), and alternative strategies for communication such as an online educational game for youth (Chapter IV). My study also included focus groups in communities where CCS technologies have been piloted to determine public knowledge and acceptance of CCS (Chapter III). In Chapter I, a critique of DOE and partnership websites, I found authority to be a dominant theme throughout DOE and partnership website content, often incorporating technical jargon beyond laymen understanding and, in many cases, targeting industry audiences over the intended public. In Chapter II, I analyzed newspaper articles from the states of Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana and Texas using Luhmann’s social theory and the SPEED framework to determine how CCS has been framed by the media. Findings indicated that political, legal, economic and technical frames dominated, with emphasis on benefits, rather than risks of adoption. I also found that CCS reporting increased dramatically as pilot projects started to come on line. In my study of community acceptance of CCS in the American Southwest, Chapter III, I found that participants focused their conversations on industry and government knowledge, risks and unknowns of CCS and processes for decision-making. These topics also provided an impetus for caution. Skepticism and distrust of government entities and corporations influenced participant willingness to accept storage risks to mitigate for CO2 emissions. After open discussion of pros and cons associated with the technology, however, participants were more willing to consider CCS as an option, indicating a need to talk through the issue and to come to their own conclusions. Finally, in focus groups used to evaluate of an online game titled The Adventures of Carbon Bond, I found that it was difficult for participants to discuss environmental issues with students that are viewed as contentious (i.e. climate change and CCS), but that gaming was a valuable tool for addressing such sensitive subjects. Overall, these four chapters demonstrate that communication of CCS has only reached portions of the public and has not consistently connected with those potentially impacted by the technology. They also show that CCS must overcome numerous barriers to deployment, foremost of which is public acceptance.

No description available.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 established that the current electric grid was inadequate to serve the United States needs. Congress mandated that the U.S. transition to a more intelligent grid for the future. The Department of Energy was tasked with making this goal a reality. Six years later in 2013, only marginal progress has been made. Outside of smart meter rollouts and pilots programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), many issues still need to be addressed in order to realize the U.S. Smart Grid vision. Most of the barriers to progress are not technological; the research and business community are rising to the occasion and meeting the challenge through innovation. However, policy issues present a large barrier to overcome. With issues ranging from vague Smart Grids goals issued by the Department of Energy to a general lack of consumer knowledge about the Smart Grid. This paper seeks to identify the gaps in the current electric grid and policy schema are inadequate and suggest recommendations to encourage and expedite the growth of the U.S. Smart Grid.

No description available.

No description available.

This study is about the impacts of the transportation of low level radioactive waste (LLRW) on American Indians. The terms American Indians, Native Americans, and Indians are used interchangeably throughout this report to refer to people who are members of tribes in the United States. The information contained in this report is valuable to non -Indian individuals, communities, and governments as well as to the tribes and the U.S. Department of Energy/Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) for which it was prepared. Many of the individuals who agreed to participate in this study asked if their non -Indian neighbors were also being given the opportunity to share their views and perspectives on the transportation of LLRW near and through their neighborhoods. Although this study was designed to include only Native Americans, it can serve as a model for additional studies in non –Indian communities. American Indian tribes have a unique status as sovereign nations within the U.S., and this study was designed to address that relationship.This study includes an assessment of social and cultural impacts. One type of impact assessment concerns the estimation and communication of risks associated with potentially dangerous technologies or substances. Such an assessment, a technological "risk assessment," is generally conducted by natural or physical scientists and focuses on the probability and magnitude of various scenarios through time (Wolfe 1988). The specialists who conduct the assessment believe their estimates reflect the "real risks" of a technology or project because the estimates were made using scientific calculations. This study is not a risk assessment. Instead, this study pays attention to the public perceptions of impacts and risks. Like other social scientists, the researchers and American Indian partners who designed and conducted this study focus on public perceptions and frame the discussions in terms of locally defined values and concerns.This study involves 29 tribes and subgroups and is therefore very complex. Every effort has been made to present information systematically to help the reader make sense of what is being presented. Information about the tribes is presented in the same order throughout the report.

Hydrogen, synthesized through water splitting, is poised to play a pivotal role in the transition to a carbon neutral economy. While traditional photovoltaic-electrolysis remains the most market ready technology, generation costs still significantly exceed the U.S. Department of Energy target of 1 kg⁻¹. In contrast, photocatalytic water splitting, which uses nano- or micro- sized particles to simultaneously absorb sunlight and drive electrochemical reactions, offers a simpler and potentially low-cost approach to scalable production of hydrogen using renewable energy. Two major challenges in the commercialization of photocatalytic water splitting have been material stability and low solar to hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiencies. Recent studies have demonstrated some progress in achieving long-term stability or improved efficiency, with the latter breakthrough made possible by operating under conditions of concentrated sunlight, elevated temperature and reduced pressure. However, both demonstrations involved co-evolution of oxygen and hydrogen in the same reactor vessel, which poses significant safety risks and increases operational costs due to the need for downstream gas separation. An alternative approach is nature-inspired Z-scheme photocatalysis, where the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions occur on two different particles. This strategy offers an intrinsically safe approach to water splitting when the two particles operate in separate reactor compartments. However, Z-scheme photocatalysis introduces additional challenges particularly related to the use of a redox mediator required to shuttle charge between the two compartments. Notably, the prevalence of undesired back reactions of the mediator species leads to reduced STH efficiencies. Thus, designing both oxidation and reduction reaction sites which are more selective towards the desired forward reactions while minimizing undesired back reactions is crucial. One common strategy to enhance reaction selectivity is to apply permselective nanoscopic oxide overlayers to the surface of reaction sites. Although previous studies have overwhelmingly involved the use of chromium oxide overlayers, these studies have had mixed success. To enhance the efficacy of overlayers for Z-scheme water splitting, it is necessary to establish the fundamental design rules governing the transport and kinetic effects of overlayers on photocatalyst performance. Towards that end, this dissertation explores the development of oxide overlayers using model electrocatalytic systems and correlative microscopy, with a particular emphasis on the use and development of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) methods. Chapter 2 focuses on quantifying defects in silicon oxide (SiOx)-overlayers deposited on Pt thin film electrocatalysts, examining their electrochemical selectivity for hydrogen evolution over ferric ion reduction. By correlating SECM activity maps with other characterization techniques, the influence of defects was determined to have a significant impact on the quantified transport properties of the oxide material. A transport model was developed to account for defect contributions, revealing the ferric ion permeability within SiOx overlayers was over an order of magnitude lower than permeabilities determined from analyses that neglected defect contributions. Chapter 3 explores how ionic conductivity, electronic conductivity, and overlayer thickness influence the location of catalytic active sites on oxide-coated electrocatalysts. Titanium oxide (TiOx) or SiOx overlayers were evaluated using a combination of electroanalytical methods and molecular dynamics simulations. This study decoupled the influences of ionic and electronic conductivity on reaction rates towards the oxygen and ferrous oxidation reactions at varying overlayer thicknesses. While both overlayers were permeable to water and oxygen at all thicknesses, TiOx and SiOx overlayers exhibited differing behaviors for ferrous oxidation at increased thicknesses, attributed to the difference in electronic conductivity. These differences dictated the ferrous oxidation occurred on outer surface of the TiOx overlayer but at the catalyst-overlayer interface for SiOx overlayers. Chapter 4 explores the need for a selective overlayer deposition scheme in photocatalytic systems, as coating both oxidation and reduction reaction sites would reduce the overall activity. An area selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) technique was developed on planar model electrocatalysts, achieving both the desired reactivity and area selectivity within a specific thickness range. This technique was subsequentially applied to a model dual-site electrocatalyst system designed to simulate the undesired diffusional coupling of redox reactions occurring between neighboring particles. Selective overlayers deposited by AS-ALD were shown to reduce the undesired diffusional back reactions by over an order of magnitude while maintaining the desired reactivity at both reaction sites. Finally, concluding remarks and future extensions of research described in Chapters 2-4 are presented in Chapter 5, which includes additional use cases for SECM within the development of photocatalysts such as single particle measurements and exploring the role of oxide overlayers on the separation of photo-generated charge carriers.

Turbine engine efficiency modeling depends on many parameters related to fluid dynamics and heat transfer. Many of these parameters change dynamically once the engine enters service and begins to experience surface degradation. This thesis presents a validation of the design and operation of an accelerated testing facility for the study of foreign deposit layers typical to the operation of land-based gas turbines. It also reports on the use of this facility in an effort to characterize the change in thermal resistance on the surface of turbine blades as deposits accumulate. The facility was designed to produce turbine deposits in a 4-hour test that would simulate 10,000 hours of turbine operation. This is accomplished by matching the net foreign particulate throughput of an actual gas turbine. Flow Mach number, temperature and particulate impingement angle are also matched. Validation tests were conducted to model the ingestion of foreign particulate typically found in the urban environment. The majority of this particulate is ceramic in nature and smaller than 10µm in size, but varies in size up to 80µm. Deposits were formed for flow Mach number and temperature of 0.3 and 1150°C respectively, using air plasma sprayed (APS) thermal barrier coat (TBC) material coupons donated from industry. These conditions are typical of a modern, first stage nozzle. Investigations over a range of impingement angles yielded samples with deposit thicknesses from 50 to 200µm in 4-hour, accelerated-service simulations. Above a threshold temperature, deposit thickness was dependent primarily upon particle concentration. Test validation was achieved using direct comparison with deposits from service hardware. Deposit characteristics affecting blade heat transfer via convection and conduction were assessed. Surface topography analysis indicated that the surface structure of the generated deposits were similar to those found on actual turbine blades. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and x-ray spectroscopy analyses indicated that the deposit microstructures and chemical compositions were comparable to turbine blade deposit samples obtained from industry. A roadmap for the development of a theoretical model of thermal resistance using the SEM scan is presented. Thermal resistance experiments conducted with deposit samples indicate that a general decrease in thermal resistance occurs as the samples are exposed to operating conditions in the accelerated testing facility. This is likely due to sintering effects within the TBC dominating any thermal resistance increase arising from deposition. Recommendations for future research into the interaction between TBC sintering and deposit evolution are presented.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) emphasizes the importance of identifying secondary sources for energy-relevant critical elements, driven by the escalating demands of the high-tech industry and products. Elements such as Ni, Cu, and REEs, are crucial for the development of clean energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and battery storage systems. As the global demands for these technologies grow in response to climate change and the push for sustainable energy solutions, securing a stable supply of critical elements becomes imperative. Secondary sources, including alkaline industrial waste, natural Magnesium-bearing minerals, and e-waste, offer a sustainable path forward. They not only help mitigate supply risks but also offer a potential source of Ca and Mg for carbon mineralization. The DOE's focus on secondary resources highlights the need to ensure the resilience of energy infrastructure and the transition towards a more sustainable and secure energy future. Thus, this study embarks on a critical exploration of sustainable mining practices from secondary resources and investigates the novel method for energy-relevant critical elements recovery, and the application of carbon mineralization techniques for CO₂ sequestration. The research traverses a proposed stepwise coprecipitation process integrated with a carbon mineralization process in alkaline industrial waste (e.g., iron slag) and natural Magnesium-bearing minerals (e.g., Olivine). This research also delves into the use of a mild in-situ mechanical grinding method for Au, Ni, and Cu recovery from printed circuit boards (PCBs). Further expanding on the theme of waste valorization, this study delves into the use of blast furnace slag (BFS) for ex-situ carbon mineralization, showcasing a stepwise pH swing-assisted hydrometallurgy process. This approach not only allows the recovery of REEs but also the storage of CO₂ by carbonation the Ca and Mg reach solution, illustrating the potential for industrial waste to mitigate climate change impacts and metal scarcity. The coprecipitation process for the selective recovery of Ce from Fe solutions is explored. Through detailed characterizations by ICP, XRD, XPS, and SEM, this research reveals the underlying mechanisms of Ce recovery and proposes a weak acid dissolution process for its efficient extraction, emphasizing the role of chemical engineering in enhancing resource recovery. In exploring the sustainable recovery of Ni and Mg from olivine minerals, the research highlights the connection between leaching kinetics, crystal phase and silicate structure by using XPS and XRD. The study showcases the feasibility of pH control and stepwise coprecipitation process techniques in optimizing the purity and crystallinity of magnesium carbonates, contributing to the broader goal of reducing environmental footprints and enhancing techno-economic feasibility. This study also presents a mild mechanical grinding assisted method for the recovery of precious metals from printed circuit boards (PCBs). This investigation analyses the mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus, hardness, and surface roughness by using analytical techniques such as nanoindentation and AFM. This novel approach to precious metal recovery not only demonstrates a significant improvement in the efficiency of metal recovery but also contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable e-waste recycling practices.

No description available.