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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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