Fuel study proposals. Hearings, Eighty-first Congress, second session on S. Res. 239. July 13, 1950.

Mode of access: Internet.

Nuclear energy and world fuel prices.

Bibliographical footnotes.

Bibliography on the charcoal business; manufacturing, briquetting, marketing & merchandising, March, 1961.

"An attempt will be made to add to this on a quarterly basis."--Note at end.

International nuclear spent fuel storage programs : hearing before the Subcommittees on International Security and Scientific Affairs and on International Economic Policy and Trade of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session, May 3, 1979.

Mode of access: Internet.

Migrating to a sustainable energy system : distributed generation and storage, fuel cells and hypercars

This paper examines a number of issues in sustainable energy generation and distribution, and explores avenues that are available for integration of our society’s energy supplies. In particular, the paper presents a way in which transport vehicle energy supplies could be integrated with distributed generation schemes to achieve synergistic and beneficial outcomes. The worldwide energy system contains fundamental problems that result directly from the use of unsustainable fuels and a lack of energy system integration. There is a need to adopt an integrated, sustainable energy system for our society. The adoption of distributed generation could result in beneficial restructuring of the energy trade, and a change in the role of energy providers. Inherent benefits in distributed generation schemes would directly combat barriers to installation of renewable generation facilities, which might prove distributed renewable energy sources to be more feasible. The presence of fuel cells, batteries, power electronic inverters and intelligent controls in vehicles of the future provides many opportunities for the integration of vehicle energy supplies into a distributed generation scheme. In such a system, vehicles could play a major role in power generation and storage.

Migrating to a sustainable energy system : distributed generation and storage, fuel cells and hypercars

This paper examines a number of issues in sustainable energy generation and distribution, and explores avenues that are available for integration of our society’s energy supplies. In particular, the paper presents a way in which transport vehicle energy supplies could be integrated with distributed generation schemes to achieve synergistic and beneficial outcomes. The worldwide energy system contains fundamental problems that result directly from the use of unsustainable fuels and a lack of energy system integration. There is a need to adopt an integrated, sustainable energy system for our society. The adoption of distributed generation could result in beneficial restructuring of the energy trade, and a change in the role of energy providers. Inherent benefits in distributed generation schemes would directly combat barriers to installation of renewable generation facilities, which might prove distributed renewable energy sources to be more feasible. The presence of fuel cells, batteries, power electronic inverters and intelligent controls in vehicles of the future provides many opportunities for the integration of vehicle energy supplies into a distributed generation scheme. In such a system, vehicles could play a major role in power generation and storage.

Meso-Structured Silica-Nafion Hybrid Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

A series of novel organic-inorganic hybrid membranes have been prepared employing Nafion and acid-functionalized meso-structured molecular sieves (MMS) with varying structures and surface area. Acid-functionalized silica nanopowder of surface area 60 m(2)/g, silica meso-structured cellular foam (MSU-F) of surface area 470 m(2)/g and silica meso-structured hexagonal frame network (MCM-41) of surface area 900 m(2)/g have been employed as potential filler materials to form hybrid membranes with Nafion framework. The structural behavior, water uptake, proton conductivity and methanol permeability of these hybrid membranes have been investigated. DMFCs employing Nafion-silica MSU-F and Nafion-silica MCM-41 hybrid membranes deliver peak-power densities of 127 mW/cm(2) and 100 mW/cm(2), respectively; while a peak-power density of only 48 mW/cm(2) is obtained with the DMFC employing pristine recast Nafion membrane under identical operating conditions. The aforesaid characteristics of the hybrid membranes could be exclusively attributed to the presence of pendant sulfonic acid groups in the filler, which provide fairly continuous proton-conducting pathways between filler and matrix in the hybrid membranes facilitating proton transport without any trade-off between its proton conductivity and methanol crossover. (C) 2012 The Electrochemical Society. DOI: 10.1149/2.036211jes] All rights reserved.

Neutronic optimization in high conversion Th-233U fuel assembly with simulated annealing

This paper reports on fuel design optimization of a PWR operating in a self sustainable Th-233U fuel cycle. Monte Carlo simulated annealing method was used in order to identify the fuel assembly configuration with the most attractive breeding performance. In previous studies, it was shown that breeding may be achieved by employing heterogeneous Seed-Blanket fuel geometry. The arrangement of seed and blanket pins within the assemblies may be determined by varying the designed parameters based on basic reactor physics phenomena which affect breeding. However, the amount of free parameters may still prove to be prohibitively large in order to systematically explore the design space for optimal solution. Therefore, the Monte Carlo annealing algorithm for neutronic optimization is applied in order to identify the most favorable design. The objective of simulated annealing optimization is to find a set of design parameters, which maximizes some given performance function (such as relative period of net breeding) under specified constraints (such as fuel cycle length). The first objective of the study was to demonstrate that the simulated annealing optimization algorithm will lead to the same fuel pins arrangement as was obtained in the previous studies which used only basic physics phenomena as guidance for optimization. In the second part of this work, the simulated annealing method was used to optimize fuel pins arrangement in much larger fuel assembly, where the basic physics intuition does not yield clearly optimal configuration. The simulated annealing method was found to be very efficient in selecting the optimal design in both cases. In the future, this method will be used for optimization of fuel assembly design with larger number of free parameters in order to determine the most favorable trade-off between the breeding performance and core average power density.

Effect of vehicle characteristics on safety, fuel use and emissions

Nos últimos anos, o número de vítimas de acidentes de tráfego por milhões de habitantes em Portugal tem sido mais elevado do que a média da União Europeia. Ao nível nacional torna-se premente uma melhor compreensão dos dados de acidentes e sobre o efeito do veículo na gravidade do mesmo. O objetivo principal desta investigação consistiu no desenvolvimento de modelos de previsão da gravidade do acidente, para o caso de um único veículo envolvido e para caso de uma colisão, envolvendo dois veículos. Além disso, esta investigação compreendeu o desenvolvimento de uma análise integrada para avaliar o desempenho do veículo em termos de segurança, eficiência energética e emissões de poluentes. Os dados de acidentes foram recolhidos junto da Guarda Nacional Republicana Portuguesa, na área metropolitana do Porto para o período de 2006-2010. Um total de 1,374 acidentes foram recolhidos, 500 acidentes envolvendo um único veículo e 874 colisões. Para a análise da segurança, foram utilizados modelos de regressão logística. Para os acidentes envolvendo um único veículo, o efeito das características do veículo no risco de feridos graves e/ou mortos (variável resposta definida como binária) foi explorado. Para as colisões envolvendo dois veículos foram criadas duas variáveis binárias adicionais: uma para prever a probabilidade de feridos graves e/ou mortos num dos veículos (designado como veículo V1) e outra para prever a probabilidade de feridos graves e/ou mortos no outro veículo envolvido (designado como veículo V2). Para ultrapassar o desafio e limitações relativas ao tamanho da amostra e desigualdade entre os casos analisados (apenas 5.1% de acidentes graves), foi desenvolvida uma metodologia com base numa estratégia de reamostragem e foram utilizadas 10 amostras geradas de forma aleatória e estratificada para a validação dos modelos. Durante a fase de modelação, foi analisado o efeito das características do veículo, como o peso, a cilindrada, a distância entre eixos e a idade do veículo. Para a análise do consumo de combustível e das emissões, foi aplicada a metodologia CORINAIR. Posteriormente, os dados das emissões foram modelados de forma a serem ajustados a regressões lineares. Finalmente, foi desenvolvido um indicador de análise integrada (denominado “SEG”) que proporciona um método de classificação para avaliar o desempenho do veículo ao nível da segurança rodoviária, consumos e emissões de poluentes.Face aos resultados obtidos, para os acidentes envolvendo um único veículo, o modelo de previsão do risco de gravidade identificou a idade e a cilindrada do veículo como estatisticamente significativas para a previsão de ocorrência de feridos graves e/ou mortos, ao nível de significância de 5%. A exatidão do modelo foi de 58.0% (desvio padrão (D.P.) 3.1). Para as colisões envolvendo dois veículos, ao prever a probabilidade de feridos graves e/ou mortos no veículo V1, a cilindrada do veículo oposto (veículo V2) aumentou o risco para os ocupantes do veículo V1, ao nível de significância de 10%. O modelo para prever o risco de gravidade no veículo V1 revelou um bom desempenho, com uma exatidão de 61.2% (D.P. 2.4). Ao prever a probabilidade de feridos graves e/ou mortos no veículo V2, a cilindrada do veículo V1 aumentou o risco para os ocupantes do veículo V2, ao nível de significância de 5%. O modelo para prever o risco de gravidade no veículo V2 também revelou um desempenho satisfatório, com uma exatidão de 40.5% (D.P. 2.1). Os resultados do indicador integrado SEG revelaram que os veículos mais recentes apresentam uma melhor classificação para os três domínios: segurança, consumo e emissões. Esta investigação demonstra que não existe conflito entre a componente da segurança, a eficiência energética e emissões relativamente ao desempenho dos veículos.

Modeling the Transport Sector: The Role of Existing Fuel Taxes in Climate Policy

Existing fuel taxes play a major role in determining the welfare effects of exempting the transportation sector from measures to control greenhouse gases. To study this phenomenon we modify the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model to disaggregate the household transportation sector. This improvement requires an extension of the GTAP data set that underlies the model. The revised and extended facility is then used to compare economic costs of cap-and-trade systems differentiated by sector, focusing on two regions: the USA where the fuel taxes are low, and Europe where the fuel taxes are high. We find that the interplay between carbon policies and pre-existing taxes leads to different results in these regions: in the USA exemption of transport from such a system would increase the welfare cost of achieving a national emissions target, while in Europe such exemptions will correct pre-existing distortions and reduce the cost.

Feeding–Danger Trade-Offs Underlie Stopover Site Selection by Migrants

To migrate successfully, birds need to store adequate fat reserves to fuel each leg of the journey. Migrants acquire their fuel reserves at stopover sites; this often entails exposure to predators. Therefore, the safety attributes of sites may be as important as the feeding opportunities. Furthermore, site choice might depend on fuel load, with lean birds more willing to accept danger to obtain good feeding. Here, we evaluate the factors underlying stopover-site usage by migrant Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) on a landscape scale. We measured the food and danger attributes of 17 potential stopover sites in the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound region. We used logistic regression models to test whether food, safety, or both were best able to predict usage of these sites by Western Sandpipers. Eight of the 17 sites were used by sandpipers on migration. Generally, sites that were high in food and safety were used, whereas sites that were low in food and safety were not. However, dangerous sites were used if there was ample food abundance, and sites with low food abundance were used if they were safe. The model including both food and safety best-predicted site usage by sandpipers. Furthermore, lean sandpipers used the most dangerous sites, whereas heavier birds (which do not need to risk feeding in dangerous locations) used safer sites. This study demonstrates that both food and danger attributes are considered by migrant birds when selecting stopover sites, thus both these attributes should be considered to prioritize and manage stopover sites for conservation.

Fuel ethanol price drivers in the Atlantic basin : Brazil & the U.S. traders perspectives

Como a oportunidade de exportação de etanol combustível é muito recente, o agronegócio carece de literatura para formação de gestores e estrategistas. Este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever o mecanismo de formação de preços de etanol tanto no Brasil como nos Estados Unidos da America. Decupei as variáveis que impactam na formação de preços, custo de produção de etanol de cana-de-açúcar, custo da logística e desidratação no Caribe, custo do etanol de milho e fiz algumas análises de cenários de formação de preços das principais variáveis e consegui organizar este conhecimento em um gráfico que contém no eixo superior preço do etanol hidratado na usina no Brasil e no eixo inferior o preço do bushel de milho em Chicago cujas interceções nas retas da taxa do dólar e do preço do gás natural, fornecem no eixo Y o preço do produto no porto de Nova York, ficando uma visualização simples das possibilidades da janela de exportação. A metodologia permite assumir diferentes cenários de oferta, demanda e preços e estabelecer diferentes estratégias de comercialização.

Fuel consumption of road commercial vehicles in the driving schedule

The fuel consumption is an important factor in the vehicle development due the fact that it has a direct effect on its trade aims. Besides that, it is known that the petrol is a scarce fuel. In this paper it is presented a procedure of fuel consumption calculation for a vehicle traveling in driving schedule. In such calculation it has been taken into account the operational conditions (load, pavement, climbing road, among others) and the building characteristics (map engine, transmission, frontal area, tire, among others) of road vehicles. There has also been an application of the theoretical model developed in a sample Mercedes-Benz do Brasil vehicle which has been compared with the values of experimental tests. Copyright © 1997 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.