Research
Highlights...
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Assamagan's
inspiration
in chalk.
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| Number 95 |
December 3, 2001 |
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ADVISORLite simplifies
vehicle analysis
Engineers
at DOE's National Renewable Energy
Laboratory unveiled a newly developed Web-based analysis tool
called ADVISORLite.
ADVISORLite is an analysis tool for understanding the relationships
between vehicle characteristics, vehicle performance targets,
and system requirements. Unlike ADVISOR, a hybrid electric vehicle
simulation model that considers all vehicle subsystems and interactions
such as the type of motor or battery, ADVISORLite simplifies the
vehicle systems analysis by considering only the top level of
a vehicle system, the vehicle itself. "ADVISORLite simplifies
the analysis, eliminating some assumptions from the process,"
said NREL engineer Anthony Markel.
[Sarah
Holmes Barba, 303/275-3023,
sarah_barba@nrel.gov]
Customer
choice would advance renewable energy
According
to a new study by DOE's National
Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, giving consumers a greater choice
of how their electricity is generated could boost solar, wind
and other "green power" sources 40 percent by the end of the decade.
The findings are based on detailed modeling of green power demand,
drawing on the experience of green power markets to date and consumer
response to other "green" products. The full report, "Forecasting
the Growth of Green Power Markets in the United States," is
available on the Web
[Sarah
Holmes Barba, 303/275-3023,
sarah_barba@nrel.gov]
Sulfur
lamps offer high performance
Through a cooperative
agreement with DOE's National
Energy Technology Laboratory, Fusion Lighting of Rockville,
Md., is doing research
aimed at developing highly efficient, bright, sulfur lamps that
operate at less than 100 watts. Typical sulfur lamps, used primarily
for lighting large spaces such as factories, run at 1000 watts.
New low-wattage lamps would serve many more applications. Electrodeless
sulfur lamps have demonstrated full-spectrum color and higher
lamp efficacies than any conventional white light source. Low-power
sulfur lighting has the potential to be over five times as efficient
as halogen parabolic reflector lamps and nearly twice as efficient
as the newest compact fluorescent lamps.
[David
J. Anna, 412/386-4646,
anna@netl.doe.gov]
Tiny
airborne particles bad for breathing
Tiny
airborne particles are more plentiful and may pose a greater
health hazard than previously thought, says a researcher at
DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Recent evidence suggests that a relatively small increase
in the concentration of particulate matter—a tenth the
diameter of a human hair—results in a small but consistent
increase in death rates and illnesses caused by effects on
the cardiopulmonary system. Such particles generally come
from manmade emissions such as engine combustion. ORNL's Mengdawn
Cheng is tracking and characterizing the airborne particles
at 30 sites. He is also examining their toxicity in a process
called "direct cell deposition," which was developed by his
team.
[Ron Walli,
865/576-0226,
wallira@ornl.gov]
Up
on the rooftop: energy savings
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PNNL's
"diagnostician"
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Using equipment
intended to save energy is a losing battle if that equipment
isn't working properly. A new diagnostic system developed
at DOE's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory can help ensure economizer devices purchased
for rooftop air-conditioning units are working at peak performance.
PNNL's "diagnostician" allows building managers to remotely
monitor conditions like temperature and thermostat control
commands. Rather than a technician climbing onto the roof,
opening the air-conditioning unit and taking measurements
by hand, the rooftop diagnostician records all that information
and posts it on a web page, enabling technicians to monitor
the system from a desk. The constant collection of data also
provides a more comprehensive view of the system's performance.
[Staci Maloof,
509/372-6313,
staci.maloof@pnl.gov]
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Physicist
and philosopher
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(click
on image for
larger view)
Assamagan's
inspiration
in chalk.
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Physicist Ketevi Assamagan of DOE's Brookhaven
Lab has a quote from Albert Einstein—about the danger
of being passive in the face of evil—scribbled on his
office blackboard. "Einstein is one of my heroes, as a physicist
and as a humanist," he says. "He speaks to the truth, that
one should be proactive instead of not taking an interest."
Right now, Assamagan's interest is focused on his work. He
is helping to design and build a muon spectrometer for ATLAS,
one of two large, multipurpose detectors for the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC), now under construction at CERN.
The LHC has several goals, including probing for new physics
beyond currently accepted theories. Assamagan is most intrigued
by the search for the elusive Higgs particle, a particle predicted
by theory that should help explain the origin of matter, or
how particles get their mass. "If it does exist, it will basically
legitimate our current understanding of electro-weak symmetry
breaking."
Assamagan grew up in the West African nation of Togo. In
high school he chose to major in modern physics because he
was good in math. He earned a bachelors degree in Togo, then
came to the United States as an exchange student, sponsored
by the U.S. Agency for International Development. He earned
masters and doctorate degrees from Ball State University and
the University of Virginia, respectively, and did post-doc
work at Hampton University and Jefferson Lab. He then went
to CERN for a three-year appointment to begin his work on
ATLAS, and came to Brookhaven in July 2001 to continue that
work.
"I find this a very exciting field," he said, noting the
opportunity to work with experienced people on fundamental
research. "Plus, there is room for independent research and
independent thinking and growth." Albert Einstein would be
pleased that his philosophy still inspires.
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