Developing "BUILDING/ FACILITY ENERGY CONSUMPTION DATA SHEET" for Political Subdivisions, Institutions of Higher Education, and State Agencies, to Satisfy Senate Bill 898 (82nd R) Reporting Requirements

As mandated by the 82nd R Legislature (2011), Senate Bill 898, Health and Safety Code, Section 388.005, beginning September 1, 2011, each political subdivision, institution of higher education or state agency shall establish a goal to reduce the electric consumption by the entity by at least 5% each state fiscal year for 10 years. Each entity annually is to report to the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), on forms provided by SECO, regarding the entity's goal, the entity's efforts to meet the goal, and progress the entity has made. An entity that does not attain the 5% goal must include in the report justification that the entity has already implemented all available cost-effective measures. SECO is to annually provide the commission and the Energy Systems Laboratory (Laboratory) with an evaluation of the effectiveness of state and political subdivision energy efficiency programs. The Laboratory is mandated to calculate, based on the evaluation and the forms submitted to the office, the amount of energy savings and estimated reduction in pollution achieved as a result of the implementation of the programs, and then provide the information to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to help with long-term forecasting and in estimating pollution reduction. During the first quarter of 2012, the Laboratory, working with SECO, devised and proposed to SECO a standardized form for use by political subdivisions, institutions of higher education and state agencies in order to satisfy the new reporting requirements set by Senate Bill 898. The form contains the minimum information needed to show an accurate estimated energy savings and estimated reduction in pollution as a result of the implementation of the programs. In July 2012, the basic form proposed by the ESL was enhanced electronically so that the form could be filled on a computer and emailed back, and the data could be pulled automatically. The form that was proposed to SECO by the ESL appears on the next page (showing default dates that could be changed by the submitter)

Architecture in the era of terror: Design and perception of security in two societies

This dissertation falls in the realm of environmental behavior and focuses on the role of the built environment in influencing responses to threats to personal security associated with terrorism. The research integrates pertinent knowledge from psychology, architecture and security/terrorism into a cohesive conceptual framework. Based on the conceptual framework, this work examined the effects of levels of terrorism threat (high vs. low) on people who face public buildings (city hall or shopping mall) that vary in their facade and entrance designs (solid exterior vs. glass facade with/without designed vs. temporary access control security measures). The research was conducted in two societies that are different in their experience with terrorism (Israel and Texas). The effects were measured along four dimensions: how much the issue of terrorism threat is on a person?s mind, how safe and how anxious the individual feels, and how likely he/she is to use the building. The investigation consisted of three quasi-experiments and a pretest survey and employed a computer-based web driven platform. A total of 1071 undergraduate students from College Station, Texas and Tel Aviv, Israel participated in these studies. The results illustrate the predominance of the levels of threat of terrorism in influencing all the examined security-related responses. The characteristics of buildings affected those responses to some extent. Differences between the two societies were found mainly in relation to the building-uses. Participants of the two societies responded similarly to the design elements of buildings. In conditions of low threat of terrorism participants from both societies had a higher sense of security when they were exposed to a glass facade compared to a solid concrete facade. In high terrorism threat, participants from both societies felt safer, and were more inclined to use a building with a solid facade. However, when access control security measures were visible to participants in the approach to the building (regardless of their design), both facade designs elicited a similar sense of security, while the propensity to enter the building was higher towards a glass facade. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for architectural design

ENERGY EFFICIENCY/RENEWABLE ENERGY IMPACT IN THE TEXAS EMISSIONS REDUCTION PLAN (TERP) VOLUME I—TECHNICAL REPORT

Annual Report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality January 2019-December 201

Developing "MOU/CO-OP ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS REPORTING FORM" to Satisfy Senate Bill 924 (82nd R) Reporting Requirements

As mandated by the 82nd R Legislature (2011), Senate Bill 924, Utilities Code, Sections 39.9051 and 39.9052, beginning April 1, 2012, all electric cooperatives that had retail sales of more than 500,000 megawatt hours in 2005 and all municipally owned utilities must report each year to the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) on a standardized form developed by SECO, information regarding the combined effects of their energy efficiency activities for the previous calendar year. This report must contain annual goals, programs enacted to achieve those goals, and any achieved energy demand or energy savings goals. SECO is required to forward these reports to the Energy Systems Laboratory (Laboratory). The Laboratory is mandated to calculate the energy savings and estimated pollution reductions that resulted from the reported activities and share the results of the analysis with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, ERCOT, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. During the first quarter of 2012, the Laboratory devised and proposed to SECO the standardized form for use by the MOUs and the Co-ops in order to satisfy the new reporting requirements set by Senate Bill 924. This form contains the minimum information needed to show the maximum estimated pollution reduction for reporting purposes for the State of Texas. The form that was proposed to SECO by the ESL appears on the next page

Analysis of the Potential Applications of Solar Termal and Photovoltaic Systems for Northwest Vista College

The Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) of The Texas A&M University System is under contract with Alamo Colleges to conduct energy management, implement the Continuous Commissioning? (CC?)1 process and assist with various sustainability projects. As part of these efforts, the ESL was tasked to evaluate and analyze the potential applications of renewable energy (RE) technologies at the Northwest Vista College (NVC) of the Alamo Colleges. Based on the evaluation and analysis, the ESL recommends the following RE technologies as viable: ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems, closed loop solar thermal system and photovoltaic (PV)

Pressure-induced alpha-to-omega transition in titanium metal: A systematic study of the effects of uniaxial stress

We investigated the effects of uniaxial stress on the pressure-induced alpha-to-omega transition in pure titanium (Ti) by means of angle dispersive x-ray diffraction in a diamond-anvil cell. Experiments under four different pressure environments reveal that: (1) the onset of the transition depends on the pressure medium used, going from 4.9 GPa (no pressure medium) to 10.5 GPa (argon pressure medium); (2) the a and w phases coexist over a rather large pressure range, which depends on the pressure medium employed; (3) the hysteresis and quenchability of the w phase is affected by differences in the sample pressure environment; and (4) a short term laser-heating of Ti lowers the alpha-to-omega transition pressure. Possible transition mechanisms are discussed in the light of the present results, which clearly demonstrated the influence of uniaxial stress in the alpha-to-omega transition.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Developing "BUILDING/ FACILITY ENERGY CONSUMPTION DATA SHEET" for Political Subdivisions, Institutions of Higher Education, and State Agencies, to Satisfy Senate Bill 898 (82nd R) Reporting Requirements

As mandated by the 82nd R Legislature (2011), Senate Bill 898, Health and Safety Code, Section 388.005, beginning September 1, 2011, each political subdivision, institution of higher education or state agency shall establish a goal to reduce the electric consumption by the entity by at least 5% each state fiscal year for 10 years. Each entity annually is to report to the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), on forms provided by SECO, regarding the entity's goal, the entity's efforts to meet the goal, and progress the entity has made. An entity that does not attain the 5% goal must include in the report justification that the entity has already implemented all available cost-effective measures. SECO is to annually provide the commission and the Energy Systems Laboratory (Laboratory) with an evaluation of the effectiveness of state and political subdivision energy efficiency programs. The Laboratory is mandated to calculate, based on the evaluation and the forms submitted to the office, the amount of energy savings and estimated reduction in pollution achieved as a result of the implementation of the programs, and then provide the information to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to help with long-term forecasting and in estimating pollution reduction. During the first quarter of 2012, the Laboratory, working with SECO, devised and proposed to SECO a standardized form for use by political subdivisions, institutions of higher education and state agencies in order to satisfy the new reporting requirements set by Senate Bill 898. The form contains the minimum information needed to show an accurate estimated energy savings and estimated reduction in pollution as a result of the implementation of the programs. In July 2012, the basic form proposed by the ESL was enhanced electronically so that the form could be filled on a computer and emailed back, and the data could be pulled automatically. The form that was proposed to SECO by the ESL appears on the next page (showing default dates that could be changed by the submitter)

Statewide Emissions Reduction, Electricity and Demand Savings from the Implementation of Building-Energy-Codes in Texas

This paper focuses on the estimate of electricity reduction and electric demand savings from the adoption energy codes for single-family residences in Texas, 2002-2009, corresponding increase in cnstruction costs and estimates of the statewide emissions reduction

Assessment of the Proposed Amendments to the 2012 IECC Provided by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG)

This report is in response to the letter dated October 4, 2012, from the Energy and Green Advisory Board (EGAB) of the NCTCOG to the Energy Systems Laboratory. In this letter, the EGAB requested the Laboratory to perform a stringency analysis of the amendments proposed by the EGAB to the 2012 IECC when compared to a corresponding 2012 IECC code compliant base-case house. An analysis comparing the proposed amendments to the current TBEPS (2009 IECC / 2009 IRC) was also requested. A total of ten amendments were proposed to various sections of the 2012 IECC. Three of the proposed amendments required performance path analysis. The ESL provided a response to EGAB request on October 31, 2012 with a summary of ESL's stringency analysis of all ten proposed amendments