Energy

Gasoline taxes provide a significant source of funding for transportation in the United States but have failed to keep pace with system needs. This article examines the news media discourse surrounding proposed gasoline tax increases in eight states in 2008 and 2009: Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Idaho, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Oregon. Researchers use a frame analysis approach to examine the policy debate in these states. Results indicate that frequently occurring frames promoting gasoline tax increases emphasize the deterioration of the transportation system,...

This report examines the impact and feasibility of using urban railway system for freight movement. In particular, using the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system for FedEx Express air cargo movement is analyzed as a case study. Based on the framework constructed in the study of last phase, social impact (externalities), reliability, and infrastructure feasibility are considered. The social cost related to emission, energy consumption/efficiency, impact on road traffic and land use is considered. The reliability issue is examined from two aspects: transportation delay, and emergency...

This paper proposes a stochastic dynamic programming framework for the optimal energy management of a smart home with plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) energy storage. This paper is motivated by the challenges associated with intermittent renewable energy supplies and the local energy storage opportunity presented by vehicle electrification. This paper seeks to minimize electricity ratepayer cost, while satisfying home power demand and PEV charging requirements. First, various operating modes are defined, including vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-home, and grid-to-vehicle. Second, we use...

Longevity remains one of the key issues for Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery technology. On-board Intelligent Battery Management Systems (BMS) implement health-conscious control algorithms in order to increase battery lifetime while maintaining the performance. For such algorithms, the information on Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of the battery is crucial for optimizing the battery performance and ensuring minimal degradation. However, accurate prediction of RUL remains one of the most challenging tasks until this date. In this paper, we present an online RUL estimation scheme for Li-ion...