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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Staying Current: A Community Readiness Framework for Marine Energy Applied to River Current Energy in Alaska

Marine energy-including wave, tidal, and river current energy-can provide a local energy source for rural and remote communities. Marine energy has the potential to bolster self-sufficiency and create economic opportunities while preserving ecological integrity. Communities may be interested in deploying, testing, and advancing these early-stage technologies to meet their needs. However, limited capacity, workforce constraints, and other barriers can challenge development. To better understand a community's interest in and preparedness for marine energy, we developed a suite of 150 'metrics of readiness.' Organized across seven categories-technical, social, environmental, strategic, governance, economic, financial-and 29 subcategories, the metrics provide a holistic perspective beyond the technical aspects of an energy device. We conducted a desktop application of the metrics of readiness for Igiugig, Alaska. The metrics were applied retrospectively for two points in time: before (2009) and after (2018) in-stream testing of a river current energy device. By documenting changes among categories and subcategories of the metrics, our results show the evolving nature of community readiness for river current energy. They also illustrate how our interdisciplinary framework captures the investment in environmental effects research and commitment to strategic planning that occurred in Igiugig. In future applications, we envision the framework could be used to foster public engagement in marine energy, collaborate with communities in project development, shape capacity building activities, prioritize investments, and inform research needs. While our study focuses on enabling river current energy in Alaska, the metrics of readiness have the potential to inform implementation of other renewable technologies with communities in new geographies.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

A quantitative framework reveals ecological drivers of grassland microbial community assembly in response to warming

Abstract Unraveling the drivers controlling community assembly is a central issue in ecology. Although it is generally accepted that selection, dispersal, diversification and drift are major community assembly processes, defining their relative importance is very challenging. Here, we present a framework to quantitatively infer community assembly mechanisms by phylogenetic bin-based null model analysis (iCAMP). iCAMP shows high accuracy (0.93–0.99), precision (0.80–0.94), sensitivity (0.82–0.94), and specificity (0.95–0.98) on simulated communities, which are 10–160% higher than those from the entire community-based approach. Application of iCAMP to grassland microbial communities in response to experimental warming reveals dominant roles of homogeneous selection (38%) and ‘drift’ (59%). Interestingly, warming decreases ‘drift’ over time, and enhances homogeneous selection which is primarily imposed on Bacillales. In addition, homogeneous selection has higher correlations with drought and plant productivity under warming than control. iCAMP provides an effective and robust tool to quantify microbial assembly processes, and should also be useful for plant and animal ecology.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Linking Community‐Climate Disequilibrium to Ecosystem Function

Turnover in species composition often lags behind the pace of climate change, resulting in mismatches between climate and communities. However, the impact of these community‐climate disequilibria on ecosystem functions is rarely considered, and current methods for measuring disequilibria assume that species ranges were, until recently, in equilibrium with climate. Here, in this work, we develop a simple theoretical model to address both of these problems by linking community‐climate disequilibrium with ecosystem functioning. We show how disequilibrium can impair functioning in the near‐term even when climate change is expected to enhance functioning in the long‐term. Responses are most likely to change over time in communities where turnover is slow, the impact of disequilibrium counteracts the direct effects of climate on ecosystem function, and pre‐existing disequilibrium is large. These findings emphasise the importance of precise and unbiased estimates of community‐climate disequilibria for improving ecological forecasts. By fitting our model to time series of both climate and ecosystem function from a metacommunity simulation, we show the potential for community‐climate disequilibrium to be inferred without direct knowledge about species' distributions or climatic tolerances. We end by outlining a research agenda to apply dynamic disequilibrium concepts and test novel hypotheses across diverse ecosystems.

climate change↗
DOE OSTI2023

IRA Energy Community Data Layers

Data, geospatial data resources, and the linked mapping tool and web services reflect data for two types of potentially qualifying energy communities: 1) Census tracts and directly adjoining tracts that have had coal mine closures since 1999 or coal-fired electric generating unit retirements since 2009. These census tracts qualify as energy communities. 2) Metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and non-metropolitan statistical areas (non-MSAs) that are energy communities for 2023 and 2024, along with their fossil fuel employment (FFE) status. Additional information on energy communities and related tax credits can be accessed on the Interagency Working Group on Coal & Power Plant Communities & Economic Revitalization Energy Communities website (https://energycommunities.gov/energy-community-tax-credit-bonus/). Use limitations: these spatial data and mapping tool may not be relied upon by taxpayers to substantiate a tax return position or for determining whether certain penalties apply and will not be used by the IRS for examination purposes. The mapping tool does not reflect the application of the law to a specific taxpayer’s situation, and the applicable Internal Revenue Code provisions ultimately control.

Census Tract↗
DOE OSTI2023

Datasets for DOE 2023 Communities LEAP

This data is aligned to eligibility criteria outlined in the United States Department of Energy (DOE) 2023 Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program). Please visit the LEAP website (https://www.energy.gov/communitiesLEAP/communities-leap) to learn more about LEAP and gain additional contextual information for how these data may be used. The data provided approximates how the eligibility criteria apply at the census tract level across the United States. This EDX submission provides access to information pertaining to each of the four eligibility criteria outlined (average energy burden, percent low income, communities with a historic economic dependence on fossil fuel industrial facilities, and disadvantaged communities) for all census tracts within the 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and Puerto Rico. This information can be access in a detailed excel spreadsheet or through the linked interactive web application (https://arcgis.netl.doe.gov/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=2a77f443d72b4a4d82474b3ffe33b8cd). Please note that while these data are provided at the census tract level, census tracts do not necessarily have the same physical boundaries as a community but were used as they provide the closest proxy based on publicly available information collected using an empirically robust method. U.S. territories are not listed but are eligible to apply to Communities LEAP. As stated in the Opportunity Announcement, applying communities should describe how they meet the eligibility criteria in their application even if these data do not specifically show that they are eligible.

2023↗
DOE OSTI2024

Jackson County Community Solar Modeling Results [Slides]

Jackson County, via the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) requested support on the topic of Community Solar in their area. NREL completed a technical and financial modeling exercise to determine the potential for developing community solar in the region. The analysis performed determined that the current policy and economic environment, in large part due to Illinois's Solar For All program, is advantageous to the deployment and growth of community solar in Illinois. Across all 6 scenarios modeled, including current minimum and maximum financial incentives, the economics yielded positive net present values for both the project owner and its subscribers. The analysis shown in this presentation is only one of the first steps in deploying community solar and suggests Jackson County should pursue next steps. Such actions could include refining project economics, partnering with local utilities, policy makers, and developers to identify potential projects and outreach opportunities, and educating and engaging community members.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

The effects of warming and soil chemistry on bacterial community structure in Arctic tundra soils

Soil microbial communities in the Arctic play a critical role in regulating the global carbon (C) cycle. Vast amounts of C are stored in northern latitude soils, and rising temperatures in the Arctic threaten to thaw permafrost, making relatively inaccessible C sources more available for mineralization by soil microbes. Few studies have characterized how microbial community structure responds to thawing permafrost in the context of varying soil chemistries associated with contrasting tundra landscapes. Here, we subjected active layer and permafrost soils from upland and lowland tundra sites on the North Slope of Alaska to a soil-warming incubation experiment and compared soil bacterial community profiles (obtained by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing) before and after incubation. The influence of soil composition (characterized by mid-infrared [MIR] spectroscopy) on bacterial community structure and class abundance was analyzed using redundancy and correlation analyses. We found increased abundances of Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes [Sphingobacteriia] post incubation, particularly in permafrost soils. The categorical descriptors site and soil layer had the most explanatory power in our predictive models of bacterial community structure, highlighting the close relationship between soil bacteria and the soil environment. Specific soil chemical attributes characterizing the soil environments that were found to be the best predictors include MIR spectral bands associated with inorganic C, silicates, amide II (C=N stretch), and carboxylics (C-O stretch), and MIR peak ratios representing C substrate quality. Overall, these results further characterize soil bacterial community shifts that may occur as a frozen environment with limited access to C sources, such as is found in undisturbed permafrost, transitions to warmer and more C-available environments, such as is predicted in thawing permafrost due to climate change.

16S rRNA sequencing↗
DOE OSTI2023

Habitat severity characteristics structure soil communities at regional and local spatial scales along the Antarctica Peninsula

Antarctic soils provide an excellent setting to test biogeographical patterns across spatial and environmental scales given their relatively simple communities and the dominance of physical factors that create strong environmental gradients. Additional urgency is given by the fact that their unique terrestrial communities are the subject of conservation efforts in a rapidly changing environment. We investigated relationships of soil community assembly and alpha and beta diversity with climatic and environmental parameters across regional and local scales in Maritime Antarctica. We sampled from a regional gradient of sites that differ in habitat severity, ranging from relatively favourable to harsher physicochemical conditions. At the regional scale, bacterial community characteristics and microarthropod abundance varied along this severity gradient, but most measures of fungal communities did not. Microarthropod and microbial communities differed in which soil and climate parameters were most influential, and the specific parameters that influenced each taxon differed across broad and fine spatial scales. This suggests that conservation efforts will need to focus on a large variety of habitat characteristics to successfully encompass diversity across taxa. Because beta diversity was the result of species turnover, conservation efforts also cannot focus on only the most biodiverse sites to effectively preserve all aspects of biodiversity.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluating community solar as a measure to promote equitable clean energy access

Rooftop and community solar are alternative product classes for residential solar in the United States. Community solar, where multiple households buy solar from shared systems, could make solar more accessible by reducing initial costs and removing adoption barriers for renters and multifamily building occupants. Here we test whether community solar has expanded solar access in the United States. On the basis of a sample of 11 states, we find that community solar adopters are about 6.1 times more likely to live in multifamily buildings than rooftop solar adopters, 4.4 times more likely to rent and earn 23% less annual income. In this study, we do not find that community solar expands access in terms of race. These differences are driven, roughly evenly, by inherent differences between the two solar products and by policies to promote low-income community solar adoption. The results suggest that alternative solar products can expand solar access and that policy could augment such benefits.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Species- and site-specific genome editing in complex bacterial communities

Knowledge of microbial gene functions comes from manipulating the DNA of individual strains in isolation from their natural communities. While this approach to microbial genetics has been foundational, its requirement for culturable microorganisms has left the majority of microbes and their interactions genetically unexplored. Here, we describe a generalizable strategy for editing the genomes of specific organisms within microbial communities. We identified genetically tractable bacteria within a community using Environmental Transformation Sequencing (ET-Seq), an approach in which non-targeted transposon integrations are mapped and quantified following community delivery. We next developed and used DNA-editing All-in-one RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas Transposase (DART) systems for targeted DNA insertion into organisms identified as tractable by ET-Seq, enabling organism- and locus-specific genetic manipulation within the community context. To illustrate the utility of our approach, we selectively edited closely related strains, measured gene fitness, and enriched targeted members within soil and infant gut microbiota. These results establish a new paradigm for targeted community editing relevant to research and applications on medical, agricultural, and industrial microbiomes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Operating-Envelopes-Aware Decentralized Welfare Maximization for Energy Communities

We propose an operating-envelope-aware, prosumer-centric, and efficient energy community that aggregates individual and shared community distributed energy resources and transacts with a regulated distribution system operator (DSO) under a generalized net energy metering tariff design. To ensure safe network operation, the DSO imposes dynamic export and import limits, known as dynamic operating envelopes, on end-users' revenue meters. Given the operating envelopes, we propose an incentive-aligned community pricing mechanism under which the decentralized optimization of community members' benefit implies the optimization of overall community welfare. The proposed pricing mechanism satisfies the cost-causation principle and ensures the stability of the energy community in a coalition game setting. Numerical examples provide insights into the characteristics of the proposed pricing mechanism and quantitative measures of its performance.

distributed energy resources aggregation↗
DOE OSTI2024

Genetic underpinnings of arthropod community distributions in Populus trichocarpa

Community genetics seeks to understand the mechanisms by which natural genetic variation in heritable host phenotypes can encompass assemblages of organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and many animals including arthropods. Prior studies that focused on plant genotypes have been unable to identify genes controlling community composition, a necessary step to predict ecosystem structure and function as underlying genes shift within plant populations. Here, we surveyed arthropods within an association population of Populus trichocarpa in three common gardens to discover plant genes that contributed to arthropod community composition. We analyzed our surveys with traditional single-trait genome-wide association analysis (GWAS), multitrait GWAS, and functional networks built from a diverse set of plant phenotypes. Plant genotype was influential in structuring arthropod community composition among several garden sites. Candidate genes important for higher level organization of arthropod communities had broadly applicable functions, such as terpenoid biosynthesis and production of dsRNA binding proteins and protein kinases, which may be capable of targeting multiple arthropod species. We have demonstrated the ability to detect, in an uncontrolled environment, individual genes that are associated with the community assemblage of arthropods on a host plant, further enhancing our understanding of genetic mechanisms that impact ecosystem structure.

Community genetics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Metagenomic Characterization of Soil Microbial Communities in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (Puerto Rico) and Implications for Nitrogen Cycling

The phylogenetic and functional diversities of microbial communities in tropical rainforests and how these differ from those of temperate communities remain poorly described but are directly related to the increased fluxes of greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from the tropics. Toward closing these knowledge gaps, in this study we analyzed replicated shotgun metagenomes representing distinct life zones and an elevation gradient from four locations in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), Puerto Rico. These soils had a distinct microbial community composition and lower species diversity compared to those of temperate grasslands or agricultural soils. In contrast to the overall distinct community composition, the relative abundances and nucleotide sequences of N 2 O reductases (nosZ) were highly similar between tropical forest and temperate soils. However, respiratory NO reductase (norB) was 2-fold more abundant in the tropical soils, which might be relatable to their greater N 2 O emissions. Nitrogen fixation (nifH) also showed higher relative abundance in rainforest than in temperate soils, i.e., 20% versus 0.1 to 0.3% of bacterial genomes in each soil type harbored the gene, respectively. Finally, unlike temperate soils, LEF soils showed little stratification with depth in the first 0 to 30 cm, with ~45% of community composition differences explained solely by location. Collectively, these results advance our understanding of spatial diversity and metabolic repertoire of tropical rainforest soil communities and should facilitate future ecological studies of these ecosystems.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microbial Communities across Global Marine Basins Show Important Compositional Similarities by Depth

The environmental surveys following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill identified a variety of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms, and laboratory studies with field-collected water samples then demonstrated faster-than-expected hydrocarbon biodegradation rates at 5°C. Knowledge about microbial community composition, diversity, and functional metabolic capabilities aids in understanding and predicting petroleum biodegradation by microbial communities in situ and is therefore an important component of the petroleum spill response decision-making process. This study investigates the taxonomic composition of microbial communities in six different global basins where petroleum and gas activities occur. Shallow-water communities were strikingly similar across basins, while deep-water communities tended to show subclusters by basin, with communities from the epipelagic, mesopelagic, and bathypelagic zones sometimes appearing within the same cluster. Microbial taxa that were enriched in the water column in the Gulf of Mexico following the DWH spill were found across marine basins. Several hydrocarbon-degrading genera (e.g., Actinobacteria, Pseudomonas, and Rhodobacteriacea) were common across all basins. Other genera such as Pseudoalteromonas and Oleibacter were highly enriched in specific basins.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Energy Community Atlas

The Energy Community Atlas provides efficient access to authoritative, curated, and relevant data that is vital to supporting energy planning, development, and economic growth across the U.S. In this effort, researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are utilizing advanced data visualization and transformation capabilities to develop an integrated, data atlas and resource focused on supporting energy community transitions to new manufacturing opportunities. Specifically, this project is working to find, acquire, integrate, and virtually host in a user-friendly, public and private solution from available resources, relevant to understanding and characterizing fossil energy communities themselves and inform energy planning, development, and economic growth opportunities, including opportunities for co-development to support manufacturing, critical materials, and more. This Atlas when complete is to offer a one-stop-shop for stakeholders to derive new insights to accelerate energy investments and strategic decision support needs. These are following datasets that are available as part of this ongoing project • Energy Community Atlas Map Package - This is ArcPro Map package and it contains all of the symbolized layers along with ArcPro map and geodatabase • Energy Community Atlas ArcGIS REST service - https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?panel=gallery&suggestField=true&layers=537ced69bd88440380a62c2ec8aca30c • README Energy Community Atlas - Read me word document that has details about feature classes in Map package, ArcPro map and ArcGIS Rest Service

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law↗
DOE OSTI2024

Technical Potential and Meaningful Benefits of Community Solar in the United States

The report describes the methodology and results from a study on the technical potential of community solar and associated meaningful benefits. A key finding of the study suggests that the opportunity space for community solar to meet unmet demand for solar energy is not primarily constrained by technical potential, but by technological, market, and policy factors. NREL used rooftop and ground-mount photovoltaic siting data to model annual energy production from community solar based on various constraints and system performance. Given modeled results and community solar deployment, we discuss potential benefits including household savings, low-to-moderate income household access to solar, resilience and grid benefits, community ownership, workforce development and entrepreneurship as well as insights into community solar siting opportunities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Louisville Communities LEAP Engagement: Improving Energy Efficiency in Affordable Housing [Slides]

This presentation outlines the initial results from a year-plus engagement between the National Renewable Energy Lab and Louisville, Kentucky through the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) effort. Louisville, as represented by the Louisville Metro Government, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, sought technical assistance from the labs to address energy usage in its residential housing stock as part of efforts to reduce community-wide emissions and high energy burdens throughout its community. The Communities LEAP scope of work included an energy efficiency analysis that leveraged ResStock data to identify key efficient technologies to explore for retrofitting Louisville's housing stock; technical support around developing a community benchmarking ordinance to help Louisville track its progress towards reducing energy usage; a workforce development overview to help Louisville ensure a sufficient and equitable distribution of clean-energy-related jobs supported by its energy efficiency efforts; a policy analysis component to track energy efficiency related policies Louisville may be interested in adapting from peer communities across the country; and a financing analysis component to identify opportunities to lower the barrier to clean energy adoption.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Opportunities to Expand Building Efficiency Programming at Community Colleges

According to the most recent U.S. Energy and Employment Report, more than 2.3 million workers in the United States are involved in activities that reduce energy usage in buildings. This workforce supports energy efficiency from the design of buildings and their systems through the manufacturing and trade of components and supplies involved in these systems to the installation, repair, and maintenance of these systems. Less than 10% of the workers in key building efficiency occupations have a bachelor’s or higher degree, compared to ~40% of the general workforce. Thus, the community college system is a key stakeholder in training and educating a large portion of the building efficiency workforce. Despite this, the literature review conducted for this report found almost no research focused on better understanding and supporting the role of community colleges as they train this workforce at scale. This report seeks to understand how and to what extent building efficiency and advanced building technology concepts are being addressed in community colleges as well as potential pathways for schools to consider to better prepare students to enter the building efficiency industry. The first section presents information from a literature review and data analysis to provide background on the building efficiency workforce, the types of building efficiency training and education available from community colleges, and the barriers and challenges that exist in the workforce. The second section offers a series of case studies that illustrate the various ways that building efficiency content can be addressed at community colleges. The final section provides an overview of the opportunities available to community colleges as well as considerations for schools that want to increase building efficiency programming.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗