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At least 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

Shoshone River Water Resources: Assessing Sediment Inputs into the Shoshone River in Wyoming to Determine Areas for Protection and Restoration Practices

In 2016, a routine repair operation at the Willwood Dam released tons of built-up sediment into the Shoshone River, polluting the river and negatively impacting the ecosystem. This release greatly affected the communities that rely on the river for farming, recreation, and tourism. In partnership with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WYDEQ), Shoshone River Partners, and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Wyoming–Montana Water Science Center, this project utilized satellite imagery and precipitation data to examine turbidity patterns in the Shoshone River between the Buffalo Bill Dam and the Willwood Dam. We used PlanetScope satellite images to assess changes in surface reflectance of the river in response to precipitation events and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated Multi-Spectral Retrieval (IMERG) precipitation data to estimate the lag time between rainfall events and increased turbidity. The National Land Cover Dataset (2019) was used to identify the main land cover types within each sub-basin. The end products included a turbidity analysis, land cover analysis, and precipitation analysis that provided the partners with a better understanding of sediment dynamics in the river. The results demonstrated the feasibility of using PlanetScope data to examine turbidity spatially along small rivers. Sediment plumes from tributaries were visually identified for multiple high turbidity events, and we calibrated an equation that translated reflectance to turbidity, accurately representing plume extent. Inconsistent spectral quality of PlanetScope data, however, limited our ability to assess the relative sediment contribution of the tributaries.

tributaries↗
NASA NTRS2022

LECTURE 8: Understanding Global Cloud Radiative Impacts

The influence of clouds on the radiation budget is one of the most important facets of the Earth’s climate. Satellite observations in the last 35 years have helped us understand the bulk radiative effects of different classes of clouds. Bill Rossow has spearheaded efforts in that direction, demonstrating the value of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) cloud retrievals as a foundation for the full reconstruction of Earth’s Radiation Budget components. This main aim of this document is to provide an overview of the global radiative impacts of clouds at annual time scales. While geographical and seasonal aspects receive some attention, it is cloud radiative effect decomposition by cloud category (or“class” ) that is the main focal point. Furthermore, this document addresses the large-scale radiative behavior of clouds only for the current climate, with no further discussion of how this behavior may change in the future and what its climatic impact may be [please refer to Del Genio (2018) for an excellent overview of this topic]. Cloud classes can be defined in many ways, and are often referred to with terms such as “cloud type”and “cloud regime”. Some of the definitions are more meaningful at the level of individual instrument footprints (“pixels” for passive or “rays” for active satellite observations) while others for larger areas (e.g., “mesoscale”).This distinction will become apparent below.

Lazaros Oreopoulos↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Assessing Sediment Inputs into the Shoshone River in Wyoming to Determine Areas for Protection and Restoration Practices

In 2016, a routine repair operation at the Willwood Dam released tons of built-up sediment into the Shoshone River, polluting the river and killing thousands of fish. This release greatly concerned the communities that rely on the river for farming, recreation, and tourism. In partnership with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ), Shoshone River Partners, and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, this multipart project illustrated the application of high-resolution satellite imagery and hydrological modeling techniques to identify major tributaries contributing to sediment influxes into the Shoshone River between the Buffalo Bill Dam and the Willwood Dam. The team used PlanetScope and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) satellite images to assess changes in the surface reflectance of the river in response to precipitation events. To determine these storm events, the team selected dates of interest using Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated Multi-Spectral Retrieval (IMERG) and gauge precipitation data from the Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCNd). The continuation of this research further quantified sediment influx in the Shoshone River following snowfall and melt events using the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The precipitation analysis and sediment contribution maps helped the partner organizations prioritize their current decision making and best management practices to specific sites along the river. The results demonstrated the feasibility of using PlanetScope data for categorizing sediment in the Shoshone River.

Caroline Williams↗
NASA NTRS2022

Perseverance Rover’s Robotic Arm and Turret Mounted Instruments’ Surface Commissioning

The Robotic Arm (RA) on the Perseverance rover is an integral component of the Sampling and Caching System necessary for completing the science goals of the Mars 2020 mission. While the Perseverance rover was based on the Curiosity rover which landed in 2012, the Robotic Arm was redesigned to carry a much larger turret with a new suite of payloads. Shortly after Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater, a series of checkouts was completed with the RA during the first 100 sols of the mission in order to ensure proper functionality of the RA and the instruments mounted on the turret. This period of time in the mission was called Surface Operations Transition (SOX). The objective of SOX was to systematically execute checkout activities for all the basic functionality so that the RA and instruments, as well as other rover components, could be released for scientific exploration.RA activities during SOX can be divided into a few different categories: Mechanism Checkouts, Rover Visual Inspections, Performance Characterization, and Instrument Functional Checkouts. Many of these checkouts built off of each other such that each subsequent activity would verify incrementally complex functionality. Many of the defined activities were executed several times throughout the development of the rover and served as a check that the RA’s performance is consistent with testing on Earth. Other activities were developed uniquely for SOX to respond to challenges discovered during development. They were designed to be verifiable without the help of ground support equipment or previous executions on the flight hardware to compare against.This paper discusses the formulation and conception of the various RA SOX checkout activities, verification and testing required to certify them for flight, execution of the activities on Mars, issues encountered, and finally results and findings as the mission transitioned to nominal science operations. We will be presenting the results and analysis using downlinked imaging and data from the flight vehicle to show how we verified the performance of the Robotic Arm and the turret mounted instruments in order to transition to science operations with a clean bill of health.

Edgett, Kenneth↗
NASA NTRS2023

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was humanity’s first attempt to move a celestial body, demonstrating the capability to perform a kinetic impact on a planetary defense–relevant sized asteroid. DART was part of the international collaboration known as the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA), involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), and scientists around the world. DART was a key step to demonstrating preparedness to respond to planetary defense scenarios, and it provides a crucial data point for likely outcomes. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) greater than 140 m in size are of particular interest to planetary defense because they have the potential to cause significant damage if they were to impact Earth, and also because they are difficult to detect, with less than 50% of the predicted population discovered as of 2022 (National Academies Press, 2022). With an appropriately sized spacecraft and enough warning (typically many years to decades), a kinetic impact can slightly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a way that, over time, prevents the asteroid from colliding with Earth in the future. DART’s target was Dimorphos, the smaller (~150-m-diameter) member of the binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos, which is a near-Earth, potentially hazardous, and well-characterized asteroid system. By simply observing changes to the system after impact and comparing them with a pre-impact reference, it was possible to use ground-based telescopes to observe the deflection in the orbit of Dimorphos after impact. Developed and operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the mission entered formulation in 2015 after multiple years of concept development. The project was administered according to NPR 7120.5, with technical oversight and funding through the Planetary Missions Program Office (PMPO) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and overall support as a directed mission from NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). The DART spacecraft hosted a singular payload, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), and a deployable CubeSat contributed by ASI named the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube). On 11 September 2022, DART deployed LICIACube, which subsequently followed the DART spacecraft at a safe distance and observed the immediate aftermath of the DART impact. DART was designed to autonomously detect, navigate to, and impact Dimorphos. This autonomous design was chosen to maximize the probability of impact, since commanding from the ground could result in course corrections arriving too late. On the day of impact, 26 September 2022, the spacecraft’s autonomous systems successfully detected and locked on to Dimorphos, impacting its surface within 2 m of the center of the illuminated figure (Jensenius et al., 2023). No human intervention was required for a successful impact, demonstrating that humanity possesses the technology to perform a kinetic impact. Within 2 weeks of impact, it was clear that the orbit of Dimorphos had been significantly altered. On 11 October 2022, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that the new orbital period of Dimorphos was shortened by approximately 32 ± 2 min, from 11 h and 55 min before impact to 11 h and 23 min after impact. With additional observations over the following months, the accuracy of this measurement improved to a –33.24 min ± 1.4 s orbital period change (Naidu et al., 2023; Scheirich et al., 2023), and Beta (β), the momentum transfer enhancement parameter, was reported to be 3.6 (Cheng et al., 2023). Subsequent studies examined the details of DART’s impact site, modeled the impact event, investigated the ejecta produced, and analyzed the dynamics of the Didymos system. These combined results clearly demonstrate that the project met all Level 1 mission requirements.

asteroid↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Satellite-assisted Evaluation of Irrigation Application Efficiency for Lettuce in the Salinas Valley

The Salinas Valley region of California’s Central Coast is a majorU.S. vegetable producer. Lettuce is a leading commodity, grown on about 100,000 acres with annual value near $1.4B (2022 Monterey County Ag Report). Vegetables crops in the area aretypically well watered and fertilized in pursuit of commercial yield and quality standards. Information on irrigation application efficiency, meanwhile, can enhance waterresource sustainability and mitigate impacts of nitrate infiltrationon groundwater quality. The Crop Consumptive Use Fraction (CCUF), previously recommended by the California Department of Water Resources, is a metric that expresses evapotranspiration (ET) of applied water relative to total applied water. More recently under Assembly Bill 1668 addressing water conservation and drought planning, the metric can be used to help quantify application efficiency to support preparation of agricultural water management plans in the state. This study will report CCUF evaluations from several commercial lettuce plantings in the Salinas Valley during the 2022 dry season (late spring-early fall). The evaluations were derived from satellite-based observations of cropET from the OpenETcloud application, and applied water monitored by in-line flowmetersand supplemented by grower reports of irrigation system runtime. The study will also compare observed (satellite-based) ET with modeled ET from the CropManage irrigationand nutrient management decision-support system operated by Cooperative Extension. Additional study in cool-season vegetables is ongoing in 2023.

Satellite-assisted↗
NASA NTRS2024

Sampling the Margin Unit of Jezero Crater, Mars for Future Mars Sample Return

Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is currently exploring Jezero crater, which contains an ancient lake-delta system with a high potential for past habitability. One of Perseverance’s primary science goals is to collect a set of scientifically return-worthy samples for return to Earth (Mars Sample Return; MSR). Between February 2021 and December 2023, Perseverance has sealed 23 tubes containing 20 rock cores, 2 regolith samples and one atmosphere sample. All rock and regolith samples are accompanied by a set of observations (Sample Threshold Observation Protocol, the STOP List) performed on abrasion patches or regolith near each sample collection site. These observations are documented in the Initial Reports and the Sample Dossier (https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/mars2020/returned_sample_science.htm). Here we provide an overview of the samples collected during the Margin campaign. The Margin unit is situated interior and adjacent to the western crater rim and exhibits a strong carbonate signal from orbital reflectance spectroscopy. Stratigraphically the unit lies beneath the previously explored curvilinear and blocky units of the fan top and is therefore older than those units. Based on its position near the crater rim and the strong carbonate detections it has been proposed to be a shoreline deposit with possible lacustrine carbonates. Alternative hypotheses include pyroclastic, fluviolacustrine and aeolian deposits. Based on rover observations a lacustrine shoreline deposit seems most likely. The planning of the Margin campaign took place during the summer of 2023, and 3-5 samples were baselined to be collected. Exploration of the Margin unit began in September 2023 and so far, two samples have been collected: the Pelican Point core at the Hans Amundsen Memorial Workspace in the Mandu Wall region , and the Lefroy Bay core at Lake Newell in the Turquoise Bay region (Fig. 1). The associated abrasion patches are Amherst Point (Pelican Point) and Bills Bay (Lefroy Bay) . Mandu Wall is interpreted to be stratigraphically lower than Turquoise Bay based on topography.

Mars sample return↗
DOE OSTI2020

ePROJECT BUILDER: PROMOTING WIDER ADOPTION OF ENERGY SAVINGS PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS THROUGH STANDARDIZATION AND TRANSPARENCY

The United States Federal Government has been conducting guaranteed savings energy savings performance contracts for over 20 years and now relies on ESPC for the majority of its energy efficiency work. Along with a related financed project type, these deals resulted in $4.2 billion of project investment in the five years ending in 2016, a pace that has even accelerated since. Measurement and verification (M&V) on the projects is the key to assuring savings realization and persistence. Perceived as a weakness or burdensome added cost in the early years of the program, M&V has become a strength. All energy conservation measures (ECMs) have some form of measurement – defined as a measured baseline establishment followed by at least one measurement of the main energy-saving parameter taken in the performance period for each ECM. The government’s in-house energy consulting office, the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), now recommends measurement of these “Option A” M&V ECMs throughout the contract term, usually annually. Moreover, a significantly higher percentage of projects are now characterized by more ambitious M&V, including Option B (all parameter measurement) for most generation (including renewable) and some efficiency measures, and more frequent Option C (whole facility utility bill analysis) for “deep retrofit” projects with multiple, interactive ECMs. Coincident with this progress in M&V has been a much greater embracing of ESPC by the federal agencies, resulting in the enormous rate of projects now executed. This paper traces the evolution of M&V in federal ESPC and argues that the heightened credibility of the savings has contributed significantly to the procurement vehicle’s long-term viability. This focus on savings integrity via M&V has been learned over two decades for U.S. federal ESPC, but countries with developing ESPC markets would be wise to emphasize it as their markets emerge, allowing them to avoid some of the “growing pains” experienced in the U.S.

Earni, Shankar↗
DOE OSTI2020

M&V in ESPC: The U.S. Federal Experience and Implications for Developing ESPC Markets

The United States Federal Government has been conducting guaranteed savings energy savings performance contracts for over 20 years and now relies on ESPC for the majority of its energy efficiency work. Along with a related financed project type, these deals resulted in $4.2 billion of project investment in the five years ending in 2016, a pace that has even accelerated since. Measurement and verification (M&V) on the projects is the key to assuring savings realization and persistence. Perceived as a weakness or burdensome added cost in the early years of the program, M&V has become a strength. All energy conservation measures (ECMs) have some form of measurement – defined as a measured baseline establishment followed by at least one measurement of the main energy-saving parameter taken in the performance period for each ECM. The government’s in-house energy consulting office, the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), now recommends measurement of these “Option A” M&V ECMs throughout the contract term, usually annually. Moreover, a significantly higher percentage of projects are now characterized by more ambitious M&V, including Option B (all parameter measurement) for most generation (including renewable) and some efficiency measures, and more frequent Option C (whole facility utility bill analysis) for “deep retrofit” projects with multiple, interactive ECMs. Coincident with this progress in M&V has been a much greater embracing of ESPC by the federal agencies, resulting in the enormous rate of projects now executed. This paper traces the evolution of M&V in federal ESPC and argues that the heightened credibility of the savings has contributed significantly to the procurement vehicle’s long-term viability. This focus on savings integrity via M&V has been learned over two decades for U.S. federal ESPC, but countries with developing ESPC markets would be wise to emphasize it as their markets emerge, allowing them to avoid some of the “growing pains” experienced in the U.S.

Coleman, Philip↗
DOE OSTI2020

Deciphering Degradation: Machine Learning on Real-World Performance Data

The solar investment community is in need of up-to-date and data-derived system degradation rates to use in financial models that calculate the risk and expectation of energy revenue. To date, financial models choose degradation rates from past studies that are limited and may not be representative of solar projects in development today. As the solar industry expands in all sectors (residential, commercial, and utility), there is a growing amount of energy generation data available to analyze. With the help of the open source degradation analysis code (RdTools) it is now possible to derive degradation on an ongoing basis and continuously provide up-to-date durability statistics to the investment community. Ongoing and accurate statistics of fielded photovoltaic systems allows financial stakeholders to constrain energy revenue projections, lower financial risk, and increase the bankability of solar. This presentation will provide a mid-term progress update on a 2 year SETO-funded degradation project that involves applying RdTools analysis on kWh Analytics’ industry database. With results from the RdTools analysis in hand, machine learning methods are employed to quantify how much variance of system performance degradation can be explained by predictor variables such as environmental factors, equipment bill of materials characteristics, and system design information. The goal of this presentation is to promote the usage of RdTools on an ongoing to data owners and to solicit feedback from researchers and stakeholders on how to maximize impact of the SETO-funded kWh Analytics degradation project.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

M&V in ESPC: The U.S. Federal Experience and Implications for Developing ESPC Markets

The United States Federal Government has been conducting guaranteed savings energy savings performance contracts for over 20 years and now relies on ESPC for the majority of its energy efficiency work. Along with a related financed project type, these deals resulted in $4.2 billion of project investment in the five years ending in 2016, a pace that has even accelerated since.Measurement and verification (M&V) on the projects is the key to assuring savings realization and persistence. Perceived as a weakness or burdensome added cost in the early years of the program, M&V has become a strength. All energy conservation measures (ECMs) have some form of measurement – defined as a measured baseline establishment followed by at least one measurement of the main energy-saving parameter for a given ECM taken in the performance period. The government’s in-house energy consulting office, the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), now recommends measurement of these “Option A” M&V ECMs throughout the contract term, usually annually. Moreover, a significantly higher percentage of projects are now characterized by more ambitious M&V, including Option B (all parameter measurement) for most generation (including renewable) and some efficiency measures, and more frequent Option C (whole facility utility bill analysis) for “deep retrofit” projects with multiple, interactive ECMs. Coincident with this progress in M&V has been a much greater embracing of ESPC by the federal agencies, resulting in the enormous rate of projects now executed. This paper traces the evolution of M&V in federal ESPC and argues that the heightened credibility of the estimated (and guaranteed) savings has contributed significantly to the procurement vehicle’s long-term viability. This focus on savings integrity via M&V has been learned over two decades for U.S. federal ESPC, but countries with developing ESPC markets would be wise to emphasize it as their markets emerge, allowing them to avoid some of the “growing pains” experienced in the U.S.

Coleman, Philip↗
DOE OSTI2020

Smart Ventilation Controls Boost Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

The average American household spends more than $2,200 a year on energy, and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) costs comprise nearly half of the bill. This is one reason why home builders focus on tightening building envelopes to save energy. Yet, limiting the potential for air exchange can negatively impact indoor air quality (IAQ). When outdoor conditions are most extreme during occupied periods, there may be comfort implications from continuing high levels of ventilation during associated weather events. This is true even with heat recovery. To mitigate risks, the Florida Solar Energy Center developed and tested approaches for “smart” ventilation system controls that enable more reliable design, installation, and operation to achieve desired IAQ while also minimizing energy and comfort impacts.

Building America↗
DOE OSTI2020

Equitable Clean Energy Transitions for Small Communities: NREL Supports Kingston, New York, in Building a Community-First Approach to 100% Renewable Energy

In 2017, the city of Kingston, New York,committed to meet 100% power consumption with renewableenergy sources by 2050. Leading by example, Kingston hadalready made significant strides in energy efficiency in citybuildings; however, meeting the new, ambitious goal meantthat maintaining energy and housing affordability would be achallenge. The poorest residents of the city face a significantenergy burden, spending up to a quarter of income on powerand heating bills.

100% renewable goals↗
DOE OSTI2020

Smart Ventilation Controls Boost Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality

The average American household spends more than $2,200 a year on energy, and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) costs comprise nearly half of the bill. This is one reason why home builders focus on tightening building envelopes to save energy. Yet, limiting the potential for air exchange can negatively impact indoor air quality (IAQ). When outdoor conditions are most extreme during occupied periods, there may be comfort implications from continuing high levels of ventilation during associated weather events. This is true even with heat recovery. To mitigate risks, the Florida Solar Energy Center developed and tested approaches for “smart” ventilation system controls that enable more reliable design, installation, and operation to achieve desired IAQ while also minimizing energy and comfort impacts.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Resources for State and Local Leaders

The Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office (WIP) is part of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and supports DOE’s mission to create greater energy affordability, security, and resilience. WIP’s mission is to enable strategic investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies using innovative practices across the United States in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, including state and local organizations and community-based nonprofits. WIP supports DOE’s strategic objective to lower energy bills while expanding cost-effective energy choices for all Americans through the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and State Energy Program (SEP). This resource guide highlights resources and publications from the State and Local Solution Center website and across EERE programs.

cost-effective energy, energy efficiency, tools an↗
DOE OSTI2020

Time-of-Use and Demand Charge Battery Controller Using Stochastic Model Predictive Control: Preprint

Stationary batteries in residential and commercial buildings are often used to smooth customer load profiles and to lower customer electricity bills. Controllers for these battery systems should account for customer energy consumption, rate structures, and high internal battery temperatures, which can lead to reduced performance over the battery lifetime. It is important to consider the uncertainty in forecasting energy consumption and temperature, especially for customers with highly variable and uncertain loads. We propose a novel battery controller using stochastic model predictive control that accounts for these uncertainties and can handle complex rate structures, including demand charges. We show that the controller performs better than standard model predictive control when there is significant uncertainty in the forecast. We also show improvements in the performance with more accurate forecasts and with a more aggressive control strategy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Meter-Based Assessment of the Time and Locational Benefits of a Large Utility’s DSM Portfolio

As decarbonization goals drive increasing levels of renewable generation, there is a need to understand the time- and location-based savings benefits of demand-side management (DSM) programs. The challenges of the 'duck curve' are driving the utility industry to consider how programs can be optimized to match demand profiles with low carbon generation resources. From an infrastructure standpoint, time- and location-targeted DSM could serve as a ‘non-wires alternative’ (NWA) to defer equipment upgrades. Additional DSM value streams are motivating innovation in savings evaluation, providing more resolved insights beyond the total annual program impact. Methods grounded in the principles of billing analysis, leveraging hourly metering at the distribution grid, can provide new visibility into the spatial and temporal savings achieved through DSM. A large body of work has investigated related topics including interval meter-based savings analysis, the time- varying nature of efficiency measures, and NWA. A less studied topic concerns the impact of DSM on the grid, based on metered consumption. This paper presents an analysis of interval data across more than 25,000 customers and twelve substations, from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The results show for different locations on the grid: achieved savings and the impact on grid consumption; hourly savings shapes for DSM program participants and non-participants, and how those shapes vary with season; and the impact of the programs on peak demand. These findings show the current impact of DSM, with implications for future, more intentional targeting as the utility continues to pursue aggressive electrification, efficiency, load flexibility, and reliable NWA.

Granderson, Jessica↗
DOE OSTI2021

Making Data-Driven Policy Decisions for the Nation’s First Building Energy Performance Standards

Nearly every major U.S. city has committed itself to ambitious climate action goals – for Washington, DC this means a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2032 and carbon neutrality by 2050. In support of these goals, Washington, DC has passed one of the most aggressive and practical climate action bills in the nation—with the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act, DC became the first city in the U.S. to adopt energy performance standards for existing buildings. DC’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) require energy efficiency improvements for all commercial and multifamily buildings that do not meet a sector-specific minimum ENERGY STAR score or equivalent metric, with iterative compliance cycles every five years that will accelerate the pace of whole building retrofits. This paper explores this revolutionary policy framework and uses two data analysis projects that DC conducted to evaluate the potential impact of the BEPS and move towards carbon neutrality. First, we analyze the potential energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions, as well as potential cost impacts, from the implementation of a BEPS policy in DC We then examine the role of BEPS in a carbon neutrality strategy, how BEPS savings iterate over time, and what additional existing building improvements will be driven by the gravitational pull of new building codes on median performance. The paper highlights the benefits and limitations of such data-driven approaches to support policy decisions. Finally, we will review ongoing BEPS implementation, including expected policy directions, critical supportive programs, and lessons learned to date.

Bergfeld, Katie↗