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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Data is associated with Report "ResStock Communities LEAP Pilot Residential Housing Analysis - Detailed Methodology" by Lixi Liu, Jes Brossman, Yingli Lou technical report number NREL/TP-5500-88058. Results outline the potential impacts of the energy efficiency and electrification retrofit packages on communities’ housing stock.
Distributed energy resources (DERs) offer flexibility and community benefits in both blue- and black-sky conditions. Outside of a power disruption, they can provide significant cost savings and reduce grid stress during times of high demand. During a disruption to the central grid, these technologies can meet critical energy needs through the use of battery storage. However, communities must consider many planning and design dimensions and tradeoffs to integrate energy systems that meet financial and resilience goals. This presentation, given at the 2026 State Energy Conference of North Carolina, defines resilience in an energy context, discusses strategies and best practices for planning resilient energy systems and sites, including resilience hubs and microgrids, highlights NLR tools and capabilities for helping communities in this space, and features successful case studies in North Carolina related to energy resilience.
This work describes the development of a community-scale energy model for a mixed-use low-income community located in Huntington Beach, CA. An accurate community-scale energy model is useful for evaluating the use of limited capital resources used to invest in clean energy technologies. This work lays out the process of developing such a model while relying primarily on publicly available data and highlighting critical partnerships necessary for model development success. The primary contribution of this work is the demonstration of the process used to develop an accurate energy model for a disadvantaged community when minimal building and energy use data is available. The heart of the model is the physics-based community scale energy modeling platform URBANopt. Using a bottom-up load modeling approach, energy simulated energy use falls within 3% or less of aggregate annual utility data, and within 10% or less aggregate monthly utility data. The demonstrated model development and tuning process can be used by others to characterize other atypical communities, which may differ significantly from prototypical models.
From July to December of 2024, the National Laboratory of the Rockies partnered with World Resources Institute to run a peer-learning cohort for local governments and community-based organizations on "Implementing an Agrivoltaics Project." This cohort effort, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy to Communities program, provided 15 organizations with expert presentations, peer-learning opportunities, and technical assistance related to agrivoltaics project development. Pulling from cohort discussions, this document shares a summary of the benefits that agrivoltaics projects can provide to surrounding communities.
The Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program advances community-led clean energy progress by providing local governments, electric utilities, and community-based organizations with cuttingedge analysis and validation from the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratories. The program offers tailored support across the renewable power, grid, mobility, and buildings sectors that ranges from short term consultation with energy experts to multi-year technical assistance partnerships and direct funding.
The Energy to Communities (E2C) program provides innovative, cross-cutting technical analysis to support community-level efforts to secure abundant, reliable, and affordable energy systems. E2C provides three pathways for assistance: in-depth partnerships, peer-learning cohorts, and expert match. E2C is managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with support from Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Karuk Tribe Community Solar Energy Systems
The Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program provides expertise and tools to local and regional governments, Tribes, community-based organizations, municipal utilities, and rural electric cooperatives to help them achieve their clean energy goals. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched C2C in 2022, following engagement with more than 150 stakeholders representing 95 communities in 40 states and 6 Tribes. The program offers three levels of support: expert match, peer-learning cohorts, and in-depth partnerships. In its first year, C2C worked with over 150 communities. To ensure broad participation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examined regional representation. This analysis revealed that four regions are under-represented in program participation: Gulf South, Appalachia, Midwest, and Northern Plains. To help address these gaps, NREL led an effort to identify barriers faced by potential C2C participants from these regions and develop strategies to facilitate participation. This document summarizes findings from this effort and provides recommendations for program changes.
The Molokai, Hawaii, Energy to Communities (E2C) Energyshed project represents a collaborative effort between the National Laboratory of the Rockies, Shake Energy Collaborative, the Molokai Clean Energy Hui, Sustainable Molokai, and Ho'ahu Energy Cooperative Molokai to advance Molokai's Community Energy Resilience Action Plan (CERAP). Supported by Hawaiian Electric Company and the Hawaii State Energy Office, the initiative aims to develop a community-defined portfolio of renewable energy solutions that enhance energy resilience while aligning with the Hawaiian Electric Integrated Grid Plan (IGP) and Molokai's energy goals. Phase 1 focused on technical analyses and community engagement to co-design feasible energy scenarios. Challenges such as grid upgrades, storage sizing, and inverter ride-through standards were addressed to align technical and operational requirements with community preferences. The project equips Molokai with actionable data and insights to implement energy initiatives while ensuring resilient and culturally informed solutions. Future efforts aim to finalize project designs, secure interconnection agreements, and deploy energy projects that reflect community priorities and technical feasibility.
The Resilient Communities, Maryland (RCM) project integrates community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches into energy resilience planning. The combination of qualitative, community-driven data and quantitative utility data improves both the effectiveness and efficiency of assessing the impacts of disruptions to energy infrastructure. Centered around a metric of critical services access, RCM created a repeatable framework for evaluating and modeling energy resilience in communities and promoted community engagement, resulting in more equitable stakeholder participation and improved decision-making processes for siting infrastructure to improve community energy resilience.
Apply to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Energy to Communities - Expert Match program to receive 40 to 60 hours of analytical support from DOE national laboratories. Expert Match researchers bring years of experience working with community stakeholders to provide customized solutions for unique energy challenges. By combining innovative technology, state-of-the-art modeling, and the ability to test clean energy plans before installing them, we can help close the gap between clean energy ambitions and real-world deployment. National lab researchers are partnering with communities across the country to help address local energy challenges and goals. Some examples are Bealsville, Florida and Cohoes, New York.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with support from World Resources Institute (WRI), designed and led a six-month peer-learning cohort from January through July 2024 on "Enhancing Resilience at Critical Facilities through Solar, Storage, and Microgrids" as part of the U.S Department of Energy's Clean Energy to Communities (nrel.gov/c2c) (C2C) program. Representatives from 15 municipalities, municipal utilities, colleges, and Tribes from across the United States participated in monthly workshops covering best practices for planning and deploying local resilience projects. This document shares key takeaways, lessons learned, and resources from the cohort.
The Lahaina Energy Partnership (LEP) is an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to support energy planning and rebuilding efforts in Hawaii's historic town of Lahaina on Maui as the community recovers from a devastating fire on August 8, 2023, with technical assistance provided by NREL. To inform the scope of technical assistance, NREL has partnered with Hawaii-based community engagement and sustainability-focused organizations to connect with Lahaina residents, business owners to understand the community's energy priorities and vision for the future. This presentation presents a summary of the community's energy priorities and NREL's scope of work for the project, to be completed in early 2027.
C2C provides support to communities at any stage of their clean energy transition through three distinct offerings: in-depth partnerships, peer-learning cohorts, and expert match. This 2023 annual highlights report looks at the program's accomplishments since it launched in January 2023.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with support from World Resources Institute (WRI), designed and led a six-month peer-learning cohort from January through July 2024 on "Enhancing Resilience at Critical Facilities through Solar, Storage, and Microgrids" as part of the U.S Department of Energy's Clean Energy to Communities (nrel.gov/c2c) (C2C) program. Representatives from 15 municipalities, municipal utilities, colleges, and Tribes from across the United States participated in monthly workshops covering best practices for planning and deploying local resilience projects. This document shares key takeaways, lessons learned, and resources from the cohort including key steps that can be taken to help entities design effective community engagement processes around clean mobility.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) funded a series of research and training programs under the Advanced Building Construction with Energy Efficient Technologies and Practices (ABC) initiative. The aim is to develop new training programs to support the development of a skilled workforce in the building energy efficiency industry. In response, the University of Illinois Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC), in collaboration with State Energy Offices in Illinois, Hawaii, and Nevada, developed the Community College Energy Code Training Program. The program is designed to prepare a new generation of energy-literate professionals that understand energy efficiency and its relation to energy codes for new construction and existing buildings through: a) the development of a curriculum and innovative pedagogical materials, b) dissemination through a national network of state energy offices: c) outreach targeting Community College students and instructors.
This webinar kicked off the launch of the DOE EERE's Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) technical assistance program. It includes EERE's goals, a history of the C2C program development and structure, and details on its in-depth partnerships and Energyshed.
From June to December 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partnered with World Resources Institute (WRI) to run a peer-learning cohort for local governments on Planning and Funding for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Deployment. This cohort effort, funded by DOE's Clean Energy to Communities Program, paired 15 local and regional governments with Clean Cities and Communities coalitions to translate cohort learnings to local context and conduct activities that brought participants closer developing of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure plans. This document shares key takeaways, lessons learned, and resources from the six-month cohort.