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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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At least 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Integration of Open-Source URBANopt and Dragonfly Energy Modeling Capabilities into Practitioner Workflows for District-Scale Planning and Design

High-performance districts and communities offer opportunities for reducing energy use, emissions, and costs, and can be instrumental in helping cities achieve their climate goals. The design of such communities requires identification of opportunities early on and their re-evaluation throughout the planning process. There is a need for energy modeling tools that connect 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) platforms to simulation engines, enabling detailed energy analysis of districts within the workflows and tools used by practitioners. This paper introduces the Dragonfly and URBANoptTM combined toolset that supports the creation of urban models from a range of geometry formats typically used by designers and planners, and provides an integrated pathway to simulate district-scale energy systems. The toolset is piloted by a global architecture and master planning firm to evaluate several key urban-scale technical questions for the design of a district in Chicago. The findings indicate that, while energy savings can be achieved through traditional architectural studies and enhancements to individual building efficiency, the modeling toolset helps identify additional savings and insights that can be achieved when considering district-scale energy systems. Finally, this study demonstrates how the Dragonfly/URBANopt toolset can integrate with master planning workflows, thereby enabling an iterative performance-based design process.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Is Clean Hydrogen Production a Good Fit for Questa? (Final Economic Impact Results) [Slides]

The Village of Questa, New Mexico is aiming to become a regional clean energy hub with robust and diverse employment opportunities for the local community supported by the energy sector and by other businesses inspired or attracted by abundant clean energy, outdoor recreation, and cultural opportunities. A coalition of stakeholders in the Village of Questa, comprising the Village, Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC), Questa Economic Development Fund, and Chevron, is exploring options to develop hydrogen production facilities as an opportunity to create jobs, provide reliable clean energy, and utilize former mine resources. Questa is home to a molybdenum mine owned by Chevron that closed in 2014. Several residents in Questa and surrounding communities lost their jobs when the mine closed and transitioned from active operations into environmental remediation. Although remediation efforts have been ongoing since 2014 and are expected to continue for at least 16 more years, the number of jobs with Chevron is much smaller now than it was before the closure. Between available workforce, brownfield land, and water rights formerly supporting mine operations but now in a transition period, there are considerable local resources that could be directed toward clean energy generation. Questa's electricity supply is already 100% solar during daylight hours thanks to Kit Carson Electric Cooperative's (KCEC's) strategic decision-making and partnering over the last decade. Now, Questa, KCEC, and Chevron are exploring the potential costs and benefits of siting an electrolytic hydrogen production facility and additional solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Questa to further advance the region's clean energy economy. In this report, we estimated the potential economic impacts (i.e., jobs, value added, gross output, tax revenue) of constructing and operating a combined hydrogen (32 MW polymer electrolyte membrane electrolizer + 7.5 MW fuel cell) and solar facility (22.5 MW) in the Village of Questa, as well as the resulting economic spillovers to Taos County and the state of New Mexico. We employ an input-output model that leverages IMPLAN's economic data for the region complemented by construction and operating expenses estimated by NREL and feedback from the local coalition to evaluate the direct, indirect and induced effects of the project construction (transient impacts) and operation (more permanent impacts). Based on the area's average trade profile, feedback from the coalition and current market conditions, these projects are expected to support 487 full-time equivalent jobs during construction, generating $\$24$ million in income for those workers and $\$82$ million in local economic activity in the state. Of those jobs, 106 are expected to be construction sector jobs. These investments are also estimated to add $\$36.5$ million to New Mexico's gross state product (GSP). In the Village of Questa, we estimate 16 jobs will be supported in construction and transportation industries, generating $\$0.9$ million in earnings. In Taos County, the construction phase is expected to support 285 jobs primarily in construction and professional services, while manufacturing jobs dominate the results for the Rest of New Mexico. The Village is also estimated to receive $\$0.9$ million in tax revenue from the construction phase alone. Once in operation, the project continues to impact the state and Questa. Around 20 jobs (full-time equivalent for each year of operation) are supported across New Mexico, with approximately 11 directly employed in Questa by both facilities. The total annual local economic activity supported by ongoing operations is just over $\$1.3$ million/yr, generating $\$1.6$ million/yr in additional income in the state. Annual operations are estimated to add $\$2.1$ million to the state's GSP. The Village is expected to receive around $\$43,000$/yr in tax revenue. Impacts vary significantly depending on which businesses are supplying materials, equipment and services, and where construction workers reside. Choosing local suppliers will most benefit Questa and the New Mexico economy, adding up to 500 jobs during construction and 13 long-term jobs. Local and state governments may consider ways to incentivize local businesses in order to maximize economic benefits.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2024

Is Clean Hydrogen Production a Good Fit for Questa? Final Economic Impact Results

The Village of Questa, New Mexico is aiming to become a regional clean energy hub with robust and diverse employment opportunities for the local community supported by the energy sector and by other businesses inspired or attracted by abundant clean energy, outdoor recreation, and cultural opportunities. A coalition of stakeholders in the Village of Questa, comprising the Village, Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC), Questa Economic Development Fund, and Chevron, is exploring options to develop hydrogen production facilities as an opportunity to create jobs, provide reliable clean energy, and utilize former mine resources. Questa is home to a molybdenum mine owned by Chevron that closed in 2014. Several residents in Questa and surrounding communities lost their jobs when the mine closed and transitioned from active operations into environmental remediation. Although remediation efforts have been ongoing since 2014 and are expected to continue for at least 16 more years, the number of jobs with Chevron is much smaller now than it was before the closure. Between available workforce, brownfield land, and water rights formerly supporting mine operations but now in a transition period, there are considerable local resources that could be directed toward clean energy generation. Questa's electricity supply is already 100% solar during daylight hours thanks to Kit Carson Electric Cooperative's (KCEC's) strategic decision-making and partnering over the last decade. Now, Questa, KCEC, and Chevron are exploring the potential costs and benefits of siting an electrolytic hydrogen production facility and additional solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Questa to further advance the region's clean energy economy. In this report, we estimated the potential economic impacts (i.e., jobs, value added, gross output, tax revenue) of constructing and operating a combined hydrogen (32 MW polymer electrolyte membrane electrolizer + 7.5 MW fuel cell) and solar facility (22.5 MW) in the Village of Questa, as well as the resulting economic spillovers to Taos County and the state of New Mexico. We employ an input-output model that leverages IMPLAN's economic data for the region complemented by construction and operating expenses estimated by NREL and feedback from the local coalition to evaluate the direct, indirect and induced effects of the project construction (transient impacts) and operation (more permanent impacts). Based on the area's average trade profile, feedback from the coalition and current market conditions, these projects are expected to support 487 full-time equivalent jobs during construction, generating $\$24$ million in income for those workers and $\$82$ million in local economic activity in the state. Of those jobs, 106 are expected to be construction sector jobs. These investments are also estimated to add $\$36.5$ million to New Mexico's gross state product (GSP). In the Village of Questa, we estimate 16 jobs will be supported in construction and transportation industries, generating $\$0.9$ million in earnings. In Taos County, the construction phase is expected to support 285 jobs primarily in construction and professional services, while manufacturing jobs dominate the results for the Rest of New Mexico. The Village is also estimated to receive $\$0.9$ million in tax revenue from the construction phase alone. Once in operation, the project continues to impact the state and Questa. Around 20 jobs (full-time equivalent for each year of operation) are supported across New Mexico, with approximately 11 directly employed in Questa by both facilities. The total annual local economic activity supported by ongoing operations is just over $\$1.3$ million/yr, generating $\$1.6$ million/yr in additional income in the state. Annual operations are estimated to add $\$2.1$ million to the state's GSP. The Village is expected to receive around $\$43,000$/yr in tax revenue. Impacts vary significantly depending on which businesses are supplying materials, equipment and services, and where construction workers reside. Choosing local suppliers will most benefit Questa and the New Mexico economy, adding up to 500 jobs during construction and 13 long-term jobs. Local and state governments may consider ways to incentivize local businesses in order to maximize economic benefits.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2024

Solar Street Lighting: Highland Park Pathways to Power [Slides]

Through the Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) Pilot, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) engaged the Highland Park Stakeholder Coalition to scope four technical assistance work areas to address their energy needs and goals. This slide deck addresses the highlighted tasks under work area "A" related to the city's streetlights. Due to economic collapse, the City of Highland Park negotiated repossession of it's neighborhood streetlights to help pay its debt to its power provider, DTE. Without street lighting on residential streets, public safety was at risk. Local community-based-organization, Soulardarity, began installing off-grid solar street lights to improve visibility for vehicles and pedestrians in Highland Parks neighborhoods. Residents and leaders of the community who served on the Communities LEAP Coalition requested NREL review a financial model Soulardarity proposed to operate a city-wide solar streetlighting program on the City's behalf. The coalition also requested NREL identify examples of similar implemented city-wide solar street lighting programs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Inclusive Shared Solar: The State Policy Landscape and Select Community Solar Project Profiles

This report provides an overview of the LMI community solar landscape to help State Energy Offices, LIHEAP offices, and other key stakeholders understand and take advantage of opportunities to expand the reach and impact of community solar programs. It discusses common LMI community solar policy and program considerations and profiles four projects in three different states to show how state policy decisions can impact community solar program design and implementation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sitka Energy Inventory

The City and Borough of Sitka was chosen for an Energy Technology Innovation Partner Project award starting in Fall 2023, the third cohort of the program. The scope of the following work was driven by the city, as well as the city-appointed Sustainability Commission. The community asked for a method to track their reliance on outside fuel sources, as well as the emissions associated with those fuels and other processes in Sitka. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) provided research and methodology in line with this community driven ask. This project is a community wide inventory, requiring methods to estimate the fuel usage and emissions from various industries. For each estimate, PNNL presents methodologies that can be repeated by the community in future years to understand how the city is changing.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

North Birmingham Housing Energy Baseline and Upgrade Strategies [Slides]

The community of North Birmingham, Alabama, participated in the Communities LEAP pilot program. As part of this technical assistance pilot, residential buildings, energy efficiency, and electrification were analyzed. This slide deck details the baseline analysis of residential buildings in the community and potential upgrade strategies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Resilience Issues in Building Energy Codes

This report, prepared for the International Energy Agency’s Building Energy Codes Working Group (BECWG, part of the IEA Energy in Buildings and Communities Technical Collaboration Programme, or IEA EBC), focuses on the application of building energy codes to improve the ability of buildings to provide a minimum healthy level of thermal comfort and function during extreme events. It reviews the relationship of building energy codes to the other building resilience policies and strategies, such as other building life/safety codes, community planning or zoning to discourage rebuilding in areas most prone to climate disasters, and other resilience planning strategies. The report provides an overview of how different jurisdictions address resilience issues in building energy codes in countries that are part of the IEA EBC Building Energy Codes Working Group.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Voices from Rural Electric Cooperatives: A Call for a DER Integration Playbook for Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE)

Rural-serving electric utilities (RSEUs)—including electric cooperatives, municipal systems, and small investor-owned utilities—are essential players in the evolving energy landscape. These community-focused entities are increasingly being asked to consider distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop and ground-mounted solar, wind, battery storage, smart water heaters, and demand response programs (NRECA 2025; Lenhart et al. 2020). Yet the path to DER adoption is far from straightforward in the rural context. This report is based on in-depth interviews with managers of rural electric cooperatives across the United States. These conversations offer a grounded, unvarnished look at how DERs are perceived, what barriers exist, and what conditions might enable integration and adoption. While the utilities interviewed vary in geography, size, and DER experience, several clear and common themes emerged across electric cooperatives such that the report recommends the development of a DER Integration Runbook to help utilities assess readiness, define local use cases, engage stakeholders, pilot projects, and iterate, expanding over time.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Geothermal Energy and Resilience in Arctic Countries

The eight Arctic countries - Iceland, Canada, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands) Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the United States (Alaska) - have diverse energy systems, but can be split into two distinct groups based on energy characteristics. The first group includes systems in Europe (Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland), which are heavily grid-connected. The second group includes the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, and Greenland, which have grid-connected energy systems in their more densely populated southern regions, but are also defined by the prevalence of remote microgrids. Energy sources for heat and power vary across grid-connected communities in the Arctic nations. The primary energy source for remote communities, on the other hand, is almost exclusively diesel. This is true for both heat and power. Despite these and other key distinctions, Arctic countries share many commonalities with regard to their energy systems. One is a fundamental need for heat. Heat and electric energy are linked in most communities - remote, rural, and urban - and those linked systems are increasingly vulnerable to disruptions. Several of the Arctic countries use baseload renewable energy resources for heat and power. Iceland uses geothermal and hydroelectric; Canada, the United States, Sweden, Norway, and Finland use hydroelectric. Utilization of baseload renewable energy resources on-site for combined heat and power appears to enhance the resilience of communities in Arctic countries with high penetration of those resources. On the other hand, reliance on diesel by remote communities in other Arctic countries may be amplifying vulnerabilities. Although geothermal energy is currently used in all eight Arctic countries, resources are poorly mapped, and details can be difficult to come by. Despite this, geothermal energy provides heat and sometimes electricity at both utility scales and at the microgrid scale. Geothermal electricity is produced in Iceland, Russia, and the United States (Alaska). Direct use of geothermal heat is used in Iceland, Russia, United States, Canada, and Norway. Geo-exchange is used in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada, and the United States. In this paper, we reframe geothermal heat and power systems as integrated energy systems, asking the question: are integrated geothermal energy systems - where available and economic - resilient solutions for communities in Arctic countries? We identify resilience attributes of integrated geothermal energy systems, with a focus on microgrids and small-scale applications. Based on the high-level, qualitative analysis presented in this paper, the answer appears to be yes. Further work should prioritize refining our understanding of geothermal resources in Arctic countries, because development of the most economic geothermal resources in Arctic countries has the potential to enhance the energy resilience of its residents, whether in a grid-connected or remote off-grid context.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ahtna Tribal Energy Planning and Technical Assistance Project (Final Report)

Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission (AITRC) provided technical assistance and capacity building activities for eight (8) tribal communities in the Ahtna region to: 1. reduce energy costs; 2. improve community wildfire readiness and biomass utilization; 3. provide local food security; and 4. reduce unemployment, poverty and outmigration in the Ahtna villages. AITRC provided community education on energy needs, conservation and efficiency, issues and options, assisted the tribes in identifying appropriate renewable energy systems, and increased their capacity to implement successful energy projects that employed local tribal members. AITRC also successfully assisted the member Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations in pursuing additional funding to advance their energy goals and projects, including Tribal Resiliency Planning, community biomass heating and wood resource assessment projects, and hydroelectric.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) helps coastal, remote, and island communities increase the affordability, reliability, and security of their energy systems through energy planning and deep-dive technical assistance.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (Bilingual)

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) helps coastal, remote, and island communities increase the affordability, reliability, and security of their energy systems through energy planning and deep-dive technical assistance. This is a English and Spanish translation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

LA100 Equity Strategies. Chapter 5: Low-Income Energy Bill Equity and Affordability

The LA100 Equity Strategies project synthesizes community guidance with robust research, modeling, and analysis to identify strategy options that can increase equitable outcomes in Los Angeles' clean energy transition. Grounded in the analysis of past and ongoing energy inequities and engagement with underserved communities, the project presents community-guided strategies that aim to operationalize recognition and procedural justice. Building on the community-identified problems and solutions, and the analysis of the 11 strategies described in Chapter 3, this chapter continues to focus on the solution space through the lens of recognition and procedural justice. It centers the role of community engagement in energy utility planning and project development with a specific focus on how the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) can engage and work equitably with Los Angeles communities to cocreate a clean and just energy future for LA. LA100 Equity Strategies is rooted in the crucial role community engagement plays in restructuring the energy systems of cities, states, and nations. Scholarship on wind, solar, and other transitional energy technologies and projects has documented that such engagement is commonly used as a top-down mechanism for adapting social practices to fit new technological innovations. Yet, understanding how the clean energy transition - with related changes in technologies, infrastructures, practices, and costs - will fit equitably into the existing socio-political context is a challenge that requires substantive collaboration with local communities. Any form of community engagement opens up government officials and utilities to opposition from their public. Meaningful engagement methods turn such dissent into a strength, embracing critical feedback - particularly from communities historically excluded from decision-making - as contributing to more grounded design and effective implementation. Leveraging this collaborative model to further rectify past and ongoing inequities in the social, cultural, and institutional scaffolding of LA, this chapter presents options and methods to support LADWP in launching a just and equitable clean energy transition. We approach community engagement as a critical process linking recognition, procedural, and distributional justice, outlining how LADWP could learn from past engagement, coordinate such knowledge organization-wide, and use engagement as a key tool for achieving energy justice and equity.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Plan energético estratégico: Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico [Strategic Energy Plan: Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico]

Un Nuevo Amanecer Inc. (UNA), a community-based NGO (501C(3)), sought technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to develop a strategic energy plan (SEP) for the community of Playa de Ponce on the south coast of Puerto Rico. A SEP helps communities identify energy goals and priority projects, and outline strategies and actions to build a shared path toward their energy vision.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cost-optimized energy storage operation for a grid-connected solar PV system at community and individual scales

This study provides a comparative analysis of grid-connected PV-integrated battery storage at individual and community scales. The paper addresses the challenge of managing energy demand-generation mismatch by using a battery energy storage optimization algorithm, which minimizes operational costs while accounting for battery degradation. Also, this work introduces a broader evaluation basis that includes seasonal variability, grid exchange smoothness, and scalability across different battery capacities. Results show that community-scale storage more effectively dampens grid exchange power fluctuations and reduces system costs, particularly with moderate price differences between electricity buying and selling prices and low battery capacities. The paper also analyzes the impacts of static control versus cost-optimized battery system management. Here, it is shown that the gap in system costs between the cost-optimized and static control scenarios widens as the price difference increases.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗