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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Differences in urban plant community compositions across an urban-rural gradient in Knoxville, TN

Urban forests, or vegetation in areas under heavy human influence, provide many ecosystem services to urban residents such as localized cooling via evapotranspiration, shade, filtering of air pollution, and the associated health benefits of natural spaces. In order to quantify the magnitude of localized cooling by trees growing in varying levels of urbanization (based on % impervious surfaces, e.g., buildings, pavement), urban forest species composition, tree size, and tree density must be characterized. As a part of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) urban forest temperature study, we conducted tree censuses in five Knoxville city parks where ORNL meteorological stations are deployed. Moreover, we measured every woody plant ≥ 5 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) within a 50 m radius of each site’s meteorological station for its DBH and species identification. When possible, individuals were identified down to species. Certain genera (Quercus spp., Carya spp., Pinus spp.) were identified down to genera in interest of time. Individual and total site basal area were calculated from measured DBH data. Results show notable differences in urban plant community compositions and total woody plant basal area across sites, with more urban sites closer to downtown (West View and SEEED) having lower tree basal area than the more suburban sites (West Hills, Cumberland Estates, and Victor Ashe). We identified 54 species across all sites, with West Hills and Victor Ashe having the highest species diversity. Our results show differences in forest compositions and sizes across Knoxville, which are currently informing ORNL’s evapotranspiration estimates for each site. Data Summary: Census data for West Hills (WH), Cumberland Estates (CE), Victor Ashe (VA), West View (WV), and Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development or SEEED (SD) urban forests in Knoxville, TN, USA, including tree size based on diameter at breast height (DBH; 1.3 m), species identification (Latin and common names), and basal area per stem (BA=π×[.5*DBH]^2). Field data are summarized in this file: “Community_Composition_Data.CSV”. Site-specific data detailing each site’s coordinates, number of stems measured at DBH, average tree DBH, α-diversity (number of species present), and total site basal area (sum of individual basal areas per site) are in this file: “Site_Comparisons.CSV”.

Warren, Jeffrey [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000206804697)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Deployment of Community Scale Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systems in Forest County Potawatomi Community

FCPC is a federally recognized tribe with a membership of more than 1400. The Tribe has a reservation in Forest County, Wisconsin, and tribal trust lands in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, with significant governmental and business operations in both areas. Until relatively recently, FCPC was one of the poorest tribes in the Midwest. Due to its successful gaming operations, it now has improved its financial situation and is using its resources to benefit both its members and the general public through environmental and other community efforts, many of which are long-delayed because of the extended period of abject poverty. The Tribe has developed the long-term goal of becoming energy independent using renewable resources. In order to meet this goal, the Tribe has taken several important steps. As an interim step, FCPC is purchasing nearly 55 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy certificates (“RECs”) annually from certified renewable energy facilities in the United States. These RECs offset more than 100% of the present electricity use at all of the Tribe’s facilities. The Tribe is currently ranked number 11 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Top 20 Local Government list of green power purchasers and is a member of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership. The original project suggested small scale installations on tribal homes and certain government buildings. The Tribe suggested that the project would result in 730 kw installed. By revising the project, the Tribe was able to install 938 kw and owns the largest installation in Northern Wisconsin with the 800 kW installation at the Potawatomi Carter Casino Hotel (“PCCH”). The PCCH installation, in summer months, can provide near 90% of the use during daylight hours. Although tracking was not immediately available FCPC has since confirmed significant production with certain quarterly savings nearing $210,000. These installations provide a reduction in facility costs providing more revenue for Tribal services including cultural, health, sustainable food sources, environmental preservation and other Tribal initiatives. Further, the installations have resulted in positive steps towards the Tribe’s goals of energy sovereignty and the use of 100% renewable clean energy. Finally, the PCCH project, specifically, has had the additional benefit of providing a likely area for a microgrid. The size of the installation and offset achieved have pushed the Tribe toward planning for storage and a microgrid system that would both further the Tribe’s energy goals and provide a safe haven for the Community during times of need.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-Sectoral Urban Interactions: Fundamental Science Needs to Inform Pathways to More Resilient Communities in a Changing Climate Multi-Sectoral Urban Interactions: Fundamental Science Needs to Inform Pathways to More Resilient Communities in a Changing Climate

Urban areas and the supply networks that support their resource use are inherently multisectoral systems composed of infrastructural, environmental, and socio-institutional components. These systems are vulnerable to accelerating and interacting stresses from climate change, population growth, resource scarcity, and land-use pressure at the same time as they have a major influence on regional and global systems. For instance, a majority of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, food consumption, and economic activity can be attributed to urban areas. Urban areas are highly heterogenous, both across and within cities in terms of their socio-demographic, environmental, and infrastructural characteristics. This heterogeneity shapes how urban systems interact and co-evolve and contributes to different economic, environmental, and health outcomes for communities within urban areas. Urban heterogeneity also generates differential vulnerabilities to stressors and differential capacity for adapting to change. The evolution of urban space is thus critical in shaping how human societies respond to global change as they seek to improve resilience to stressors, support prosperous and equitable communities, and use natural resources in a sustainable manner. Developing fundamental scientific understanding of urban heterogeneity and system interactions across sectors and scales is critical for mapping the resilience, sustainability, and equity implications of alternative future pathways. On July 2021 the MSD Urban Systems Working Group organized this workshop to provide a venue for coordination and identification of shared objectives, research themes, and major knowledge gaps, as well as developing a shared strategy for addressing these gaps. This report summarizes the outcomes of this workshop.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

A cost and community perspective on the barriers to microbiome data reuse

Microbiome research is becoming a mature field with a wealth of data amassed from diverse ecosystems, yet the ability to fully leverage multi-omics data for reuse remains challenging. To provide a view into researchers’ behavior and attitudes towards data reuse, we surveyed over 700 microbiome researchers to evaluate data sharing and reuse challenges. We found that many researchers are impeded by difficulties with metadata records, challenges with processing and bioinformatics, and problems with data repository submissions. We also explored the cost constraints of data reuse at each step of the data reuse process to better understand “pain points” and to provide a more quantitative perspective from sixteen active researchers. The bioinformatics and data processing step was estimated to be the most time consuming, which aligns with some of the most frequently reported challenges from the community survey. From these two approaches, we present evidence-based recommendations for how to address data sharing and reuse challenges with concrete actions for future work.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nitrogen addition alters soil fungal communities, but root fungal communities are resistant to change

Plants are colonized by numerous microorganisms serving important symbiotic functions that are vital to plant growth and success. Understanding and harnessing these interactions will be useful in both managed and natural ecosystems faced with global change, but it is still unclear how variation in environmental conditions and soils influence the trajectory of these interactions. In this study, we examine how nitrogen addition alters plant-fungal interactions within two species of Populus - Populus deltoides and P. trichocarpa. In this experiment, we manipulated plant host, starting soil (native vs. away for each tree species), and nitrogen addition in a fully factorial replicated design. After ~10 weeks of growth, we destructively harvested the plants and characterized plant growth factors and the soil and root endosphere fungal communities using targeted amplicon sequencing of the ITS2 gene region. Overall, we found nitrogen addition altered plant growth factors, e.g., plant height, chlorophyll density, and plant N content. Interestingly, nitrogen addition resulted in a lower fungal alpha diversity in soils but not plant roots. Further, there was an interactive effect of tree species, soil origin, and nitrogen addition on soil fungal community composition. Starting soils collected from Oregon and West Virginia were dominated by the ectomycorrhizal fungi Inocybe (55.8% relative abundance), but interestingly when P. deltoides was grown in its native West Virginia soil, the roots selected for a high abundance of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Rhizophagus. These results highlight the importance of soil origin and plant species on establishing plant-fungal interactions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Community-Scale Solar Photovoltaic for the Forest County Potawatomi Community

Forest County Potawatomi Community will install and operate 1,228 kW of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems at approximately nine (9) tribal facilities in Milwaukee, WI and on the Tribe's Forest County reservation lands. The individual installations will range in size from 8 kW to 280 kW, and will displace between 4.2 and 99.9% of total current energy usage from those buildings and save $105,996 annually.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Enhanced nutrient uptake is sufficient to drive emergent cross-feeding between bacteria in a synthetic community

Abstract Interactive microbial communities are ubiquitous, influencing biogeochemical cycles and host health. One widespread interaction is nutrient exchange, or cross-feeding, wherein metabolites are transferred between microbes. Some cross-fed metabolites, such as vitamins, amino acids, and ammonium (NH4+), are communally valuable and impose a cost on the producer. The mechanisms that enforce cross-feeding of communally valuable metabolites are not fully understood. Previously we engineered a cross-feeding coculture between N2-fixing Rhodopseudomonas palustris and fermentative Escherichia coli. Engineered R. palustris excretes essential nitrogen as NH4+ to E. coli, while E. coli excretes essential carbon as fermentation products to R. palustris. Here, we sought to determine whether a reciprocal cross-feeding relationship would evolve spontaneously in cocultures with wild-type R. palustris, which is not known to excrete NH4+. Indeed, we observed the emergence of NH4+ cross-feeding, but driven by adaptation of E. coli alone. A missense mutation in E. coli NtrC, a regulator of nitrogen scavenging, resulted in constitutive activation of an NH4+ transporter. This activity likely allowed E. coli to subsist on the small amount of leaked NH4+ and better reciprocate through elevated excretion of fermentation products from a larger E. coli population. Our results indicate that enhanced nutrient uptake by recipients, rather than increased excretion by producers, is an underappreciated yet possibly prevalent mechanism by which cross-feeding can emerge.

Fritts, Ryan K.↗
DOE OSTI2021

AlphaBuilding ResCommunity: A multi-agent virtual testbed for community-level load coordination

Training and validating algorithms in a simulation testbed can accelerate research and applications of optimal control of residential loads to improve energy flexibility and grid resilience. We developed an open-source simulation environment, AlphaBuilding ResCommunity, that can be used to train and validate algorithms to control a single thermostatically controlled load (TCL) or coordinate a group of TCLs. We used reduced-order models to simulate the thermodynamics of TCLs, and the parameter values were determined from the connected smart thermostat data of real households. The environment was built upon the standardized OpenAI Gym interface. Ancillary functions, such as retrieving the parameters and weather forecasts, are provided to facilitate control strategies that require predictive information. Compared with existing efforts, AlphaBuilding ResCommunity has three advantages: (1) more realistic model settings because the parameter values are identified from actual household operating data, and modelling and measurement uncertainty are considered; (2) passive thermal storage control; and (3) ease of use due to a simple software dependency and standardized interface. We demonstrated the applications of the environment by implementing a Kalman Filter and Model Predictive Control on a single TCL and a Priority-Stack-Based Control and Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers to coordinate multiple TCLs for load tracking.

Wang, Z↗
DOE OSTI2020

Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading and Grid Impact Studies in Smart Communities

The rise of peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace paradigms has transformed existing marketplace models, but the extent to which this approach can be applied to the energy marketplace has yet to be considered. In this paper, we examine existing approaches taken in the application of a P2P paradigm to the energy marketplace, further presenting an approach towards facilitating an online P2P energy marketplace, implementing a prototype P2P web application named SolTrade. Furthermore, we submit initial statistics based on simulated transactions facilitated through the platform, which illustrate the physical impact of marketplace transactions on the energy grid. In particular, these results show that, as the number of users rises, the chance of overloading the grid rises, but the chance of the grid being unable to sustain itself without an external source of energy falls.

peer-to-peer economy, web development, energy shar↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Microbial Community and Functional Potential in the Midland Basin Reveal a Community Dominated by Both Thiosulfate and Sulfate-Reducing Microorganisms

The Permian Basin is the highest producing oil and gas reservoir in the United States. Hydrocarbon resources in this region are often accessed by unconventional extraction methods, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Despite the importance of the Permian Basin, there is no publicly available microbiological data from this region. We completed an analysis of Permian produced water samples to understand the dynamics present in hydraulically fractured wells in this region. We analyzed produced water samples taken from 10 wells in the Permian region of the Midland Basin using geochemical measurements, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and metagenomic sequencing. Compared to other regions, we found that Permian Basin produced water was characterized by higher sulfate and lower total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations, with a median of 1,110 mg/L and 107,000 mg/L. Additionally, geochemical measurements revealed the presence of frac hits, or interwell communication events where an established well is affected by the pumping of fracturing fluid into a new well. The occurrence of frac hits was supported by correlations between the microbiome and the geochemical parameters. Our 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified a produced water microbiome characterized by anaerobic, halophilic, and sulfur reducing taxa. Interestingly, sulfate and thiosulfate reducing taxa including Halanaerobium, Orenia, Marinobacter, and Desulfohalobium were the most prevalent microbiota in most wells. We further investigated the metabolic potential of microorganisms in the Permian Basin with metagenomic sequencing. We recovered 15 metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) from seven different samples representing 6 unique well sites. These MAGs corroborated the high presence of sulfate and thiosulfate reducing genes across all wells, especially from key taxa including Halanaerobium and Orenia. The observed microbiome composition and metabolic capabilities in conjunction with the high sulfate concentrations demonstrate a high potential for hydrogen sulfide production in the Permian Basin. Additionally, evidence of frac hits suggests the possibility for the exchange of microbial cells and/or genetic information between wells. This exchange would increase the likelihood of hydrogen sulfide production and has implications for the oil and gas industry.

16S RNA↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Grassroots Network and Community Roadmap for Interconnected Autonomous Science Laboratories for Accelerated Discovery

Scientific discovery is being revolutionized by AI and autonomous systems, yet current autonomous laboratories remain isolated islands unable to collaborate across institutions. We present the Autonomous Interconnected Science Lab Ecosystem (AISLE), a grassroots network transforming fragmented capabilities into a unified system that shorten the path from ideation to innovation to impact and accelerates discovery from decades to months. AISLE addresses five critical dimensions: (1) cross-institutional equipment orchestration, (2) intelligent data management with FAIR compliance, (3) AI-agent driven orchestration grounded in scientific principles, (4) interoperable agent communication interfaces, and (5) AI/ML-integrated scientific education. By connecting autonomous agents across institutional boundaries, autonomous science can unlock research spaces inaccessible to traditional approaches while democratizing cutting-edge technologies. This paradigm shift toward collaborative autonomous science promises breakthroughs in sustainable energy, materials development, and public health.

Ferreira da Silva, Rafael [Oak Ridge National Labo↗
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 OSTI2021

Coal-dependent Communities in Transition: Identifying Best Practices to Ensure Equitable Outcomes

The U.S. coal industry is experiencing a sharp increase in the numbers of retired and/or decommissioned coal-fired power plants across the U.S. In the years between 2010-2019, around 102 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired generating capacity has been announced to be decommissioned, representing more than 546 coal-fired power plant units, and an additional 17 GW is planned to be decommissioned by 2025. This change in the energy production landscape presents an impact on the social, environmental, and economic prospects of coal-dependent communities. This report examined the role of communities in the coal power plant decommissioning process and provided community-identified best practices to ensure an equitable process. The experiences of four coal-dependent communities—Wise County, VA, Muskegon, MI, Anderson County, TN, and Becker, MN—are presented as case studies to understand the impacts of the decommissioning process, and associated best practices, from the communities’ perspective. The report results highlight the need to recognize that the decommissioning decision-making process must be community-based to be equitable. Each community’s input is key to the transition away from coal power because there is no one-size-fits-all development plan. In other words, each community’s trajectory through the decommissioning process—from the retirement decision-making stage to the final site redevelopment phase—is unique because each community has distinct needs and wants from the energy transition. What is best for one community may not be suited for another. Ultimately, the framework for site development and community revitalization post-decommissioning cannot be universal because each community’s profile—from a social, cultural, and economic perspective—is different. Community impacts of power plant decommissioning are not limited to job and revenue losses. Communities are likely to be impacted culturally, socially, environmentally, and have long-term health-based impacts that should be acknowledged and addressed in post-retirement plans. Commonly identified decommissioning best practices include: Early and continued engagement throughout, with a number of mediums for communication and feedback (e.g., in-person sessions, virtual meetings, written comment opportunities); Early planning of post-decommissioning projects to replace lost jobs, revenue, and economic activity; Recognition (and mitigation, if possible) of social impacts on the community due to plant closure; Transparency throughout the process, with trusted information being provided about the decommissioning process and timeline; potential impacts on the workforce, economy, and environment; and the feasibility of alternative site uses; Identification of funding sources, technical experts, and/or strategic partnerships to support decommissioning and the affected communities upfront; and, Acknowledgment of communities as stakeholders who have a role in the conversation and right to determine their futures. Three key areas for assisting coal-dependent communities affected by the energy transition: Technical assistance: assessment of site feasibility for alternative uses or to repower with new technologies; Cross-partnership engagement and collaboration: facilitate knowledge-sharing of “lessons learned” about the decommissioning process between communities and provide guidance for decision-making processes; and, Financial assistance: access to grant and/or loan programs to assist with redevelopment survey, bolster community economic security through job creation, and cover environmental clean-up costs. Technical assistance, cross-partnership engagement, and financial aid can be mobilized to help communities throughout various stages of the decommissioning process, including the retirement decision, the site reclamation phase, and eventual revitalization of the site and surrounding community.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Clean Energy Deployment Baseline for the Energy Community and Low-Income Tax Credit Bonuses [Slides]

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 introduced, for the first time, place-based federal tax incentives for projects sited in “Energy Communities,” potentially changing the economic calculus of where projects are best sited. Storage projects can qualify for a 10-percentage-point bonus to the Investment Tax Credit (e.g., from 30% to 40%), while wind and solar projects may qualify for either the ITC bonus or a 10% bonus to the Production Tax Credit (e.g., from $\$27.5$ to $\$30.25$/MWh). Energy Communities are areas with historical ties to fossil fuel industries and above average unemployment levels (FFEU), with closed coal mines or power plants, or contaminated properties. They seek to identify locations across the US that could especially benefit from economic revitalization. This report explores how the new federal tax credit incentives are impacting clean energy deployment patterns and establishes historical baselines against which future changes can be compared. We include a few case studies of clean energy projects going specifically to areas that were recently impacted by coal power plant closures to provide concrete examples of investments in Energy Communities. However, this publication does not assess how much of the incentive benefits pass from clean energy developers to hosting communities, nor does it offer a comprehensive view of the economic effects of clean energy deployment on Energy Communities. Key highlights include: - As clean energy projects take multiple years to conceptualize and develop, it is likely too early to see shifts towards Energy Community locations either among newly built projects or those that entered interconnection queues in 2023. - Approximately 35% of onshore wind, 50% of solar, and 60% of storage capacity built in 2023 and the first half of 2024 are located in Energy Communities, making them likely eligible for bonus incentives. While these bonus incentives were not available to projects coming online before 2023, we used 2023 Energy Community definitions to classify whether past projects were built in what is now considered an Energy Community. The deployment levels for 2023-2024 are similar to recent years (2020-2022) for solar and storage but slightly lower for wind. - Clean energy capacity has surged in the interconnection queues over the last few years, with about 45-50% of both recently proposed and total queued capacity being located in Energy Communities. While the amount of capacity in Energy Communities has also grown, its relative share is either stable (solar and storage) or slightly lower (wind) among projects that entered the queue in 2023. - Clean energy projects can be built at lower costs in Energy Communities. The levelized cost of energy after incentives was on average $\$9$/MWh (24%) lower for solar projects and $\$2$/MWh (6%) lower for wind projects built in 2023, relative to projects not located in Energy Communities. Wholesale electricity values at Energy Community locations relative to the rest of the market vary by region. The average value was often higher for wind projects (-$\$3$ to $\$11$/MWh) but lower for solar projects (-$\$6$ to 0/MWh). - Distributed solar that is owned by commercial entities is eligible for the Energy Community bonus and also, potentially, a Low-Income Community bonus. Residential solar installations in qualifying Energy Communities that are third-party owned represent about 10% of the total residential market. Larger commercial and industrial solar installations in Energy Communities make up 17% of the total market in 2023. Nearly 2 GW of distributed solar was built in areas qualifying as Low-Income Communities in 2023, exceeding the available annual program cap of 700 MW. Continued tracking of these trends will be important for system planners, investors, and local communities.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗