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At least 19 records

Leadership and Community Engagement in Chile: Deploying Net-Zero Technologies and Solutions

The report presents the 2023 Net Zero World Chile program results from activities of the the four program workstreams: 1) energy-system wide modeling LEAP modeling and analysis results including accelerated Net Zero scenarios with aggressive energy efficiency improvements, fuel switching, and electrification across demand sector; 2) district energy chapter provides thermal district energy systems modeling results of the Recoleta-Independencia pilot project and comparative analysis of district energy systems' potential versus competing technologies in Chile; 3) just transition action steps for the creation of a sister city relationship between Tocopilla and a US counterpart city; and 4) power decarbonization capacity building activities focused on the selection and adoption of grid-enhancing technologies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Social cost considerations and legal constraints in implementing modular integrated utility systems

Social costs associated with the design, demonstration, and implementation of the Modular Integrated Utility System are considered including the social climate of communities, leadership patterns, conflicts and cleavages, specific developmental values, MIUS utility goal assessment, and the suitability of certian alternative options for use in a program of implementation. General considerations are discussed in the field of socio-technological planning. These include guidelines for understanding the conflict and diversity; some relevant goal choices and ideas useful to planners of the MIUS facility.

Lede, N. W.↗

Community Modeling Program for Space Weather: A CCMC Perspective

A community modeling program, which provides a forum for exchange and integration between modelers, has excellent potential for furthering our Space Weather modeling and forecasting capabilities. The design of such a program is of great importance to its success. In this presentation, we will argue that the most effective community modeling program should be focused on Space Weather-related objectives, and that it should be open and inclusive. The tremendous successes of prior community research activities further suggest that the most effective implementation of a new community modeling program should be based on community leadership, rather than on domination by individual institutions or centers. This presentation will provide an experience-based justification for these conclusions.

Hesse, Michael↗

Project No. 5: Evaluating Dredged Materials for Energy Storage Applications with Economic and Carbon Benefits (CRADA Final Report)

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is committed to supporting the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) through its VISION2030 strategic plan. As a clean energy provider, NYPA is seeking to demonstrate leadership in every aspect of its business by taking a comprehensive approach to sustainability management and integrating sustainability principles into day-to-day decision-making. This effort includes planning for climate resilience through projects that mitigate climate risk in our operations and prioritize climate opportunities in our investments. Canal Corporation, a subsidiary of NYPA, is charged with maintaining minimum water depths for navigation in the Cayuga-Seneca, Champlain, Erie and Oswego Canals. In order to do so, an average volume of 280,000 cubic yards of sediment is dredged annually and held in Upland Disposal Sites (UDS) permitted by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The required on-land storage at UDSes are nearing capacity, and disposal opportunities are costly, both economically and environmentally. Novel energy storage technology developed by NREL provides an opportunity for meeting NYPA's need to find reuse options for dredged materials and commitment to providing clean reliable energy. This would also support NYPA's goal of developing 300 MW of utility scale storage and enabling 150 MW of distributed storage by 2030. NREL will consult NYPA on the environmental and economic impact of reusing dredged materials as useful commodities such as energy storage media, construction sand or industrial uses. Test and material characterization methods will be based on current NREL storage material characterization approaches. NREL worked with NYPA on sample preparation, material testing, test results analysis. Test and material characterization methods were based on current NREL storage material characterization approaches. The team analyzed the environmental and economic impact of reusing dredged materials as useful commodities such as energy storage media, construction sand or industrial uses. The test and analysis works have achieved the project goal in characterizing NYPA dredging materials and verifying their various uses including construction sand and thermal energy storage media. Uses of dredging materials as useful materials will bring economic and environmental benefits and avoid disposal costs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Igiugig Site Visit Report

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) team conducted a site visit during January 23-25, 2019 with the Igiugig Village Council (IVC) and other stakeholders to assist the community of Igiugig in refining their long-term energy strategy. The agenda included a tour of the village, data collection, presentations, long-term visioning exercises, identification of energy scenarios, and a school presentation. Participants in the site visit activities spanned a range of local, regional, government, and industry participation. There were 24 attendees at the all-day community workshop on Thursday, January 24th, with participants from the IVC, NREL, Bristol Bay Native Association (BBNA), Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC), Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska Energy Authority, Intergrid, ORPC, Deer Stone Consulting, the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference, and University of Alaska Fairbanks - Alaska Center for Energy and Power. Igiugig is a well-organized rural Alaskan community, with a leadership team that appears to have broad community support. The use of consensus-based decision making is one tangible example of how the leadership team actively invokes and promotes community-focused thinking. The NREL team observed anecdotal evidence of how this approach seems to be strengthening the community: active participation in the visioning exercise, a student hosted fund-raiser dinner at the school, a clean and organized landfill, and well-maintained roads and buildings. Igiugig has wind, solar, and river hydrokinetic resources readily available within the community. Wind has shown to be a promising resource in the region, and has been integrated into microgrids around the state, but the community has had mixed success with wind technologies: some devices failed quickly and others continue to operate. The economics of solar energy are improving in Alaska, and economical solar projects are being installed around the state. Considering that economic activity in Igiugig peaks during the summer sport fishing season, solar could prove to be a valuable supplement to the electrical system. Igiugig has been a test site for two different river hydrokinetic devices, and they have began a third project to operate ORPC's RivGen device, which is delivering valuable device performance data, operations and maintenance experience, and design refinement information. Already, this device has made over 7-million revolutions, and delivered over 8 MWh of power to the community. Igiugig's river resource is fairly unique because it is available year-round and has the potential to provide reliable base-load power for months at a time. A preliminary investigation of this diverse resource mix suggests that Igiugig could achieve very high levels (70% or more) of annual renewable generation contributions. A critical step in pursuing this path is identifying the mix of energy assets (generation and storage) that best meets the community's budget, needs, and goals. The assets that a community installs early in their grid-modernization initiative can constrain the options that are economical at later stages, which may lead to sub-optimal solutions. This is where technical and economic analysis of potential scenarios (i.e., distinct mixes of energy assets) can be useful in identifying the most promising pathways so that a community can make informed and strategic decisions about the assets they install. These analyses are most accurate and informative when they are based on actual technology performance and cost data. As the RivGen project continues to operate and generate this data, we will be better prepared to evaluate the technology's long-term viability and to identify research areas that would improve it. Igiugig's energy projects are at the cutting edge of two intersecting technology areas: 1) deploying an operational river hydrokinetic turbine, and 2) integrating renewable energy sources to achieve very high percent renewables. If these projects are successful, the lessons learned and technologies developed could be valuable for other microgrids around the world. Igiugig's unique resource mix make it an ideal location for this work, and the community's organizational strength make it an ideal partner in this ground-breaking work. Ongoing support for technical assistance to manage and address technical challenges along the way will maximize the probability of project success.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

ESnet Requirements Review Program Through the IRI Lens: A Meta-Analysis of Workflow Patterns Across DOE Office of Science Programs (Final Report)

The Department of Energy (DOE) ensures America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. The DOE’s Office of Science (SC) delivers groundbreaking scientific discoveries and major scientific tools that transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. The SC’s programs advance DOE mission science across a wide range of disciplines and have developed the research infrastructure needed to remain at the forefront of scientific discovery. The DOE SC’s world-class research infrastructure — exemplified by the 28 SC scientific user facilities — provides the research community with premier observational, experimental, computational, and network capabilities. Each user facility is designed to provide unique capabilities to advance core DOE mission science for its sponsor SC program and to stimulate a rich discovery and innovation ecosystem. Research communities gather and flourish around each user facility, bringing together diverse perspectives. A hallmark of many facilities is the large population of students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scientists who contribute as full-fledged users. These facility staff and users collaborate over years to devise new approaches to utilizing the user facility’s core capabilities. The history of the SC user facilities has many examples of wildly inventive researchers challenging operational orthodoxy to pioneer new vistas of discovery; for example, the use of the synchrotron X-ray light sources for study of proteins and other large biological molecules. This continual reinvention of the practice of science — as users and staff forge novel approaches expressed in research workflows — unlocks new discoveries and propels scientific progress. Within this research ecosystem, the high-performance computing (HPC) and networking user facilities stewarded by SC’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program play a dynamic cross-cutting role, enabling complex workflows demanding high performance data, networking, and computing solutions. The DOE SC’s three HPC user facilities and the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) high-performance research network serve all of the SC’s programs as well as the global research community. Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) conceive, build, and provide access to a range of supercomputing, advanced computing, and large-scale data-infrastructure platforms, while ESnet interconnects DOE SC research infrastructure and enables seamless exchange of scientific data. All four facilities operate testbeds to expand the frontiers of computing and networking research. Together, the ASCR facilities enterprise seeks to understand and meet the needs and requirements across SC and DOE domain science programs and priority efforts, highlighted by the formal requirements reviews (RRs) methodology. In recent years, the research communities around the SC user facilities have begun experimenting with and demanding solutions integrated with HPC and data infrastructure. This rise of integrated-science approaches is documented in many community and high-level government reports. At the dawn of the era of exascale science and the acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, there is a broad need for integrated computational, data, and networking solutions. In response to these drivers, DOE has developed a vision for an Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI): To empower researchers to meld DOE’s world-class research tools, infrastructure, and user facilities seamlessly and securely in novel ways to radically accelerate discovery and innovation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

2019 Community Involvement Report

Sandia National Laboratories is committed to being an informed, compassionate and contributing neighbor in our local communities. This commitment has been demonstrated throughout Sandia's history, and is an enduring part of our future. New Mexico faces many challenges, including one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the United States and one of the lowest educational proficiency rates. Lack of affordable housing and insufficient educational achievement are issues in the Bay Area near our Livermore site. To address the greatest challenges faced in Sandia's communities of Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA, and other remote sites, Sandia's contributions leverage resources in three critical focus areas. In 2019, National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, contributed $1.4M to our local communities, including $151K in the Livermore area.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Did you know the Lab and its first director share a birthday month? A look back at Oppenheimer’s wartime legacy through historical items in our collections

Many birthdays ago, at only 38 years old and with no previous administrative experience, J. Robert Oppenheimer accepted responsibility for a national security mission of unprecedented scale. His charge, handed down by Manhattan Project director General Leslie R. Groves, was to lead a team of the world’s foremost scientific minds in developing the first atomic bomb. Under Oppenheimer’s leadership, a community of over 6,000 scientists, engineers, and other personnel living and working at the top-secret lab in Los Alamos completed their task in only 27 months, delivering the world’s first two atomic weapons to the U.S. military. In honor of what would have been Oppenheimer’s 119th birthday (on April 22), the National Security Research Center remembers his contributions as an administrator and scientist and the scope of his legacy as the first director of the Lab through items in our unclassified collections.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Optical systems engineering - A tutorial

The paper examines the use of the systems engineering approach in the design of optical systems, noting that the use of such an approach which involves an integrated interdisciplinary approach to the development of systems is most appropriate for optics. It is shown that the high precision character of optics leads to complex and subtle effects on optical system performance, resulting from structural, thermal dynamical, control system, and manufacturing and assembly considerations. Attention is given to communication problems that often occur among users and optical engineers due to the unique factors of optical systems. It is concluded that it is essential that the optics community provide leadership to resolve communication problems and fully formalize the field of optical systems engineering.

Wyman, C. L.↗

Space Product Development: Bringing the Benefits of Space Down to Earth

The newly developed microgravity Research Program Office was created to consolidate and integrate NASA's microgravity research efforts, comprised of the microgravity Science and Applications Program and Space Product Development Program. This resulted in an integrated agency program serving the science and industrial research communities, providing leadership, management, direction and overview of all agency microgravity research activities. This paper provides an overview of NASA's microgravity Research Program, with particular emphasis on the Space Product Development Program activities, the potential economic impact and quality of life improvements resulting from this research, and future plans for commercial microgravity research in space. The goal of the Space Product Development Program is to facilitate the use of space for commercial products and services. The unique attributes of space are exploited to conduct industry driven research in the areas of crystallography, bio-systems, agriculture, electronic and non-electronic materials. Industry uses the knowledge gained from focused space research to create new products and processes, to gain economic competitive advantages, to create new jobs and improve the quality of life on earth. The objectives of the program are implemented through NASA's Commercial Space Centers, non-profit consortia of industry, academia and government, that provide the mechanism for communication and technical expert exchange between NASA and industry. Over 200 commercial research activities have been conducted by the Commercial Space Centers and their industrial affiliates over the last four and one-half years during Space Shuttle mission, as well as sounding rocket flights. The results of this research will have a significant impact on competitive products, jobs and quality of life improvements.

Allen, Rosalie W.↗

The Vulnerability, Impacts, Adaptation and Climate Services Advisory Board (VIACS AB V1.0) Contribution to CMIP6

This paper describes the motivation for the creation of the Vulnerability, Impacts, Adaptation and Climate Services (VIACS) Advisory Board for the Sixth Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), its initial activities, and its plans to serve as a bridge between climate change applications experts and climate modelers. The climate change application community comprises researchers and other specialists who use climate information (alongside socioeconomic and other environmental information) to analyze vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation of natural systems and society in relation to past, ongoing, and projected future climate change. Much of this activity is directed toward the co-development of information needed by decisionmakers for managing projected risks. CMIP6 provides a unique opportunity to facilitate a two-way dialog between climate modelers and VIACS experts who are looking to apply CMIP6 results for a wide array of research and climate services objectives. The VIACS Advisory Board convenes leaders of major impact sectors, international programs, and climate services to solicit community feedback that increases the applications relevance of the CMIP6-Endorsed Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs). As an illustration of its potential, the VIACS community provided CMIP6 leadership with a list of prioritized climate model variables and MIP experiments of the greatest interest to the climate model applications community, indicating the applicability and societal relevance of climate model simulation outputs. The VIACS Advisory Board also recommended an impacts version of Obs4MIPs (observational datasets) and indicated user needs for the gridding and processing of model output.

Vulnerability↗

Makah Tribe Strategic Energy Plan

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) connects remote and island communities, regional partners, and the DOE national laboratories to support communities as they seek to build resilience in their energy systems. The Makah Tribe faces several energy challenges, including frequent power outages and the potential for an extended outage due to an earthquake or tsunami. The Tribe joined ETIPP in 2022 to address those challenges, seeking to build energy resilience and sovereignty in the community. The Makah Tribe, Spark Northwest, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) collaborated to develop a strategic energy plan as part of the second cohort of ETIPP communities. The long-term energy vision of the Makah Tribe includes increasing energy efficiency in the community, improving energy management capacity, and developing the renewable energy generation and storage sufficient to independently power the Reservation for one year. Additionally, the ETIPP team worked with Makah leadership, staff, and community members to identify a set of community priorities, values, and goals to guide energy development as the Tribe takes the incremental steps toward their vision for energy sovereignty. Those energy values include ecosystem-based management, energy sovereignty and project ownership, workforce development and capacity, economic opportunity, community wellbeing and priorities, and emergency disaster resilience. To understand what would be needed for a year for energy independence, the PNNL team conducted an assessment to determine the current energy usage of the Tribe and also modeled several scenarios for future energy use. Using the energy usage values, the team estimated how two types of renewable energy technology, specifically locally deployed solar and small-scale wind, could contribute towards the energy independence goal. The energy baseline and resource assessment produced the following key findings:

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Medical Physics Leadership Academy Journal Club (Leadership Club) program: Two-year review in building a community of leaders

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine began the Medical Physics Leadership Academy Journal Club in the fall of 2020. The initiative was launched to provide a forum for medical physicists to learn about leadership topics using published material, discuss and reflect on the material, and consider incorporating the discussed skills into their professional practice. This report presents the framework for the MPLA Journal Club program, describes the lessons learned over the last 2 years, summarizes the data collected from attendees, and highlights the roadmap for the program moving forward.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Canadian Led X-ray Polarimeter Mission CXP

We propose a Canadian-led X-ray Polarimetry Mission (CXP), to include a scattering X-ray Polarimeter and sensitive All-Sky X-ray Monitor (ASXM). Polarimetry would provide a new observational window on black holes, neutron stars, accretion disks and jets, and the ASXM would offer sensitive monitoring of the volatile X-ray sky. The envisioned polarimeter consists of a hollow scattering beryllium cone surrounded by an annular proportional counter, in a simple and elegant design that is reliable and low-risk. It would be sensitive in the 6-30 keV band to approx. 3% polarization in approx. 30 Galactic sources and 2 AGN in a baseline 1-yr mission, and have sensitivity greater than 10 times that of the previous X-ray polarimeter flown (NASA's OSO-8, 1975-78) for most sources. This X-ray polarimeter would tackle questions like, Do black holes spin?, How do pulsars pulse?, What is the geometry of the magnetic field in accreting neutron stars? Where and how are jets produced in microquasars and AGN?, What are the geometries of many of the most famous accretion-disk systems in the sky? This will be done using a novel and until-now unexploited technique that will greatly broaden the available observational phase space of compact objects by adding to timing and spectroscopy observations of polarization fraction and position angle as a function of energy. The All-Sky X-ray Monitor would scan for transients, both as potential targets for the polarimeter but also as a service to the worldwide astronomical community. The entire CXP mission could be flown for $40- 60M CDN, according to estimates by ComDev International, and could be built entirely in Canada. It would fall well within the CSA's SmallSat envelope and would empower the growing and dynamic Canadian High-Energy Astrophysics community with world leadership in a potentially high impact niche area.

Kaspi, V.↗

Enabling the Capture and Sharing of NASA Technical Expertise Through Communities of Practice

Historically, engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had few opportunities or incentives to share their technical expertise across the Agency. Its center- and project- focused culture often meant that knowledge never left organizational and geographic boundaries. With increasingly complex missions, the closeout of the Shuttle Program, and a new generation entering the workforce, developing a knowledge sharing culture became critical. To address this need, the Office of the Chief Engineer established communities of practice on the NASA Engineering Network. These communities were strategically aligned with NASA's core competencies in such disciplines as avionics, flight mechanics, life support, propulsion, structures, loads and dynamics, human factors, and guidance, navigation, and control. This paper describes the process used to identify and develop communities, from establishing simple websites that compiled discipline-specific resources to fostering a knowledge-sharing environment through collaborative and interactive technologies. It includes qualitative evidence of improved availability and transfer of knowledge. It focuses on pivotal capabilities that increased knowledge exchange such as a custom-made Ask An Expert system, community contact lists, publication of key resources, and submission forms that allowed any user to propose content for the sites. It discusses the peer relationships that developed through the communities and the leadership and infrastructure that made them possible.

Topousis, Daria E.↗

Coordinating Council. Third Meeting: STI Strategic Plans

The NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program Coordinating Council conducts meetings after which both modified transcripts of presentations and interactive discussions are published. The theme for the November 1990 meeting was 'STI Strategic Plans'. This theme was the focus of recorded discussions by members of the council. The last section of the report presents visuals on strategic goals for the STI Information Division. NASA's vision is to be at the forefront of advancements in aeronautics, space science, and exploration. More specific NASA goals are listed followed by the STI Division mission statement. The Strategic Goals for the STI Division are outlined as follows: Implement effective management strategies, Accomplish rapid deployment of the NASA STI Network, Seek out and develop cooperative partnerships, Establish the STI Program as an integral part of the NASA R&D effort, Enhance the quality of our products and services through a focus on the customer, Build an attitude of quality throughout the enterprise, Expand the existing participant community, Assert a NASA leadership role for STI policy, and Develop a program for information science R&D. The STI division mission statement appears on the document cover as follows 'The mission of the NASA STI Program is to advance aerospace knowledge, contribute to U.S. competitiveness, and become an integral partner in NASA R&D programs to support NASA goals.'

Source record↗

MODIS Science Algorithms and Data Systems Lessons Learned

For almost 10 years, standard global products from NASA's Earth Observing System s (EOS) two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors are being used world-wide for earth science research and applications. This paper discusses the lessons learned in developing the science algorithms and the data systems needed to produce these high quality data products for the earth sciences community. Strong science team leadership and communication, an evolvable and scalable data system, and central coordination of QA and validation activities enabled the data system to grow by two orders of magnitude from the initial at-launch system to the current system able to reprocess data from both the Terra and Aqua missions in less than a year. Many of the lessons learned from MODIS are already being applied to follow-on missions.

Wolfe, Robert E.↗

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Initiatives on the Mars 2020 Science Team and Implications for NASA Planetary Science Missions

For the first time, the most recent NASA Decadal Survey for Planetary Science and Astrobiology includes an entire chapter devoted to the state of the profession[1]. Understanding that people are NASA’s greatest resource, it specifically looked into is-sues of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) to make recommendations for recruiting and retaining the best talent. It calls on both NASA leadership and the NASA community to engage with these recommendations to advance the state of the profession.

DEIA↗