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Results for “Sustainable development goals”

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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Machine Learning Models for Mapping Groundwater Pollution Risk: Advancing Water Security and Sustainable Development Goals in Georgia, USA

The widespread use of pesticides, such as atrazine and malathion, in agricultural systems raises significant concerns regarding the contamination of groundwater, which serves as a critical resource for drinking water. This study applies machine learning techniques to predict the concentrations of atrazine and malathion in groundwater across Georgia, USA, using 2019 data. A Random Forest classifier was employed to integrate various environmental and demographic factors, including pesticide application rates, precipitation, lithology, and population density, to predict pesticide contamination in groundwater. The models demonstrated high training accuracies of 100% and moderate average testing accuracy of 55% for atrazine and 60% for malathion across five iterations. The low test accuracy of the model, ranging from 50% to 75%, is likely due to overfitting, which can be attributed to the small dataset size and the complex nature of pesticide-contamination patterns, making it challenging for the model to generalize to unseen data. Feature importance analysis revealed that average pesticide usage emerged as the most influential factor for atrazine, while aquifer lithology and precipitation played crucial roles in both models. These results provide valuable insights into the dynamics of pesticide contamination, highlighting areas at greater risk of contamination. The findings underscore the importance of integrating environmental, geological, and agricultural variables for more effective groundwater management and sustainable agricultural practices, contributing to the protection of water resources and public health.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Microorganisms, climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals: progress and challenges

The forthcoming UN summit marks the halfway point to 2030 and presents an important milestone in global efforts to address various challenges, including those related to climate change and environmental preservation. The UN SDGs include several related to microorganisms and climate change. Importantly, microbiology research is key to understanding and mitigating climate change, and in maintaining the health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (SDGs 13, 14 and 15).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Microbial biotechnology in the effort to end hunger

The UN has set a series of goals with the aim of fostering sustainability on our planet. Among these goals, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 aims to END HUNGER by 2030. However, under the current global conditions, this will be difficult to achieve without significant efforts by governments and other stakeholders. It is imperative that we prioritize the increase of agricultural production while simultaneously exploring sustainable resources for crop production (Sessitsch et al., 2018). Technologies such as precision agriculture, genetic engineering of crops and the use of bioinoculants and biopesticides hold tremendous potential to enhance crop production.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Accomplishments and challenges of metrics for sustainable energy, population, and economics as illustrated through three countries

The global Sustainable Development Goals require meeting multiple objectives on energy, population, economics, and ecosystems. Development and economic growth as defined by current metrics requires energy inputs, yet energy growth can also increase negative impacts on natural systems. To achieve sustainable development goals, policymakers and technologists will need energy system solutions that consider not only cost and efficiency but also population, quality of life, natural ecosystems, and culture that accommodates different starting points and transition timelines of various countries. To explore possible approaches, this perspectives paper summarizes energy in the context of economic growth and population, illustrating concepts through the diverse status and direction of three countries--Japan, the United States, and Bangladesh--as potential views into a post-growth sustainable future. Four fundamental questions on long-term energy development are identified, related to optimal energy use per capita, sustainable global energy demand, managing an energy transition with stable population, and the need for generalizable approaches across countries.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Power Supply Options for the Marpi Landfill, Saipan: Feasibility Study

The Marpi Landfill, located on the northern end of the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is powered by an on-site diesel generator that only operates when the landfill is open and staffed. The CNMI Office of Planning and Development (OPD) aspires to provide the Marpi Landfill with 24-hour power availability despite its remote location and to increase the use of sustainable energy within the CNMI. CNMI has a 20% target for renewable energy consumption, as documented in Sustainable Development Goal #7 in the Comprehensive Sustainable Development Plan (OPD 2021) and the renewable portfolio standard (GPO 2014). To accomplish these goals, the U.S. Department of Energy, through its Interagency Reimbursable Work Agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, funded this feasibility study to assess and prioritize power supply options for the landfill. The availability of solar and wind resources varies seasonally, as does the load. A BESS can help to balance mismatches between generation and load on short (hourly or daily) timescales, but not across seasons. The microgrid scenarios evaluated for Marpi consider options for technology combinations that will both meet the load and utilize available resources, despite the challenge presented by higher loads and lower solar and wind availability during the rainy season, depicted in Figure ES-2. The seven scenarios evaluated are summarized in Table ES-1. Each scenario’s configuration was optimized to include component capacities that reduce capital and operating costs, meet the load, and minimize carbon emissions, as feasible. The costs and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) shown do not assume the use of any grant funding or incentives, although these options were also evaluated. To assist with decision-making, a prioritization matrix (Table ES-3) was created to compare the microgrid scenarios evaluated in this feasibility study according to various stakeholder priorities. The prioritization metrics were chosen based on discussions with OPD and will be finalized through stakeholder feedback. The scenarios were given a score between 1 and 7 for each prioritization metric (the lower the score, the higher the priority), and total scores were calculated using assigned weights based on the relative priority of each metric. The total scores were then ranked to produce a prioritized list of microgrid scenarios based on the metrics most important to the project stakeholders. As shown, scenario 4 (100 kW of solar PV, a 75 kW/300 kWh BESS, and 160 kW of diesel generation) ranks highest.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Power Supply Options for the Marpi Landfill, Saipan: Comprehensive Feasibility Study

The Marpi Landfill (“Marpi” or “the landfill”), located on the northern end of the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is powered by a single on-site diesel generator that only operates when the landfill is open and staffed. The project team, composed of representatives of the Department of Public Works and the Office of Planning and Development (OPD), aspires to provide the Marpi Landfill with 24-hour power availability despite its remote location to increase the use of sustainable energy and to ensure environmentally compliant landfill operations. This is consistent with the sustainable development goals documented in the 2021–2030 Comprehensive Sustainable Development Plan (OPD 2021), including Goal #12 (ensure environmentally compliant waste management facilities) and Goal #7 (renewable energy deployment). Further, the CNMI has a 20% target for renewable energy consumption by 2030, as documented in the 2021–2030 Comprehensive Sustainable Development Plan (OPD 2021) and the renewable portfolio standard (Public Law 18-62). To accomplish these goals, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, through its Interagency Reimbursable Work Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, funded a feasibility study and follow-up study in 2023–2024 to assess and prioritize power supply options for the landfill. This report combines the results from both feasibility studies.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Incorporating energy justice and equity objectives in power system models

Ensuring an equitable energy transition requires models and tools that can account for equity and energy justice goals. Power system models (PSMs) are widely used throughout industry, government, and academia to simulate or optimize the operations and planning of current and future electricity systems under different scenarios, parameter assumptions and policy frameworks. These models are important tools that allow users to understand how the power system may evolve under different future conditions, but importantly, they are also used to inform policy implementation and investment decisions across all aspects of the power system. However, existing models seldom include energy justice considerations and therefore energy justice priorities are not reflected in the policies and other decision-making processes that are informed by these models. The purpose of this review is to provide a framework that energy modelers can draw upon to integrate energy justice and equity goals into PSMs. To this end, 99 papers that examine the intersection of energy justice and power system models are summarized and ten core aspects of the power system that can impact energy justice outcomes, and therefore require new modeling approaches, are identified. This review then establishes key current practices, challenges, and opportunities associated with capturing energy justice considerations in power system models across these ten aspects. This review concludes by proposing four key research directions that should be pursued to improve the representation of energy justice and equity in power system modeling. Finally, this review also addresses challenges raised by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, which aims to ensure affordable energy access to everyone and Sustainable Development Goal 13, which aims to take urgent action to address climate change.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Latent demand for electricity in sub-Saharan Africa: A review

Universal access to electricity is an essential part of sub-Saharan Africa's path to development. With the United Nations setting Goal 7 of its sustainable development goals to be universal access to clean, reliable and affordable electricity, substantial research efforts have been made to optimize electricity supply based on projected demand in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Our study reviews the literature on electricity demand, with a specific focus on latent demand (i.e., electricity demand that would exist if the necessary techno-economic conditions were met) in SSA. We found that out of 57 electricity demand papers reviewed, only 3 (5%) incorporated latent demand in their electricity demand projections. Furthermore, majority of the literature on electricity consumption and demand estimation in SSA use econometric models to identify determinants of electricity consumption and project future demand. We find that population density, urbanization, household income, electricity price, market value of crops and availability of natural resources to be significant determinants of electricity consumption in SSA. We conclude the review by proposing a methodology, and providing an initial proof of concept, for more accurately projecting latent demand in sub-Saharan Africa. Incorporating latent demand in electrification models would help inform energy sector stakeholders (e.g., investors and policymakers) about which sectors and geographic locations hold potential for wealth creation via electricity access.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Agrivoltaics as a climate-smart and resilient solution for midday depression in photosynthesis in dryland regions

Global projections of increased temperature and aridity have exacerbated concerns over our potential to achieve Sustainable Development Goals associated with food, energy, and water futures. We evaluated the implications of an agrivoltaics approach—combining agriculture and solar photovoltaics—on the microclimate growing conditions of crop species. While agrivoltaics is being explored globally for its potential to reduce soil evaporation rates and impact yield, empirical research on the mechanistic drivers of the potential for agrivoltaics is needed. Agrivoltaics mitigated the midday depression in photosynthesis experienced by crops grown in hot and arid environments, which led to reduced water stress, equal or greater daily carbon assimilation, and equal or greater yield across all crops. Our findings indicate agrivoltaics could be a climate-smart agricultural approach, and the diurnal resolution of our data points towards mechanisms for optimizing agrivoltaic designs to align with Sustainable Development Goals for food and energy production and water savings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Developing a common approach for classifying building stock energy models

Buildings contribute 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, strategies that can substantially reduce emissions from the building stock are key components of broader efforts to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development goals. Models that represent the energy use of the building stock at scale under various scenarios of technology deployment have become essential tools for the development and assessment of such strategies. Within the past decade, the capabilities of building stock energy models have improved considerably, while model transferability and sharing has increased. Given these advancements, a new scheme for classifying building stock energy models is needed to facilitate communication of modeling approaches and the handling of important model dimensions. In this article, we present a new building stock energy model classification framework that leverages international modeling expertise from the participants of the International Energy Agency's Annex 70 on Building Energy Epidemiology. Drawing from existing classification studies, here we propose a multi-layer quadrant scheme that classifies modeling techniques by their design (top-down or bottom-up) and degree of transparency (black-box or white-box); hybrid techniques are also addressed. The quadrant scheme is unique from previous classification approaches in its non-hierarchical organization, coverage of and ability to incorporate emerging modeling techniques, and treatment of additional modeling dimensions. The new classification framework will be complemented by a reporting protocol and online registry of existing models as part of ongoing work in Annex 70 to increase the interpretability and utility of building stock energy models for energy policy making.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Defining pathways to healthy sustainable urban development

Goals and pathways to achieve sustainable urban development have multiple interlinkages with human health and wellbeing. However, these interlinkages have not been examined in depth in recent discussions on urban sustainability and global urban science. This paper fills that gap by elaborating in detail the multiple links between urban sustainability and human health and by mapping research gaps at the interface of health and urban sustainability sciences. As researchers from a broad range of disciplines, we aimed to: 1) define the process of urbanization, highlighting distinctions from related concepts to support improved conceptual rigour in health research; 2) review the evidence linking health with urbanization, urbanicity, and cities and identify cross-cutting issues; and 3) highlight new research approaches needed to study complex urban systems and their links with health. This novel, comprehensive knowledge synthesis addresses issue of interest across multiple disciplines. Our review of concepts of urban development should be of particular value to researchers and practitioners in the health sciences, while our review of the links between urban environments and health should be of particular interest to those outside of public health. We identify specific actions to promote health through sustainable urban development that leaves no one behind, including: integrated planning; evidence-informed policy-making; and monitoring the implementation of policies. We also highlight the critical role of effective governance and equity-driven planning in progress towards sustainable, healthy, and just urban development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2020

Agriculture's Historic Twin-Challenge Toward Sustainable Water Use and Food Supply for All

A sustainable and just future, envisioned by the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, puts agricultural systems under a heavy strain. The century-old quandary to provide ever-growing human populations with sufficient food takes on a new dimension with the recognition of environmental limits for agricultural resource use. To highlight challenges and opportunities toward sustainable food security in the twenty first century, this perspective paper provides a historical account of the escalating pressures on agriculture and freshwater resources alike, supported by new quantitative estimates of the ascent of excessive human water use. As the transformation of global farming into sustainable forms is unattainable without a revolution in agricultural water use, water saving and food production potentials are put into perspective with targets outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The literature body and here-confirmed global estimates of untapped opportunities in farm water management indicate that these measures could sustainably intensify today's farming systems at scale. While rigorous implementation of sustainable water withdrawals (SDG 6.4) might impinge upon 5% of global food production, scaling-up water interventions in rainfed and irrigated systems could over-compensate such losses and further increase global production by 30% compared to the current situation (SDG 2.3). Without relying on future technological fixes, traditional on-farm water and soil management provides key strategies associated with important synergies that needs better integration into agro-ecological landscape approaches. Integrated strategies for sustainable intensification of agriculture within planetary boundaries are a potential way to attain several SDGs, but they are not yet receiving attention from high-level development policies.

sustainable development goals↗
DOE OSTI2025

Near-infrared spectroscopy as a green analytical tool for sustainable biomass characterization for biofuels and bioproducts: An overview

Biomass, a widely used renewable energy source, requires characterization to optimize biofuel and bioproduct processes, customize feedstocks, and ensure economic and environmental sustainability. Conventional wet-chemistry methods for biomass analysis are slow, expensive, and require significant reagents and skilled personnel. In contrast, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, a faster, cost-effective, and reagent-free green technology, enables non-destructive biomass analysis with minimal sample preparation. This study provides an overview of the fundamentals of NIR spectroscopy and explores its recent applications for analyzing various biomass properties important to the biofuel and bioproduct industry. The study also critically evaluates the challenges and opportunities of using NIR spectroscopy for biomass analysis. This review aims to guide future research for rapid and high throughput characterization of biomass in the biomass industry, supporting the United Nations’ sustainable development goal (SDG) 7: producing affordable and sustainable energy.

Biofuels↗
DOE OSTI2023

Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy Sources to Achieve Net Zero Emissions

The mass generation of green energy through the pathway of Renewable Energy Sources (RES), is one of the major decisive components contributing to the concept of decarbonization. The energy sector assessment reveals that out of per kWh energy produced, renewable energy emits between 9 and 1000 gCO2 equivalent on a life-cycle basis. Contemplating the literature and the latest reports released by world-wide energy department(s), this study presents a comprehensive concept of carbon footprint, its causes and effects including major impact on biodiversity and human life. The study discusses the substantial steps taken by developing countries like India in leveraging RES for the production of energy and its progressive impact on ecology. The discussion would be inclusive of major change and transformation which has brought significant drop of 16% in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by installation of 104.9 GW of RES excluding Hydro. The appropriate steps taken forward therefore align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nation (UN) in achieving net zero emission (NZE).

decarbonization↗