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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Global drivers of local water stresses and global responses to local water policies in the United States

Abstract The rapid depletion of US groundwater resources and rising number of dying wells in the Western US brings attention to the significance of groundwater governance and sustainability restrictions. However, such restrictions on groundwater withdrawals are likely to generate spillover effects causing further environmental stresses in other locations and adding to the complexity of sustainability challenges. The goal of this paper is to improve our understanding of the implications of growing global food demand for local sustainability stresses and the implications of local sustainability policies for local, regional, and global food production, land use, and prices. We employ SIMPLE-G-US (Simplified International Model of agricultural Prices, Land use, and the Environment—Gridded version for the United States) to distangle the significance or remote changes in population and income for irrigation and water resources in the US. Then we examine the local-to-global impacts of potential US groundwater sustainability policies. We find that developments in international markets are significant, as more than half of US sustainability stresses by 2050 are caused by increased commodity demand from abroad. Furthermore, a US sustainable groundwater policy can cause overseas spillovers of US production, thereby potentially contributing to environmental stresses elsewhere, even as groundwater stress in the US is alleviated. These unintended consequences could include deforestation due to cropland expansion, as well as degradation in water quality due to intensification of production in non-targeted areas.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ten Years of VIIRS Land Surface Temperature Product Validation

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been operationally produced for a decade since the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) launched in October 2011. A comprehensive evaluation of its accuracy and precision will be helpful for product users in climate studies and atmospheric models. In this study, the VIIRS LST is validated with ground observations from multiple high-quality radiation networks, including six stations from the Surface Radiation budget (SURFRAD) network, two stations from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), and 13 stations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) network, to evaluate its performance over various land-cover types. The VNP21A1 LST was validated against the same ground observations as a reference. The results yield a close agreement between the SNPP VIIRS LST and ground LSTs with a bias of -0.4 K and a RMSE of 1.96 K over six SURFRAD sites; a bias of -0.2 K and a RMSE of 1.93 K over two BSRN sites; and a bias of -0.1 K and a RMSE of 1.7 K over the 13 ARM sites. The time series of the LST errors over individual sites indicate seasonal cycles. The data anomaly over the BSRN site in Cabauw and the SURFRAD site in Desert Rock is revealed and discussed in this study. In addition, a method using Landsat-8 data is applied to quantify the heterogeneity level of each ground station and the results provide promising insights. The validation results demonstrate the maturity of the JPSS VIIRS LST products and their readiness for various application studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Using taxa-based approaches to delineate stream macroinvertebrate assemblage responses to stressor gradients in modified alluvial agroecosystems

Alluvial plain landscapes are some of the most agriculturally productive lands in the world but often have modified stream ecosystems due to cultivation history. This context requires consideration when establishing water quality management goals. We analyzed state water quality databases to demonstrate that Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) ecoregion streams have elevated specific conductivity (SC) and nutrients and lower macroinvertebrate local and regional taxa pools compared to streams in other ecoregions, potentially reducing the efficacy of traditional biomonitoring approaches within the region. To overcome these challenges, we used threshold indicator taxa analysis (TITAN) to compare macroinvertebrate assemblage responses to water quality gradients among ecoregions in Mississippi. We identified individual taxa and assemblage-level responses to increasing water quality degradation in MAP streams. Observed responses occurred at higher concentrations for SC, total organic carbon (TOC) and total phosphorus (TP), but not total nitrogen (TN) relative to other ecoregions. These responses appeared to be driven by a large proportion of indicator taxa considered tolerant or unresponsive in other ecoregions, responding negatively to increasing water quality stressors in MAP streams. Our observed assemblage-level stressor responses to WQ gradients in MAP streams demonstrate shifting tolerance in highly altered ecosystems may require adjustments to recovery expectations but also provide useful measures for monitoring improvements in regional water quality. For example, our observed macroinvertebrate assemblage response to increasing TP identified a management goal similar to guidance based on distributional analysis of water quality data within the MAP ecoregion (0.11 vs 0.128 mg L –1 ) and thus provide some biological basis for previously identified nutrient goals for the region. Our approach can guide and monitor success of nutrient reduction efforts in MAP watersheds and other alluvial plain agroecosystems where reference conditions do not exist, and local and regional taxa pools are less diverse and may not support full recovery of ecological assemblages. While our results are promising, they should also be compared with more sensitive and less habitat-limited biological assemblages (e.g., algae or bacteria) to better understand complex ecological responses to best management practices designed to increase sustainability of high production agricultural regions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Registration of ‘Independence’ switchgrass

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a valuable forage and bioenergy crop, is established more easily than other native perennial warm-season grasses, but its establishment is still slower than that of annual crops. Vigorous switchgrass establishment is crucial for achieving its full potential yield and for effectively competing with weeds for water and nutrient availability. To satisfy this demand, ‘Independence’ (Reg. no. CV-295, PI 704577) switchgrass was developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Independence was selected for establishment vigor, winter survivorship, and high biomass yield for two cycles from ‘Kanlow’. Here, it is characterized by rapid establishment, robust seedling growth, and the capacity to achieve peak production by the second year. Independence is well adapted to USDA hardiness zones 5b–7b. In field experiments conducted from 2016 to 2017, averaged over seven locations and all years, Independence annually yielded 13 Mg ha –1 of biomass, outperforming ‘Cave-in-Rock’ by 31%, ‘Liberty’ by 15%, ‘Shawnee’ by 42%, ‘Summer’ by 81%, and ‘Sunburst’ by 129%. In wet marginal sites in Illinois from 2020 to 2023, Independence exhibited an average biomass yield of 12 Mg ha –1 , outperforming Shawnee by 31%, Liberty by 27%, and Kanlow by 19%, indicating its potential use on less productive land for annual crops. Independence was publicly released by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in October 2021.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ecologically-Informed Precision Conservation: A framework for increasing biodiversity in intensively managed agricultural landscapes with minimal sacrifice in crop production

Conservation actions are urgently needed to tackle biodiversity loss in intensively managed agricultural landscapes. Production lands are usually heterogeneous and contain low-yield areas that can be set aside for biodiversity conservation without serious yield losses. Here, we introduce Ecologically-Informed Precision Conservation, a framework that integrates yield mapping and ecological theory to select the best areas to create new set-asides while ensuring high crop yields at the farm/landscape level. Long-term yield maps can be generated using globally available satellite data and basic information on field/farm crop yield from farmers. Ecological principles are then used to select the subset of areas with the highest potential for biodiversity conservation by prioritising those that increase connectivity, maximise habitat heterogeneity and decrease landscape grain size. Here, the created non-crop habitats can be permanent and thus ensure biodiversity support over time. In addition, agricultural management efficiency can be enhanced by improving field shapes. The framework provides the basis for a practical, user-friendly tool that informs all interested stakeholders on how to rationalise existing agricultural landscapes using already-existing farming systems and available technologies. High cost-effectiveness from an economic and conservation perspective, along with the creation of heterogeneous non-crop habitats, make our framework a promising solution to re-design agricultural landscapes.

Precision agriculture↗
DOE OSTI2020

Risk to ecological resources following remediation can be due mainly to increased resource value of successful restoration: A case study from the Department of Energy's Hanford Site

Several nations are faced with the need to remediate large contaminated sites following World War II, the Cold War, and abandoned industrial sites, and to return them to productive land uses. In the United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) has the largest cleanup challenge, and its Hanford Site in the state of Washington has the most extensive and most expensive cleanup task. Ideally, the risk to ecological resources on remediation sites is evaluated before, during, and after remediation, and the risk from, or damage to, ecological resources from contaminants should be lower following remediation. In this paper, we report the risk to ecological resources before, during, and as a consequence of remediation on contaminated units requiring cleanup, and then examine the causes for changes in risk by evaluating 56 cleanup evaluation units (EUs) at the Hanford Site. In this case, remediation includes a restoration phase. In general, the risk to ecological and eco-cultural resources is currently not discernible or low at most contaminated units, increases during remediation, and decreases thereafter. Remediation often causes physical disruption to ecosystems as it reduces the risk from exposure to contaminants. Most new remediation projects at the Hanford Site include ecological restoration. Ecological restoration results in the potential for the presence of higher quality resources after remediation than currently exists on these contaminated lands and facilities. Although counter-intuitive, our evaluation of the risk to ecological resources following remediation indicated that a significant percentage of units (61%) will be at increased risk in the post-remediation period. This increased risk is due to DOE's successful remediation and restoration that results in a higher percent of native vegetation and higher ecological value on the sites in the post-remediation period than before. These newly-created resources can then be at risk from post-remediation activities. Risks to these new higher quality resources include the potential for spread of invasive species and of noxious grasses used in previous cleanup actions, disruption of ecosystems (including those with state or federally listed species and unique ecosystems), compaction of soil, use of pesticides to control invasive species, and the eventual need for continued monitoring activities. Thus, by greatly improving the existing habitat and health of eco-receptors, and maintaining habitat corridors between high quality habitats, the ecological resources in the post-remediated units are at risk unless care is taken to protect them. Many of the negative effects of both remediation and future monitoring (or other future land uses) can be avoided by planning and management early in the remediation process. We suggest DOE and other agencies convene a panel of managers, remediation scientists, regulators, environmental and ecological scientists, Native Americans, economists, and the public to develop a generic list of performance metrics for the restoration phase of remediation, including evaluation of success, which could be applied across the DOE complex.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

DSCOVR/EPIC-derived global hourly and daily downward shortwave and photosynthetically active radiation data at 0.1° × 0.1° resolution

Downward shortwave radiation (SW) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) play crucial roles in Earth system dynamics. Spaceborne remote sensing techniques provide a unique means for mapping accurate spatiotemporally continuous SW–PAR, globally. However, any individual polar-orbiting or geostationary satellite cannot satisfy the desired high temporal resolution (sub-daily) and global coverage simultaneously, while integrating and fusing multisource data from complementary satellites/sensors is challenging because of co-registration, intercalibration, near real-time data delivery and the effects of discrepancies in orbital geometry. The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on board the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), launched in February 2015, offers an unprecedented possibility to bridge the gap between high temporal resolution and global coverage and characterize the diurnal cycles of SW–PAR globally. In this study, we adopted a suite of well-validated data-driven machine-learning models to generate the first global land products of SW–PAR, from June 2015 to June 2019, based on DSCOVR/EPIC data. The derived products have high temporal resolution (hourly) and medium spatial resolution (0.1°×0.1°), and they include estimates of the direct and diffuse components of SW–PAR. We used independently widely distributed ground station data from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), the Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD), NOAA's Global Monitoring Division and the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program to evaluate the performance of our products, and we further analyzed and compared the spatiotemporal characteristics of the derived products with the benchmarking Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Synoptic (CERES) data. We found both the hourly and daily products to be consistent with ground-based observations (e.g., hourly and daily total SWs have low biases of -3.96 and -0.71 W m -2 and root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) of 103.50 and 35.40 W m -2 , respectively). The developed products capture the complex spatiotemporal patterns well and accurately track substantial diurnal, monthly, and seasonal variations in SW–PAR when compared to CERES data. They provide a reliable and valuable alternative for solar photovoltaic applications worldwide and can be used to improve our understanding of the diurnal and seasonal variabilities of the terrestrial water, carbon and energy fluxes at various spatial scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

wrfhydro

This dataset contains a continuous WRF-Hydro simulation for the CACTI field campaign. The simulated period is 1-Aug-2018 through 21-Mar-2019 with hourly model output. The simulation is made with two grids that match the two outer LASSO-CACTI grids, with 7.5 km and 2.5 km grid spacings. Forcing data for WRF-Hydro was obtained from the ERA5-Land product. Values from this WRF-Hydro simulation were used to initialize the soil state for each LASSO-CACTI simulation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Global Impacts of Enhancing Domestic Ecosystem Carbon Sinks (WBS#1.1.1.7/1.1.1.8)

This project's objective is to quantify the potential impacts of domestic terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink expansions on global agriculture production, land use, and emissions. It addresses the EERE decarbonization of agriculture pillar by assessing the impact of varying carbon prices on future U.S. and global agricultural practices and the resulting domestic availability of land for energy and commodity crops to meet U.S. energy and global food-feed demand and targets.

carbon dioxide removal↗
DOE OSTI2022

Lignin-first biorefining of Nordic poplar to produce cellulose fibers could displace cotton production on agricultural lands

Here, we show that lignin-first biorefining of poplar can enable the production of dissolving cellulose pulp that can produce regenerated cellulose, which could substitute cotton. These results in turn indicate that agricultural land dedicated to cotton could be reclaimed for food production by extending poplar plantations to produce textile fibers. Based on climate-adapted poplar clones capable of growth on marginal lands in the Nordic region, we estimate an environmentally sustainable annual biomass production of ~11 tonnes/ha. At scale, lignin-first biorefining of this poplar could annually generate 2.4 tonnes/ha of dissolving pulp for textiles and 1.1 m 3 biofuels. Life cycle assessment indicates that, relative to cotton production, this approach could substantially reduce water consumption and identifies certain areas for further improvement. Overall, this work highlights a new value chain to reduce the environmental footprint of textiles, chemicals, and biofuels while enabling land reclamation and water savings from cotton back to food production.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Contrasting biological production trends over land and ocean

Terrestrial and marine ecosystems constitute the primary components of the Earth’s biosphere, yet their photosynthetic productions are typically studied separately, which limits understanding of planetary carbon uptake and biosphere health. Here, in this study, using multiple satellite-derived products, we identify contrasting net primary production (NPP) trends between land and ocean, probably reflecting their differential sensitivity to climate warming, especially in tropical regions. Planetary NPP shows an overall increase of 0.11 ± 0.13 PgC yr −1 (P = 0.05) from 2003 to 2021, driven by a significant terrestrial enhancement of 0.20 ± 0.07 PgC yr −1 (P < 0.001) and partially offset by an oceanic decline of −0.12 ± 0.12 PgC yr −1 (P = 0.07). While land contributes to the strong upwards NPP trend, the interannual variability in global NPP is predominantly driven by the ocean, especially during strong El Niño–Southern Oscillation events. Our findings highlight the resilience and potential vulnerability of biosphere primary productivity in a warming climate, calling for integrated land–ocean monitoring and assessment to support climate mitigation initiatives.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Opportunities for green hydrogen production with land-based wind in the United States

Hydrogen (H 2 ) is an efficient energy carrier and storage mechanism that can supply both stationary and transport energy demand. Rapidly declining renewable energy generation costs; technology innovations in wind, solar, battery storage, and electrolysis; and a global push for more sustainable and secure energy have driven increased interest in green H 2 production. In this study, we develop an H 2 scenario analysis tool to assist in rapid, high-resolution insights into future, green H 2 pathways to achieve policy goals and market competitiveness. Using this tool, we estimate H 2 production and costs for U.S., off-grid scenarios given varying policy and cost scenarios from 2025–2035. Results indicate that achieving economically competitive green H 2 production (below $\$$2/kg) is possible in 2030 with no policy incentives (one site achieves this target), while increasing policy support to include wind and green H 2 production tax credits enables widespread economic viability sooner, with sub-$\$$2/kg LCOH targets achieved by 2025 and 51.7% of sites achieving this target by 2035. Maximizing policy support through prevailing wage and apprenticeship credit multipliers enable widespread economic viability, including sub-$\$$2/kg of green H 2 by 2025 and even negative pricing by 2035. Regions with lowest LCOH values correspond to high wind resource areas and capacity factors. Achieving decarbonization goals with green H 2 depends on technology cost reductions and policy support, with a maximum average LCOH reduction of $\$$23.10 between no and maximum policy support scenarios, and a maximum average LCOH reduction of $\$$25.86 between current, conservative technology costs and 2035 projected technology cost assumptions.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Carbon Calculator for Land Use and Land Management Change from Biofuels Production (CCLUB)

The Carbon Calculator for Land Use and Land Management Change from Biofuels Production (CCLUB) has been developed as an integral part of Argonne National Laboratory’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model to analyze greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use change (LUC) and land management change (LMC) in the context of overall biofuel life-cycle analysis (LCA).

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Available land for cellulosic biofuel production: a supply chain centered comparison

The land that is potentially available to produce dedicated cellulosic bioenergy crops, often referred to as 'marginal' land, depends heavily on the underlying assumptions used to classify and identify it. In this study we compare three definitions and types of marginal land to identify the interactions between the bioenergy landscape and the logistics networks needed for the biofuel supply chain. Typical studies of the scale, cost, and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of cellulosic biofuel take a land-centered approach which may neglect to account for the trade-offs between establishing bioenergy crops and the supply chain design decisions needed to allow those crops to be converted to liquid fuel. A mathematical programming approach is used to minimize the total annualized cost of a large-scale field-to-product system producing bioethanol in the USA midwest. Results show that a high concentration of marginal land leads to efficient systems and that the bioenergy landscape design becomes increasingly important with a higher emphasis on GHG mitigation. Additionally, targeted landscape design (including fertilization) with a focus on fields with high soil carbon sequestration potential can greatly reduce the system-wide GHG emissions for only a small increase in the unit cost of biofuel.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Carbon Calculator for Land Use and Land Management Change from Biofuels Production (CCLUB)

The Carbon Calculator for Land Use and Land Management Change from Biofuels Production (CCLUB) has been developed as an integral part of Argonne National Laboratory’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model to analyze greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use change (LUC) and land management change (LMC) in the context of overall biofuel life-cycle analysis (LCA). CCLUB relies on i) biofuel production scenarios, ii) LUC and LMC scenarios, and iii) emission factors (EF) to generate GHG emissions of LUC and LMC for biofuel production in gram carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per MJ of fuel produced. Figure 1 outlines the calculations and data sources within CCLUB that are described in this document and Table 1 identifies where these data are stored and used within CCLUB, which is built in Microsoft Excel.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Supplementary spatial data for Available Land for Cellulosic Biofuel Production: A Supply Chain Centered Comparison

Collection of the underlying spatially explicit data for Available Land for Cellulosic Biofuel Production: A Supply Chain Centered Comparison. Includes raw biomass yield data and soil carbon sequestration potential data for three types of marginal land for the USA midwest at the field level including field areas. Collection also includes raw land rasters for the three types of marginal land, model parameters for the MILP model used in the study, and results used to generate the figures in the paper.

bioenergy landscape design↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impacts of Forest Management-Induced Productivity Changes on Future Land Use and Land Cover Change

Anthropogenic land use and land cover change (LULCC) is projected to continue in the future. However, the influence of forest management on forest productivity change and subsequent LULCC projections remains under-investigated. This study explored the impacts of forest management-induced change in forest productivity on LULCC throughout the 21st century. Specifically, we developed a framework to softly couple the Global Change Analysis Model and Global Timber Model to consider forest management-induced forest productivity change and projected future LULCC across the five Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). We found future increases in forest management intensity overall drive the increase of forest productivity. The forest management-induced forest productivity change shows diverse responses across all SSPs, with a global increase from 2015 to 2100 ranging from 3.9% (SSP3) to 8.8% (SSP1). This further leads to an overall decrease in the total area with a change of land use types, with the largest decrease under SSP1 (-7.5%) and the smallest decrease under SSP3 (-0.7%) in 2100. Among land use types, considering forest management-induced change significantly reduces the expansion of managed forest and also reduces the loss of natural land in 2100 across SSPs. This suggests that ignoring forest management-induced forest productivity change underestimates the efficiency of wood production, overestimates the managed forest expansion required to meet the future demand, and consequently, potentially introduces uncertainties into relevant analyses, for example, carbon cycle and biodiversity. Thus, we advocate to better account for the impacts of forest management in future LULCC projections.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗