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DOE OSTI2023

Impacts of non-residential solar on residential adoption decisions

Household decisions to adopt rooftop solar photovoltaics are partly driven by social influence. Previous research on solar adoption influence has focused on influence among residential peers. Here, we expand the framework of solar adoption influence by exploring the influence of non-residential installations on residential adoption decisions. We use staggered differences-in-differences to estimate non-residential influence effects using a large data sample of residential adoptions. We also critically evaluate prevailing frameworks for solar adoption influence. We find that non-residential installations are associated with accelerated residential adoption rates, on the order of 0.4 additional residential adoptions per quarter per non-residential installation. We show that non-residential systems exert a continuous, long-term influence on residential adoption decisions. We explore separate results and influence mechanisms for solar installed on commercial buildings, government buildings, and houses of worship. The results suggest that non-residential solar adopters could serve as partners in policies to “seed” residential adoption in underserved communities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

LA100 Equity Strategies

In the Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that the City of Los Angeles can achieve its ambitious goal of reliable, 100% carbon-free energy as early as 2035. While all communities will benefit from air quality and health improvements of clean energy, improving equity in participation and outcomes requires intentionally designed equity strategies. To plan for a clean energy future that benefits all Angelenos, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), NREL, and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) partnered on the LA100 Equity Strategies project. In an innovative, community-informed approach, the LA100 Equity Strategies project integrated robust social science research techniques with rigorous data analysis - and incorporated what community members themselves know is needed to achieve a more equitable energy future. The team developed effective strategies for engaging communities, funding equitable technology and infrastructure investments, expanding existing clean energy and energy assistance programs, and designing new programs and policies to enhance equity.

community↗

DOE OSTI2021

Heterospecific Neighbor Plants Impact Root Microbiome Diversity and Molecular Function of Root Fungi

Within the forest community, competition and facilitation between adjacent-growing conspecific and heterospecific plants are mediated by interactions involving common mycorrhizal networks. The ability of plants to alter their neighbor’s microbiome is well documented, but the molecular biology of plant-fungal interactions during competition and facilitation has not been previously examined. We used a common soil-plant bioassay experiment to study molecular plant-microbial interactions among rhizosphere communities associated with Pinus taeda (native host) and Populus trichocarpa (non-native host). Gene expression of interacting fungal and bacterial rhizosphere communities was compared among three plant-pairs: Populus growing with Populus , Populus with Pinus , and Pinus with Pinus . Our results demonstrate that heterospecific plant partners affect the assembly of root microbiomes, including the changes in the structure of host specific community. Comparative metatranscriptomics reveals that several species of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) and saprotrophic fungi exhibit different patterns of functional and regulatory gene expression with these two plant hosts. Heterospecific plants affect the transcriptional expression pattern of EMF host-specialists (e.g., Pinus -associated Suillus spp.) on both plant species, mainly including the genes involved in the transportation of amino acids, carbohydrates, and inorganic ions. Alteration of root microbiome by neighboring plants may help regulate basic plant physiological processes via modulation of molecular functions in the root microbiome.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Ectomycorrhizal fungi enhance pine growth by stimulating iron‐dependent mechanisms with trade‐offs in symbiotic performance

Iron (Fe) is crucial for metabolic functions of living organisms. Plants access occluded Fe through interactions with rhizosphere microorganisms and symbionts. Yet, the interplay between Fe addition and plant–mycorrhizal interactions, especially the molecular mechanisms underlying mycorrhiza-assisted Fe processing in plants, remains largely unexplored. Here, we conducted mesocosms in Pinus plants inoculated with different ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) Suillus species under conditions with and without Fe coatings. Meta-transcriptomic, biogeochemical, and X-ray fluorescence imaging analyses were applied to investigate early-stage mycorrhizal roots. While Fe addition promoted Pinus growth, it concurrently reduced mycorrhiza formation rate, symbiosis-related metabolites in plant roots, and aboveground plant carbon and macronutrient content. This suggested potential trade-offs between Fe-enhanced plant growth and symbiotic performance. However, the extent of this trade-off may depend on interactions between host plants and EMF species. Interestingly, dual EMF species were more effective at facilitating plant Fe uptake by inducing diverse Fe-related functions than single-EMF species. This subsequently triggered various Fe-dependent physiological and biochemical processes in Pinus roots, significantly contributing to Pinus growth. However, this resulted in a greater carbon allocation to roots, relatively reducing the aboveground plant carbon content. Our study offers critical insights into how EMF communities rebalance benefits of Fe-induced effects on symbiotic partners.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Frankfort 100 Solar Feasibility Study

In 2021, The city of Frankfort, Kentucky ("Frankfort," or "the City") committed to ambitious climate targets: 1. City Clean Electricity: 100% clean electricity for city government operations by the end of 2023, 2. City Clean Energy: 100% clean energy for city government operations by the end of 2030, and 3. Community Clean Energy: 100% clean energy community-wide by the end of 2040. In 2022, Frankfort partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for a Phase I study to identify pathways to achieve the City's first two goals of City Clean Electricity by 2023 and City Clean Energy by 2030 (Phase I). As recommended in the final Phase I report described (described below), NREL was asked to perform an initial feasibility study for a PV project to offset the electricity used by city government operations. This report evaluates the feasibility of utility-scale solar and identifies potential barriers.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Supporting Growth of a Skilled Workforce in the Building Energy Efficiency Industry (Final Technical Report)

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), having worked for well over a decade to develop national networks and best practices focused on attracting and training high quality workers for the clean energy industries, sought to address shortfalls in skilled workers who build, retrofit, operate, and maintain energy efficient buildings. Through this project, IREC created and promoted a Green Buildings Career Map (GBCM)—a career awareness and recruitment tool—that seeks to boost the nationwide growth of workers entering the energy efficiency (EE) industry. Working with a team of subject matter experts and our partner organizations—Building Performance Association (BPA), Building Performance Institute (BPI), Community Action Partnership (CAP), and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS)—IREC produced an interactive, engaging career map to attract and motivate individuals into pursuing careers in energy efficiency, and in support of the Weatherization Assistance Program. The GBCM was designed for a broad audience including educators, career advisors, employers, policymakers, workforce professionals, and jobseekers who may otherwise have little or no awareness of the exciting and rewarding opportunities within targeted industry sectors. Most individuals seeking careers do not know about the breadth of careers awaiting them in the built environment and the same is true for most career and guidance counselors, educators, and parents. The GBCM provides this broad audience with a vision of the myriad jobs that could lead to a long-standing career in energy efficiency. The GBCM describes diverse occupations across the EE industry, charts possible progression between those occupations, and identifies the training, skills, and credentials necessary to do them well.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

SolarAPP+ Enhancements and Commercialization (Final Technical Report)

With millions of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems expected to be installed over the next five years, the permitting and inspection processes of authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) may become overburdened, causing delays and increased costs for installed systems (Cruce et al. 2022). The central goal of this project was to automate and streamline permitting processes for distributed PV systems and complementary technologies, such as battery storage. Deploying automated permitting has been hypothesized to reduce permit review times, resulting in reduced costs and improved customer experience. This has the potential to expand the PV and PV-plus-storage market nationwide. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its project partners, including UL Solutions, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), the International Code Council (ICC), and more, developed the Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+™) software platform to reduce permit review times. NREL and its partners also collaborated with the solar industry, the building safety community, and local governments to develop SolarAPP+.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Tunable Few-Layer van der Waals Crystals and Heterostructures as Emerging Energy and Quantum Materials (Final Technical Report)

2D and layered (van der Waals) semiconductors offer extraordinary opportunities for manipulating optically excited charge carriers, many-body excitations, and non-charge based quantum numbers. To date, research has focused on a limited group of materials, mostly transition metal dichalcogenides in the monolayer limit. Other van der Waals semiconductors, and especially few-layer to multilayer crystals and their heterostructures, carry large potential for the discovery of phenomena of interest for future energy and information technologies. But they remain largely unexplored, often due to a lack of access to high-quality materials and approaches for measuring their properties at the relevant scales. The goal of this project was to develop an EPSCoR-State/National Laboratory Partnership that addresses the challenges of preparing high-quality van der Waals semiconductors and of probing their structure, composition, and especially their optoelectronic and photonic properties, near the atomic scale using electron microscopy techniques. A central component of the project was the development of advanced methods for electron microscopy and electron-excited spectroscopy, taking advantage of unique samples as well as leading capabilities and expertise at the partner institutions. Efforts to advance leading-edge techniques was supported by ancillary developments, such as precision sample preparation for electron microscopy/spectroscopy, coordinated chemical imaging, and analytical electron microscopy. Experiments in materials synthesis and technique development were closely linked to theory and computation. The results obtained under this project yielded multifaceted benefits to the involved partners and their institutions, DOE-BES, the wider scientific community, and society at large, particularly in the State of Nebraska through dividends from knowledge and human capital generated under the project.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Clean Cities and Communities: Advancing Affordable, Efficient, and Clean Transportation

Clean Cities and Communities is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) partnership to advance clean transportation nationwide. More than 75 DOE-designated Clean Cities and Communities coalitions work locally in urban, suburban, and rural communities to strengthen the nation's environment, energy security, and economic prosperity. As partners with DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), coalitions work to deploy affordable, efficient, and clean transportation; energy efficient mobility systems; and fuel-saving technologies and practices.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Advancing Affordable, Efficient, and Clean Transportation

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2022

AI-Driven Smart Community Control for Accelerating PV Adoption and Enhancing Grid Resilience

Rapid deployment of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems helps decarbonize our electricity supplies, but under certain circumstances, high-penetration PV may pose challenges to the electrical distribution grid. In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office and Building Technologies Office, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and its partners studied how flexible building loads and battery storage, when coordinated at home-level and community-level scales, can be used to address those challenges and enhance grid resilience. In this webinar, we will discuss the methodology, simulation and field pilot results, insights from partners, and lessons learned from the project.

artificial intelligence↗

DOE OSTI2023

Designing Resilient Communities: A Consequence-Based Approach for Grid Investment Report Series (Final Report)

As part of the project “Designing Resilient Communities (DRC): A Consequence-Based Approach for Grid Investment,” funded by the United States (US) Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC), Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) partnered with a variety of government, industry, and university participants to develop and test a framework for community resilience planning focused on modernization of the electric grid. This report provides a summary of the development, description, and demonstration of the resulting Resilient Community Design Framework.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Technoeconomic Prefeasibility Analysis of Behind-the-Meter Energy Resources for Punta Gorda, FL

The Energy to Communities (E2C) program is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded technical assistance program designed to provide technical support to communities transitioning to clean energy and more sustainable energy economies. One offering under E2C is the "Expert Match" technical assistance program, through which DOE national laboratories and other partners provide 40–60 hours of technical support on a topic where expert assistance is critical to the community making an informed clean energy decision.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Designing Resilient Communities: Hardware demonstration of resilience nodes concept

As part of the project “Designing Resilient Communities (DRC): A Consequence-Based Approach for Grid Investment,” funded by the United States (US) Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC), Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) is partnering with a variety of government, industry, and university participants to develop and test a framework for community resilience planning focused on modernization of the electric grid. This report provides a summary of the section of the project focused on hardware demonstration of “resilience nodes” concept.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2022

Exploring the roles of microbes in facilitating plant adaptation to climate change

Plants benefit from their close association with soil microbes which assist in their response to abiotic and biotic stressors. Yet much of what we know about plant stress responses is based on studies where the microbial partners were uncontrolled and unknown. Under climate change, the soil microbial community will also be sensitive to and respond to abiotic and biotic stressors. Thus, facilitating plant adaptation to climate change will require a systems-based approach that accounts for the multi-dimensional nature of plant–microbe–environment interactions. In this perspective, we highlight some of the key factors influencing plant–microbe interactions under stress as well as new tools to facilitate the controlled study of their molecular complexity, such as fabricated ecosystems and synthetic communities. When paired with genomic and biochemical methods, these tools provide researchers with more precision, reproducibility, and manipulability for exploring plant–microbe–environment interactions under a changing climate.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

The Role of Innovation in the Electric Utility Sector

Innovation is essential for future power systems to be safe and secure, clean and sustainable, affordable and equitable, and reliable and resilient, according to a recent National Academies report. But state regulatory reforms are needed to encourage adoption of new technologies to support evolution of the nation’s power systems.1 Berkeley Lab's report, The Role of Innovation in the Electric Utility Sector, provides consumer, labor, utility, third-party provider, and clean technology consultant perspectives on this theme. To achieve state targets for clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions, some state regulatory utility commissions are exploring new approaches to spur innovation: -For utilities, regulatory and marketing flexibility, increased funding for demonstration projects, and performance-based ratemaking including multi-year rate plans -For third parties, ways to provide utility customers with innovative products and services directly Among the questions the report addresses: 1. How are consumer advocate views evolving with respect to innovative regulatory and ratemaking approaches? 2. How can utility decarbonization and grid modernization initiatives provide opportunities for local communities and workers to receive tangible benefits and facilitate community support for siting electricity infrastructure? 3. How are electric utilities partnering with technology companies to provide innovative energy management services and sustainable energy solutions for utility customers? 4. What regulatory innovations are public utility commissions exploring to enable third-party providers to participate in the transition to a modern electric system? 5. What regulatory changes are needed to enable innovative solutions from utilities and third parties at the necessary speed and scale to meet state decarbonization goals? The report is the 13th in the Future Electric Utility Regulation series, which taps leading thinkers to tackle complex regulatory issues for electricity. 1 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. The Future of Electric Power in the United States. The National Academies Press.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Ductless Heat Pump Energy Monitoring in a Cold Climate

In 2018, the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska set the goal of reaching 80% renewable energy for heating and transportation by 2045. An important factor to help reach this goal is finding energy efficiency home heating technologies such as ductless air source heat pumps (DHPs), which rely on the local hydropower electric grid to provide space heating for an entire home or a main living area. To help residents reduce energy costs and move toward the community renewable energy goal, a team of local, state, and national partners joined to run Thermalize Juneau 2021, an energy campaign that provided education, a simplified installation process, and a bulk purchase discount. Overall, the campaign enrolled 165 participants, resulting in 75 DHP installations and over 30 energy efficiency improvements. To evaluate the reliability and energy use of the DHPs installed during the Thermalize Juneau campaign, researchers installed energy monitors on heat pumps of 14 participants and conducted interviews with homeowners. Data from two heating seasons (2021-2022 and 2022-2023) has allowed researchers to examine the accuracy of pre-campaign energy savings predictions, establish energy savings for a small group of households, and provide insights on the energy use and occupant satisfaction of DHPs which will help to inform future heat pump deployment efforts in the area.

air source heat pump↗

DOE OSTI2024

Ductless Heat Pump Energy Monitoring in a Cold Climate

In 2018, the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, set the goal of reaching 80% renewable energy for heating and transportation by 2045. An important factor to help reach this goal is energy-efficient home heating technologies such as ductless air- source heat pumps (DHPs), which rely on the local hydropower electric grid to provide space heating for an entire home or a main living area. To help residents reduce energy costs and move toward the community renewable energy goal, a team of local, state, and national partners joined together to run Thermalize Juneau 2021, an energy campaign that provided education, a simplified installation process, and a bulk purchase discount. Overall, the campaign enrolled 165 participants, resulting in 75 DHP installations and over 30 other energy efficiency improvements. To evaluate the reliability and energy use of the DHPs installed during the Thermalize Juneau campaign, researchers installed energy monitors on heat pumps of 14 participants and conducted interviews with homeowners. Data from two heating seasons (2021-2022 and 2022-2023) allowed researchers to examine the accuracy of pre-campaign energy savings predictions, establish energy savings for a small group of households, and provide insights on the energy use and occupant satisfaction of DHPs, which will help inform future heat pump deployment efforts in the area.

air source heat pump↗