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Low-Income Energy Affordability Data - LEAD Tool - 2022 Update

The Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool was created by the Better Building's Clean Energy for Low Income Communities Accelerator (CELICA) to help state and local partners understand housing and energy characteristics for the low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities they serve. The LEAD Tool provides estimated LMI household energy data based on income, energy expenditures, fuel type, housing type, and geography, which stakeholders can use to make data-driven decisions when planning for their energy goals. From the LEAD Tool website, users can also create and download customized heat-maps and charts for various geographies, housing, energy characteristics, and population demographics and educational attainment. Datasets are available for 50 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., along with their cities, counties, and census tracts, as well as tribal areas. The file below, "01. Description of Files," provides a list of all files included in this dataset. A description of the abbreviations and units used in the LEAD Tool data can be found in the file below titled "02. Data Dictionary 2022". A list of geographic regions used in the LEAD Tool can be found in files 04-11. The Low-Income Energy Affordability Data comes primarily from the 2022 U.S. Census American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Samples and is calibrated to 2022 U.S. Energy Information Administration electric utility (Survey Form-861) and natural gas utility (Survey Form-176) data. The methodology for the LEAD Tool can viewed below (3. Methodology Document). For more information, and to access the interactive LEAD Tool platform, please visit the "10. LEAD Tool Platform" resource link below. For more information on the Better Building's Clean Energy for Low Income Communities Accelerator (CELICA), please visit the "11. CELICA Website" resource below.

AMI↗

Activating Opportunity Zones for Rapid Solar+Storage Deployment in Low Income Communities (Final Report)

Millions of Texans choose their own power provider, giving them the option to have low-cost and even renewable energy delivered through their retail electric plan. However, Texans with less disposable income often pay more for electricity and have limited access to green energy and emergency backup power even though the costs of solar and wind power are at record lows and continue to decline. The Powered for Good initiative aimed to help deliver clean, affordable, 100% renewable electricity to low-income households in Texas’s Competitive Retail Areas, where households can choose their electricity provider. Objectives: The primary goal of this project was to develop and validate one or more affordable solar+storage products (i.e., priced less than of $0.14/kWh) that Retail Electricity Providers (REP) can offer to LI households. The team achieved three objectives: 1. Investigate how to best reduce electricity costs and increase availability of emergency power for LI customers; 2. Build momentum for, and facilitate an approach to, a Texas-based pilot deployment of such solar+storage products, with a goal of greatly expanding this approach to a large segment of the LI population in Texas; 3. Provide the structural framework, finance model, and roadmap to potentially increase investment of solar+storage projects in LI communities across U.S. states when modified to meet their state-specific laws and regulations. The team evaluated the market of viable solutions for low-income Texans through interviews and focus groups with professionals and residents with lived experience. The team then piloted a low-cost retail electric product. Following the pilot, the team developed educational materials, including fact sheets, a Go Green Save Green interactive guide, and an Electricity Bill Analysis Tool. The team is now working to increase power resilience and reduce energy insecurity with micro solar and storage in partnership with local entities in the Harris County area. Key Findings: Informed by Powered for Good research, including the experiences on Texas residents and electricity system experts, the Powered for Good team developed a pilot that was implemented by Energy Well Texas, a new company formed in late 2020. The pilot featured a combination of a 100% clean residential energy offering delivered through the electrical grid plus a selection of batteries, lights and a solar panel that provided participants with varying levels of backup power. For the 8 customers who submitted previous bills, the Energy Well Texas pilot reduced energy bills by about 30%. In Houston, residents earning less than 30% of Area median Income (AMI) spend an average 13% of their income on energy or about $1,555 per year. Repeating the pilot results for these residents could yield $466 in savings per customer or about 4% of their income. While this will not end energy poverty, it is a big step toward that goal. The Powered for Good and Energy Well Texas teams are currently planning their post-pilot phase of service offerings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Partnership and Pipeline Office Overview [Slides]

Partnerships ensure a strong Laboratory and support our missions. Partnerships are critical to our success as a Laboratory: community relations, colleges and universities and technical communities, regional and national economic development through industrial partners, DOE Laboratories, and other federal agencies. The Laboratory has many tools to build and enhance partnerships. The Community Programs Office in our Northern New Mexico Region has K-12 educational programs, supports teacher professional development and retention in regional elementary, middle and high schools, and provides community college engagement. The Partnerships and Pipeline Office works with the National Security Education Center (NSEC) which has broad university engagement including New Mexico universities. The Feynman Center for Innovation is involved in 'tech transfer' to innovation asset stewardship. The External Assignments Office shares LANL's technical expertise. The Student and Postdoc Program Offices build our workforce of the future.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Ambient energy for buildings: Beyond energy efficiency

The following Key Messages comprise the salient findings of this study: 1. Ambient energy (from sun, air, ground, and sky) can heat and cool buildings; provide hot water, ventilation and daylighting; dry clothes; and cook food. These services account for about three-quarters of building energy consumption and a third of total US demand. Biophilic design (direct and indirect connections with nature) is an intrinsic adjunct to ambient energy systems, and improves wellness and human performance. 2. The current strategy of electrification and energy efficiency for buildings will not meet our climate goals, because the transition to an all-renewable electric grid is too slow. Widespread adoption of ambient energy is needed. Solar-heated buildings also flatten the seasonal demand for electricity compared to all-electric buildings, reducing required production capacity and long-term energy storage. In addition, ambient-conditioned buildings improve resilience by remaining livable during power outages. 3. National policies, incentives, and marketing should be enacted to promote ambient energy use. Federal administrative priorities should reflect the importance of ambient energy for buildings. Use of ambient energy should be encouraged through existing and new building codes and standards. 4. Ambient energy system design tools are needed for architects, engineers, builders, building scientists, realtors, appraisers, and consumers. PVWatts is used over 100 million times per year for photovoltaic system design. A similar, simple, and accessible tool for ambient design is crucial. 5. Training on ambient energy is needed throughout secondary, post-secondary, and continuing education for workforce development. Currently, only about 10% of colleges teach courses on passive heating and cooling systems. 6. Ambient-conditioned buildings should be demonstrated in all US climate zones. Performance should be monitored and reported, with quantitative case studies made widely available. 7. While current technology is sufficient to build high-performance ambient buildings now, research is needed to develop new technologies to harness ambient energy more effectively and more economically. Such advancements will facilitate adoption of ambient energy technologies in a wider range of buildings, including retrofits. Examples include windows with much lower thermal losses, use of the building shell as thermal storage, alternative light-weight thermal storage systems, sky radiation cooling systems, automated controls for solar gains and passive cooling, and ground coupling.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

I ntera C hem : Exploring Excited States in Virtual Reality with Ab Initio Interactive Molecular Dynamics

InteraChem is an ab initio interactive molecular dynamics (AI-IMD) visualizer that leverages recent advances in virtual reality hardware and software, as well as the graphical processing unit (GPU)-accelerated TeraChem electronic structure package, in order to render quantum chemistry in real time. We introduce the exploration of electronically excited states via AI-IMD using the floating occupation molecular orbital-complete active space configuration interaction method. The optimization tools in InteraChem enable identification of excited state minima as well as minimum energy conical intersections for further characterization of excited state chemistry in small- to medium-sized systems. We demonstrate that finite-temperature Hartree–Fock theory is an efficient method to perform ground state AI-IMD. InteraChem allows users to track electronic properties such as molecular orbitals and bond order in real time, resulting in an interactive visualization tool that aids in the interpretation of excited state chemistry data and makes quantum chemistry more accessible for both research and educational purposes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Bioinformatic Teaching Resources – For Educators, by Educators – Using KBase, a Free, User-Friendly, Open Source Platform

Over the past year, biology educators and staff at the U.S. Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) initiated a collaborative effort to develop a curriculum for bioinformatics education. KBase is a free web-based platform where anyone can conduct sophisticated and reproducible bioinformatic analyses via a graphical user interface. Here, we demonstrate the utility of KBase as a platform for bioinformatics education, and present a set of modular, adaptable, and customizable instructional units for teaching concepts in Genomics, Metagenomics, Pangenomics, and Phylogenetics. Each module contains teaching resources, publicly available data, analysis tools, and Markdown capability, enabling instructors to modify the lesson as appropriate for their specific course. We present initial student survey data on the effectiveness of using KBase for teaching bioinformatic concepts, provide an example case study, and detail the utility of the platform from an instructor’s perspective. Even as in-person teaching returns, KBase will continue to work with instructors, supporting the development of new active learning curriculum modules. For anyone utilizing the platform, the growing KBase Educators Organization provides an educators network, accompanied by community-sourced guidelines, instructional templates, and peer support, for instructors wishing to use KBase within a classroom at any educational level–whether virtual or in-person.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Energy Storage Valuation: A Review of Use Cases and Modeling Tools

An enticing prospect that drives adoption of energy storage systems (ESS) is its ability to be used in a diverse set of use cases and the potential to take advantage of multiple unique value streams. The Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC) technology development pathways for storage technologies draw from a set of use cases in the electrical power system, each with their own specific cost and performance needs. In addition to the need for cost and performance improvements for storage technologies, there a need for robust valuation methods to enable effective policy, investment, business models, and resource planning. There are numerous storage valuation tools available to the public, many of which can analyze the value of an ESS project with inputs and characteristics that reflect a specific storage use case. To effectively reach ESS stakeholders that may be interested in learning about valuation models, this report will draw from publicly available tools developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and frame their functionalities and capabilities within the context of three distinct use case families. This report examines three of the ESGC use case families in depth and provides a methodology in which interested stakeholders can determine which DOE modeling tool is best suited to value ESS for their specific case. The high-level objectives for this report include: (1) Provide specific sub use-cases for each use case family for further characterization; (2) Provide technical parameters and relevant data for three example use cases that could be used in a valuation tool; (3) Identify a list of publicly available DOE tools that can provide energy storage valuation insights for ESS use case stakeholders; (4) Provide information on the capabilities and different options in each modeling tool; (5) Make conclusions on which are best suited for valuing certain functional/performance requirements and which tools might be applicable to other use cases; and (6) Show the methodology that informs a Model Selection Platform (MSP) framework that educates stakeholders on different DOE models and provides a streamlined way to choose the right model that most closely matches their needs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Amassing the tools to be an effective leader

Keith Ashley (TA55-DO) says that his leadership-focused master’s program has taught him four different avenues to learning in the workplace: Formal education, personal experience, learning from direct management, and employment trainings. Now and then Keith asks himself — am I learning from all four avenues or just a few?

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

The Next Stage for Smart Cities: Metrics to Spur an Evolution from Technology for Efficiency to Technology for People's Needs

The Smart Cities movement is about a decade old, energized by the USDOT Smart Cities grant that sparked cities to dream big. Now, 10 years later, and multitudes of conferences and papers later, the biggest question regarding Smart Cities is whether any progress has been made? Smart Cities forums are typically led by the technology sector, either telecommunications, internet access, or most recently artificial intelligence (AI) concerns. Each of these areas have grown and found new applications in the context of Smart Cities, however, these technology applications are just tools toward ends. Do digital communications and assistance enable or foster improved access to real, tactile, non-virtual goods and services such as transportation, food, housing, trash removal, health care, education, social interaction? These and other topics are not 'big tech', but are each critical to quality of life outcomes and are day-to-day necessities, comprising many of the touch points through which citizens interact with municipal agencies. Regarding Smart Cities, relationships have not been fully refined as to how best to merge the emerging generation of technology and related trends with more mundane but essential requirements of tactile services. How should municipal managers and operators bring the range of new technology tools (e.g. on-demand transit, automated vehicles, digital connectivity) to bear to improve functions serving real- physical- non-virtual needs? How do we make cities more efficient in providing access to services and opportunities for improved quality of life? This paper examines the current Smart City movement, emerging trends, and the need to put metrics with respect to the delivery, access, and provision of real-life needs. Using a few case studies of past, present, and projected future scenarios, this paper attempts to bring Smart Cities into the real cities domain, perhaps pushing the moniker away from 'Smart' to 'Efficient' - something that can be measured, counted, and assessed. Through the consideration of the next stage of the evolution of cities from 'Smart' to 'Efficient', the combined efforts and experience of multiple researchers at the NREL and their network of collaborators highlights the need for updates metrics that can be used to start guiding efforts toward productive initiatives to improve quality of life.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

National Energy Education Development Project (NEED Project) (CRADA Final Report)

The U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office (BTO) funds student competitions that introduce students to careers in the building sciences and increase public awareness around high-performance buildings to support the goal of developing, demonstrating, and accelerating the adoption of cost-effective technologies, techniques, tools, and services that enable high-performing, energy-efficient and demand-flexible residential and commercial buildings in both the new and existing buildings markets. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® (DOE/SD) is a flagship, high-visibility international competition started in 2002 that advances the goals of BTO by introducing students to building science careers; educating students and the public about the latest technologies and materials in high-performance buildings; encouraging student-led projects and research centered around building science; and demonstrating to the public the comfort and savings of homes that combine energy-efficient construction, home systems, appliances and innovative design with onsite renewable energy production. SD is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners will be those teams that best blend architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. Solar Decathlon is comprised of two Challenges – Design Challenge (annual) and Build Challenge (biennial). The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides competition management for Solar Decathlon. NREL and Participant establish this CRADA to enable the success of the overall Solar Decathlon program by managing sponsorship funds and creating a K12 education program. Participant is to act as an Education Partner to Solar Decathlon, which includes: 1) accepting and dispersing sponsorship funds for DOE/SD; and 2) providing K12 education program to support Solar Decathlon Competition Events in April each year.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Cyber-CHAMP Task Analysis Survey Tool

Cyber-CHAMP Task analysis survey tool is a web-hosted code platform for an individual to select their every day tasking, based on industry documentation and standards, and produce an education and training mapping to provide them the proper associated cyber competency level(s).

Stailey, ShaneD.↗

DEMOS (Demographic Microsimulator Tool for Longitudinal Synthetic Population) [SWR-25-135] related to NLR SWR-26-076

The Demographic Microsimulator (DEMOS) is an agent-based simulation framework used to model the evolution of population demographic characteristics and lifecycle events, such as education attainment, marital status, and other key transitions. DEMOS modules are designed to capture the interdependencies between short-term and long-term lifecycle events, which are often influential in downstream transportation and land-use modeling. A key feature of DEMOS is its ability to track changes in an agent’s demographic status from year t to year t + 1. This structure allows the model to evolve populations over any user-defined time horizon. As a result, DEMOS is well suited for analyzing medium- and long-term transportation-related decisions, including household vehicle transactions (e.g., purchasing, selling, or replacing vehicles) and work location choices. Core features of DEMOS include the modeling of more than ten lifecycle events, behaviorally realistic patterns informed by long-running panel data, explicit representation of interdependencies among lifecycle processes, and a flexible, modular simulation architecture. A technical memorandum describing DEMOS is available here. The memorandum provides an overview of the framework’s functionality, model structure, input and output data, and its applications in transportation planning and broader policy analysis contexts. Interested readers are also encouraged to consult the paper listed below for additional details on the DEMOS methodology. Sun, Bingrong, Shivam Sharda, Venu M. Garikapati, Mohamed Amine Bouzaghrane, Juan Caicedo, Srinath Ravulaparthy, Isabel Viegas de Lima, Ling Jin, C. Anna Spurlock, and Paul Waddell. "Demographic Microsimulator for Integrated Urban Systems: Adapting Panel Survey of Income Dynamics to Capture the Continuum of Life." Transportation Research Record (2025): 03611981251333339.

Sun, Bingrong [National Laboratory of the Rockies ↗

Work In Progress: Using Internships as Means for Indirect Assessment of ABET Criteria 3 “1-7” Student Outcomes

The Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at Portland State University (PSU) has developed a Power Engineering Internship (PEI) program that provides engineering career development pathways within the electric utility industry. The PEI is supported by several U.S. Department of Energy grants that aim to develop quality career opportunities and develop a future electric utility workforce that represents the nation’s diverse populations. The PSU ECE Department intends to use surveys of internship participants as assessment tools for its ABET accreditation process, in particular, the ABET Criteria 3 Student Outcomes (SOs). SOs relate to the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that students acquire as they progress through an engineering program [1]. They describe what engineering students are expected to know and should be able to do by the time they graduate. Engineering education literature presents multiple methods for using internships as means for assessing SOs. Methods include using self-assessments that derive from internship experiences as well as mapping survey responses from employers and interns to SOs. Such methods gain value as they are assessed over multiple years. However, the majority of this literature discusses assessment tools that were developed for the ABET 2000 Criteria 3 “a through k” SOs. One of our motivations is to provide assessment tools that can be used to assess modern Criteria 3 SOs based on students’ internship experiences.

Bass, Robert [Portland State University]↗

Special Issue: To Commemorate the Legacy of Malcolm J. Andrews—Scientist, Educator, and Leader

This special issue celebrates the scientific legacy of Dr. Malcolm J. Andrews, former Editor of the ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering (2010–2018). Malcolm devoted his career to the development and applications of computational, experimental, and analytical tools to investigate and solve diverse, complex fluid dynamics, and heat transfer problems. Malcolm’s most notable research accomplishments include: (i) contributions to innovative experiments, simulations, and theory to understand buoyancydriven turbulent mixing due to Rayleigh–Taylor instability; (ii) development of the multiphase particle-in-cell method for understanding fragmentation in spray jets, coal-water slurry, and other dense particulate flows; (iii) mixing in nano- and biomaterials in applications ranging from protein glues to carbon nanotube composites; (iv) determining dispersion in proteins to improve therapeutic drug delivery via micro-encapsulation; (v) innovative methods for storing information using nanopinned dipole magnetic vortices in superconducting materials; and (vi) modeling and design modifications for shell-and-tube heat exchangers, as well as heat transfer in rotating systems such as turbine blades. The results of his research have been published in a long series of trend-setting journal and conference papers, book chapters, and patents.

42 ENGINEERING↗

OPEN-Augmented Reality GUI for Bioenergy Crop Phenotyping and Precision Agriculture (Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Final Scientific Technical Report)

The project led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, in collaboration with Arizona State University, George Washington University, and Saint Louis University, has made significant strides in advancing the phenotypic analysis of bioenergy crops through the development of an innovative AI processing pipeline. This initiative was primarily funded by ARPA-E, with additional cost-sharing provided by the participating institutions. The project successfully utilized a variety of sensors—3D scanners, thermal, RGB, and hyperspectral—to refine algorithms for data-driven trait signature identification and improve the classification and visualization of plant traits. The developed AI processing pipeline is capable of handling the complex, multidimensional data characteristic of dynamic agricultural environments. 1) Contributions to understanding: The research has advanced the field of plant phenomics by showcasing the synergistic use of various sensor data to enhance the precision of trait analysis in bioenergy crops. Through the integration of 3D scanners, thermal, RGB, and hyperspectral sensors, the project has developed robust data-driven trait signature algorithms and visualization techniques. These innovations have facilitated detailed monitoring and management of plant traits, providing vital insights into plant growth dynamics and stress responses. Further, the project has broadened our understanding of how machine learning can be effectively applied in multi-sensor environments to refine trait analysis. By leveraging diverse datasets, the research has not only improved the accuracy of phenotypic assessments but also established a versatile methodological framework that can be extended beyond agriculture to other fields requiring detailed phenotypic analysis. 2) Technical effectiveness and economic feasibility: The AI processing pipeline developed in this project demonstrated significant technical effectiveness, achieving high throughput analysis of extensive phenotypic data and meeting targeted accuracies. This system exemplified the capability of advanced machine learning technologies to efficiently manage and analyze large, complex datasets. Economically, the implementation of the project-developed pipelines may offer substantial cost savings across multiple sectors. It enhances data analysis processes and significantly reduces the need for manual data interpretation, thereby decreasing both the time and resources required. 3) Public benefit: The project has significantly broadened the scope of agricultural methodologies to enhance phenotypic analysis, with potential applications in various sectors beyond agriculture. Additionally, the initiative fostered an enriching educational and collaborative environment, significantly enhancing the technical skills of participants. It also made substantial contributions to the scientific community by providing open-access data sets and tools, encouraging ongoing research and development across various disciplines. Overall, the project not only met its scientific goals but also showcased the extensive utility of integrating advanced machine learning and sensor data analysis technologies. These advancements have proven instrumental in driving forward both theoretical research and practical applications, setting a strong foundation for future explorations and innovations in data-driven science.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Integrating Embodied Carbon Knowledge for Design Decisions: Preprint

Measuring energy consumption of buildings is well established, and techniques to evaluate the carbon associated with operating buildings are improving. Embodied carbon of buildings is more complex as it considers the release of carbon throughout the building material supply chain and building material end of life fate. Decisions made early during the design and construction of the building can influence and potentially reduce the embodied carbon of buildings. The design and construction communities are uniquely positioned to make decisions that reduce embodied carbon. The objective of this project is to understand barriers to low carbon design and delivery and to point the design and construction communities to useful resources that will result in decisions that reduce embodied carbon. The outcomes of this work include educational resources that familiarize designers and contractors with embodied carbon and life cycle assessments (LCA), case studies that focus on design changes from LCA results, an overview of LCA tools, and examples of readily available, cost-effective design and construction steps to lower embodied carbon. We present an evaluation of existing resources, organized in a decision tree guidance, and identify gaps for further resource development. Through this evaluation process we investigated ways to streamline the process of identifying barriers to implementing solutions quickly.

design professional decisions↗

A Collaboration Website for Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Muon Beam Production

This research initiative establishes a dynamic online platform geared towards supporting the burgeoning Muon Catalyzed Fusion collaboration, focusing on the concurrent development of particle accelerators and transport beamlines for muon beams. The central feature of this endeavor is the creation of a multifaceted website comprising both public facing and private sections to cater to diverse user needs. The public segment is meticulously designed to serve as an educational hub, featuring information pages targeted at the general public alongside private pages exclusively accessible to collaboration members. These pages will host an array of multimedia elements, ranging from images and text animations to video lectures, covering an extensive spectrum of topics integral to the science of Muon Catalyzed Fusion. Encompassing areas such as Acceleration, Applications, Instrumentation, Beamline Design, and beam dynamics design codes, the educational content aims to make complex scientific concepts more accessible to a broader audience. Ensuring seamless accessibility across various devices and operating systems, the website incorporates integration with collaborative tools such as Google Docs for document collaboration, GitHub for code repository management, and WordPress for blogging with interactive commenting features. The bifurcation between public and private sections is a strategic approach to maintaining transparency while safeguarding proprietary research and works in progress. The public pages are strategically crafted to disseminate information, showcasing the latest endeavors and achievements within the NK Labs collaboration, including lectures, published papers, and regular blog posts open to public comments. On the other hand, the private section provides collaboration members with a secure space to share unpublished or nonpublic research, fostering collaborative efforts through integrated Google Docs and Python Plotty for shared graphing work. In essence, this ambitious project endeavors to bridge the gap between complex scientific knowledge and public understanding, enhance collaboration among researchers, and serve as a dynamic and inclusive platform for sharing and advancing the state-of-the-art in Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Accelerators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗