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At least 19 records

Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project: ETIPP Technical Assistance Informational Webinar

This webinar is for prospective applicants (i.e., remote, island, and islanded communities) interested in applying to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) in spring of 2022. This webinar provides an overview of ETIPP and technical assistance, introduces the ETIPP regional partners, summarizes two ongoing ETIPP projects, discusses the 2022 application process, and closes with a question-and-answer session. This webinar is hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which is part of the ETIPP partner network.

Alaska Center for Energy and Power↗

Creating the Distributed Energy Resources Education Center (DEREC)

The built environment in the United States consumes 40% of the energy generated and emits roughly the same percentage of total carbon footprint. Distributed energy resources (DER), small or modular energy generation and storage technologies, present the nation with an opportunity to substantially improve those metrics while securing the nation’s energy independence. As opportunities increase for implementing such technologies, they also continue to evolve and often outpace the nation’s traditional building practices. In an effort to effectively and proactively incorporate distributed energy resources into the nation’s energy supply, Southface Energy Institute convened with national and regional partners to create the Distributed Energy Resources Education Center (DEREC). Using national model codes and their regionally amended versions as a collective starting point, the DEREC team collaborated with industry experts and identified impediments to effective implementation of DERs, developing discipline-specific curriculum to eliminate those impediments. The center, developed in collaboration with Interstate Renewable Energy Committee (IREC) and National Buildings Institute (NBI), leverages existing DER education content as well as new and dynamic training materials and online courses that collectively engage the many roles necessary for DER implementations, including designers, code officials, builders and skilled trades, and building owners who specify, inspect, build, operate, and maintain buildings with DERs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Applying Geospatial Technologies for International Development and Public Health: The USAID/NASA SERVIR Program

Background: SERVIR -- the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System -- helps people use Earth observations and predictive models based on data from orbiting satellites to make timely decisions that benefit society. SERVIR operates through a network of regional hubs in Mesoamerica, East Africa, and the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. USAID and NASA support SERVIR, with the long-term goal of transferring SERVIR capabilities to the host countries. Objective/Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to describe how the SERVIR system helps the SERVIR regions cope with eight areas of societal benefit identified by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO): health, disasters, ecosystems, biodiversity, weather, water, climate, and agriculture. This presentation will describe environmental health applications of data in the SERVIR system, as well as ongoing and future efforts to incorporate additional health applications into the SERVIR system. Methods: This presentation will discuss how the SERVIR Program makes environmental data available for use in environmental health applications. SERVIR accomplishes its mission by providing member nations with access to geospatial data and predictive models, information visualization, training and capacity building, and partnership development. SERVIR conducts needs assessments in partner regions, develops custom applications of Earth observation data, and makes NASA and partner data available through an online geospatial data portal at SERVIRglobal.net. Results: Decision makers use SERVIR to improve their ability to monitor air quality, extreme weather, biodiversity, and changes in land cover. In past several years, the system has been used over 50 times to respond to environmental threats such as wildfires, floods, landslides, and harmful algal blooms. Given that the SERVIR regions are experiencing increased stress under larger climate variability than historic observations, SERVIR provides information to support the development of adaptation strategies for nations affected by climate change. Conclusions: SERVIR is a platform for collaboration and cross-agency coordination, international partnerships, and delivery of web-based geospatial information services and applications. SERVIR makes a variety of geospatial data available for use in studies of environmental health outcomes.

Hemmings, Sarah↗

2014-2015 Puget Sound Regional Travel Study

The 2014-2015 Puget Sound Regional Travel Study collected information about household and individual travel patterns for residents throughout a four-county region in Washington State. Study results were used to update the region's travel and land-use models and to calibrate local traffic and travel models. The study also helped the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and its regional partners develop plans that accommodate the diverse travel needs and preferences of residents. The Resource Systems Group administered the study on behalf of PSRC. Global positioning system (GPS)-equipped smartphones were used to provide data pertaining to the daily travel of 547 individual participants. Because the region's university students may have been underrepresented in the initial 2014 household travel study, the PSRC added a college-population travel survey in fall 2014. In spring 2015, a second household data collection effort was conducted to increase the frequency of data collection and to collect GPS data as well as a sample of longitudinal data from households that completed the 2014 survey.

1Hz data↗

Deer Isle and Stonington Energy Reliability Opportunities

The towns of Deer Isle and Stonington, located on the island of Deer Isle in Maine, partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to examine options to enhance energy resilience, reduce dependence on imported fuels, and mitigate high energy costs. With technical support from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and regional partner the Island Institute, the project focused on evaluation of the local electricity distribution infrastructure, examination of ongoing activities to reduce the frequency of outages, review of the applicable policy and regulatory environment, and identification of potential on-site energy solutions. Key findings revealed the island's reliance on a single distribution line, and limited hosting capacity for additional distributed energy resources. Solar photovoltaics (PV) technology, with and without battery storage, was found to be the most viable technology given economic, technical, and social considerations. While also technically feasible, wind energy faces more difficult siting and less public acceptance compared to PV. Marine energy technologies were determined to be infeasible due to technology immaturity and lengthy permitting timelines. Modeling of potential building-scale PV plus storage systems resulted in successful grant applications for installations at two local facilities. Analysis of community scale energy generation and storage options resulted the local utility, Versant, submitting a grant application for a proposed community-scale battery storage system to increase grid resilience and hosting capacity. This initiative has strengthened the communities' energy planning capabilities and laid the groundwork for future clean energy development.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Strategic Energy Plan: Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Un Nuevo Amanecer Inc. (UNA), a community-based NGO (501C(3)), sought technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to develop a strategic energy plan (SEP) for the community of Playa de Ponce on the south coast of Puerto Rico. A SEP helps communities identify energy goals and priority projects, and outline strategies and actions to build a shared path toward their energy vision. The primary goal of this SEP is to collaboratively explore pathways for the community's energy future. Researchers from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) engaged with the community for a period of seven months and facilitated a series of in-person community engagement workshops along with ETIPP regional partner Puerto Rico Hispanic Federation, UNA, and community leaders. The SEP workshops were held twice, March 18-20 and June 24-26, 2025. Through facilitated discussions, the community worked together to define and articulate a clear vision for its short-, medium-, and long-term energy goals. The workshops played a key role in identifying the specific strategies and priority projects that would best suit the needs of the community. The discussions outlined the community's energy aspirations, establishing a shared vision, setting goals, and outlining the priority actions needed to bring them to fruition. During the workshops, the community shared some of the most pressing energy challenges that they face on a regular basis, such as high energy costs that disproportionately impact an aging population and unreliable electricity during extreme weather events that result in frequent power outages. These issues have also exacerbated risks to public health and safety of the community. In response, UNA requested technical assistance through ETIPP to inform the development of a SEP tailored to Playa de Ponce to support its energy vision. This document explores four community-driven energy strategies aligned with that vision. Figure 1 shows the strategies outlined in this plan, which are categorized into three focus areas as identified by the community: energy reliability; safety and security; and stakeholder participation, education, and capacity building. This document serves as a shared roadmap for developing and implementing energy solutions that meet the needs of Playa de Ponce. It is intended to serve as a public resource for the community, UNA, and local authorities - providing tools, information and a shared foundation to inform future implementation efforts. This plan is intended to complement ongoing planning frameworks at the municipal, regional, and island-wide levels. As a living document, this SEP can evolve alongside Playa de Ponce's changing energy goals, while offering a framework to help them realize their energy vision.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Kotzebue Strategic Energy Plan

The Kotzebue Strategic Energy Plan outlines a community-driven roadmap to reduce reliance on imported diesel, lower energy costs, and build a resilient energy future for Kotzebue, Alaska. Developed in 2024-2025 through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP), the plan was led by the Native Village of Kotzebue in collaboration with Kotzebue Electric Association, the City of Kotzebue, the Northwest Arctic Borough, NANA Regional Corporation, and regional partners.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Makah Tribe Strategic Energy Plan

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

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

New Mexico Clean Energy and Resilience Growth (NM CERG) Cluster

The New Mexico Clean Energy Resilience and Growth (NM CERG) project was designed to foster a clean energy cluster in New Mexico by providing a robust pipeline of support for clean-energy technology startups. By leveraging the expertise and resources of national laboratories, universities, and regional partners, the project contributed to a deeper understanding of how public-private partnerships can enhance the commercialization of innovative clean energy technologies. The project explored the key challenges faced by startups, such as securing capital, rapid prototyping, technology validation, and transitioning from research to market-ready products.

02 PETROLEUM↗

NASA Applied Sciences' DEVELOP National Program: Training the Next Generation of Remote Sensing Scientists

Since its inception over a decade ago, the DEVELOP National Program has provided students with experience in utilizing and integrating satellite remote sensing data into real world-applications. In 1998, DEVELOP began with three students and has evolved into a nationwide internship program with over 200 students participating each year. DEVELOP is a NASA Applied Sciences training and development program extending NASA Earth science research and technology to society. Part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate s Earth Science Division, the Applied Sciences Program focuses on bridging the gap between NASA technology and the public by conducting projects that innovatively use NASA Earth science resources to research environmental issues. Project outcomes focus on assisting communities to better understand environmental change over time. This is accomplished through research with global, national, and regional partners to identify the widest array of practical uses of NASA data. DEVELOP students conduct research in areas that examine how NASA science can better serve society. Projects focus on practical applications of NASA s Earth science research results. Each project is designed to address at least one of the Applied Sciences focus areas, use NASA s Earth observation sources and meet partners needs. DEVELOP research teams partner with end-users and organizations who use project results for policy analysis and decision support, thereby extending the benefits of NASA science and technology to the public.

Childs, Lauren↗

Climate Change Adaptation Activities at the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL., USA

In 2010, the Office of Strategic Infrastructure and Earth Sciences established the Climate Adaptation Science Investigators (CASI) program to integrate climate change forecasts and knowledge into sustainable management of infrastructure and operations needed for the NASA mission. NASA operates 10 field centers valued at $32 billion dollars, occupies 191,000 acres and employs 58,000 people. CASI climate change and sea-level rise forecasts focus on the 2050 and 2080 time periods. At the 140,000 acre Kennedy Space Center (KSC) data are used to simulate impacts on infrastructure, operations, and unique natural resources. KSC launch and processing facilities represent a valued national asset located in an area with high biodiversity including 33 species of special management concern. Numerical and advanced Bayesian and Monte Carlo statistical modeling is being conducted using LiDAR digital elevation models coupled with relevant GIS layers to assess potential future conditions. Results are provided to the Environmental Management Branch, Master Planning, Construction of Facilities, Engineering Construction Innovation Committee and our regional partners to support Spaceport development, management, and adaptation planning and design. Potential impacts to natural resources include conversion of 50% of the Center to open water, elevation of the surficial aquifer, alterations of rainfall and evapotranspiration patterns, conversion of salt marsh to mangrove forest, reductions in distribution and extent of upland habitats, overwash of the barrier island dune system, increases in heat stress days, and releases of chemicals from legacy contamination sites. CASI has proven successful in bringing climate change planning to KSC including recognition of the need to increase resiliency and development of a green managed shoreline retreat approach to maintain coastal ecosystem services while maximizing life expectancy of Center launch and payload processing resources.

plant communities↗

Water and Disasters Tools and Development Across the SERVIR Program and Lessons-Learned Within the Hindukush Himalayan Region

The NASA-USAID SERVIR program works in partnership with leading regional organizations around the globe to help developing countries use information provided by earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies. The SERVIR Applied Sciences Team (AST) is assembled on a 3-year rotating cycle to partner with these regional organizations on the joint development and implementation of tools and techniques that can be used operationally in each region. The Portfolio of AST projects address regional priorities in four thematic service areas: Land Cover, Land Use Change & Ecosystems; Water and water-related Disasters; Weather & Climate and Food Security & Agriculture. An important goal of AST is knowledge sharing across the different regional entities to share tools and technologies for the improvement of all. This talk will focus on the Water and Disasters service area and review how tools developed in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region in partnership with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have evolved over the AST cycles. We will provide examples of stakeholder engagement both at ICIMOD and across the regional partners they support. We will also share recent examples and lessons learned with users from other SERVIR regions.

Lori A Schultz↗

Central America Disasters: Using Earth Observations to Map Flooding for Disaster Monitoring, Inform Potential Risk, and Prepare for Possible Response

In November 2020, Hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Central America within weeks of each other, causing severe flooding, landslides, and widespread damage. NASA DEVELOP partnered with Comité Regional de Recursos Hidráulicos (CRRH), Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres en América Central y República Dominicana (CEPREDENAC), and Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) to better understand how flooding throughout Central America has impacted and will continue to affect communities, focusing on sites in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua, western Panama, and eastern Costa Rica from January 2015 to October 2021. The team utilized surface reflectance data from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI), Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This project also utilized backscatter data from Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR) and elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Incorporating these Earth observations in NASA SERVIR’s Hydrologic Remote Sensing Analysis for Floods (HYDRAFloods) tool run on Google Earth Engine (GEE), the team produced historical surface water maps, a case study analysis of the two hurricanes, and a code tutorial. These results indicated that surface water increased in priority sites from 2015 to 2021, optical and SAR imagery detected similar flood patterns and extent after the hurricanes, and rainfall was concentrated on the east coast of the region. These products allow partners to make informed decisions around flooding preparation and disaster mitigation.

Caroline Williams↗

GC13I-0857: Designing a Frost Forecasting Service for Small Scale Tea Farmers in East Africa

Kenya is the third largest tea exporter in the world, producing 10% of the world's black tea. Sixty percent of this production occurs largely by small scale tea holders, with an average farm size of 1.04 acres, and an annual net income of $1,075. According to a recent evaluation, a typical frost event in the tea growing region causes about $200 dollars in losses which can be catastrophic for a small holder farm. A 72-hour frost forecast would provide these small-scale tea farmers with enough notice to reduce losses by approximately 80 USD annually. With this knowledge, SERVIR, a joint NASA-USAID initiative that brings Earth observations for improved decision making in developing countries, sought to design a frost monitoring and forecasting service that would provide farmers with enough lead time to react to and protect against a forecasted frost occurrence on their farm. SERVIR Eastern and Southern Africa, through its implementing partner, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), designed a service that included multiple stakeholder engagement events whereby stakeholders from the tea industry value chain were invited to share their experiences so that the exact needs and flow of information could be identified. This unique event allowed enabled the design of a service that fit the specifications of the stakeholders. The monitoring service component uses the MODIS Land Surface Temperature product to identify frost occurrences in near-real time. The prediction component, currently under testing, uses the 2-m air temperature, relative humidity, and 10-m wind speed from a series of high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model runs over eastern Kenya as inputs into a frost prediction algorithm. Accuracy and sensitivity of the algorithm is being assessed with observations collected from the farmers using a smart phone app developed specifically to report frost occurrences, and from data shared through our partner network developed at the stakeholder engagement meeting. This presentation will illustrate the efficacy of our frost forecasting algorithm, and a way forward for incorporating these forecasts in a meaningful way to the key decision makers - the small-scale farmers of East Africa.

frost↗

Cali Urban Development II: Investigating the Impacts of Land Use Change on Urban Heat and Social Vulnerability in Cali, Colombia

The surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect is an environmental phenomenon resulting in cities with higher temperatures than rural areas due to increased pavement and decreased cooling from vegetation. The city of Santiago de Cali in Colombia faces SUHI challenges exacerbated by land use change. The Cali municipal government agency, Departamento Administrativo de Gestión del Medio Ambiente, and the community organization Fundacion Dinamizadores Ambientales partnered with NASA DEVELOP to evaluate communities in Cali most vulnerable to urban heat. This project illustrated the utility of using NASA Earth observations to evaluate the relationship between land use, temperature, and social factors in Cali, Colombia between 2013 and 2023. The team used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), and Landsat 9 OLI-2/TIRS-2 to generate land surface temperature (LST) maps in Google Earth Engine through NASA DEVELOP’s Urban Heat Exposure Assessment Tempe 2.0 tool. Cloud cover limited the project feasibility, but it improved with Landsat 9 data. In ArcGIS Pro, the team found that LST was significantly higher in urban areas than in wetlands or forests. Using R Studio, the team ran a principal component analysis and found that health care and green space access were negatively correlated, and Afro-Colombian ethnicity was positively correlated with LST. With knowledge of the most impacted and vulnerable regions, the partner organizations can prioritize establishing healthcare facilities and green spaces in those areas to reduce the impacts of urban heat.

vegetation loss↗

Investigating the Impacts of Land Use Change on Urban Heat and Vulnerability in Cali, Columbia

The urban heat island effect (UHI) is an environmental phenomenon where cities experience higher temperatures than rural areas due to increased pavement and decreased cooling from vegetation. Approximately 76% of people in Colombia live in urban areas, and the city of Santiago de Cali is facing UHI challenges exacerbated by land use change. Wetlands and forests formerly surrounded the city but were replaced by development and agriculture. The Colombian municipal government agency Departamento Administrativo de Gestión del Medio Ambiente and the community organization Fundacion Dinamizadores Ambientales partnered with NASA DEVELOP to evaluate communities in Cali most vulnerable to urban heat. This project illustrated the utility of using NASA Earth observations to evaluate the relationship between land use, temperature, and social factors in Cali, Colombia between 2013 and 2023. The team used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), and Landsat 9 OLI-2/TIRS-2 to generate land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and albedo maps in Google Earth Engine. Heavy cloud cover limited the accuracy of the LST but incorporating up to three satellites for a median image reduced potential errors. Through further analysis in ArcGIS Pro, the team classified land use change using a deep learning model and found that LST was significantly higher in urban areas than in wetlands or forests. Using R studio, the team ran a principal component analysis to determine which social factors had the strongest correlation with LST. The team found that health care and green space access were negatively correlated, and Afro-Colombian ethnicity was positively correlated with LST. With awareness of the most impacted and vulnerable regions, the partner organizations can work to prioritize green space establishment in those areas to reduce the impacts of urban heat. Addressing the urban heat island effect will reduce environmental justice concerns within the city and improve overall health, air, and water quality for those who live there.

Brenna Bruffey↗

Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project

An overview of the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP), a U.S. Department of Energy program that provides technical assistance and cash awards to coastal, island, and remote communities. This fact sheet includes updated information about ETIPP eligibility requirements for communities; new program offerings, including cash awards; and the locations of communities in the program's first three cohorts.

cash award↗

Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project

An overview of the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP), a U.S. Department of Energy program that provides technical assistance and cash awards to coastal, island, and remote communities. This fact sheet includes updated information about ETIPP eligibility requirements for communities; new program offerings, including cash awards; and the locations of communities in the program's first three cohorts.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗