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Energy Analysis Newsletter — February 2009
Energy analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) encompasses a broad range of energy analysis in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), NREL programs and initiatives, and the energy analysis community. Here is the latest news on energy analysis activities at NREL:
Upcoming Events
February Seminar: Economic Development Impact of Wind Energy Projects
Sandra Reategui
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On February 12, NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) and DOE/EERE's Office of Planning, Budget, and Analysis (PBA) will present a seminar (in Golden, Colorado) discussing the impact of wind energy projects on economic development. This presentation by Sandra Reategui (NREL) illustrates the impact (including land-lease payments to farmers and ranchers, tax revenue, economic activities, and employment) achieved by the commercial development of 1,000 MW of wind power in Iowa. This analysis provides not only a summary of benefits to the state's population, but also provides a sense of the economic development opportunities associated with other wind project scenarios, including the U.S. Department of Energy's "20% Wind Energy by 2030" scenario. Other states can use this analysis as an example of the potential economic impacts from adopting 1,000 MW of wind power development. The results and analysis presented during the seminar are from NREL's Job and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model.
Upcoming seminars
April 9, 2009
"From Green Process Design, to Industrial Ecology, to Sustainability" — Urmila Diwekar (Center for Uncertain Systems: Tools for Optimization and Management)
For more information on the seminar series — including log-in and call-in information for remote access — visit the Web site.
Publications and Web Sites
Some of the documents in this section are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.
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Advancing Technology in Housing
SEAC analysts Gail Mosey, Elizabeth Doris, and Charles Coggeshall — along with Matt Antes, Jennifer Ruch, and John Mortensen of Energetics — recently published the report "Conceptual Soundness, Metric Development, Benchmarking, and Targeting for PATH Subprogram Evaluation" (PDF 1.1 MB). This study evaluates the conceptual soundness of the revised goals for the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), a program established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It also establishes and applies a framework to identify and recommend metrics that are the most useful for measuring PATH's progress. This report provides an evaluative review of PATH's revised goals, outlines a structured method for identifying and selecting metrics, proposes metrics and benchmarks for a sampling of individual PATH programs, and discusses other metrics that potentially could be developed that may add value to the evaluation process. The framework and individual program metrics can be used for ongoing management improvement efforts and to inform broader program-level metrics for government reporting requirements.
Vehicle Testing and Analysis
NREL's Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems recently published a fact sheet on its "Vehicle Testing and Analysis Group" (PDF 866 KB). This publication outlines the capabilities of NREL's Vehicle Testing and Analysis Group, which provides expert vehicle and fleet evaluations, data, and systems analyses to government and industry partners as well as the R&D community. Vehicle test engineers use the latest equipment and techniques to evaluate vehicle performance in the ReFUEL Laboratory, NREL's controlled laboratory setting. Fleet testing and evaluation engineers employ the latest hardware, software, and analysis techniques needed to capture, process, and analyze data from in-service vehicles. This fact sheet also provides information on how this analysis can help boost fuel economy and reduce U.S. petroleum imports and exhaust emissions.
Analysts Meet With Stakeholders
SEAC analysts Karlynn Cory and Maureen Hand served as U.S. representatives to a meeting on the International Energy Agency Implementing Agreement for Cooperation in the Research, Development, and Deployment of Wind Energy Systems (IEA Wind). On January 12-13, Hand and Cory participated in a group focusing on the development of an international methodology for estimating the cost of wind energy as well as the market price. Hand is leading this task, which will analyze the variation of costs among the participating countries. Presentations were given by each participating country with Cory focusing on U.S. policy and markets.
NREL Director Dan Arvizu, along with analysts Maureen Hand and Walt Musial, attended the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting on January 26-30, which discussed the IPCC's Special Report on Renewables and Climate Change Mitigation. Attendees, who are lead authors for the report, discussed outlines and writing assignments for chapters dealing with various renewable technologies and climate change mitigation considerations. Hand contributed to the wind energy chapter, Musial contributed to the ocean energy chapter, and Arvizu is one of the two coordinating authors for the direct solar energy chapter.
NREL Senior Vice President for Outreach, Planning, and Analysis Bobi Garrett and SEAC Center Director Doug Arent visited Germany's DLR (its national center for aerospace, energy, and transportation research) on January 21. The visit focused on the potential for collaboration on analysis topics, including concentrating solar power (CSP) and solar resource assessment. Garrett and Arent also toured the DLR facilities during the visit.
Bobi Garrett and Doug Arent also attended the Global Energy Assessment Council meeting January 19-20 in Austria. The Global Energy Assessment (GEA) is a major initiative established by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in late 2005. The GEA helps decision makers address the challenges of providing energy services for sustainable development, while reducing existing and emerging threats associated with security of supply; improving access to modern forms of energy for development and poverty alleviation; reducing local, regional, and global environmental impacts; and securing sufficient investment. NREL also is contributing a chapter on "Key Market Trends in Renewable Energy Development and Deployment" to an upcoming GEA book.
SEAC analyst Lori Bird presented on "Renewable Energy Opportunities" to the 2009 International Economic Development Council Leadership Summit – "Turning Today's Economic Challenges into Tomorrow's Successes." The event was held January 25 in Tempe, Arizona.
For the latest updates on information regarding energy analysis, visit the Energy Analysis Web site.
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