Sustainable Communities Catalyzer
The Sustainable Communities Catalyzer analyzed and mapped sustainable social, economic, environmental, and land use pathways for clean energy transition with a focus on rural and disadvantaged communities.
Scaling clean energy integration, electrifying economies, and transforming energy systems will have major impacts on land use, economies, people, and the environment. JISEA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are uniquely positioned to apply and integrate world-class modeling, visualization, and computation capabilities in sustainable communities analysis
Through the Sustainable Communities Catalyzer, completed in September 2022, JISEA/NREL analysts identified emerging research questions, established new research capabilities, provided thought leadership, and organized an advisory group of practitioners and researchers to provide feedback.
This work supported several of NREL's critical objectives—integrated energy pathways, circular economy for energy materials, and electrons to molecules—and moved toward more equitable participation in the clean energy transition, so all communities can thrive.
Publications
Community Energy Planning: Best Practices and Lessons Learned in NREL’s Work With Communities, JISEA Presentation (2022)
Community Energy Planning: Best Practices and Lessons Learned in NREL’s Work With Communities, JISEA Technical Report (2022)
Local Power: Comparing County-Level Renewable Energy Potential to Consumption Using the SLOPE Platform, JISEA Technical Report (2022)
Intersections of Disadvantaged Communities and Renewable Energy Potential: Data Set and Analysis to Inform Equitable Investment Prioritization in the United States, Renewable Energy Focus (2022)
Intersections of Disadvantaged Communities and Renewable Energy Potential: Analyses to Inform Equitable Investment Prioritization, NREL Presentation (2022)
Related Work
State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE)
The Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100)
Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool
Accelerating Clean Energy @ Scale
Mobility Energy Productivity Metric (MEP)
Urban Renewable Building and Neighborhood Optimization (URBANopt)
Contact
Megan Day
Senior Energy Planner, NREL