Energy Impacts
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Energy Impacts
This Impact Area explores how the development of new energy sources, and the build out of modern power systems, can help make energy more reliable and accessible to communities throughout the US and around the world.
As we modernize our energy economy, we can seek to make energy less expensive, more reliable and more accessible regardless of where you live and that can create economic opportunities in communities that need them most.
By drawing on diverse perspectives and prioritizing thoughtful implementation, this approach can deliver substantial societal benefits. A modern, affordable, and resilient energy economy can drive job creation in manufacturing and installation, improve public health, enhance energy security and independence, lower energy costs for households and businesses, and contribute to overall quality of life improvements.
Done right, helping to modernize and improve the resilience of our energy economy has the potential to benefit populations across the globe, from rural areas gaining first-time access to electricity, to industrial regions building new advanced manufacturing sectors, to communities reducing their energy costs while improving local air quality.
Here are just some of the ways in which several of the Technology Domains are making advances in this Impact Area:
Buildings
- Evaluating occupant centered design in the development of new building materials, features, and control systems.
Circular Economy
- Analysis and support for incorporating repair and end-of-life considerations into product design, so products can last longer and are easier to dispose of.Ìý
- Development of models that aim to identify the best ways to encourage adoption of more effective consumption modes.
Energy Access
- Analyses of the impacts of technologies on a wide range of communities.
- Developing frameworks that enable the integration of energy access into early stages of the research process.
Energy Policy
- Building resources that inform policy makers of the impacts of new technologies and ensure that decision makers have the information needed to understand the impacts.
Social, Institutional, and Behavioral Analysis
- Exploring different perspectives and aspects of the energy transition and how these will impact a broad cross-section of communities.
Theory, Computational Modeling, and Simulation
- Using computational modeling and analysis to simulate and extrapolate societal trends for adoption of new technologies.