Thermal Energy Storage at Purchase College, State University of New York

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) collaborated with Renewable Thermal Collaborative Solutions Provider Brenmiller Energy to implement thermal energy storage (TES) at Purchase College’s physical education building. Completed in 2023, this $2.5 million project features a Brenmiller bGen™ TES unit paired with a combined heat and power (CHP) microturbine and equipped with electric heaters for supplemental heat during peak demand, resulting in an efficient, flexible heating system designed to meet nearly 100% of the building’s heating needs. The case study examines how this integrated system aims to improve the building’s energy efficiency, decrease operational costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and …

Case Study: Thermal Energy Storage at Purchase College, State University of New York

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) collaborated with Renewable Thermal Collaborative Solutions Provider Brenmiller Energy to implement thermal energy storage (TES) at Purchase College’s physical education building. Completed in 2023, this $2.5 million project features a Brenmiller bGen™ TES unit paired with a combined heat and power (CHP) microturbine and equipped with electric heaters for supplemental heat during peak demand, resulting in an efficient, flexible heating system designed to meet nearly 100% of the building’s heating needs. The case study examines how this integrated system aims to improve the building’s energy efficiency, decrease operational costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and …

Improving the Efficiency of NRC Power Reactor Licensing: Environmental Reviews

Achieving net-zero emissions in the United States by mid-century requires the rapid buildout of low-carbon energy infrastructure. One challenge to this rapid buildout is the environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which are part of federal approval processes for new energy projects. This process has increasingly caused significant delays and added costs, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 was passed by Congress in part to address these issues through amendments to NEPA that impose timelines on environmental reviews.

For nuclear power, a low-carbon energy source that has a role in many US net-zero scenarios, …

Clean Air as a Bonus for Achieving Energy-Related State Goals: A Review of Policies and Programs in 15 States

This report explores connections between six common areas for state action on energy-related issues — resilience, economic development, energy affordability, electrifying transportation, grid modernization, and using local resources — and reducing air emissions. Although clean air often is not a driver for such state actions, they nonetheless reduce a variety of emissions, including particulates, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. The study spans 15 geographically diverse states: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. While these states have not adopted mandatory climate goals, they conduct a …

Advanced Microgrid Optimization Using Price-Elastic Demand Response and Greedy Rat Swarm Optimization for Economic and Environmental Efficiency

In this paper, a comprehensive energy management framework for microgrids that incorporates price-based demand response programs (DRPs) and leverages an advanced optimization method—Greedy Rat Swarm Optimizer (GRSO) is proposed. The primary objective is to minimize the generation cost and environmental impact of microgrid systems by effectively scheduling distributed energy resources (DERs), including renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar and wind, alongside fossil-fuel-based generators.

Four distinct demand response models—exponential, hyperbolic, logarithmic, and critical peak pricing (CPP)—are developed, each reflecting a different price elasticity of demand. These models are integrated with a flexible elasticity matrix to assess the dynamic consumer response …

Manufacturing and Energy: Advancing Productivity, Prosperity, and the Environment

A resurgence in U.S. manufacturing is in the offing, propelled by private investment and reinforced through public policies and incentives. Manufacturing makes large contributions to incomes, employment, and tax bases at national, state, and local community levels. Domestic manufacturing is crucial to economic competitiveness and to the resilience and security of supply chains for critical products and materials. However, manufacturing also consumes large amounts of energy and can contribute to adverse environmental impacts, including pollution and climate-altering emissions.

There are significant opportunities, many readily available, to improve manufacturing energy and environmental performance while enhancing productivity and competitiveness. State and Territory …

Identifying Risks in the Energy Industrial Base: Supply Chain Readiness Levels

The U.S. energy system is entering a period of substantial transformation. Following extended periods of low or no demand growth for electricity, driven by both efficiency increases and a decline in domestic manufacturing, the U.S. is reentering a period of rising electricity demand. Artificial intelligence and data center expansion, reshoring of manufacturing, and the electrification of transportation and industrial processes are all contributing to expected load growth. For example, U.S. data center load growth is projected to double or triple in the next few years, rising from 176 TWh in 2023 to 325-580 TWh in 2028. As a result, overall …

Eco-Reliable Operation Based on Clean Environmental Condition for the Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Hubs with Heat Pump and Hydrogen, Thermal and Compressed Air Storage Systems

Energy hubs, with their diverse regeneration and storage sources, can engage concurrently in energy transfer and storage. It is anticipated that managing the energy of these hubs within energy networks could enhance economic, environmental, and technical metrics. This article explains how electrical and thermal network hubs manage their energy consumption in the context of the multi-criteria objectives of efficiency, sustainability, reliability of the network operator, and operation. The hubs have solar power, a bio-waste unit, and wind turbines among other sustainable energy sources. They have compressed air, heat, and hydrogen storage units installed. Thermal energy is produced by means of …

Application of Artificial Intelligence Based on State Grid ESG Platform in Clean Energy Scheduling Optimization

The randomness and volatility of existing clean energy sources have increased the complexity of grid scheduling. To address this issue, this work proposes an artificial intelligence (AI) empowered method based on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) big data platform, focusing on multi-objective scheduling optimization for clean energy. This work employs a combination of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Deep Q-Network (DQN) to enhance grid scheduling efficiency and clean energy utilization.

First, the work analyzes the complexity and uncertainty challenges faced in clean energy scheduling within the current power system, highlighting the limitations of traditional methods in handling multi-objective optimization …

Solidifying the EU’s Leadership in the Global Energy Transition

As the European Commission prepares for a new five-year term, this EU Policy Whitepaper, Solidifying the EU’s Leadership in the Global Energy Transition, serves as a stocktake of current progress, alongside identifying further opportunities to solidify the European Union (EU)’s climate leadership through implementation across mostly existing policy packages. While the EU has made commendable strides in reducing emissions – notably through renewable energy and efficiency – there is still more to be done, with other key geographies such as China and the United States accelerating deployment still faster, and in some cases more comprehensively, through green industrial policy. …