NNA Research: Reducing Fuel Oil Consumption in Rural Arctic Communities

NNA 研究：减少北极农村社区的燃油消耗

• 批准号: 2220615
• 负责人: Dominique Pride
• 金额: $ 300万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2220615&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NNA; Research; Reducing; Fuel; Oil

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) is one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA projects address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic. This Arctic research is needed to inform the economy, security and resilience of the Nation, the larger region and the globe. NNA empowers new research partnerships from local to international scales, diversifies the next generation of Arctic researchers, enhances efforts in formal and informal education, and integrates the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award fulfills part of that aim by addressing interactions among social systems, natural environment, and built environment in the following NNA focus areas: Arctic Residents, Data and Observation, Education, Global Impact, and Resilient Infrastructure. Across the Arctic, many remote communities have an energy-inefficient housing stock and rely on expensive, imported fuel oil for both electricity generation and space heating. Together, these factors create an exceptionally high energy cost burden for households. To reduce dependence on fuel oil, some communities in Alaska have integrated renewable energy (RE) resources into their electrical microgrids. Flexible loads, such as supplementary space heating, can buffer fluctuations in renewable electricity generation and allow utilities to generate more electricity from renewables. When excess renewably generated electricity is available, it can be sold at a discounted rate and used by consumers to charge electric thermal storage heaters (ETSH), thereby reducing heating costs. Energy efficiency must also be considered as it may be most cost-effective to reduce fuel oil consumption through a combination of energy efficiency improvements and RE capacity additions. This research investigates whether displacing fuel oil used for space heating with energy efficiency improvements and renewably generated electricity can substantially reduce households’ energy cost burden, reduce carbon emissions, and increase the RE contribution in isolated microgrids in remote Arctic communities. This research has energy justice implications for the hundreds of Arctic communities currently using fuel oil for space heating and electricity generation. This research may lead to the broader adoption of a cost-effective combination of energy-efficient homes and low-cost, renewably generated electricity for space heating, which could reduce residential sector carbon emissions and household energy cost burden.The project incorporates dimensions of the natural environment, built environment, and social systems through four components: 1) a residential heating field experiment in Kotzebue, Alaska; 2) energy system modeling; 3) economic and policy analysis; and 4) energy education. The research objectives of the project are: 1) measure the electricity and heating fuel oil consumption in treatment and control homes before and after energy efficiency improvements and ETSH are installed in the treatment homes; 2) extend an existing microgrid simulation software (MiGRIDS) to add building thermal loads and ETSH; 3) use the MiGRIDS model to optimize and value various levels of energy efficiency retrofits, ETSH, electrical energy storage, and RE; 4) develop a process that can be replicated elsewhere to optimize and value various levels of energy efficiency retrofits, ETSH, electrical energy storage, and RE; 5) collaborate with the Tribal government, local energy experts, and community members to design a survey that satisfies both the community needs and research objectives; 6) estimate reductions in energy cost burden, carbon emissions, and air pollutant emissions associated with displaced fuel oil use; 7) identify regulatory, institutional, and/or policy changes required to enable the widespread adoption of renewably generated electricity for space heating in other communities in Alaska and the circumpolar North; 8) identify how existing statewide energy policies can be adapted to be more equitable and effective; 9) collaborate with local K-8 educators and elders to create culturally responsive, place-based curriculum materials for a science unit on energy use in Arctic communities; 10) provide energy efficiency and energy auditing training to local high school students; and 11) teach Arctic Remote Energy Network Academy (ARENA) program participants how to apply the energy system model developed for this project to reduce fuel oil consumption in their own communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

导航新北极（NNA）是美国国家科学基金会的十大构想之一。NNA项目解决快速变化的北极地区的融合科学挑战。这项北极研究需要为国家、更大地区和全球的经济、安全和复原力提供信息。NNA支持从地方到国际规模的新研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正式和非正式教育的努力，并在适当情况下整合知识的共同生产。该奖项通过解决以下NNA重点领域的社会系统、自然环境和建筑环境之间的相互作用，实现了这一目标的一部分：北极居民、数据和观测、教育、全球影响和弹性基础设施。在整个北极地区，许多偏远社区的住房能源效率低下，发电和供暖都依赖昂贵的进口燃料油。这些因素加在一起，给家庭造成了异常高的能源成本负担。为了减少对燃料油的依赖，阿拉斯加的一些社区将可再生能源（RE）资源整合到他们的微电网中。灵活的负荷，如补充空间供暖，可以缓冲可再生能源发电的波动，并允许公用事业公司从可再生能源中产生更多的电力。当有多余的可再生能源发电可用时，它可以以折扣价出售，供消费者使用，为电储热加热器（ETSH）充电，从而降低供暖成本。能源效率也必须考虑，因为通过提高能源效率和增加可再生能源容量的结合来减少燃油消耗可能是最具成本效益的。本研究调查了用能效改进和可再生能源发电取代用于空间供暖的燃料油是否可以大幅降低家庭的能源成本负担，减少碳排放，并增加偏远北极社区孤立微电网的可再生能源贡献。这项研究对目前使用燃料油进行空间供暖和发电的数百个北极社区具有能源正义意义。这项研究可能会导致更广泛地采用具有成本效益的节能住宅和低成本的可再生电力相结合的空间供暖，这可能会减少住宅部门的碳排放和家庭能源成本负担。该项目通过四个部分整合了自然环境、建筑环境和社会系统的维度：1)阿拉斯加Kotzebue的住宅供暖现场实验；2)能源系统建模；3)经济和政策分析；4)能源教育。本项目的研究目标是：1)测量处理控制户在安装能效改进和ETSH前后的电力和取暖燃料油消耗；2)扩展现有的微电网仿真软件（MiGRIDS），以增加建筑热负荷和ETSH；3)使用MiGRIDS模型对各级能效改造、ETSH、电能存储和可再生能源进行优化和评估；4)开发一个可以在其他地方复制的过程，以优化和评估各种水平的能效改造、ETSH、电能存储和可再生能源；5)与部落政府、当地能源专家和社区成员合作，设计一项既满足社区需求又满足研究目标的调查；6)估计与替代燃料油使用相关的能源成本负担、碳排放和空气污染物排放的减少；7)确定监管、制度和/或政策上的变化，以便在阿拉斯加和环北极的其他社区广泛采用可再生能源发电进行空间供暖；8)确定如何调整现有的全州能源政策，使其更加公平和有效；9)与当地K-8教育工作者和长者合作，为北极社区能源使用的科学单元创建符合文化的、基于地点的课程材料；10)为当地高中生提供能效和能源审计培训；11)教授北极远程能源网络学院（ARENA）项目参与者如何应用为该项目开发的能源系统模型来减少他们自己社区的燃油消耗。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。