About the NECSC
The National Energy Center for Sustainable Communities (NECSC) promotes healthier and more productive communities by integrating cleaner energy systems and energy-smart planning and design into new development and redevelopment projects.
NECSC executes this mission through collaborative research, demonstration and capacity-building (education and training) initiatives among government agencies, universities, utilities, companies and nongovernmental organizations across the nation. These initiatives are intended to: accelerate the use of renewable energy and advanced end-use technologies serving structures, infrastructure and processes; and result in development patterns and practices that reduce transportation energy consumption, storm water runoff and the urban heat island effect.
Key Mission Elements
Development Professionals
NECSC initiatives are intended to enhance the capacity of development professionals to build profitable and sustainable communities. These professionals include those who plan, design and build sustainable structures, communities, infrastructure and supporting systems, and the real estate professionals that can stimulate the market demand for them.
Plan, Design, Development and Building Professionals:
- Municipal economic development, planning, building and environmental services personnel
- Private-sector residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and hospitality complex developers
- Consulting architects, engineers, planners and landscape designers
- Utility officials and system technologists and planners
- Related professional and trade organization personnel
Real Estate Professionals:
- Private investors and institutional lenders and risk managers
- Residential, commercial and industrial real estate brokers and agents
Profitable Development & Building
NECSC initiatives are intended to create and to demonstrate tools, methods and models professionals can use to build sustainable communities while simultaneously building business profits. These initiatives are intended to advance the use of energy, water and resource-efficient technologies and building materials, green design and construction practices and financing mechanisms that preserve profit margins and deliver an affordable product to the buying public.
Productivity, Security & Prosperity
Productivity – refers to the maximum productive use of our energy, water and material resources to achieve any given objective. This entails the use of technologies, materials and best practices that minimize both embedded and direct energy and water consumption in their production and end-use.
Examples of these advanced technologies and materials include on-site distributed generation with combined cooling heat and power (CCHP) features and recycled building materials. In the case of the former, waste heat generated in the production of electricity is captured and reused to condition (cool or heat) space or for industrial processing. In the case of the latter, building materials are comprised of base materials derived from former products/materials rather than from the virgin raw materials. The focus here is on the maximum practical elimination of waste through recycling and reuse of all resources.
NECSC initiatives are also examining how best to maximize the productive use of our existing utility assets by reducing peak demands through the integration of peak-shaving renewable and distributed energy technologies and systems in community-scale development projects. These initiatives will provide our utilities alternatives to capital expansion to accommodate new growth while simultaneously providing energy consumers greater energy supply reliability and quality.
Security – Sustainable communities are secure communities. Given the threat of terrorism, episodic natural disasters and system overloads, a sustainable community is one designed and built to maintain life support and civil order during the disruption of energy and water supplies. NECSC’s technology, planning and municipal policy research and development efforts focus on the means to reinforce community energy and water supplies during these inevitable disruptions.
One example is the proposed NECSC project, currently under consideration by the U.S. government, to develop and demonstrate a model emergency energy system for critical urban infrastructure. The system would utilize strategically placed distributed CCHP systems and local area micro-grids to provide electricity and space conditioning to critical urban infrastructures and facilities such as: 911 command centers; police, fire and emergency response facilities; traffic signal, bridge and tunnel operations; and community congregation centers. The system would also entail the use of locally available fuel resources that are not dependent on vulnerable transmission wires or pipelines.
Prosperity – “A condition of prospering or of having good fortune”. The sustainable use of energy, water and material resources can contribute significantly toward the prosperity of a whole community as well as toward the prosperity of individual citizens. In particular, stable, predictable and affordable energy resources are essential to maximize the potential profit of business operations and to manage family budgets. NECSC policy and market studies examine energy affordability and various means of ensuring that all community residents, regardless of income levels, have access to efficient, reliable and affordable energy resources.
For More Information Visit:
www.necsc.us