Development and Application of City-based Optimization Model for Energy Technologies (COMET)

Research Opportunity at the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Title:

Development and Application of City-based Optimization Model for Energy Technologies (COMET)

Research Area(s):

• Air

Lab, Region/Center, Office:

Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling (CEMM), Office of Research and Development

Opportunity Location:

Durham, NC

Opportunity Funding (Duration):

• National Science Foundation Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity (6 months maximum)

Project Description:

Cities are facing many challenges caused by climate change, urbanization, limited natural resources, and aging infrastructure. Decision makers need to understand the environmental (climate and air quality) and health implications of energy supply and use in their regions, as well as the extent to which energy resources and technologies may contribute to achieving environmental goals. Cities can benefit from systematically evaluating multiple potential strategies for achieving economic and environmental goals related to energy needs. Considering these, EPA developed City-based Optimization Model for Energy Technologies (COMET). COMET is designed to capture the whole energy system at the city level, from the introduction of the energy sources to conversion into useful energy to meet end-use energy service demands.

The research will develop and apply COMET, develop decarbonization pathways to consider along with quantifying the anticipated positive and negative environmental implications, and explore more localized impacts of decarbonization (focusing on community impacts).

Fellowship Goal and Learning Objectives:

Goal: The fellow will learn about air, climate and energy interactions and contribute to development of COMET – an energy systems model designed for cities.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the role and potential of cities and users to shape the energy system;
• Develop understanding of energy systems, infrastructure, and technology in cities;
• Build, maintain, and calibrate the COMET;
• Learn about energy system modeling techniques such as TIMES;
• Develop case studies for communities and understand what an equitable energy transition will look like;
• Compile and synthesize literature related to city-scale energy systems modeling;
• Communicate results, generate reports and manuscripts.

Preferred Skills and Qualifications:

Preferred Skills:

• Strong verbal and writing skills,
• Ability to work both as a part of a team and independently.
• Basic knowledge of energy and climate, life cycle emissions, air pollution control, environmental economics, systems analysis

Qualifications:  Graduate student or Ph.D. in one of the relevant fields (e.g. Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Systems Engineering, Decision Analytics, Economics, Applied Mathematics, and Data Science).

Point of Contact or Research Lead:

Dr. Ozge Kaplan (Kaplan.Ozge@epa.gov)