Abridged SP FINAL-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 6
Strategic Initiatives
ETA’s vision of sustainable, energy-efficient, resilient,
and increasingly productive communities has always
included climate adaptation technologies and
strategies, with feedback loops that cross agricultural,
industrial, and water sectors. We spearheaded cool
surfaces research to address the pressing impact of
urban heat island effects and modeled energy use
in buildings under a reduced load scenario in case of
power outages. In the last three years, that vision has
expanded and evolved to emphasize a greater focus
on technologies and strategies that can meet new
and rapidly changing needs.
Over the past five years, ETA has engaged with more
than 540 partners across 620 projects. These projects
represent more than $50 million in industry cost share
leveraging, $267 million from sponsors in pursuit of
the scientific missions of those organizations.
This Strategic Plan contains work that will help
us mitigate and adapt to evolving effects of
climate change:
• Resilient communities that continue
to improve and thrive despite the
new challenges presented by extreme
weather stressors
• Industries that drive economy-wide
value with manufacturing processes and
technologies that deliver low-carbon
solutions for high-volume, high-value
chemicals (the building blocks of those
resilient infrastructures) while ratcheting
down the climate threat for future
generations
• Storage solutions that will support
decarbonized energy generation and
beneficial electrification across all enduse sectors, including transportation,
the built environment, industrial
applications, and the grid that connects
them — ensuring reliable electricity
delivery through planned and
unexpected power outages
• An integrated, tightly coupled, water–
energy system of nontraditional
water treatment and renewable
energy-generation sources that also
demonstrate full-scale desalination at
pipe parity
• A holistic integrated energy systems
approach to prepare for rapid
electrification that is dependent on
intermittent renewable resources,
with clear modeling and analytical
frameworks for both planning and
controls
This ambitious vision requires significant
foundational shifts, but it is also a future that
we firmly believe is possible. Working with our
partners, and building on a strong foundation,
we are excited about the future, and are
committed to making these Strategic Initiatives
happen, in real time, on budget, and driving
relentlessly toward a zero-carbon society.
4 | ETA Strategic Plan 2021-2030
