Earth observations informing energy management: a CEOS and GEOSS perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT Earth observations have played an increasing role in informing decision making in the energy sector. In renewable energy applications, spaceborne observations now routinely augment sparse ground-based observations for solar energy resource assessment. As one of the nine Global Earth Observ ing System of Systems (GEOSS ) societal benefit areas, the enhancement of policy and management decision making in the energy sector is receiving considerable attention in activities conducted by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). We describe current projects being conducted by CEOS member agen cies to partner with end-user energy decision makers to enhance their decision support systems using space-based obse rvations. These prototype projects have fre quently been pursued through the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Energy Community of Practice an d, more recently, in collaboration with the CEOS Energy societal benefit area (SBA). Several case studies exhibiting the utility of Earth observations to enhance renewable energy resource assessment, forecast space-weather impacts on the power grid, and optimize energy efficiency in the built environment are discussed. Keywords: Energy management, remote sensing, spaceborne obse rvations, renewable energy, energy efficiency, power generation, decision support, Committee on Earth Obse rvation Satellites, Group on Earth Observations