As stewards of public trust, federal agencies conduct work that affects the safety and security of residents everywhere. Much of this mission-critical work is carried out in federal facilities that require timely and sustained access to energy and water resources.

By developing and demonstrating strategies to optimize energy and water use, PNNL is helping to make federal facilities more efficient and designed with systems that are sized to meet their true resource needs.  PNNL is partnering with agencies to deploy new resilience assessment and planning methods and tools, such as the Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP) Technical Resilience Navigator.

PNNL expertise in building energy simulation, building performance evaluation, building control system optimization, risk assessment, and technology planning translate directly into strategies for energy and water resilience and cybersecurity. PNNL builds on these core capabilities to assess vulnerabilities and risks to federal operations from utility interruptions, evaluate demand and requirements through energy load profiling, and produce roadmaps to achieve resilience objectives.

Tools for Resilience and Cybersecurity

PNNL created the interactive Water Vulnerability Assessment Tool to provide federal agencies with information about trend and variability, which are two indicators of vulnerability in water supply. Alternative Water Tools provide maps of the locations of alternative, sustainable water resources, including harvested rainwater, captured condensate, and reclaimed wastewater. The maps include detailed information on regulations and availability of alternative resources.

Additionally, PNNL is the leading laboratory for cybersecurity support for FEMP. Researchers also support cybersecurity for building operations with toolsets that help agencies plan for threats to facility-related control systems. PNNL cybersecurity tools assist in risk management for operational and information technology by helping decision makers identify and mitigate gaps in security.

PNNL research will continue to support America’s federal facilities by maintaining and improving energy efficient, and resilient operations.