Global Climate Change
Global climate change and energy consumption will continue to factor into our lives and businesses as the world addresses how to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Savings realized through energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions go immediately to the financial bottom line, making the issue of climate change increasingly important to today's large-scale energy consumers. That is why SAIC is working with our clients to fine-tune their facilities to be energy efficient, working with state and local agencies to help spur the development of renewables that make sense for their communities and using our knowledge and expertise to help organizations approach challenges in ways that make sense for their businesses and for the climate.
SAIC's climate change and energy expertise spans environmental and atmospheric sciences, public policy analysis, engineering, design/build, and information technology. This expertise, combined with a strong understanding of our clients' businesses, allows SAIC to deliver integrated solutions that help our clients become leaders in energy-efficient operations and sustainable business practices.
Our clients include government, quasi-governmental, commercial and industrial organizations. We also serve federal and state agencies that are leading the way in establishing protocol to monitor, report, and address the local, national, and global impacts of climate change.
SAIC's climate change services include:
- Policy Analysis and Modeling
- Allowance Market Modeling and Incentives Planning
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories
- Carbon Footprint Assessment
- Trading of Emission Offsets
- Strategic Planning
- Energy Efficient Design, Construction, and Operations
- Alternative Fuels and Green Energy Initiatives
- Low- and Zero-Carbon Technology Implementation
- Climate and Weather Data Gathering and Monitoring
SAIC's contributions to addressing global climate change and energy efficiency include the following:
Energy-Efficient Design and Construction: Our architects and engineers help clients improve overall energy use through design of efficient buildings, environmental systems, and industrial processes. We helped one of the largest auto manufacturers in the U.S. improve plant efficiencies nationwide. We also designed and built the largest-of-its-kind biodiesel plant in the U.S., which generates alternative fuel from a variety of feed stocks.
Multi-State Energy-Efficiency Upgrades: SAIC has provided commercial, industrial, and building energy efficiency services for states such as Oregon, Wisconsin, Missouri, and New York. We have helped promote "green" construction and achieve significant energy savings, including creating a program resulting in savings of more than 243 million kilowatt hours, 46 megawatts, and 14 million therms across 2,000 energy-efficiency projects in Wisconsin.
Developed the Primary Climate Change Policy Modeling Tool Used By Government: SAIC is the lead designer and implementer of the publicly-available National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). NEMS is the primary tool used by the U.S. government to analyze the impacts of energy and greenhouse gas policies on the U.S. economy. NEMS is also used by the U.S. lead agency to provide long-term energy market and infrastructure forecasts, and to respond to Congressional requests related to the issues. In addition, we developed MAPLE-C, the NEMS Canadian counterpart, and NEMS-C, a version of the model tailored specifically to commercial and industrial energy users.
North America's Largest Solar Community: SAIC Canada was program manager (from conceptualization through development) for the Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada. This community has 52 solar-heated residences. It is North America's first large-scale seasonal storage solar system and the first in the world to deliver such a high percentage of space heating from solar energy.
Ocean Wave Energy Initiative: SAIC helped bring together a coalition of industry, state and local government, environmental interest groups, academia, and interested citizens across the state of Oregon to fund a $4.2 million Wave Energy Initiative. The effort helped Oregon identify and fund renewable marine energy technologies, and helps in the global effort to develop renewable energy sources for the future.
Leadership Developing National Greenhouse Gas Emission Protocol: SAIC's climate change experts are at the forefront of assessing climate change impacts and developing protocol for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions for leading agencies nationwide. Our staff members are listed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Roster of Experts for Greenhouse Gas inventory preparation. We are helping a major federal agency evaluate and address climate change impacts on human and natural systems and tourism on a global scale.
World's Largest Data Collector Supporting Natural Disaster Relief: SAIC provides scientific, engineering, and operational support technical services to the U.S. federal agency overseeing the world's largest collection of remotely sensed civilian data. The information helps our nation's homeland security and disaster response decision makers make rapid decisions in the face of natural disasters and other emergency events.
Alternative Energy Technologies: SAIC has performed numerous feasibility studies of alternative energy technologies, including the use of renewable and alternative energy sources such as wind, photovoltaics, and fuel cells, for a variety of states and U.S. federal agencies.
