NRCan's Winning Link to NASA
Article featured in June 2005 Edition of The Source, NRCan's internal newsletter.
By Rebecca Tebrake
Few people know that some of the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) cutting edge research is applied with the help of NRCan. This June, Gregory Leng, the section head of RETScreen International, is becoming one of the few non-Americans to be honoured with NASA's Group Achievement Award as a member of its Earth Sciences Applications Team.
RETScreen International is a software package developed at the CANMET Energy Technology Centre in Varennes, Quebec. The RETScreen software processes climatic data such as how much solar energy is hitting the earth's surface and meteorological parameters such as humidity and temperature to accurately evaluate the potential of clean energy projects.
Until about five years ago, RETScreen depended only on information from ground site weather stations at airports and other sites to collect data. There are about 1000 such stations around the world contributing to the RETScreen database, but as one moves further from these sites the data becomes less accurate.
The opportunity to remedy these inaccuracies presented itself to Mr. Leng while he gave a plenary talk and presented RETScreen at the NRCan-sponsored Renewable Energy in Cold Climates Conference in 1998. "During my talk, I had mentioned that we were looking to link our software with data providers. Afterwards, a representative from the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, came up to me and presented me with the fact that they had started a scientific database with an extensive collection of satellite-derived solar energy data," recounts Mr. Leng. This encounter was the beginning of the relationship between NRCan and NASA. After visits to each other's labs and an assessment of user and model needs, RETScreen and NASA came up with a plan to integrate the NRCan software and the NASA database.
"This collaboration makes it possible for people to link onto the NASA Web site database by using our software. Alternatively, you can link onto our software through the NASA Web site," explains Mr. Leng. The partnership makes it possible for anyone in the world to get accurate weather information for their location because of the depth of information and user-friendly quality of the program.
The partnership has helped RETScreen become a widely-used software tool with a greater availability of data. NASA has also benefited in unexpected ways from the partnership. "RETScreen has allowed NASA to take their hard-core science data and put it to practical use, which is one of Canada's strategies for technology transfer and the path the United States is taking too," explains Mr. Leng.
Movement towards applied technology has given NASA praise from the highest echelons of power. The head of the program at NASA was summoned to the White House and commended for the work that the agency was undertaking with RETScreen.
RETScreen's customers also provided a boost to the NASA database. When the link to the NASA database was first announced, its use went up 10 times within the first 48 hours due to RETScreen users.
Other organizations have started to take notice of the benefits of applying research, specifically through RETScreen. "I have been getting calls from other NASA labs," says Mr. Leng. "Right now they are writing their funding proposals for the next 10 years, and they are all trying to link it to RETScreen." The link to RETScreen may help the labs get funding, but it also helps RETScreen develop new applications making it a world-class tool.
The partnership between NASA and RETScreen has lead to a superior and free tool to evaluate the feasibility of clean energy technologies. "We had a complete meeting of the minds in terms of objectives and strategies. I think that really leads to a successful partnership," explains Mr. Leng who will develop joint work plans with NASA that will draw the parameters for RETScreen's involvement in NASA's new Prediction of World Energy Resources (POWER) initiative.
"I am accepting [the award] on behalf of the team here in Varennes. For me its not a personal award, but its really a recognition of the RETScreen team working with NASA," says Mr. Leng.
By Rebecca Tebrake
Few people know that some of the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) cutting edge research is applied with the help of NRCan. This June, Gregory Leng, the section head of RETScreen International, is becoming one of the few non-Americans to be honoured with NASA's Group Achievement Award as a member of its Earth Sciences Applications Team.
RETScreen International is a software package developed at the CANMET Energy Technology Centre in Varennes, Quebec. The RETScreen software processes climatic data such as how much solar energy is hitting the earth's surface and meteorological parameters such as humidity and temperature to accurately evaluate the potential of clean energy projects.
Until about five years ago, RETScreen depended only on information from ground site weather stations at airports and other sites to collect data. There are about 1000 such stations around the world contributing to the RETScreen database, but as one moves further from these sites the data becomes less accurate.
The opportunity to remedy these inaccuracies presented itself to Mr. Leng while he gave a plenary talk and presented RETScreen at the NRCan-sponsored Renewable Energy in Cold Climates Conference in 1998. "During my talk, I had mentioned that we were looking to link our software with data providers. Afterwards, a representative from the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, came up to me and presented me with the fact that they had started a scientific database with an extensive collection of satellite-derived solar energy data," recounts Mr. Leng. This encounter was the beginning of the relationship between NRCan and NASA. After visits to each other's labs and an assessment of user and model needs, RETScreen and NASA came up with a plan to integrate the NRCan software and the NASA database.
"This collaboration makes it possible for people to link onto the NASA Web site database by using our software. Alternatively, you can link onto our software through the NASA Web site," explains Mr. Leng. The partnership makes it possible for anyone in the world to get accurate weather information for their location because of the depth of information and user-friendly quality of the program.
The partnership has helped RETScreen become a widely-used software tool with a greater availability of data. NASA has also benefited in unexpected ways from the partnership. "RETScreen has allowed NASA to take their hard-core science data and put it to practical use, which is one of Canada's strategies for technology transfer and the path the United States is taking too," explains Mr. Leng.
Movement towards applied technology has given NASA praise from the highest echelons of power. The head of the program at NASA was summoned to the White House and commended for the work that the agency was undertaking with RETScreen.
RETScreen's customers also provided a boost to the NASA database. When the link to the NASA database was first announced, its use went up 10 times within the first 48 hours due to RETScreen users.
Other organizations have started to take notice of the benefits of applying research, specifically through RETScreen. "I have been getting calls from other NASA labs," says Mr. Leng. "Right now they are writing their funding proposals for the next 10 years, and they are all trying to link it to RETScreen." The link to RETScreen may help the labs get funding, but it also helps RETScreen develop new applications making it a world-class tool.
The partnership between NASA and RETScreen has lead to a superior and free tool to evaluate the feasibility of clean energy technologies. "We had a complete meeting of the minds in terms of objectives and strategies. I think that really leads to a successful partnership," explains Mr. Leng who will develop joint work plans with NASA that will draw the parameters for RETScreen's involvement in NASA's new Prediction of World Energy Resources (POWER) initiative.
"I am accepting [the award] on behalf of the team here in Varennes. For me its not a personal award, but its really a recognition of the RETScreen team working with NASA," says Mr. Leng.
