A map noting the location for 18 weather and climate disasters costing more than $1 billion in the United States from January to September 2021.

This map denotes the approximate location for each of the 18 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters that impacted the United States January-September 2021.

Image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Over the past 5 years (between 2016 and 2020), the United States experienced natural disasters that cost over $606.9 billion in damages and led to longer and more frequent disruptions in power, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Resilient communities with energy-efficient facilities and other distributed energy resources can reduce danger to public safety, security, and health. Below are resources and tools for states, local governments, and other public organizations on various aspects of resilience and the energy technologies that can help make a community more resilient.

Resources

Comprehensive Planning

Climate Change and the Electricity Sector: Guide for Climate Change Resilience Planning
DOE guide to resilience planning through estimated consequences of climate change impacts and assessment of system vulnerabilities to extreme weather.
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) for Resiliency Accelerator
DOE webpage highlights CHP solutions for successful resilience planning and implementation via examples from Better Buildings Accelerator partners.
Commercial PACE Financing for Resiliency
DOE resource includes webinars and implementation models of how C-PACE financing can be used to make resilient buildings.
Distributed Generation for Resilience Planning Guide
DOE guide with introductory information to distributed generation technologies and an excel-based or web-based resilience risk evaluation tool.
Energy Efficiency and Distributed Generation for Resilience: Withstanding Grid Outages for Less
DOE fact sheet that shares case studies of energy efficiency and distributed energy resources integrated into critical public facilities and the positive impact on withstanding grid outages.
Energy Transitions Playbook
The Energy Transitions Playbook is a downloadable play-by-play guide that facilitates energy transitions by sharing experiences and insights from communities working toward a cleaner energy future.
Efficiency-Resilience Nexus
DOE webpage to help organizations in different sectors increase their ability to bounce back from natural disasters.
Federal Financial Assistance Programs for Resilience Activities
DOE interactive web-matrix with a selected list of federal financial assistance programs that can be leveraged for energy resilience and planning.
Federal Resilience Resources for State Energy Offices
DOE-compiled list and excel table of federally funded resilience guides and valuation tools that can be utilized by state and local governments for planning and implementation.
Guide to Community Energy Strategic Planning
A step-by-step process for creating a strategic energy plan for local governments to help save money, create jobs, and improve national security.
How Distributed Energy Resources Can Improve Resilience in Public Buildings: Three Case Studies and a Step-by-Step Guide
DOE guide explores how energy efficiency and distributed energy resources can support resilience in critical public facilities and provides examples.
Power Sector Resilience Planning Guidebook
NREL guide that introduces key concepts and steps involved in mitigating technological, human-caused, and natural threats to the power sector.
Regional Vulnerabilities and Resilience Solutions
DOE guide that examines the current and potential future impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the U.S. energy sector at a regional level.
Resilient Power Project Toolkit
Clean Energy Group toolkit provides the tools to better understand resilient power systems in the subjects of technology, economics, finance and more.
Resilience Roadmap
NREL roadmap that provides best practices for public-sector entities to convene for regional resilience planning.
State Energy Resilience Framework
Argonne National Laboratory five-step framework that enables state and local governments to work towards resilience-enhancing measures.
Technical Resilience Navigator
DOE and PNNL tool that helps organizations manage the risk to critical missions from disruptions in energy and water services.

Assessment Tools and Toolkits

Renewable Energy Integration and Optimization Model Subset (REopt Lite)
NREL tool that helps commercial building managers identify the system sizes and dispatch strategies that minimize a site's life cycle cost of energy.
Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM)
LBNL tool for making decisions to decentralize energy systems by calculating investment options to minimize costs or CO2 emissions.
Energy Management Information Systems
DOE energy analytics system that can be used to monitor energy use, identify efficiency opportunities, and set energy goals that can build resiliency.
Energy Storage Optimization Tool (QuESt)
Sandia Laboratory tool that estimates revenue potential for energy storage.
Interruption Cost Estimate (ICE) Calculator
LBNL tool that estimates interruption costs and/or the benefits associated with grid reliability improvements.
Microgrid Portfolio of Activities
The Energy Department has a comprehensive portfolio of activities that focuses on the development and implementation of microgrids to further...
SolarResilient Tool
DOE tool that estimates the needed rating and physical size of grid-connected photovoltaics and battery storage to provide power for an extended time.

Webinars

Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit: Planning for Power: Tools and Resources for Energy Resilience Workshop (2021)
This webinar demonstrates two tools and outlines funding resources for site-specific resilience planning.
Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit: Pathways to Community-wide Resilience (2021)
This webinar explores the importance of community voices to ensure successful, place-based resilience planning, and features community speakers.
Better Buildings Webinar: Building Resilient Communities: State and Local Perspectives (2020)
This webinar explores how state and local governments are developing their communities to improve energy efficiency and bolster resilience.
Better Buildings Webinar: Save Money and Build Resilience with Distributed Energy Technologies (2020)
Learn how publicly available tools were able to help energy managers and other decision-makers optimize the unique energy needs of their facilities.
Mitigating Natural Hazard Risks in the Energy Sector: Opportunities for HUD CDBG-Mitigation Grantees (2019)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hosted its 2020 Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) webinars for grantees.
Planning for an Energy Resilient Future: Energy Project Models and Lessons Learned (2019)
DOE report and webinar that identify federal funding opportunities, showcase innovative energy projects, and recommend steps for community preparedness.