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Environmental Science

Geospatial Energy Mapper

GEM
A comprehensive online mapping tool that helps to identify areas that are suitable for low- or no-carbon power generation and other energy-related projects

Argonne’s Environmental Science (EVS) and Energy Systems and Infrastructure Analysis (ESIA) divisions are hosting an energy planning tool funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office.

Geospatial Energy Mapper (GEM) provides interactive mapping and analysis tools for energy planning throughout the United States and its territories. It includes a large repository of mapping data that can be viewed or downloaded, and a modeling capability designed to identify areas that are suitable for low- or no-carbon power generation and other energy-related technologies.

The scope includes nine types of energy resources: (1) biomass, (2) clean coal technologies with carbon capture and sequestration, (3) geothermal, (4) natural gas, (5) nuclear, (6) solar, (7) storage (pumped-hydro, compressed-air energy storage), (8) water (hydroelectric and marine energy technologies), and (9) wind.

Types of energy resources included in the Geospatial Energy Mapper (GEM) (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.)

GEM is accessed by federal, state, and local planners; nongovernmental organizations; regional transmission organizations; public service commissions; energy industry professionals; academic organizations; national laboratories, and private industry and citizens. Interested stakeholders are invited to access GEM at https://​gem​.anl​.gov.

GEM interface showing the Solar Mapping Theme which includes the Solar Photovoltaic Facilities Database, solar power plant sites from the Energy Information Administration, and Solar Photovoltaic Energy Potential from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.)

GEM users can use energy resource availability, screening parameters, and other criteria to generate customized suitability maps for over 40 power plant technologies and other energy infrastructure types.

Recent additions to GEM include electric vehicles (EV) and equity data on minorities and low-income populations. Scientists at Argonne developed a dataset that highlights household transportation energy burden, or the percentage of income spent on transportation energy. Currently, areas with a high cost of transportation energy burden correlate with lower access to electric vehicle charging opportunities as seen in the map below.

GEM interface showing transportation energy burden and EV charging stations. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.)

The tool gives users these capabilities:

  • View, download and query map layers (more than 200 in the catalog including demographics, boundaries and utilities).
  • Analyze a wide variety of power plant technologies and other energy infrastructure types.
  • Nearly 100 modeling criteria to choose from. Population density, proximity to nearest substation, slope, wildfire risk and low-income household percentage are just a few examples.
  • Run flexible models that generate heat maps,” identifying areas of high suitability for developing clean energy resources.
  • Export static images of map layers and modeling results.
  • Access metadata for the GIS layers.

In summary, GEM is a powerful tool for energy planning, with interactive mapping, modeling of suitable areas for clean energy development, and recent content additions like electric vehicles and equity data. GEM empowers users to understand and analyze a diverse range of energy planning topics.