NASA Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) social innovation concept encourages out-of-the-box problem solving within the NASA community to benefit both NASA’s core mission and humanity’s most pressing needs. Because human space exploration technologies share similar requirements with developing world technologies, the program goal is to provide non-traditional collaboration and diverse resources to encourage multi-disciplinary solutions. For instance, th...

While previous Executive Orders and Federal legislation have been useful in moving Federal Agencies toward sustainability and, in many cases, have spelled out numerical targets to be achieved, the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act requires the Department of Defense (DoD) to use renewable sources for 25 percent of its facilities by 2025. DoD itself highlighted that “reducing the demand for energy must be the most immediate operational energy priority for the Dep...

After the long gas station lines of the two OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) crises of the 1970s, the onus for reducing fuel consumption was placed squarely on the consumer by mandatory programs, such as the maximum 55 mph highway speed limit, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and incentivized car pooling. This burden to reduce fuel was expanded in the 1980s to include automotive/truck trade and suppliers with dictated mileage goals. While both con...