Goddard Space Flight Center- Energy Management Assistant
January 23, 2022- May 20, 2022
Final Goals of your project/s:
Educate NASA GSFC about the Pepco utility rebate process, understand government energy contracting, fill out utility bills to various excel sheets and upload the data to NASA Environmental Tracking System (NETS) and energy portfolio manager.
Describe what you did during the internship:
Coordinated with project managers on lighting renovation projects to facilitate cost savings in building equipment eligible for government rebate incentives. Achieved energy awareness by working with; NASA architects, energy managers, electrical, lighting, and facility engineers to understand the energy service company (ESCO) rebates application process. Recorded energy bills in excel sheets and transferred quarterly data into NASA Environmental Tracking System (NETS) to support energy benchmarking for headquarters environmental reports.
Training: Completed BOC 400 – Fundamentals of Energy Efficient Building Operations offered through Pennsylvania College of Technology. Attended Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESC) and Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) for Federal Agencies training offered through Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Attended Pepco energy rebate program webinars.
Activities Related to Career Goals in Satellite Technology:
Participated in the following events to become more knowledgeable in spacecraft instrumentation and mission requirements for mission modeling. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mirror alignment, Glows Instrument Design Laboratory (IDL) spacecraft design meetings, and the International Astronomical Search Collaboration IASC NASA intern asteroid search campaign. These activities gave me insight into NASA’s process for modeling craft and the importance of understanding mass budgeting, instrumentation, deployables, and telescope imaging. Sitting with industry experts and systems engineers during the Instrument Design Laboratory (IDL) study helped me understand the foundation for mission spacecraft success and the importance of understanding where structures fail during missions.
Did you achieve your goals? What were the results?:
Communicated with project managers to obtain project information to complete energy rebate application forms. I met with various electrical and lighting engineers to understand energy rebate forms, lighting code manufacture lighting specifications sheets, and building equipment layouts. I was able to find knowledge gaps in NASA’s understanding of utility service company energy rebates, as a result, I was able to start clearing up confusion among different departments on the Pepco energy rebate program.
Describe positive lessons learned:
I Learned various virtual communication methods for different engineers and departments. I figured out how to take bulk information and organize it in an understanding manner for different audiences. I had the opportunity to network with different departments throughout NASA and find where I would best fit for my future engineering career goals. I sought diverse guidance and made improvements to my workflow when I wasn’t making progress and taught myself how to become a better independent worker.
Describe negative lessons learned:
Virtual work is tough on communication and learning how to communicate with different departments and engineers can take time. It is important to be patient with yourself and understand is okay to make mistakes, as long as you correct them in the end. Funding opportunities from government incentives can dry up if swift action is not taken for opportunities such as energy rebates. The type of work that is done in the government is very different from the academic world. It more important to take your time with projects and ensure work is done accurately.