Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/53167
species, age and foliar chemistry can be assessed rapidly at the pixel level over a large area after the sensor has been trained to identify spectral bands associated with specific vegetation attributes. Energy Planning Climate change is having dramatic effects on our energy systems, especially in areas where the majority of power is generated from hydroelectricity. Changes in seasonal precipitation patterns and rapidly receding glaciers are altering the timing and volumes of water reaching dam reservoirs. To bolster the resilience of the power supply, a diverse portfolio of distributed energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, biomass, run-of-river micro hydro and geothermal are being evaluated and brought online. Integrated airborne remote sensing is a powerful tool commonly used in energy planning, and airborne LIDAR often is relied on to site wind farms and map local obstructions, optimizing turbine placement. Bare- Earth DEMs are used to locate micro-hydro sites, and LIDAR is used ubiquitously as a transmission-line planning and assessment tool. One energy-planning application becoming more common is creating solar- energy potential maps using airborne LIDAR. As previously mentioned, buildings are the most dominant aspect of populated areas, as they often occupy the greatest land area. Rooftop areas are vast, often unifunctional, spaces offering great potential for solar-energy harvesting. But in order for solar panels (whether voltaic or water-heating systems) to work efficiently, especially in higher latitudes with frequent cloud cover and short winter-sunlight hours, they require deployment in optimal slope and aspect conditions. 3-D building characteristics captured from airborne LIDAR are used to assess regional solar-harvesting potential on a site-by-site basis. Although sun-tracking solar-harvesting systems are becoming more common, slope and aspect aren't the only deterministic factors in the site's solar-harvesting potential. Adjacent ter- rain, buildings and vegetation cast shadows impacting solar-harvest potential at different times during the day and throughout the annual solar progression. Detailed shadow mapping can be carried out on spatially cor- rect cityscapes to help determine the most suitable sites for capturing solar energy. Using airborne LIDAR to map solar-energy potential in urban areas is taking off worldwide. Denver, New York City and Salt Lake City in the United States; 150 towns and cities in Germany; and Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, are just a few of the communities using LIDAR data for this application. Detailed solar-energy-potential assessments provide valuable information regarding how much energy can be realistically harvested and fed into the power grid under differing levels of implementation. Imagery/LIDAR Special Issue Figure 5. Auto-classified LIDAR vegetation and auto-extracted 3-D buildings are used for solar-potential mapping. Having the ability to accurately quantify the amount of available solar energy provides valuable informa- tion that supports energy supply and demand models, greenhouse-gas modeling, and electricity-consumption reduction forecasting (in the case of solar-water heating systems). Localized power sources provide increased adaptive capacity to urban areas, which rely on electric- ity for most of their function. As extreme weather events become more frequent, places such as the Bowker Creek Watershed will have used LIDAR data to proactively plan and implement solutions that will help prepare the community for cli- mate change. Integrated airborne remote sensing is a highly efficient method of gathering temporally and spatially uniform datasets over large areas at high resolutions. Multi-sensor-sourced up-to-date datasets have widespread application, providing a greater sum than the value of its individual components. In addition, the multi-disciplinary range of products obtained from remote sensing means acquisition costs can be shared across departments and organizations, effectively low- ering costs of individual projects that rely on the data. Airborne remote sensing isn't the answer to cli- mate adaptation, but it's playing an expanding role in adaptation planning. Airborne remote sensing provides critical information for communities to plan and allocate resources in the most effective way, limiting the influence of uncertainty inherent in climate-change adaptation planning. Taylor Davis is a LIDAR applications specialist with Terra Remote Sensing Inc.; e-mail: taylor.davis@terraremote. com. Chris Jensen is an infrastructure resources officer with the Infrastructure and Finance Division of the British Columbia Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development; e-mail: Chris.Jensen@gov.bc.ca. JANUAR Y 2O12 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . COM 25