NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 42

Research
Driven
RESEARCH FUTURE The intense urbanization predicted for this century, especially in low- and middle-income nations-as exemplified by
Lagos, Nigeria (above), one of the world's fastest-growing cities-will create urgent research needs. " Now is the time for the global research
community to work together to have safety recognized as a critical need for this new built environment, " the author writes. GETTY IMAGES
FUTURE WORK:
ENERGY, URBANIZATION,
CLIMATE
There is no shortage of research needs
related to fire and electrical safety. With
our small staff at the Foundation, it is
not possible to address them all, but we
try to identify those topics of greatest
interest to our stakeholders by working
with them to prioritize the research that
best aligns with the Foundation's mission.
We also evaluate potential research
topics on the magnitude of the safety
problem, their level of interest to the
industry, and the urgency of the problem.
Topics that do not necessarily make
the cut the first time may be reconsidered
later or communicated to other
research entities that might be better
able to address them.
Over the next four decades, I see the
Foundation continuing to do the same
type of high-quality research it has
42 | NFPA JOURNAL * SPRING 2022
conducted over the past 40 years. We
will continue to address emerging issues
and life safety challenges to reduce risk.
The Foundation will need to evolve to
continue to produce impactful and relevant
research in an ever-changing world.
We will seek to work with new partners
globally and from other industries, as
sponsors, researchers, and subject-matter
experts. This will lead to work that
has a higher global impact and increase
recognition of fire protection among
other industries.
With those objectives in mind, hazards
related to new forms of energy
and energy-efficient technologies will
continue make up a significant portion
of the Foundation's portfolio. There are
still many unanswered questions around
protection of energy storage systems,
response to EV fires, the hazards of
stranded energy, protection of photovoltaic
arrays, mitigating hazards from
green technologies such as combustible
insulation in buildings, and the safety of
lithium-ion batteries in consumer goods.
The Foundation continues to conduct
research designed to inform guidance on
these issues as well as many others. The
constantly changing landscape of evolving
energy technologies will keep the
Foundation and other research entities
busy well into the future.
Another current topic of great interest
to the fire service is the use of fluorine-free
firefighting foams. Aqueous
film forming foam (AFFF) has been used
by the fire service for decades for applications
such as flammable liquid pool
fires and other tough-to-fight fires. AFFF,
however, has been shown to have negative
impacts on the environment as well
as on the long-term health of firefighters,
and as a result it is being phased
out and replaced with alternatives. The
Foundation has undertaken research

NFPA Journal - Spring 2022

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