As the United States is expanding use of low carbon energy technologies, such as wind, solar, and advanced biofuels, some transitions to renewable energy have not accelerated at the pace needed to respond to the climate crisis. The renewable energy sector also faces concerns of lack of equity and opportunities for frontline communities. A team of researchers from Barry University, the University of Minnesota, University of Richmond, University of Kansas, and Pennsylvania State University, has been awarded a three-year grant of almost $500,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to work with communities in designing a framework for creating policies that mitigate these impacts for a more just transition to renewables. The research is intended to expand renewable energy production in the most vulnerable communities with environmental justice considerations.
The three-year grant will support a multi-institutional and community partner collaboration for the project, “Just Energy Transitions and Place.” The project will examine how place-based considerations should be incorporated in federal and state energy transition initiatives. Understanding local considerations such as extreme weather events, environmental and health impacts from the energy sector, political dynamics, tribal land dispossession, land loss, and historical inequities will give researchers an unprecedented, broad set of factors for development of the framework.
“This project will make critical contributions to our understanding of how different communities across the country experience energy transitions. It will cover a diverse array of geographies, and this multidisciplinary team brings a wide range of expertise in conducting research that is locally oriented,” said Evan Michelson, program director at the Sloan Foundation.
Barry University’s School of Law professor, Nadia Ahmad, and University of Minnesota’s School of Public Affairs professor, Elise Harrington, are the co-principal investigators within an interdisciplinary team. The team also consists of Danielle Stokes (University of Richmond), Uma Outka (University of Kansas), Ward Lyles (University of Kansas), Jennifer Baka (Penn State), and Hannah Wiseman (Penn State).
The interviews and focus groups will be conducted in Florida, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana. The funding will also be used for the training and support of graduate students across multiple institutions in the fields of law, public policy, urban planning, and geography.
“We are grateful to the Sloan Foundation for recognizing our potential as scholars as well as building our capacity to develop a place-based framework for just energy transitions. The award is transformative and will help support research and train students across the disciplines of law and policy urban planning, and geography to accelerate renewables at the local level,” said Nadia Ahmad, professor at Barry University School of Law.
The research will contribute to a growing literature on energy transition policy by identifying opportunities for cross-state learning in policy design and areas where place-based context must be considered for effective and responsive policymaking. The team will use an engaged-research model to ensure this research is connected to the lived experience of communities facing energy transitions.
“The participatory aspect of this research will provide a more integrated assessment of law and policy to examine the specific interaction between changes in land use, energy demands and community dynamics in the presence and absence of fossil fuels and how these factors impact transitions to renewable energies that serve vulnerable communities” said Leticia Diaz, Dean of the Barry University School of Law.
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