Project Grant 84055801

DESCRIPTION:THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ACCELERATE DECARBONIZATION OF THE ELECTRICAL GRID BY DELIVERING INFORMATION AND TOOLS THAT EMPOWER COMMUNITY-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS TO IDENTIFY AND ADVOCATE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH COMMUNITY VALUES.ACTIVITIES:THE PROJECT WILL SYNTHESIZE EXISTING MODELING TOOLS INTO AN INTEGRATED WRAPPER THAT CAN SCREEN ALTERNATIVE DECARBONIZATION SCENARIOS IN TERMS OF THE VARIOUS ECOLOGICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND HEALTH OUTCOMES OF INTERESTS. RESEARCHERS WILL RECRUIT RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITY MEMBERS INTO DELIBERATIVE WORKSHOPS IN ORDER TO QUANTIFY THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF COMPETING ATTRIBUTES AND IDENTIFY THE INFORMATION THAT IS MOST INFLUENTIAL IN THE FORMATION OF ATTITUDES. THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL ALSO INCORPORATE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE INFORMATION INTO COST-BENEFIT ANALYSES WHICH WILL BE PERFORMED ON RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR NEW ENGLAND.SUBRECIPIENT:THE SUBAWARD TO CLEAN ENERGY NH WILL BE FOR $33,038. THEY WILL SUPPORT THEIR PROVISION OF INPUT ON SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT, SURVEY INSTRUMENTS, AND CHARACTERIZATIONS OF IMPACTS AND BENEFITS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS UNDER CONSIDERATION IN YEAR 3. THE SUBAWARD TO DARTMOUTH COLLEGE WILL BE FOR $114,055. THEY WILL SUPPORT CO-MENTORSHIP OF THE POSTDOC AND ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED. THE SUBAWARD TO UMASS BOSTON WILL BE FOR $224,961. THEY WILL SUPPORT DELIBERATIVE VALUATION STUDY DESIGN, GRADUATE STUDENT RECRUITMENT, AND WORKSHOP ADMINISTRATION. OUTCOMES:DELIVERABLES INCLUDE ANNUAL AND FINAL RESEARCH REPORTS. OTHER EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND OUTCOMES INCLUDE 1) INCREASED CAPACITY FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS TO GENERATE INDEPENDENT CHARACTERIZATIONS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTS; 2) INCREASED CREDIBILITY OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION; 3) INCREASED CAPACITY FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS TO IDENTIFY AND ADVOCATE FOR PROJECTS; AND 4) ENHANCED COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS TOOLS THAT CAN EXPLICITLY VALUE PUBLIC PREFERENCE REGARDING COMPETING ATTRIBUTES FOR ALTERNATIVE RENEWABLE ENERGY SCENARIOS. DIRECT BENEFICIARIES OF THIS PROJECT INCLUDE NEW ENGLAND COMMUNITIES IN RURAL, LOW-INCOME ENVIRONMENTS MOST AFFECTED BY RENEWABLES TRANSMISSION AND/OR GENERATION INFRASTRUCTURE, HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT.