Households at or below the poverty line can owe a significant portion of their income for utility bills; in Washington D.C., this amount is 20% or more before receiving assistance. During heat waves and cold snaps, some residents must forgo expenditures on health, nutrition, or education to pay their air conditioning and heating bills. Delivering innovative technology that utilizes renewable sources to provide affordable, reliable, resilient, and clean power to underserved communities will help reduce the burden on them. This planning grant will develop best practices for engaging residents of urban communities in decisions regarding their energy future while also developing new technologies that address their needs. Taking into account financing and policy innovations to implement the technology can position underserved communities to better take advantage of opportunities in the growing information-based economy. In broader terms, by rethinking the relationship between the built environment and socioeconomic systems, this project seeks to address the inequalities that define the status quo in low-income areas. The main innovation in terms of fundamental research is to develop new methodologies for integrating meaningful community participation, innovative technologies, supportive public policy, and innovative business models to develop and implement affordable energy solutions.

This planning grant aims to develop multidisciplinary methodologies and best practices for engaging residents of underserved urban communities in decisions regarding their energy future, while also developing engineering solutions, specifically sensor-driven micro-grid technologies, that offer such communities a practical option for accessing electric service that is affordable, reliable, resilient, and clean. The project brings together faculty and practitioners from engineering, law, business, public health, and sustainability who will work to develop the necessary new technology, but also have the ability to ensure that city policies facilitate using the technology, that there is financing for it, that it meets community needs, and increases resilience to natural hazards. While the community partners are in Washington DC, this project will identify practices and technologies that are replicable and scalable to other communities across the US.