Envisioning Energy Research for a Fair and Fast Energy Transition
A series of national workshops hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Energy Transition Institute (ETI) identified research priorities at the intersection of energy technology and social justice, a key area of focus for agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy and its energy justice initiative. The resulting paper, a multi-university collaboration, has been published in the journal Nature Energy.
The ETI workshop series, held in 2021, was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its 2026 Idea Machine initiative, which aims to uncover “grand challenges” in research with the potential for transformative impact, in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. in 2026.
“Workshop participants came from diverse backgrounds in energy science and technology and social science and the humanities," says D. Venkataraman, professor of chemistry at UMass Amherst and principal investigator for the funding. “They integrated diverse perspectives, across disciplines and across sectors, on how the U.S. energy system can rapidly and equitably transition away from fossil fuels.”
That collaboration culminated in the Nature Energy paper that provides five key action items for government agencies and philanthropic institutions to implement a commitment to equitable energy transition: reframing equity as integral to energy technology research due to its impact on society; soliciting community input throughout the grant cycle; developing formal ways to resolve challenges that arise from community engagement; expanding review and award criteria to include assessments of community involvement, equity analysis and multidisciplinary engagement; and instituting structural reforms to better fit the needs of interdisciplinary research at all levels.
Contributing authors include researchers from 11 prominent colleges and universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Indiana University, Colby College and Occidental College.
“Energy transition provides an opportunity to end a variety of historical injustices that have been exacerbated by the design and operation of existing energy systems,” says Erin Baker, faculty director of ETI. “And incorporating equity within a research agenda requires fundamental changes to the grant making and reviewing process.”
The authors recommend that energy transition research engage directly with the marginalized communities by engaging with historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions and tribal colleges, among others.
The Nature Energy paper is available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-022-01145-z