UMass ETI Symposium Spotlights the Significance of Empowering the People Who ‘Plug In and Pay,’ Among Other Topics
The third annual Energy Transition Institute Symposium, held on March 30, started with a question: What does a just energy transition look like? The myriad of multifaceted and nuanced answers kept touching back on a common theme: bring the power to the people.
The event was organized by ELEVATE, a graduate training and research program focusing on technical, equity and climate challenges in the energy transition, under the direction of Matthew Lackner, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; with Zoe Getman-Pickering, ELEVATE program coordinator; and three graduate student organizers, Sachin Peddada (economics), Natalie Baillargeon (public policy) and Ryan Ent (mechanical and industrial engineering).
Held in the Amherst Room in the Campus Center, the event was attended by students, faculty, members of the energy industry and notable leaders, including Chancellor Javier Reyes and State Rep. Jeffrey Roy, the house chair of the joint committee for offshore wind.
The symposium began with a panel discussion moderated by Peddada and featuring Rusty Polsgrove, environmental justice organizer at Arise for Social Justice; Mireille Bejjani, co-executive director of Slingshot; Elizabeth Stanton, executive director and senior economist at the Applied Economics Clinic (AEC); and Daniel Berry, solar designer and salesperson at PV Squared.
Through their own perspectives, the panelists explored the importance of creatively re-imagining the grid. To do so, policies cannot just be handed down—efforts need to empower the people who “plug-in and pay,” said Bejjani, so that change aligns with actual needs.
This approach starts by aligning conversations with pressing issues. “Current messaging is conservation based: Save the trees, the bees, the turtles,” said Polsgrove. “But I care about my health and school safety. My city [of Springfield] cares about the environment. You’re just not talking about it in the right way.”
They also said that an important component of democratizing the energy transition is to have good-faith energy planning efforts with the local communities. Currently, community input happens after significant planning and siting has already taken place, which is not conducive to implementing this feedback.
From her perspective at AEC, Stanton described how her research is entirely client-directed, again emphasizing that solutions need to come from the people who will ultimately be impacted by them.
Even a for-profit company can take a for-the-people approach, as Berry explained, outlining PV Squared’s worker-owned cooperative model. This method trusts the company’s direction to its owner-employees, which means that other companies that follow this approach could be different based on the unique needs of their communities.
Following the panel, more than 40 students from UMass Amherst, Smith College and Mt. Holyoke presented their work.
“The symposium was a fantastic opportunity to see the breadth and depth of research our undergrads, grad students and postdocs are conducting to solve the social and technical challenges of the energy transition,” says Lackner. “Climate change and energy transition are multifaceted challenges, which will require creative solutions that span disciplines. These students are the future leaders who will help shape a more sustainable and equitable world.”
The posters provided unique snapshots into the ‘transition’ part of ETI: Can electricity be derived from currents built into bridges to reduce operation and maintenance costs? What if climate change was a mandatory part of our education system? What are the barriers to getting energy-efficient appliances into food service kitchens in low-income areas? These are just a few of the questions from the poster session.
“It’s easy to hold on to hope in the face of climate change with such bright and passionate folks leading the way,” adds Getman-Pickering.
The event was sponsored by ELEVATE in partnership with the Energy Transition Institute, the iCons Program, Clean Energy Extension, Campus Sustainability and the Wind Energy Fellows Program.