This fall, SLS launched the SLS Fellows Program: Energy Systems for Sustainable Communities (ESSC), with 28 fellows representing all 6 colleges and various other units on campus, and including faculty, research scientists, graduate students, a post doc, and staff.

 

The purpose of this program is to emphasize the role of communities in the larger quest towards a sustainable energy system.  The majority of energy policies are oriented at changing the incentives of individuals, those being people, households or firms, in a way that favors adoption of cleaner technologies or practices, an increase in energy efficiency, or overall reduction in energy consumption. But all those policies and interventions forget the fundamental role that local communities have in fostering an environment in which people’s rewards from adopting those technologies are magnified. It is the role of communities as catalyzers of change that drove me to this research. So as soon as I was invited to co-direct this program, jointly with Matthew Realff (ChBE) and under the close watching eye of SLS Director Jennifer Hirsch, I jump at the opportunity. We have prepared an exciting program and I am looking forward to seeing the results of this engagement.

 

Over the course of the semester, the ESSC Fellows have a number of gatherings where we meet partners within campus and across the local community. We will also tour campus facilities and will have two gatherings off campus: one at Southface on Equity, Resilience, and 

 

Community in Southeast Energy Systems and a second visit to Social Circle, GA where we will tour the Silicon Ranch solar array facilities and learn about how it was conceived, then explore that work in the context of the municipality’s efforts to create a livable community. The fellows will also meet in smaller groups to work on their individual projects for the semester related to this topic.

The program will explore questions such as:

 

How do energy options such as greater use of biomass and utility solar power impact different communities?

How do different energy options improve the resiliency and viability of small communities?

How would changes in grid architecture, such as microgrids, impact communities?

How does climate change alter the energy supply and demand for regions and specifically for the South East?

How do energy systems interact with other key infrastructure systems, particularly food and water systems closely intertwined with energy?

What roles can communities play in the development and deployment of new energy systems?

How do energy policies incentivize or limit community engagement?

How can new developments in energy sources and systems improve opportunities for disadvantaged communities and improve equity, particularly in Georgia, where Atlanta is consistently ranked one of the most inequitable cities in the country?

Towards the end of the semester, the ESSC fellows will write short reflections for the SLS Blog or create case studies for the new SLS Teaching Toolkit studies about what they learned and produced.

 

 

Baabak Ashuri, Associate Professor, College of Design

 

Christopher Blackburn, PhD Candidate, Ivan Allen College

 

Fani Boukouvala, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering

 

Kate Pride Brown, Assistant Professor, Ivan Allen College

 

Jason Brown, Assistant Professor, College of Design

 

Claudio Di Leo, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering

 

Alice Favero, Lecturer, Ivan Allen College

 

Roger Jiao, Associate Professor, College of Engineering

 

Arkadeep Kumar, Ph.D. Student, College of Engineering

 

Michael Leamy, Associate Professor, College of Engineering

 

Jung-Ho Lewe, Research Engineer II, College of Engineering

 

Daniel Matisoff, Associate Professor, Ivan Allen College

 

Andrew Medford, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering

 

Kerri  Metz, Research Faculty, Strategic Energy Institute

 

Neda Mohammadi, Postdoc, College of Engineering

 

Marcela Moreno, Research Project Coordinator II, Strategic Energy Institute

 

Bob Myers, Lecturer, College of Business

 

Matthew Oliver, Assistant Professor, Ivan Allen College

 

Kamran Paynabar, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering

 

Caleb Robinson, Graduate Research Assistant, College of Computing

 

Paul Rugambwa, Research Coordinator, College of Engineering

 

Greg Spiro, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Facilities Management Design & Construction

 

Supraja Sudharsan, PhD Student, Ivan Allen College

 

Germán Vergara, Assistant Professor, Ivan Allen College

 

Tim Welch, Assistant Professor, College of Design

 

Brian Woodall, Professor, Ivan Allen College

 

Eunhwa Yang, Assistant Professor, College of Design

 

Haomin  Zhou, Professor, College of Sciences