The University of Oklahoma, working alongside other academic and nonprofit organizations, has been awarded a portion of a $2.5 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The project, which includes research in Oklahoma, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Oregon, will equip more than 200 homes in underserved communities with energy research equipment from Pecan Street Inc., a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate the transition to clean, low-carbon energy through innovative technology and policy.
During this three-year project, RestoreOKC, a community-based organization in Oklahoma City that focuses on restoring health, environment, reconciliation and equity, will perform crucial energy efficiency upgrades to households in historically under-resourced neighborhoods. In addition, homes will be equipped with eGauge instruments that measure highly detailed circuit-level energy use.
“We are really excited about this partnership and the opportunity to capture energy use data that will inform advocacy and implementation for meaningful energy efficiency updates in our community,” said Josh Dodson, director of Restore Homes, a ministry of RestoreOKC.
Restore Homes volunteers replacing windows in Oklahoma City. Photos provided by Restore Homes, a ministry of RestoreOKC
Members of OU’s Data Institute for Societal Challenges and Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis will examine the impacts of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures on these low- and moderate-income households. Using collected data and participant survey responses, they will create energy use profiles for each home to better understand the effects of home improvements and environmental conditions on energy use and homeowner perceptions of the energy/climate ecosystem.
“Our team is looking forward to engaging with RestoreOKC and the surrounding community to better understand residents’ perceptions of and experiences with energy use in the context of various weather and climate conditions,” said Nina Carlson, deputy director for operations and a research practitioner at IPPRA. “This project will provide data and analytics that can be used by community members to continue to advocate for further energy investments in their surrounding neighborhoods.”
Jennifer Koch, Ph.D., principal investigator, associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability and associate research director for DISC, added, “This project will bring resources for home improvements to an OKC community and represent the south-central region in the Pecan Street dataset.”
Because the collected circuit-level energy use information can also differentiate energy use for cooling and heating, it is especially interesting for regions like the south-central United States, where extreme weather considerably impacts energy use.
“Our organization has been laser-focused on expanding our network in two key areas: new climate regions and better representation of low-income households and households of color, who are woefully underrepresented in energy research,” said Bart Bohn, chief executive officer of Pecan Street.
The project team is already working with the community to identify participants, install the first eGauges and leverage additional community partnerships for the benefit of community residents. To learn more about the project, visit pecanstreet.org.
