STANDARD GRANT: Indexing Energy Performance in Housing Servicescapes: A Multiscale Study in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Region

该项目将能源脆弱性作为一个社会和技术问题加以探讨。当一个家庭负担不起保持适合健康和福祉的温度水平时，就会出现能源脆弱性。现有研究表明，可用住房数量、能源市场和政府政策等因素都会导致能源脆弱性，而且能源脆弱性对老年人、残疾人、租户和低收入家庭的影响不成比例。该项目的调查者将结合人种学观察、深度访谈和焦点小组研究，了解美国三个县的能源脆弱性程度，能源供应商如何努力解决这个问题，以及能源脆弱性与能源绩效机制的关系。这项研究将为未来制定有助于降低能源脆弱性的新政策和见解提供重要信息。该项目使用多地点人种学方法，结合参与者观察、深度访谈和焦点小组，探索：(1)美国三个不同县的能源脆弱性；(2)能源服务组织用来解决能源脆弱性的社会技术战略；以及(3)能源绩效机制如何在不同的空间和时间尺度上塑造能源效率。研究将通过能源协调机构(ECA)进行，这是一个由多个州组成的非营利性组织，与州和联邦计划合作解决能源脆弱性问题，并在ECA的四个能源中心进行。对媒体报道和能源协调机构的内部报告和文件的定性分析将用于补充其他形式的数据收集。主要目标是促进对美国能源脆弱性动态的了解，分享这些见解以找到帮助降低能源脆弱性的方法，并展示如何将能源性能用作分析框架，以对人类如何与技术互动进行理论分析。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project explores energy vulnerability as a social and technical problem. Energy vulnerability occurs when a household cannot afford to maintain temperature levels suitable for health and wellbeing. Existing research shows that factors such as the amount of available housing, energy markets, and government policies all contribute to energy vulnerability, and that energy vulnerability disproportionally affects the elderly, the disabled, renters, and low-income families. The investigator on this project will use a combination of ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, and focus group research to understand the extent of energy vulnerability in three US counties, how energy providers work to address it, and how energy vulnerability relates to energy performance mechanisms. This research will provide important information for developing new policies and insights that could help to reduce energy vulnerability in the future.The project uses a multi-site ethnographic approach incorporating participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups to explore: (1) energy vulnerability across three different US counties; (2) the sociotechnical strategies used by energy services organizations to address energy vulnerability; and (3) how energy performance mechanisms shape energy efficiency at different spatial and temporal scales. Research will be conducted through the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA), a multi-state nonprofit organization that works with state and federal programs to address energy vulnerability, and at four ECA energy centers. Qualitative analyses of media reports and internal reports and documents from the Energy Coordinating Agency will be used to supplement other forms of data gathering. The main goals are to advance understanding of the dynamics of energy vulnerability in the US, to share these insights to find ways to help reduce energy vulnerability, and to show how energy performance can be used as an analytic framework for theorizing how humans interact with technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.