SCC-PG: Building Smart Communities to Advance Solar Energy in Rural America

这个规划NSF S CC项目的目的是调查关键的技术，经济，社会和政策问题，影响农村社区向绿色和可持续能源的未来过渡。该项目基于一个假设，即以社区为中心而不是以个人为中心的政策，激励措施和战略将更有效地促进美国农村的太阳能。智力优势包括融合研究，以综合的方式调查社会，技术，经济和政策问题，以详细了解农村社区太阳能的障碍，并探索使用智能和互联的共同设计框架在这些社区推进太阳能的战略。 更广泛的影响包括加强对美国农村地区推进太阳能的障碍的理解，并寻求克服这些障碍的解决方案，同时明确将社会公平作为模型中的关键标准。在农村社区推广太阳能不仅有助于实现减少对化石燃料的依赖和减缓气候变化的社会目标，还能为农村社区增加经济价值，并为其公民提供经济机会。通过让格林斯堡和堪萨斯其他农村社区的公民社区以及农村能源服务提供商社区参与进来，该项目将传播有关信息，以促进美国农村的太阳能发展。 该项目将支持学生的研究任务。将努力让女生和代表性不足群体的学生参与该项目。学生的参与将使他们能够接受一系列跨学科研究技术的实践培训。研究小组将对堪萨斯格林斯堡的居民社区和堪萨斯的其他农村社区以及农村市政当局和电力服务提供商社区进行适当的调查，以确定影响农村社区向绿色和可持续能源未来过渡的问题。了解这些障碍将使有效的战略，以促进环境，这将有利于推进太阳能光伏在农村社区。本研究还将发展心理学中的说服研究应用于现实世界的问题和背景，以实现积极的社会变革。创新的数据分析、工程和经济学原则将用于确定格林斯堡光伏和储能的适当规模和位置。一个关键的创新方面是在城市管理者、工业、社区和其他利益攸关方的参与下共同设计规划和业务框架。 该项目将采用整体方法，为太阳能的最佳部署和分布式能源的管理找到解决方案。 在向绿色能源未来过渡的过程中，经济解决办法将对农村地区的社会和经济公平产生综合影响。鉴于太阳能在农村社区的普及还处于起步阶段，拟议的共同设计框架可以成为其他渴望向可持续能源未来过渡的社区的光辉榜样。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This planning NSF S&CC project aims to investigate key technical, economic, social, and policy issues that influence the transition to a green and sustainable energy future for rural communities. The project is based on a hypothesis that policies, incentives and strategies that are community-focused rather than individual-focused will be more effective in advancing solar energy in rural America. The intellectual merits include convergent research to investigate social, technical, economic, and policy issues in an integrative manner to obtain detailed understanding of barriers to solar energy in rural communities and to explore strategies to advance solar energy in these communities using a smart and interconnected co-design framework. Broader impacts include enhancing the understanding of barriers to advancing solar energy in rural America and seeking solutions to overcome these barriers while explicitly placing social equity as key criteria in the models. Advancing solar energy in rural communities will not only contribute to the social goal of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and mitigating climate change, it adds economic values to the rural communities and provide economic opportunities to its citizens. By engaging the community of citizens of Greensburg and other rural communities in Kansas, and the community of rural energy service providers, the project will disseminate relevant information for advancing solar energy in rural America. The project will support students for research tasks. Efforts will be made to engage women students and students from under-represented groups in the project. The students’ involvement will enable them to receive hands-on training in a range of interdisciplinary research techniques. The research team will conduct appropriate surveys of the community of residents in Greensburg, Kansas and other rural communities in Kansas, and the community of rural municipalities and electricity service providers to delineate issues that influence the transition to a green and sustainable energy future for rural communities. Understanding these barriers will enable effective strategies to foster an environment that would be conducive to advancing solar PV in rural communities. This research will also develop the application of persuasion research in psychology to real-world problems and context in order to achieve positive social change. Innovative data analysis, engineering, and economics principles will be used to determine appropriate size and locations of the PV and storage for Greensburg. A key innovative aspect is co-design of planning and operational framework with engagement of city administrators, industry, community and other stakeholders. The project will use a holistic approach to find solutions for optimal deployment of solar energy and management of distributed energy resources. Economic solutions will integrate impacts on social and economic equity for rural areas in the transition to a green energy future. Given that solar energy penetration in rural communities is at a nascent stage, the proposed co-design framework could serve as a shining example for other communities aspiring to transition towards a sustainable energy future.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.