Multi-Level Negotiations in Electric Infrastructure Planning

在全球经济脱碳的努力中，电力的重要性越来越大。电力基础设施改革工作需要关注新技术的社会和环境影响，包括公平和气候问题。不同层次的利益相关者必须通过谈判来权衡这些问题。这是如何实现的？在实施、公平和气候结果方面会产生什么后果？该项目测试了文化人类学的理论，以调查不同层次的利益相关者，从个人到社区，再到政府，如何在能源基础设施规划中相互作用。它利用正在展开的能源倡议的新兴动态来理解能源政治是如何被社区、强大的行动者和法律所塑造的。项目数据将广泛共享，结果将传播给学术和非学术受众，包括政策专家和公众。该项目采用访谈和参与者观察来检验研究假设，这些假设调查了随着电气化日益成为能源转型模型的核心，电力政治如何演变。具体而言，该项目研究了六个研究人群的动机、利害关系、态度和期望结果：(1)州和地方政府官员，(2)电力公用事业管理人员和工程师，(3)能源转型企业家，(4)电气化措施的批评者，(5)环保活动家和电气化倡导者，(6)参与新的和最近的电气化倡议的早期采用者房主和司机。该项目将揭示围绕快速电气化及其相互作用的多层新兴政治动态，因为此类举措在许多情况下都是可行的。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Electricity has taken on increased significance in attempts to decarbonize the global economy. Electric infrastructural reform efforts require attention to social and environmental impacts of new technologies, including equity and climate concerns. Various stakeholders at multiple levels must negotiate to weigh these issues. How is this approached and what are the consequences in terms of implementation, equity and climate outcomes? This project tests theory from cultural anthropology to investigate how different levels of stakeholder, from individual, to community, to governmental, interact in energy infrastructure planning. It leverages emergent dynamics of unfolding energy initiatives to understand how energy politics is shaped by communities, powerful actors, and the law. Project data will be shared widely and results will be disseminated to academic and non-academic audiences, including policy experts and the public. The project uses interviews and participant observation to test research hypotheses that investigate how the politics of electricity are evolving as electrification becomes increasingly central to models of energy transition. Specifically, the project studies the motivations, stakes, attitudes and desired outcomes of six study populations: (1) state and local government officials, (2) electrical utility administrators and engineers, (3) energy transition entrepreneurs, (4) critics of electrify everything measures, (5) environmental activists and electrify everything champions, and (6) early adopter homeowners and drivers participating in new and recent electrification initiatives. The project will shed light on multiple layers of emergent political dynamics surrounding rapid electrification and their interactions as such initiatives take hold in numerous contexts.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.