CAREER: CAS-Climate -- A modeling framework to understand the environmental and equity impacts of building decarbonization retrofits

改造现有建筑以减少碳排放是一项紧迫的工程挑战。现有建筑占美国碳排放量的三分之一，减少或消除这些排放对于实现国家气候目标至关重要。然而，如果不充分理解和仔细管理，脱碳的气候效益可能会以牺牲能源负担能力为代价，增加许多低收入社区已经很高的能源负担。预测性建筑能源建模工具（即，作为科学数据的模型）和基于游戏的学习方法（即，作为游戏的模型）提供了在建筑脱碳和公平的交叉点检查假设情景的机会，但需要转变为这一目标。为了满足这一需求，本CAREER研究的目标是使用一种新的预测建模框架来调查建筑脱碳改造对环境和公平的影响。教育目标是通过基于游戏的学习来提高公众的能源素养。这项研究的结果将有助于加速建筑脱碳，同时平衡其在人口中的收益和成本。这些教育活动将提高各种青年和青年的能源和碳知识。本研究有三个具体目标：（R1）使用一种新颖的以股权为中心的能源建模方法，量化气候和电网区域建筑脱碳改造的收益和负担；（R2）利用城市建筑能源模型分析城市尺度下脱碳改造与潜在能源不平等模式之间的相互作用；(3)确定未来气候和电网情景下建筑脱碳改造的收益和负担。这项研究将促进对建筑脱碳及其对建筑环境中潜在不平等模式的影响的基本理解，以及我们对这些影响的建模能力。教育活动将设计、试点和评估两个面向青少年和青年的游戏：（E1）面向初高中学生和教师的城市建筑脱碳游戏；（E2）大学生能量负担模拟。教育活动将制作课堂材料，通过游戏学习，向学生讲授建筑脱碳和家庭能源负担。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。

Retrofitting existing buildings to reduce carbon emissions is an urgent engineering challenge. Existing buildings are responsible for one-third of U.S. carbon emissions and reducing or eliminating these emissions is critical for meeting national climate goals. However, if not fully understood and carefully managed, the climate benefits of decarbonization could come at the expense of energy affordability, increasing the already high energy burden felt in many low-income communities. Predictive building energy modeling tools (i.e., models as scientific data) and game-based learning methods (i.e., models as play) offer opportunities for examining what-if scenarios at the intersection of building decarbonization and equity, but need to be transformed to this aim. To meet this need, the goal of this CAREER research is to investigate the environmental and equity impacts of building decarbonization retrofits using a novel predictive modeling framework. The education goal is to increase public energy literacy through game-based learning. The outcomes of this research will help accelerate building decarbonization while balancing its benefits and costs across the population. The education activities will improve energy and carbon literacy among a diverse population of youth and young adults.This research has three specific objectives: (R1) Quantify the benefits and burdens of building decarbonization retrofits by climate and grid region using a novel equity-focused energy modeling approach; (R2) Analyze the interactions between decarbonization retrofits and underlying patterns of energy inequity at the urban scale using urban building energy modeling; and (R3) Determine the benefits and burdens of building decarbonization retrofits under future climate and grid scenarios. This research will advance fundamental understanding of building decarbonization and its impacts on underlying patterns of inequity in the built environment, as well as our capacity to model these impacts. The education activities will design, pilot, and evaluate two games for youth and young adults: (E1) Urban building decarbonization game for middle and high school students and teachers; and (E2) Energy burden simulation for undergraduate students. The education activities will produce classroom materials for teaching students about building decarbonization and household energy burden through game-based learning.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.