Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy: Plan A and Plan B Papers

Persistent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11299/43905

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Browsing Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy: Plan A and Plan B Papers by Type "Scholarly Text or Essay"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Does Community Air Monitoring Lead to Better Environmental Policy? Evaluating AB 617 in Richmond, California
    (2024-05-01) Hunt, Samantha
    Community air monitoring, publicly-operated low-cost air monitors to gather local, real-time pollution data, is one method to potentially improve air quality. Regulatory agencies are increasingly funding community monitoring to complement sparse networks of regulatory monitors. However, data from low-cost monitors often faces challenges about data quality, contributing to monitoring data seldom leading to policy change. If community air monitoring is truly an avenue for improving air quality rather than increasing awareness, I argue this data must drive regulatory change. In California, Assembly Bill (AB) 617 created a comprehensive program of public involvement in designing plans to install additional air monitors and subsequently reduce emissions. Here, I analyze key AB 617 documents from Richmond, California to trace whether new air monitoring data is linked to strategies to reduce emissions. I find most monitoring data is not used and rarely connected to regulatory change. I also classify the types of actions within Richmond’s emissions reduction plan, finding relatively few new policies that are enforceable and ready for near-term implementation. Since community monitoring data is largely unused, changes in environmental regulation may be more likely if new regulatory monitors are installed instead. Regulators should also make it clear to community members from the outset that low-cost monitoring data will not lead to new regulation at this point. An alternative, potentially more effective method to improving air quality may be using new monitoring data to pursue change through media advocacy and direct pressure on industry rather than going through state institutions.
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    Expanding Climate Mitigation in Healthcare: Investigating Top-Down Approaches to Greenhouse Gas Reduction in Minnesota Community Hospitals
    (2024-05-01) Sako, Kristin
    Healthcare exists to protect and promote human health, yet is a contributor to climate change. There is a need for this sector to begin addressing their environmental impact, though accountability measures must ensure that existing burdens in healthcare are not exacerbated. Currently, any environmental action in healthcare is done on a voluntary basis. Healthcare, especially patient-centered care, faces unique challenges that must be confronted in order for them to join the climate movement. One major barrier is a lack of broader policies and regulations that can incentivize or coerce healthcare into addressing their greenhouse gas emissions. For this paper, I interviewed multiple stakeholder groups in Minnesota hospitals and supporting organizations in healthcare sustainability to investigate how hospitals would respond to greenhouse gas emission tracking and reporting requirements. In doing so, I analyze how the existing barriers, voluntary programs, and incentives have impacted the way hospitals engage in climate mitigation. The general lack of guidance and incentives have made it difficult for hospitals to engage in change management, which is necessary for climate action to be integrated into hospitals. Consequently, health systems and hospitals that have begun change management are much more likely to meet requirements on greenhouse gas emission reporting than those that have not yet started. I recommend multiple strategies and actions hospitals and external support organizations can take to help Minnesota hospitals begin change management and collectively become environmental stewards.
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    Incorporating Renewable Energy Technology into the Minnesota Weatherization Assistance Program: Reducing Energy Burden Among Low-Income Households
    (2024-05-01) Carrera, Alexa
    Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations within the Minnesota Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) are not a new effort. In fact, this effort first began as a pilot program in 2020 and has been growing ever since. In the midst of the global energy transition, the Minnesota WAP stands as a pioneering force by aiming to make renewable energy technologies accessible to low-income households across the state. Over the past three years, the initiative has demonstrated a remarkable impact, yielding greater energy savings compared to traditional weatherization measures. Not only does this state-wide effort have the potential to alleviate energy burden among low-income households, but it also allows for increasing renewable energy accessibility for communities that have been traditionally underserved. As the momentum behind this innovative weatherization measure continues to build, there arises a need for a comprehensive understanding of the current challenges and opportunities for continued implementation of solar PV into Minnesota WAP. Through a series of twenty-one stakeholder interviews ranging from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, local WAP service providers, non-profits, state agencies, local government, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the private sector, this paper aims to examine the current landscape of renewable energy technology within WAP by understanding the challenges and opportunities associated with the effort and provide recommendations to relevant stakeholders on how to make this effort more efficient and seamless. Furthermore, this paper can help other WAP Grantees who are considering incorporating solar PV as a new weatherization measure.
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    Looking Beyond Demand Response: Barriers and Opportunities to Deploying Virtual Power Plants among Rural Electric Cooperatives in the United States
    (2024-05-16) Datta, Mayukh K.
    Rural electric cooperatives (co-ops) find themselves in a unique position regarding deploying virtual power plants. Co-ops, which are consumer-owned utilities, have a vast history of deploying controllable demand-side management technologies that can fit perfectly into a VPP framework, with almost a gigawatt of demand-side management capacity across four generation and transmission cooperatives in Minnesota (G. Chan et al. 2019; Matthew Grimley and Chan 2023). This more than forty-year-long experience deploying controllable resources and their nonprofit, consumer-owned structure makes rural electric cooperatives perfectly positioned to deploy virtual power plants. However, several challenges, such as high upfront costs and uncertainties around market rules, hinder VPP deployment for rural co-ops. Furthermore, the fact that most co-ops comprise a complex network of distribution cooperatives that make up larger generation and transmission (G&T) cooperatives also complicates how VPPs can be deployed by rural coops.