Looking Ahead to 2025:
New Open Call for Letters of Inquiry Coming Soon!
As the year draws to a close and as we mark the decadal anniversary of our Energy and Environment Program, we are continually honored to have the opportunity to support an incredible set scholars, practitioners, and students working to understand and inform the transition to low-carbon energy systems in the United States. Earlier this year, we shared reflections on lessons learned from a decade of grantmaking on interdisciplinary energy research in an article published in Issues in Science and Technology.
More recently, Isabella shared her perspective on the importance of transparency in energy and environment philanthropy in a World View article in Nature Energy. This year, the Sloan Foundation’s annual report highlighted the catalytic fundraising success of our ongoing collaboration with Research Corporation for Science Advance (RSCA) on multiple Scialog conference series focused on energy system decarbonization. We are so pleased to be able to support the teams funded from the first year of the current Scialog series on Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials!
We are also excited to announced that next year we plan to launch a new Open Call for Letters of Inquiry for interdisciplinary research! The focal topic, guiding questions, submission instructions, and submission deadline will be shared when the Open Call is launched. We wanted to give the research community a heads-up that this Open Call is forthcoming to provide enough time to prepare. More details will be provided in 2025!
Finally, we hope you enjoy learning more about ongoing work in our program in the updates below.
As always, happy reading!
Evan, Jessica, and Isabella
November 2024
|
|
|
Top Hits |
|
Solar Energy Database and Wing Energy Atlas Provide Resources
on Local Just Energy Transitions
Penn State’s Center for Energy Law and Policy (CELP), led by Hannah Wiseman and Jennifer Baka has completed the initial phase of Pennsylvania’s municipal solar ordinance database, revealing diverse regulatory approaches among local governments. With new funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s R-STEP grant, CELP will expand the database to include community benefit agreements and litigation data. The database was recently featured in a Center for Rural Pennsylvania webinar, and a forthcoming publication will explore solar’s impact on Pennsylvania farmland. Meanwhile, University of Kansas (KU) researchers, led by Ward Lyles and Uma Outka, launched a GIS-powered atlas mapping wind energy regulations across Kansas, which contributed to discussions at the Kansas Economic Policy Conference on the future of energy policy. KU Professor Uma Outka attended COP29 as an official observer for the American Bar Association. Professor Danielle Stokes hosted a works-in-progress session on “Managing Just Transition” at the University of Richmond.
Analyzing the Energy and Environmental Impacts of the Digital Economy
The Sloan-funded Network for the Digital Economy and the Environment (nDEE) has updated its online bibliography of articles and other resources addressing the energy and environmental impacts of the digital economy, now with over 1,000 entries and continuing to grow. You can sign up for nDEE’s newsletter to get regular updates on related research and activities. nDEE co-lead Reid Lifset recently co-authored an article with Alan Porter titled, “What is in Red AI? Scoping the Energy and Environmental Impacts of Artificial Intelligence,” published in the IAEE Energy Forum.
Collaborative Research on the Equity Dimensions of the Value of Lost Load (VoLL)
A collaborative research project examining the equity dimensions of the Value of Lost Load (VoLL) led by Hieu Nguyen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Patrick Murphy and Betheny Kwoka at PSE Healthy Energy has produced a number of outputs. This includes a preprint article on the co-benefits of carbon board adjustments and a technical report published by PSE Healthy Energy titled Equity in Energy Resilience.
New Findings on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Systems
Research led by Mark Zondlo (Princeton), Jason Ren (Princeton), and Francesca Hopkins (University of California, Riverside) has led to two recent publications measuring emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WTPs). One article, published in Nature Sustainability, improves upon existing estimates of nitrous oxide emissions from WTPs. A second article, published in Environmental Science & Technology, provides a more detailed assessment of potential methane emissions from sewer microbiomes and examines the broader relevance for greenhouse gas emissions overall.
|
|
New Grants |
|
|
Sara Nawaz
American University
To develop and implement a community-oriented engagement approach on marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) in partnership with [C]Worthy, a focused research organization
Inês Azevedo
Stanford University
To organize a listening session forum on the future of philanthropic funding for energy system decarbonization research
Alisha Bhagat
Forum for the Future US
To facilitate and disseminate findings from two listening session forums on the future of stakeholder engagement for energy system decarbonization
Sanya Carley
University of Pennsylvania
To organize a listening session forum on the future of disseminating research to external audiences for energy system decarbonization
Kristin Hayes
Resources for the Future, Inc.
To organize a listening session forum on the future of policy relevant research for energy system decarbonization
Amy Jaffe
New York University
To organize a listening session forum on the future of training and education for energy system decarbonization
|
|
Lincoln Miller
Boulder Housing Coalition
To undertake a series of outreach and training activities that engage early-career researchers in energy system decarbonization modeling
Denia Djokić
University of Michigan
To support the examination of analogical case studies to understand the development of advanced nuclear energy technologies
Lynne Kiesling
Northwestern University
To enhance the integration of contemporary energy economics research in training provided by the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics (IRLE) to state public utility commission practitioners
Adrienne Ohler
University of Missouri, Columbia
To connect early-career energy economics researchers with practitioners through a training program provided by the Regulated Utilities Leadership Institute (RULI)
Spencer Banzhaf
North Carolina State University
To support and diversify student participation at Camp Resources organized by the Center for Environmental & Resource Economic Policy
Lorenzo Rosa
Carnegie Institution of Washington
To support the training of early career researchers in the National Science Policy Network through a Science Policy Scholars-in-Residence (SPSR) program focused on environment and justice
|
|
Early Career Spotlight |
|
|
|
Matthew Sheridan
City Director, New York City Cohort
Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI)
I entered the 2nd ever NYC cohort of Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) excited to meet others in clean energy and to challenge myself intellectually outside of work. I’m glad to say it delivered! CELI started off fast paced and never slowed down. Our first session jumped right into environmental justice and had Shalanda Baker of the Department of Energy as the guest speaker. Then we learned about electricity markets and did exercises where we role played as different stakeholders of the rate making process. The most refreshing item to me was the Q&A sessions. I’ve sat through many presentations in professional settings where there are no questions at the end, but with CELI’s fellows, they never stop, and the time limit always hit before the curiosity stopped. The curriculum fulfilled my goals of learning about clean energy topics that weren’t in my area of expertise, such as shipping and federal energy policy, and the capstone helped me advocate for a topic I wanted others to think critically about, which was resiliency challenges NYC would face during a hurricane on an electric grid powered by wind and solar. However, the greatest impact for me has been the community it built.
|
|
|
|
I initially applied because I had been working for 6 years straight after college, had no plans to attend grad school, and was at a job where it was hard to meet others in my field. To this day, I volunteer with the New York chapter and through it have arranged an educational panel on career paths, tours of battery storage and nuclear power plants, and many happy hours! It can be very hard to have community in NYC, especially in the age of remote work, but we get to meet regularly and really know each other. Most of the weekly lessons in the current cohort are in person, alumni regularly host picnics and happy hours, and we have recruitment events to encourage others to join us. As a national network of passionate clean energy professionals, the city cohort provides an anchor point for mentorship and education even after the fellowship has ended. Quite often we have CELions (our term for our alumni) who just moved to NYC reach out, or are just passing through for a conference, and we will have an entire meetup on short notice! Needless to say, the CELI community has been invaluable for myself and many others, and most importantly, is always growing. Come join us!
|
|
|
Keep Your Eyes Peeled |
|
New Request for Proposals from Resources for the Future
Resources for the Future (RFF) has a Sloan-funded open Request for Proposals on Evaluating IRA and IIJA Clean Energy Policies, with submissions due December 31, 2024. More information available here.
Nominations Open for 2025 Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials Scialog
Nominations are open for additional fellows to attend next year's Scialog conference on Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials. To nominate yourself or another early career scientist, please click here.
Environmental Law Institute Free Webinar on Environmental Impacts of Data Centers
The Environmental Law Institute is holding a free, public webinar on Friday, December 6, 2024 from 12:00-1:30pm on the Local Environmental Impacts of Data Center Proliferation. To register to attend, sign up here.
|
|
|
|
|
