Increasing Equitable Participation in Clean Energy

THIS FELLOWSHIP IS OPEN TO RETURNING YALE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY

Background:

Recent scholarship has explored disparities in the deployment of clean energy by race, ethnicity, and income level. See, e.g., Sunter et al., Disparities in rooftop photovoltaics deployment in the United States by race and ethnicity, Nature Sustainability, Vol. 2, pp. 71-76 (2019); Xu & Chen, Energy efficiency and energy justice for U.S. low-income households: An analysis of multifaceted challenges and potential, Energy Policy 128: 763-774 (2019); O’Shaughnessy et al., The impact of policies and business models on income equity in rooftop solar adoption, Nature Energy, Vol. 6: 84-91 (2021).

The opportunity:

In light of the inequitable gap in participation in clean energy deployment, the Summer Research Fellow will develop a guidebook or white paper of best practices and approaches for increasing participation, engagement, and understanding of clean energy options among low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities, communities of color, environmental justice communities, and marginalized communities. 

The Fellow will work closely with research partner PosiGen LLC, a solar and efficiency development and deployment company that focuses on LMI households, and has helped bridge the participation gap through its innovative clean energy products and marketing/outreach efforts in the states in which they operate.  The Fellow will explore both the theory and practical approaches for increasing participation in clean energy deployment in marginalized communities, through education, outreach, marketing, and other techniques. The Fellow will also explore and analyze policy and financial barriers to wider equitable deployment of clean energy, and propose solutions and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. 

The Fellow will report to Rob Klee, Lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment, and (incoming) Managing Director of Clean Energy Programming at CBEY.  

Location:

The research fellowship will be centered in New Haven, with flexibility to work remotely.  

How to apply:

Please submit:

• a cover letter (no more than 2 pages) to include:
  • your interest in this project
  • any relevant background/experience
  • why you believe this work is important
  • share any important identity or identities you hold. Note that this is completely optional. Examples of identities that may be important to you might include (but are not limited to): gender, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, generation, education level, cultural identity, occupation, sexuality, family structure, housing status, mental health (health status/ability), incarceration status, institution affiliation, primary language, religion, immigration status, medical history, first-generation, income/ socio-economic class, quality of education, occupation, and/or parent's education.
• your resume 

Please email the above directly to cbey@yale.edu with “CBEY Planetary Solutions Internship Program in Clean Energy - PosiGen” in the subject line. Application deadline is 11:59 PM ET on April 10, 2022.