Doctoral Dissertation Research: Renewable Energy Transition and Economic Growth

博士论文研究：可再生能源转型与经济增长

• 批准号: 2342813
• 负责人: Anne-Maria Makhulu
• 金额: $ 3.08万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-01 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342813&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Renewable; Energy

State goals of high economic growth rely symbolically and materially on reliable electricity. However, in the context of climate change, states increasingly face pressure to transition to renewable sources of energy. This doctoral dissertation research focuses on the practices connecting solar energy to mass electricity grids. Examining solar energy transition as a social, technical, and material process, this project investigates how renewable energy transitions shape ideals of national development amidst concern over environmental change. The dissertation research project trains a graduate student in methods of scientific data collection and analysis and builds capacity for future scientific research at the site. Research findings are shared broadly with academic and non-academic audiences, including policy experts and solar energy stakeholders. To study the relationships between energy transition, economic growth, and environmental change, the researcher engages in behavioral methods such as participant observation among solar energy installers, developers, technicians, and consumers, as well as interviews with representative samples of these stakeholder populations. Researchers examine how these groups perceive, produce, and use solar energy in relation to the state and ideals of economic growth. In addition, researchers conduct semi-structured interviews with a sample of key informants in the solar energy industry and solar energy customers. Media analysis of news coverage of solar energy projects provides complementary data to contextualize the ethnographic research. The findings of this research contribute to debates in science and technology studies, environmental science, and the anthropology of the state.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.

高经济增长的国家目标象征性地依赖于可靠的电力。然而，在气候变化的背景下，州越来越面临过渡到可再生能源的压力。这项博士学位论文研究的重点是将太阳能与大规模电网连接起来的实践。该项目将太阳能转变视为社会，技术和物质过程，研究了可再生能源过渡如何在对环境变化的关注中如何形成国家发展的理想。论文研究项目培训了一名研究生科学数据收集和分析方法，并在现场为未来的科学研究提供了能力。研究发现与包括政策专家和太阳能利益相关者在内的学术和非学术受众广泛共享。为了研究能源过渡，经济增长和环境变化之间的关系，研究人员参与了行为方法，例如太阳能安装人员，开发商，技术人员和消费者之间的参与者观察，以及对这些利益相关者人群的代表样本的访谈。研究人员研究了这些群体如何与经济增长的国家和理想相关的太阳能感知，生产和使用太阳能。此外，研究人员对太阳能行业和太阳能客户的主要线人样本进行了半结构化访谈。媒体对太阳能项目的新闻报道分析提供了互补的数据，以将人种志研究背景化。这项研究的结果有助于科学和技术研究，环境科学和国家人类学的辩论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来提供支持。