Advancing Transformational Energy Justice across the Renewable Energy Supply Chain

This project, which is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, brings together an interdisciplinary team led by Boston University and involving University of Delaware and Virginia Tech and focuses on issues of energy justice cradle to grave. While the development and operation of wind and solar are prominent and much studied, the stages of mineral extraction, manufacturing, and waste disposal are less visible. Taking a mixed methods approach, we undertake a comparative case analysis of eight cases in the solar and wind realms at wind/solar locations of extraction, manufacturing, operation, and disposal. We employ expert interviews, community interviews and focus groups, naturalistic observation, and archival research and reviews of the academic and policy literature. UD is taking the lead on the wind case study and its efforts are led by Lindsay Naylor, with contributions from Jeremy Firestone and Julie Klinger.