News & Blog
Understanding How the EIA is Measuring Noncombustible Renewables
by Cassia Cai, UW Oceanography Graduate Student The Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) has collaborated with the University of Washington’s Program on Climate Change (PCC) and its Actionable Community-Oriented Research eNgagement (ACORN) program to provide UW graduate students the opportunity to analyze key state and federal energy data. This collaboration has enabled the development of data visualizations for the Northwest Clean Energy Atlas, which I encourage you to explore. These visualizations can help regional decision-makers in planning the clean energy transition. As an ACORN fellow, I updated Atlas visualizations using energy data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In this blog, I examine the recent shift in the EIA’s approach to calculating the primary energy consumption of electricity generation from noncombustible renewables.
Full Blog in CETI newsletterSolutions to Climate Change: “UW Grad Students in Hot Pursuit" Schooner Series draws a full house at Bickersons Brewhouse
The PCC Graduate Student Steering Committee (P-GraSC) hosted a winter Schooner Series event in collaboration with Cascadia Climate Action focused on climate solutions at Bickersons Brewhouse in Ballard on March 8, 2023. The Schooner Series started as an offshoot of the popular Climate Science on Tap from Cascadia Climate Action, a member of the regional CascadiaNow! nonprofit family. This month’s Schooner featured three presentations and a subsequent panel discussion under the theme “Solutions to Climate Change: UW Grad Students in Hot Pursuit”.
Read moreImproving park access and health co-benefits in Tacoma using a “Green Schoolyards” approach
By Nolan Kitts Who doesn’t love a good park? Especially in urban areas, public green spaces give us opportunities to move around outside, find some quiet, and enjoy a more natural setting. Researchers have established many benefits of urban park access, from increasing physical activity to improving mental health. With a changing climate, urban parks have become even more critical. Park trees can decrease the impact of “urban heat islands” through evapotranspiration and providing shade.
Read moreLake Forest Park, WA: Community Solar Precedent Review
As part of an ACORN project beginning in a time marked by bleakness due to COVID and lockdowns (mid-2020), representatives from Lake Forest Park’s People for Climate Action chose to prioritize hope for the future of their community and of the world. Partnering with an early-career graduate student and a representative from Seattle Public Utilities, they hoped to investigate community solar energy as an opportunity to bolster sustainability and equity and their own community.
Read moreEmissions Reduction Partnerships: Potential Points of Collaboration Between the Northwest Seaport Alliance and Their Key Cargo Partners
As part of both an ACORN project and her GCeCS Capstone, Gabriela analyzed the sustainability plans and public emissions reporting of twelve of the Northwest Seaport Alliance’s (NWSA) top cargo partners. The NWSA manages most of the terminals at the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma; much of their emissions are created by cargo partners, or Beneficial Cargo Owners (BCOs), as they bring their goods through the ports.
Read moreACORN: A Program on Climate Change (PCC) Student-led Initiative that Connects Academics and Communities to Solve Climate-Related Problems
Three graduate students started the Actionable Community-Oriented Research eNgagement (ACORN) program in 2020 to create a pathway for partnering with communities in addressing climate-related challenges. This effort is now led by a PCC Graduate Steering Committee (P-GraSC) subcommittee with guidance from PCC leadership. The ACORN program was inspired by the AGU Thriving Earth Exchange, which centers community priorities and fosters a partnership between academics and local partners.
Read moreThe local economic impact of the “fracking boom” in Ohio
An ACORN Project completed by University of Washington graduate students Logan Arnold (Master’s Student, Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management) and Tyler Cox (PhD Student, Atmospheric Sciences) in collaboration with the Ohio River Valley Institute Technological advancements in the last decade have allowed companies to profit off of the shale gas reserves underlying portions of the U.S. – the so-called “Fracking Boom.” Ohio, in particular, has seen an enormous surge in natural gas production since 2013.
Read moreReduce: Experiences & Insights
Written by Billy Henshaw, Graduate Student, UW Atmospheric Sciences I had always wanted to be a part of a startup focusing on “greentech”, innovative technological solutions to adapt to climate change or solve the climate crisis; I am intrigued by climate change as a social and political problem. Thus, I viewed climate solutions with a lot of curiosity and excitement. When I learned that Reduce, a greentech startup hoping to curb unsustainable consumerism, was looking for UW graduate students, I hopped on the opportunity.
Read moreIntroducing ACORN Projects
We often refer to an “academic bubble” filled with researchers, professors, and students, like ourselves, who are isolated from the broader communities they inhabit. Importantly, academic research objectives don’t always align with the immediate, actionable priorities of these wider communities. While the extent to which “academic bubbles” exist can be debated, there is undoubtedly room for improvement in conducting meaningful engagement and research in partnership with communities.
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