Energy Justice Definitions from an Electrical Engineer
As part of a class project during Module 1, I had the opportunity to interview an expert on energy justice about how he defines "energy justice". Dr. Marcel Castro is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Puerto Rico. He works on providing secure electricity sources to rural areas and renewable energy among other areas of academic study. Dr. Castro's experience studying the potential of investment in electric systems to help rural communities be better prepared for an event like a hurricane guide our interest in learning his perspective on the definition of energy justice.
Because of his lens as an electrical engineer, Dr. Castro centered his definition of energy justice on electricity, examining inequities in who has electricity, who is likely to be left out of it, and for how long. "Energy justice is mainly to be able to have a minimum of electricity to maintain a minimum of quality of life...energy is broader, but I'm focusing on electricity."
In discussing differences in access to reliable electricity, Dr. Castro compared the aftermath of Hurricane Maria to that of Hurricane Sandy in the mainland US. He pointed out stark differences in the average number of days without electricity; 4 for those on the East Coast who were hit by Sandy, and 100 for Puerto Ricans. "It's not to diminish those that suffered the outage of Sandy, but is to put into context how big the outage that we suffered and how big it was". Dr. Castro also described a mathematical tool, Consumer Hours of Lost Electricity Service (ChoLES), used for quantifying the impact of a power outage. ChoLES multiplies the number of people affected by the amount of time for which they were without power, making it easier to draw comparisons of outage severity between population sizes. This way, an outage causing a small population to lose electricity for many months would be taken just as seriously as a larger population that only lost electricity for a few days.
Examining inequalities in values like CHoLES is what guides Dr. Castro's definition of energy justice; he said, "there is some inherent inequality in terms of the people that recovered power a couple of days after Maria and those spent more than 300 days without power". Dr. Castro analyzes the issue of energy justice from a two pronged approach, "[one prong is] how much electric energy we need to have a minimum of quality of life...the other one is how we can maintain that minimum so, especially after an event like Maria so first people don't die".
Having the perspective of someone with such a specific focus as electricity in rural areas is an interesting addition to our discussion and definition of energy justice. Throughout the module, we heard presentations on the topic of energy justice that varied widely from the impact of energy poverty and intersections with other forms of poverty, to an examination of leadership in the climate crisis more broadly, to a failing energy system as a consequence of colonialism. While Dr. Castro acknowledged that electricity is just one component of energy, his succinct definition encompasses several important ideas: everyone must have access to a reliable source of electricity, and it must be sufficient to maintain their quality of life.
Barriers and Opportunities
In discussing opportunities to achieve energy justice, Dr. Castro focused on how to prevent the consequences of another event like Hurricane Maria, which were worst for mountainous regions of Puerto Rico. These rural communities were difficult to reach because of the terrain, and were left without power for hundreds of days. He explained that providing people with an alternative to electricity from the grid, like solar, would give people a backup supply of electricity crucial for remote areas in case of a similar event. "There is a very big chance that those communities that were affected for the longest time are again going to be the last ones to be served….has to be disaster preparedness, not disaster response". Dr. Castro again emphasized the importance of those communities when implementing a solution like solar. "Maybe in the end everybody should have a solar system with batteries, but right now I identify at least 200,000 families that must have an alternative so that they don't suffer what they suffered with Maria."
Having adequate access to electricity can be life-saving. Beyond keeping the lights on, people need it in order to get clean water, store medicine, and refrigerate food. When hospitals lose power, lives are in danger. Dr. Castro sees establishing a more secure electric system as a mechanism to literally save lives. "We invest 2 billion we could save, let's say 2000 [lives]"
While implementation of solar could be a path towards just distribution of electricity, Dr. Castro explained that securing the initial funds can be difficult, even though the cost is comparable to the current system once implemented. And one of the complexities making funding such a barrier is lack of money in rural communities who are most in need of an alternative electric system. "That is a challenge to get credit for those families that really need it the most, which are in the mountain where the poverty is more prevalent." In determining who should raise those funds, Dr. Castro pointed to efforts across all levels, deeming both grassroots organizing and action at the state and federal level important. He mentioned the importance of breaking out of a colonial regime, while still acknowledging that people should not be left with ho helpless in the meantime "I think we need to fight at the federal level because we're colony an an and we still oppressed, but we cannot wait for that to get solved in order to protect the most vulnerable... in our people."
Because of his lens as an electrical engineer, Dr. Castro centered his definition of energy justice on electricity, examining inequities in who has electricity, who is likely to be left out of it, and for how long. "Energy justice is mainly to be able to have a minimum of electricity to maintain a minimum of quality of life...energy is broader, but I'm focusing on electricity."
In discussing differences in access to reliable electricity, Dr. Castro compared the aftermath of Hurricane Maria to that of Hurricane Sandy in the mainland US. He pointed out stark differences in the average number of days without electricity; 4 for those on the East Coast who were hit by Sandy, and 100 for Puerto Ricans. "It's not to diminish those that suffered the outage of Sandy, but is to put into context how big the outage that we suffered and how big it was". Dr. Castro also described a mathematical tool, Consumer Hours of Lost Electricity Service (ChoLES), used for quantifying the impact of a power outage. ChoLES multiplies the number of people affected by the amount of time for which they were without power, making it easier to draw comparisons of outage severity between population sizes. This way, an outage causing a small population to lose electricity for many months would be taken just as seriously as a larger population that only lost electricity for a few days.
Examining inequalities in values like CHoLES is what guides Dr. Castro's definition of energy justice; he said, "there is some inherent inequality in terms of the people that recovered power a couple of days after Maria and those spent more than 300 days without power". Dr. Castro analyzes the issue of energy justice from a two pronged approach, "[one prong is] how much electric energy we need to have a minimum of quality of life...the other one is how we can maintain that minimum so, especially after an event like Maria so first people don't die".
Having the perspective of someone with such a specific focus as electricity in rural areas is an interesting addition to our discussion and definition of energy justice. Throughout the module, we heard presentations on the topic of energy justice that varied widely from the impact of energy poverty and intersections with other forms of poverty, to an examination of leadership in the climate crisis more broadly, to a failing energy system as a consequence of colonialism. While Dr. Castro acknowledged that electricity is just one component of energy, his succinct definition encompasses several important ideas: everyone must have access to a reliable source of electricity, and it must be sufficient to maintain their quality of life.
Barriers and Opportunities
In discussing opportunities to achieve energy justice, Dr. Castro focused on how to prevent the consequences of another event like Hurricane Maria, which were worst for mountainous regions of Puerto Rico. These rural communities were difficult to reach because of the terrain, and were left without power for hundreds of days. He explained that providing people with an alternative to electricity from the grid, like solar, would give people a backup supply of electricity crucial for remote areas in case of a similar event. "There is a very big chance that those communities that were affected for the longest time are again going to be the last ones to be served….has to be disaster preparedness, not disaster response". Dr. Castro again emphasized the importance of those communities when implementing a solution like solar. "Maybe in the end everybody should have a solar system with batteries, but right now I identify at least 200,000 families that must have an alternative so that they don't suffer what they suffered with Maria."
Having adequate access to electricity can be life-saving. Beyond keeping the lights on, people need it in order to get clean water, store medicine, and refrigerate food. When hospitals lose power, lives are in danger. Dr. Castro sees establishing a more secure electric system as a mechanism to literally save lives. "We invest 2 billion we could save, let's say 2000 [lives]"
While implementation of solar could be a path towards just distribution of electricity, Dr. Castro explained that securing the initial funds can be difficult, even though the cost is comparable to the current system once implemented. And one of the complexities making funding such a barrier is lack of money in rural communities who are most in need of an alternative electric system. "That is a challenge to get credit for those families that really need it the most, which are in the mountain where the poverty is more prevalent." In determining who should raise those funds, Dr. Castro pointed to efforts across all levels, deeming both grassroots organizing and action at the state and federal level important. He mentioned the importance of breaking out of a colonial regime, while still acknowledging that people should not be left with ho helpless in the meantime "I think we need to fight at the federal level because we're colony an an and we still oppressed, but we cannot wait for that to get solved in order to protect the most vulnerable... in our people."
Written by Sustainability Office student worker Sally Herman
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