SAFE partnered with a group of six graduate students at Tufts from the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP).
By KC Coryatt
Over the course of 15 weeks from January to May, SAFE partnered with a group of six graduate students at Tufts from the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP). These students collaborated with our organization to conduct an analysis of the benefits of community owned energy (COE) for the Salem community. The Tufts team analyzed a range of literature, gathered case studies, and conducted interviews with energy experts and frontline implementers such as leaders of community groups and city councilors.
The students developed a report providing SAFE with two distinct deliverables:
- A case study report of community owned energy strategies and examples of local energy cases.
- A guidebook for beginning steps towards advancing community owned energy in Salem with community involvement at its core.
These deliverables can be found within the final report written by the students within the appendix. These resources were developed to answer the question: “How can the City of Salem implement community-owned energy systems in a way that reduces the energy burden, creates impactful economic and environmental resilience, and promotes community agency over its energy future?” This project helped provide SAFE with a well-researched path towards socializing the concept of community owned energy; This allows us to begin working towards potentially implementing some of these strategies within our community.
The team consisted of Will Arent, Denisse Manzo-Gonzales, Deanna Kenyon, Cole Lepler, Marina Garrido (M.A and M.S students in Environmental Policy & Planning), and Eliza Jobin-Davis (M.S in Sustainability). All of these first year students brought a range of knowledge and prior experience to the project as a part of the department’s annual “Field Project” class. SAFE, and our community partner, Lucy Corchado, met with the students regularly to provide guidance, resources, and feedback on their work. We are grateful to have had a dedicated team who centered environmental justice principles in their efforts and understood how to work with an Environmental Justice community.
We have linked the final report here and hope that you take a moment to read through the great work these students have applied to our community as we work towards building energy systems that work for all of us. SAFE will also be sharing a series of blogs summarizing some key findings from the Tufts team over the summer.
KC Coryatt is SAFE’s Summer Intern.