SUMMARY

The climate crisis presents a unique opportunity to reshape our energy system in a way that benefits historically vulnerable and marginalized communities. Yet, energy researchers and engineers developing technologies for climate mitigation lack the tools to prioritize these communities and pursue energy justice in their work. Energy justice aims to address both inequities in the current fossil fuel-based energy system and inequities that may arise in the transition to clean energy. The objective of this research is to understand how energy justice concepts can be applied to energy technology creation and implementation. This work seeks to answer two research questions: (i) How can a framework be developed to allow engineers to consider energy justice principles in their renewable or clean energy design process? (ii) How can such a framework be implemented? Design Research Methodology (DRM) was used for this dissertation. DRM is a four-stage process enabling researchers to better understand the existing situation and create design support for improvement. The design support that was created as part of this work, named Justice-Embedded Requirements Engineering (JERE), aims to enable engineers to consider justice concepts in designing next-generation technologies, particularly in energy. This research not only seeks to provide energy engineers with tools to ensure their work can positively impact a larger segment of the population, but it also strives to enhance the ways in which engineers design and create more just processes, systems, and technologies for socially vulnerable populations. Registration Link (to get a calendar invitation): https://bit.ly/bettinasdefense