Assistant professor of Architectural Engineering at University of Cincinnati awarded three separate grants to pursue equitable decarbonization
Amanda Webb has received three grants to fund three separate projects that are all seeking to make progress toward the city of Cincinnati’s quest to become carbon neutral by the year 2050.
Amanda Webb, an assistant professor of Architectural Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, is the recipient of three grants to fund three of her projects to pursue equitable decarbonization in the city of Cincinnati’s journey toward becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Webb has received two grants from the National Science Foundation and one grant from the Department of Energy.
According to an article on the University of Cincinnati’s website, Webb’s research strives to pursue equitable decarbonization, which means that the benefits of becoming carbon neutral would be felt by all and would be distributed equitably as opposed to in a manner that only benefits a certain stakeholder, for example.
Webb’s grant awards from the National Science Foundation will help aid this research. One of the grants, which comes via the Foundation’s Strengthening American Infrastructure Program, seeks to educate the public about equitable decarbonization and help them learn how they can support the effort. Along with her project partners, which include Carlie Trott, an associate professor of psychology, Kuanshi Zhong, an assistant professor of civil engineering, and the Port of Cincinnati, among others, Webb will create a new software that will help the public understand the concept of equitable decarbonization.
Of this particular project, Webb said, "As engineers, we use models. We build an energy model of a building, for example, and it's used to explore 'what-if' scenarios. But that data is inherently valuable. The idea behind this project is to take that data and use it as a tool to help people understand equitable decarbonization."
The first portion of this project will include data collection. Trott will survey the community to assess their knowledge level of the process of equitable decarbonization. Webb and other project members will audit homes within Cincinnati to see how the data affects people’s opinions or knowledge. Following the data collection and analysis, it will be put into software that will be used in workshops to continue educating people on the process.
The other grant award Webb received from the National Science Foundation is the CAREER Award, which is awarded to faculty members who are making a difference with their research and use that research to impact education. The project Webb is undertaking with this grant award is a five-year long project that looks at building energy modeling processes.
Webb said, "The NSF CAREER project is focused on how we model equitable decarbonization and include these considerations in the typical building energy modeling process. This project looks more holistically at the impact of decarbonization on potential outcomes and how we can model them.”
Typically, during such audits, the physical characteristics of a building, among other factors, are inputted into software that analyzes the building’s energy use. Webb is striving to find more and other inputs that could be added into the analysis of building energy usages in order to achieve a more equitable outcome. For example, Webb and her team will look at retrofitted buildings in the area and study the different decarbonization techniques and the impacts on both individual buildings and entire areas.
To satisfy the educational component of the CAREER award, Webb will be using the results of her research to develop two games with fellow University of Cincinnati professor Katherine Castiello Jones. The games will be designed to be played by students in kindergarten through 12th grade and will teach students about equitable decarbonization through simulation.
Describing the idea of the game, Webb said, "Imagine playing an analog version of SIM City, and you have to collaborate with other players to decarbonize the city. The idea is that the modeling results will feed into the rules of the game. It combines research, modeling, and education.”
Once the games are completed, they will be distributed to local schools for testing and playing.
The third project Webb will be undertaking, under the Department of Energy Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation award, will analyze the current Building Performance Standards and determine how to create better Building Performance Standards to replace them. Currently, Building Performance Standards are a set of guidelines that are intended to limit greenhouse gas emissions from buildings as well as limit energy usage in currently built, also called stock, buildings, as opposed to newly built buildings.
"To decarbonize the building stock we need to address existing buildings. Building Performance Standards set a limit on these buildings, which is a very new type of policy mechanism,” said Webb. She went on to say, "In principle, BPS are very flexible. What we're trying to do with this project is take a different approach and adapt them to Ohio's needs, because we don't have the same resources and capacities as places like Washington, D.C. or New York City.”
Webb and her team for this project will be analyzing the current energy use and needs of Ohio’s building stock, and then retrofitting a few larger, older buildings to create savings on energy usage. Her team will then focus on how to equitably distribute the benefits of this practice, which includes reducing costs and energy emissions that will improve health outcomes, especially in areas and neighborhoods that have been ignored.
"Energy burden is the percent of income people spend on utilities. What if we place that at the center of the BPS, thinking about equity first, and then focus on the environmental piece second?” said Webb.
Overall, Webb is focused on improving outcomes for populations equitably through building decarbonization. She said, "How we build buildings and how we use those buildings says so much about what we value as a society. I find that fascinating."
For more information about the University of Cincinnati, visit the school’s website.