Minority Community Views of CO 2 Emissions Abatement Presenter : Tylesha D. Drayton, EIT Doctorial Student Advisor: M. Granger Morgan Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making 23 May 2016 Collage of Engineering Engineering and Public Policy

Presentation Overview Main Research Questions Working Hypotheses Interview Process Steps Kinesthetic Survey Activity Example Current Research Status 2

Main Research Questions What do ethnic minorities in Pittsburgh understand about where their electricity comes from? How much of their electricity releases CO 2 to the atmosphere? How might those emissions be reduced? What might it cost to mitigate or abate those CO 2 emission? 3

Working Hypotheses H1: The study population will have a limited understanding of the various types of power plants used in their region. H2: The study population will have a limited understanding of which of those plants release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. H3: The study population will underestimate the difficulty and cost of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide from the regional electricity system. 4

Steps in Interview Process 1.Evaluation of prior knowledge through brief face to face discussion involving a few open ended questions. 2.Kinesthetic survey activity using the stacking of poker chips on a playboard to represent answers as percentages. 3.Additional notes taken as subjects are asked to describe their thought process and reasoning. 4.More traditional survey methods used to collect mitigation/ abatement strategy cost. 5

Warm Up Interview I would like you to just talk to me about where you believe our electricity here in the Pittsburgh region comes from. Please talk to me about how you think making electricity puts CO 2 into the atmosphere. Please talk to me about what you think would be the best way to go about reducing CO 2. Basic Prompts: –Anything else? –Can you tell me more? –Can you explain why you think that? 6

Example of Kinesthetic Survey Activity PlayboardParticipant Stacking Chips Where do you believe our electricity here in the Pittsburgh region comes from? 7

Images for Electricity Generation Sources in Pennsylvania CoalNatural GasNuclear HydroWind and Solar 8

Two other Playboards on CO 2 Emission Mitigation/ Abatement Strategies Personal Use less stuff that needs electricity (conservation) Use devices so that carbon dioxide does not get released to the atmosphere from coal power plants (carbon capture and storage) Use devices so that carbon dioxide does not get released to the atmosphere from natural gas power plants (carbon capture and storage) Other: Government or Others Design electrical things so that they need less electricity to work (efficiency) Build more nuclear plants Build more dams that can generate electricity Build more wind or solar generators that can generate electricity Other: 9

Current Research Status Conducting interviews and collecting surveys. Evaluation of prior knowledge via brief face to face open ended question interviews taking longer than anticipated. Many participants are worried: –If they don’t know enough about energy and electricity they can not participate in the study. –If they don’t pay the household electricity bill they can not participate. Once engaged in the chip sorting activity, participants relax and are more forthcoming with their overall though process. Participants are over estimating the contribution of hydropower due to the proximity of the three rivers. 10