Title: Identifying energy poverty in the built environment using large datasets

Abstract: Broadly, energy poverty is defined as insufficient energy access. One often missed sign of energy poverty is an inability to maintain a safe and comfortable indoor temperature (i.e., energy limiting behavior). Using residential electricity consumption datasets in multiple regions, we determine the outdoor temperatures at which households start using their heating and cooling systems. We add to the literature by quantifying the cooling slope gap (i.e., amount of electricity households forgoes over the cooling season). The cooling slope gap aids with identifying infrastructure and climate adaption gaps in current energy systems. Using these metrics, we identify disparities in heating and cooling between high and low income groups which identify health risks and places where people will have challenges protecting themselves against extreme temperatures.

Bio: Dr. Destenie Nock is an Assistant Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE), and in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP). She is a leader in energy justice, and energy systems modeling. She uses multi-criteria decision analysis and applied optimization to better equip policy makers to understand energy planning options.

The energy justice side of her team is developing novel metrics for identifying those experiencing energy poverty and insecurity, as well as developing optimization models for designing a more equitable power systems. The systems modeling side of her group is developing electricity and transportation optimization and simulation models which investigate how decarbonization and sustainable energy transitions impact vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Using regression and decision analysis techniques, she was able to identify the trade-offs between different future electricity scenarios in terms of their sustainability for the region and impact on local communities. She applied a similar systems approach to Sub-Saharan Africa by developing an electricity planning tool, which incorporated stakeholder preferences for equality and makes recommendations for national electrification planning.
Nock’s broad research interests are focused around using mathematical modeling tools to address societal problems related to sustainability planning, energy policy, equity, and engineering for social good. She brings to CMU a breadth of professional experience, having worked in industry, national labs, and government settings on issues related to energy systems.