Energy & Equity Exposures Database for Population Health
Inaugural SRG funds new tool for understanding the health and societal implications of a just energy transition.
The Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability, in partnership with the School of Public Health, has awarded its first-ever Sustainability Research Grant (SRG) for the 2023–2024 academic year to advance the university’s research at the intersection of climate change, sustainability, public health, and equity.
Energy & Equity Exposures Database for Population Health
The year-long SRG project will launch the Energy & Equity Exposures Database for Population Health, a new tool that aims to overcome a key obstacle in further understanding the health and societal implications of a just transition to clean energy in the United States.
To better establish how energy decisions affect population health, especially in environmental justice communities, the research team will build a much-needed harmonized national geospatial database of energy infrastructure in the US. This resource will factor in data from extraction to power plant, such as location, intensity of use, and emissions, providing fundamental information to develop census tract and county indices that consistently assess exposure to energy infrastructure.
This database, in combination with a case study for each of the following three themes, will open new areas of research around energy infrastructure and its relation to environmental justice, climate change, population health, and broader societal concerns for a just energy transition.
The project brings together SPH faculty with a community of BU researchers from across disciplines, including climate and sustainability, public policy and governance, behavioral and cognitive science, and engineering systems.
Research Themes:
Environmental Justice and the Geography of Energy Transitions
Co-Benefits of Energy Programs for Climate and Health Equity
Energy Epidemiology in Persistently Marginalized Communities
