News Center features UMaine faculty developing new resource for energy transitions in underserved communities
News Center Maine reported on the Environmental Protection Agency awarding $1.125 million to Sharon Klein and Caroline Noblet, both University of Maine associate professors of economics, to develop a new resource for addressing the drivers and environmental impacts of energy transitions in underserved and Tribal communities. They will engage with indigenous, rural and low-income communities in Maine to understand the role of statewide Local Energy Action Networks (LEANs) in supporting and advancing renewable energy and energy efficiency adoption. “There is an energy transition happening and if things go the way that they typically go, local communities and particularly underserved communities may not access the benefits of that energy transition the way that other people do,” Klein said. “It’s going to offer us a blueprint to help other Maine communities work on sustainable energy transitions,” Noblet said.