Stakeholder-Engaged Hydropower Decision Making
Principal Investigator: Sharon Klein (UMaine, School of Economics)
Partners: Bridie McGreavy (UMaine, Communication and Journalism)
Abstract: We request funds to support an undergraduate research assistant who will assist in a multi-scale, coupled-systems research project on the ecological, social, and economic trade-offs in decision making. The project is part of a multi-state, multi-institutional, interdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Maine, University of Southern Maine, University of New Hampshire, University of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island School of Design. The shared collaborative vision is to mobilize the collective capacity of New England universities and colleges to strengthen connections between science and decision making. Funds are requested for an undergraduate research assistant to help in research that will: 1) assess the costs and benefits of different hydropower technologies for Maine and New England; and 2) evaluating methods for participatory stakeholder-engaged multi-criteria decision analysis in hydropower decision-making. With two-thirds of Maine’s net electricity generation coming from renewable energy resources, 30% being from hydropower, this information shows vast importance, and research needs to be done to ensure the right decisions are being made.