Electrification on Native American Lands
Electrification on Native American Lands
Access to grid electricity remains elusive to many areas on tribal lands. The purpose of this Task Force is to conduct research and engage in practical activities aimed at improving electricity access to homes, businesses, and communities on tribal lands. Secondary goals of the Task Force is to increase awareness and improve education on this topic, and to provide networking and community-building opportunities for students, practitioners, researchers, and the general public.
Scope and Outputs
Worldwide approximately 800 million people do not have access to the electricity grid. This form of energy poverty disproportionately afflicts the rural poor, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. Often overlooked is that there are as many as 100,000 people living on tribal lands in North, Central, and South America without electricity. This can stifle development and impede improvements in the quality of life. The purpose of this Task Force is to conduct research and engage in practical activities aimed at understanding and improving electricity access to homes, businesses, and communities on tribal lands. Secondary goals of the Task Force is to increase awareness and improve education on this topic, and to provide networking and community-building opportunities for students, practitioners, researchers, and the general public.
Research activities and outputs may include: review of state-of-the-art, collection of field data, synthesis of data, development of new technologies, dissemination of new research and data sets through publications, presentations and panels, and data sets. Other practical activities may include sharing best practices, creation and dissemination of load profiles and other data, and providing project specific advice. Outputs related to awareness, education and networking include: arranging and hosting webinars and presentations, uplifting voices from within affected tribal communities, offering tutorials, and arranging social interactions at IEEE PES meetings.
Whenever possible, the activities and outputs of the Task Force shall be collaborative with local communities and seek to increase capacity among students, researchers, and practitioners that identify has having tribal heritage. The Task Force acknowledges the history of exploitive interactions with outside researchers, and will follow best-practices related to data sovereignty, energy sovereignty and human subjects research.