Engaged Undergraduate Research Grants
High Energy Cost Burdens for Low-to-Moderate Income Rentals in Tompkins County
Establishing a multidisciplinary team of students to work with low-income residents in Tompkins County on solutions to reduce household energy consumption and to determine ways to support communities with high energy burdens.
In a region with relatively long cold seasons, energy costs of living comfortably are a serious concern for many Tompkins County residents, especially low-to-moderate income renters. Due to poor infrastructure, knowledge gaps and fixed incomes, they often struggle with high energy cost burdens. To assess and highlight this issue, a group of Cornell students collaborate with Sustainable Tompkins, a community organization, to survey and interview up to 500 low-to-moderate income residents. The collected data strengthen Sustainable Tompkins’s advocacy for energy-efficiency policies, such as the Home Energy Rating and Disclosure (HERD) project, to aid low-to-moderate income residents with their high energy cost burdens. The student researchers also aid community residents with applications for LIHEAP, a federal program to help pay for heating bills.
Topics: Economic Vitality and Entrepreneurship; Energy, Environment and Sustainability
The Team
-
Christopher Barrett, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
SC Johnson College of Business
-
Howard Chong, School of Hotel Administration
SC Johnson College of Business
-
Sara Hwong ’18
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
-
Kelly Strohm ’17
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Community partner: Sustainable Tompkins