Achieving a just, resilient, decarbonized future requires leveraging technical expertise, local knowledge, and neighbor-to-neighbor relationships. Our upcoming UNU-INWEH Science Talk will showcase the EcoBlock project, a deep retrofit of an underserved neighborhood in Oakland, California, United States of America, chosen for its demographic diversity, high pollution levels, and risk of energy insecurity and rising electricity costs. EcoBlock is planned as a model for block-scale community retrofits that improve resilience, sustainability, and quality of life. Features include in-home energy and water-efficient upgrades, electrification, solar installations, and energy storage. The project’s collaborative approach to design unites the local community with academia, the private sector, and community-based organizations, including experts in energy and water research, engineers, architects, designers, and policymakers. The newly-formed EcoBlock Association is centered on an equitable and inclusive legal and financing structure with the aim of community ownership and management of common resources.
In this talk, Dr. Miriam ACZEL and Dr. Phillippe PHANIVONG will showcase a community initiative that improves resilience, sustainability, and quality of life through in-home energy and water-efficient upgrades, electrification, solar installations, and energy storage. The speakers will share lessons learnt from the collaborative initiative, a model for an equitable and inclusive legal and financing structure, which aims for community ownership and management of common resources, leveraging lived experiences from an underserved neighbourhood in Oakland, California, USA.
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Speakers
Dr. Miriam Aczel | 
Dr. Phillippe Phanivong |
