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The Navajo Nation faces critical challenges in developing housing that is resilient to climate change while honoring cultural heritage. Socio‐economic disparities, limited infrastructure, and extreme environmental conditions demand innovative solutions that integrate sustainable practices with traditional Navajo values. This study critically examines the potential of smart design‐build technologies to create resilient, culturally appropriate housing tailored to the Navajo Nation’s unique needs, while interrogating the normative assumptions that often accompany Western frameworks of sustainability and innovation. This research combines a multidisciplinary literature review with a graduate‐level design studio’s explorative and applied insight. The literature review synthesizes advancements in sustainable technologies—such as off‐grid power systems, alternative materials, and participatory design methods—through a decolonial lens that challenges dominant planning paradigms. A conceptual framework was constructed to evaluate the intersection of cultural coherence, technological viability, material sustainability, socio‐environmental adaptability, and governance. Off‐grid solutions, including solar panels and wind turbines, offer clean energy alternatives, while locally sourced materials, like earth‐based and carbon‐environmentally informed additive manufacturing solutions, provide cost‐effective, low‐carbon options suitable for the arid climate. The study emphasizes participatory design, engaging local communities in developing housing solutions that align with cultural values and modern needs. By combining traditional Navajo architectural principles—such as circular forms and earthen materials—with smart technologies, the resulting designs are resilient, sustainable, and socially relevant. The design studio component enabled graduate students to explore speculative housing prototypes grounded in this framework, evaluated in dialogue with Navajo cultural liaisons and contextual constraints, thereby centering Indigenous perspectives in both process and output. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on smart, resilient infrastructure, offering insights for policymakers, designers, and funders to support localized, culturally and environmentally informed housing solutions in Indigenous communities.
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Critical Material Applications and Intensities in Clean Energy Technologies
Clean energy technologies have been developed to address the pressing global issue of climate change; however, the functionality of many of these technologies relies on materials that are considered critical. Critical materials are those that have potential vulnerability to supply disruption. In this paper, critical material intensity data from academic articles, government reports, and industry publications are aggregated and presented in a variety of functional units, which vary based on the application of each technology. The clean energy production technologies of gas turbines, direct drive wind turbines, and three types of solar photovoltaics (silicon, CdTe, and CIGS); the low emission mobility technologies of proton exchange membrane fuel cells, permanent-magnet-containing motors, and both nickel metal hydride and Li-ion batteries; and, the energy-efficient lighting devices (CFL, LFL, and LED bulbs) are analyzed. To further explore the role of critical materials in addressing climate change, emissions savings units are also provided to illustrate the potential for greenhouse gas emission reductions per mass of critical material in each of the clean energy production technologies. Results show the comparisons of material use in clean energy technologies under various performance, economic, and environmental based units.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1804554
- PAR ID:
- 10183922
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Clean Technologies
- Volume:
- 1
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2571-8797
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 164 to 184
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol1010012
