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Electric power and broadband have become essential services for modern economies, but utilities face substantial challenges in providing disruption-free access. Recent legislation, including the US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, has allocated enormous resources toward improving infrastructure systems. Historically, undergrounding has enhanced system reliability but has been cost effective only in densely populated areas. We investigate the conditions under which undergrounding becomes cost effective, particularly when co-deployed with fiber optic lines. We introduce a novel data-driven cost-benefit model and conduct a detailed localized case study in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The results indicate that when undergrounding is viable, aggressively co-undergrounding yields the highest net benefit. This finding is robust across various assumptions. Importantly, our model highlights the importance of assumptions regarding undergrounding’s effectiveness in reducing outages. Our model is readily deployable to other study areas, providing effective decision-making capabilities even with limited data. 

Abstract As the global energy sector transitions towards a cleaner and more sustainable future, observational evidence suggests that many new energy technologies share a close relationship with well-established technologies. Yet, the topic of how closely technologies are related has not been addressed rigorously, rather it has been the purview of practitioner know-how and informal expert opinion. In this study, we propose a quantitative method to supplement practitioners’ subjective understanding of the relatedness between technology domains. The method uses patents to represent the position of a technology in knowledge space and calculates the Hausdorff distance between patent domains to proxy the relatedness between technologies. We apply this method to investigate the relatedness of offshore wind energy technology to two more mature domains: onshore wind energy technology and offshore oil and gas technology. We examine the technological relatedness of individual offshore wind components to these two technologies, and represent the changes in relatedness through time. The results confirm that offshore wind components such as foundations, installation, and maintenance are more related to the offshore oil and gas industry; while other components, such as rotors and nacelles, are more related to onshore wind energy. The results also suggest that many offshore wind energy components are becoming less related through time to both of these domains, possibly indicating increasing innovation. This method can provide quantitative parameters to improve the modeling of technological change and guide practitioners in strategic decision-making regarding the positioning of industries and firms within those industries. 

Abstract To meet the demands of technological change required for climate change mitigation, academic research must cover a broad range of climate solutions. Diverse participation in this research is important because research shows that a variety of backgrounds and problem-solving approaches are important to solving complex problems such as climate change. In our study, we examine the discplinary and institutional diversity of federal funding for academic research on climate solutions (ARCS) in the United States. We identify $1.42 billion in federal funding for ARCS in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. Our findings reveal that 85% of federal ARCS grants are awarded to Principal Investigators in engineering and the natural sciences. Additionally, institutions classified as having high research activity (R1s) receive over 60% of the ARCS funding per student. Tribal institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic Serving Institutions collectively receive only $109.20 in ARCS funding per student, compared to $334.30 per student for other institution types. These disparities in federally funded ARCS grants are, in part, a consequence of the absence of policies that promote interdisciplinary collaboration and broader participation in academic research. We discuss the policy implications that have contributed to the identified inequities in ARCS funding and current policies that could enhance the distribution of ARCS in the future. We propose strategies for federally funded ARCS to support an equitable energy transition that addresses the needs of contemporary society and beyond.