“Cooperative is an Oxymoron”: The Polycentric Energy Transition of Midwestern Electric Cooperatives to Load Management Technologies, 1940s to Present

University of Minnesota M.S. thesis. May 2019. Major: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy. Advisor: Gabriel Chan. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 120 pages.Since the 1940s, Minnkota Power Cooperative, Great River Energy (then United Power Association and Cooperative Power), Dairyland Power Cooperative, and East River Electric Power Cooperative in the Midwestern United States have deployed nearly 600,000 load management devices with their more-than 1.2 million member-owners. Building upon technological innovation systems theory and using case studies of the co-ops, I show the importance of intermediaries such as contractors and distribution cooperative managers in facilitating the deployment of these distributed energy resources for the co-ops. I then use common pool resource rules to highlight the intermediary functions that helped drive the common pool resource of the co-ops’ innovations. This research has implications for future decarbonized distributed energy resource deployments and the electrification of formerly fossil-fueled technologies. More widely, this study shows the potential need for appropriate levels, connectedness, and locations of polycentric governance within a far-reaching, deep, and distributed energy resource transition

Solar Commons: Designing Community Trust Solar Ownership for Social Equity

In the United States, the sun shines for everyone, but many are left out from the economic benefits of the renewable energy transition. Community solar, meant to provide ownership and subscription options to those without the means, often stretch the imagination in how they use the word “community.” Is an investor-owned utility that offers its customers the opportunity to subsidize the utility’s solar-generated electricity with a higher price on their electricity bill really an example of “community solar”? What do we mean when we say “community solar” in the United States today? And how can we build a model of community solar that serves low-income communities and “the common good”? This study introduces a new model of community solar called “Solar Commons.” Solar Commons are solar energy systems that use community trust-ownership to deliver commonwealth benefits to low-income communities. Using the cultural history of community land trusts and the creative potential of trust law as a backdrop, this study demonstrates the particular progress of a Solar Commons demonstration project which the Solar Commons nonprofit proposes for the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.Prepared in partnership with the The Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) by the Community Assistantship Program (CAP), which is administered by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota

Municipal Utilities and Electric Cooperatives in the United States: Interpretive Frames, Strategic Actions, and Place-Specific Transitions

Renewable energy and social justice advocates are organizing around the potential for community-based democratic organizations to promote more decentralized, sustainable, and just societies. Within this movement, consumer-owned electric utilities are often seen as central actors. Yet, there has been little systematic investigation into why integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) varies across these utilities. We explore this question using literature on sustainability transitions and strategic action fields. Choices about when and how to integrate DERs are shaped by new interpretations of long-standing principles, existing institutional relationships, and a utility’s political power. We identify how four divergent strategies shape distinct technology configurations with differences in physical scale, concentration of political authority, and distribution of economic benefits. These differences suggest that local technology ownership may not be sufficient to motivate change in some contexts. Policy addressing political processes and ownership scale may be needed to accelerate more sustainable and just energy transitions

Design choices and equity implications of community shared solar

What is the best way to deploy solar energy to maximize clean energy growth while equitably sharing benefits? A promising model is community shared solar, which enables energy consumers to purchase shares of electricity generated in an offsite project. Noting how different states and utilities have approached program design, we explore how design decisions affect access to solar and the equity of cost and benefit sharing. We conclude with a set of questions for future research.This work was supported by NSF SRN Grant No. 1444745, the University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs’ Faculty Interactive Research Program, and the University of Minnesota’s Office of the Vice President for Research’s Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry, and Scholarship

Infrared based saliva screening test for COVID-19

Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has resulted in an unprecedented need for diagnostic testing that is critical in controlling the spread of COVID-19. We propose a portable infrared spectrometer with purpose-built transflection accessory for rapid point-of-care detection of COVID-19 markers in saliva. Initially, purified virion particles were characterized with Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron infrared (IR) and AFM-IR. A data set comprising 171 transflection infrared spectra from 29 patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR and 28 testing negative, was modeled using Monte Carlo Double Cross Validation with 50 randomized test and model sets. The testing sensitivity was 93 % (27/29) with a specificity of 82 % (23/28) that included positive samples on the limit of detection for RT-qPCR. Here, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept high throughput infrared COVID-19 test that is rapid, inexpensive, portable and utilizes sample self-collection thus minimizing the risk to healthcare workers and ideally suited to mass screening

Polymorphisms near TBX5 and GDF7 are associated with increased risk for Barrett's esophagus.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Barrett's esophagus (BE) increases the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). We found the risk to be BE has been associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on chromosome 6p21 (within the HLA region) and on 16q23, where the closest protein-coding gene is FOXF1. Subsequently, the Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium (BEACON) identified risk loci for BE and esophageal adenocarcinoma near CRTC1 and BARX1, and within 100 kb of FOXP1. We aimed to identify further SNPs that increased BE risk and to validate previously reported associations. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify variants associated with BE and further analyzed promising variants identified by BEACON by genotyping 10,158 patients with BE and 21,062 controls. RESULTS: We identified 2 SNPs not previously associated with BE: rs3072 (2p24.1; odds ratio [OR] = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.09-1.18; P = 1.8 × 10(-11)) and rs2701108 (12q24.21; OR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.86-0.93; P = 7.5 × 10(-9)). The closest protein-coding genes were respectively GDF7 (rs3072), which encodes a ligand in the bone morphogenetic protein pathway, and TBX5 (rs2701108), which encodes a transcription factor that regulates esophageal and cardiac development. Our data also supported in BE cases 3 risk SNPs identified by BEACON (rs2687201, rs11789015, and rs10423674). Meta-analysis of all data identified another SNP associated with BE and esophageal adenocarcinoma: rs3784262, within ALDH1A2 (OR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.87-0.93; P = 3.72 × 10(-9)). CONCLUSIONS: We identified 2 loci associated with risk of BE and provided data to support a further locus. The genes we found to be associated with risk for BE encode transcription factors involved in thoracic, diaphragmatic, and esophageal development or proteins involved in the inflammatory response

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist