This CAZMEX funded project, initiated in August
2017, is assessing, as well as comparing and contrasting, the specific energy
needs of women in and near semi-arid cities and rural communities in the states
of Arizona and Zacatecas (Mexico) and how renewable energy projects in these
locations can become better integrated into gendered livelihood systems. The study
sites in Arizona include Tucson, where rooftop and parking lot solar panels are
ubiquitous and rural communities in the Cascabel-Benson area where a recently
constructed large wind and solar farm is located; in Zacatecas the sites
include several peri-urban and rural communities where recently installed wind
farms are located. The Arizona-based team will travel to the sites in Zacatecas
in September 2017 and the Mexico team will visit the Arizona sites in early
2018. The study findings will inform policy
prescriptions disseminated to policymakers and planners via policy briefs and a
project website linked to both the University of Arizona and the Colegio de
Postgraduados and disseminated to academics via journal publications and
conference presentations. The principal investigators are Dr. Stephanie Buechler of the Udall
Center for Studies in Public Policy and the School of Geography and Development
(SGD) of the University of Arizona working with research assistants Cecy Cuevas
and Karina Martinez, graduate students in the Master’s in Development Practice Program of SGD and Dr. Verónica Vázquez García, of the Rural
Development Program of the Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, Mexico working
with research assistant Dulce María Sosa, research consultant based in
Zacatecas, Mexico.
Photo
credit: Stephanie Buechler
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