Welcome to the BAAEC case study. This study is the product of 5 years of participant-observation of the BAAEC project and six of its scopes. This study analyzes the development of BAAEC’s interventions as sociotechnical systems, focusing on their interconnection to the grid and with the people and organizations involved in the project. The narratives and analysis presented in this study are the product of sustained ethnographic engagement with project personnel, background research into energy policy, distributed renewable technologies, relevant bodies of law and regulatory code, and the business practices of the private sector actors and organizations involved in the project as contractors.

Anticipating the concomitant decarbonization and socioenvironmental improvement of disadvantaged communities, the BAAEC project is one among many past and present demonstrations with the retrofitting and repair of the built environment in disadvantaged communities and the vital infrastructures that serve them. The purpose of the BAAEC project was to explore how various distributed renewable energy technologies and “models” for low-carbon electrical service provision could be designed to serve disadvantaged communities and advance the project of equitable decarbonization of urban infrastructure. BAAEC differs from no-money-down contracting and private fee for services models offered by private sector actors because the core nonprofit partners (The Energy Coalition, Day One, Active San Gabriel Valley, Grid Alternatives, and UCLA) and project funders (the California Energy Commission) saw residential decarbonization not simply as a means to the specific ends of revenue generation and industrial development, but also to the end of sociotechnical improvement and environmental justice. Nonprofit partners conceived of BAAEC as a “community-engaged” project, involving structured, interpersonal, and educational activities to create trust between local actors and project partners, and ensure that consequential project decisions reflected the input of the people living in the areas of Bassett and Avocado Heights and involved in the scopes of the project as local participants.  

This study describes how BAAEC’s core nonprofit partners and private contractors of the BAAEC project sought to build distributed renewable energy systems and electrify homes to benefit project area residents. The chapters included in the case study trace each major scope of the project through from beginning to end, following the translation of plans into actions and the generation of results.

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