By Sania Murtuza, Tai Vu, & Yao Sun, Ph.D
This research project aims to understand the effectiveness of New Jersey’s solar program and its impact on energy justice. In June 2024, the research team conducted a field experiment which involved recruiting 158 participants selected through User Interviews, a recruitment platform that pays participants. Using this platform, we identified the types of participants we were seeking. Among the 158 participants, 86 actively participated in the voice-based open discussions.
These voice-based open discussions were conducted by an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based crowdsourcing program called PSi which allowed us to hold discussions using our microphone to initiate meetings. The PSi system then prompted the participants to use their microphones to communicate with each other to discuss the effectiveness of the New Jersey Solar Energy Program and to convey their opinions on solar panel energy programs.
In total, the team conducted eight focus group discussions which lasted between eight and 16 minutes and included an average of 13 participants. These sessions presented a total of 69 ideas, which reflected the participants’ personal opinions. The research team engaged participants in dynamic conversations to assess New Jersey’s solar program’s effectiveness. Ideas were identified as “winning” if they received the most votes from participants during the discussion. What constituted “winning ideas” varied during the different discussions, ranging from comments about direct homeowner initiatives, to local system lease prices, economic benefits, and energy bill assistance. Moreover, the focus group participants were encouraged to offer any ideas that could help improve the efficiency and feasibility of solar energy programs.
The consensus of key pitched ideas was generally reached within four minutes during each session, with engagement rates ranging between 46% and 82%. PSi generated a summary report using AI.
This collaborative effort aims to offer valuable insights for the development and implementation of community solar programs in New Jersey, with the goal of advancing energy justice and community equity. The research team is leveraging Tableau to create visual representations of solar access across the state, focusing particularly on historically low-income neighborhoods such as Jersey City, Newark, and Trenton.
Sania Murtuza (Biology) and Tai Vu (Math) are undergraduate students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Yao Sun is a professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at NJIT.