Pilot Classes
MIT’s Renewable Energy Facility Siting Clinic has launched classes in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
Class Overview
After passing the certification exam, a four-week , students engaged with two client communities in the Midwest between October and December. Teams carried out more than 30 interviews with stakeholder groups to understand local perspectives on two renewable energy facilities. By providing an independent forum, the Clinic allowed project opponents and proponents to identify key interests and concerns.
21 students from MIT, Harvard, and other schools in the Boston area took our four-week online course in September. More than 300 individuals from around the world have completed our four-week MITxPro course.
The Clinic is still in its piloting stage and we are now working with communities in New York State and Massachusetts. Our work in the fall upheld a few key elements of our theory of change:
Act Locally.
The Clinic is most effective when communities recognize us as an familiar external stakeholder. We envision a consortium of university clinics that will collaborate nationally and engage locally.
Engage at an Early Stage.
The clinical model can be applied in many stages in a project’s lifetime. The peak efficiency of the clinic is when identifying key interests and concerns allows proponents and opponents to jointly identify new alternatives.
Find a Neutral Entryway.
The Clinic can only engage a broad range of stakeholders if it is perceived as a neutral third-party. The Clinic's management of a mediation process may therefore be as important as how it initiates its relationship with a client community.
