Event Highlight: Hunch Lunch

Energy transformations: The electrification of transportation

The Hunch Lunch is a KER signature event focused on breaking down knowledge silos by bringing together people from diverse perspectives to share their hunches around a particular resilience theme. This year, we partnered with the Salt River Project to explore the topic of energy transformations, particularly with regards to the electrification of transportation.

While enjoying a delicious catered meal, 54 attendees from various fields listened to five-minute flash talks from nine different perspectives, ranging from the utility and auto manufacturing sectors to air quality advocates and the fossil fuel industry.

Marc Campbell — now ASU’s University Sustainability Practices director — kicked off the hunches by emphasizing the need for a coordinated approach to transportation electrification. This sentiment was echoed by other speakers as they presented their visions of what the future of energy and transportation could look like.

Elizabeth Wentz, director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience, welcomes guests to the 2022 Hunch Lunch.

Abby Johnson / ASU Knowledge Exchange for Resilience

Hunch Lunch 2022 provided attendees with a great opportunity to hear a wide range of community experts share their ‘hunches’ and diverse perspectives about the transition to transportation electrification.

— Christy Boos, Executive Analyst, Salt River Project

One such vision involves an energy grid that utilizes a multidirectional flow of energy, leveraging electric vehicles for energy storage. “When those vehicles get connected to the grid in a way that’s two-directional, it’s not just electricity that will flow two directions, it’s money,” said John Heckman, executive director of Anthesis.

Amanda Gray, executive director of the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, shares her hunch that to ensure a resilient transportation future, we will have to figure out sustainable funding models for road infrastructure and avoid an over-reliance on any one form of energy.

Abby Johnson / Knowledge Exchange for Resilience

Achieving these hopeful visions of the future will require careful planning to ensure no one is left behind. ASU’s Jennifer Vanos underlined this point: “As cities try to reduce greenhouse gas-intensive activities, especially through replacing cars with active transit … could there be unintended consequences of increasing heat and air pollution exposures to people?”

Increasing zero emission transportation and shifting to a non-combustion energy grid could yield $15.1 billion in public health benefits — and that’s just right here in Arizona if we started between now and the year 2050.

— JoAnna Strother, Senior Director for Advocacy, American Lung Association

Small group discussions following the hunches gave attendees the space to ask questions, share their own insights and discuss new ideas, like how to support small businesses and low-income families during the transition, the potential for ASU to study alternative models of road infrastructure funding, and how targeting the right employers for EV charger installation could lower barriers for lowincome residents and leverage solar energy.

One important point of consensus was the need to involve more developers in future conversations. “If we really want to reduce car trips altogether, whether it’s electric vehicles or petroleum vehicles, we need to consider how our land use interacts with our transportation choices,” said John Owens, Chandler’s downtown redevelopment specialist.

Watch the event recording at https://youtu.be/dHDkEerm2Fc.

Attendee Rajiv Ghimire discusses the day's hunches with other guests at his table.

Abby Johnson / Knowledge Exchange for Resilience