Envision Education

Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is one major water electrolysis technology. AWE has been successfully commercialized for decades; however, its drawbacks include low operating current density, high shunt current, difficult in integration with renewable energy. However, AWE technologies have been recently revitalized due to high demand of low cost green H2. Among recent advances of AWE are thinner diaphragm, zero-gap configuration, advanced catalyst coating. Therefore, the performance of AWE has been tremendously improved, which exceeds 1A/cm2 at a voltage of 1.9 V. The development of AWE technologies may provide some insightful insights for the AEMWE. The current AEMWE faces some challenges including poor membrane durability and resulting short lifetime. Most AEMWEs only show extended lifetime (> 5, 000 hours) at a low current density (< 1 A/cm2) and the performance rapidly decays at elevated current density (> 2 A/cm2). The fast decay could be due to the chemical and electrochemical degradation of AEMs, and deteriorating interface between electrode and membrane. However, if the AEMWE cannot boost its durability at elevated current density, its competitiveness against AWE could become less meaningful. The improvements of AEMWEs need deep understanding of some key factors like membrane degradation, membrane/electrode interface, and component corrosion. Some effective probes and analytical approaches need to be developed to fully elucidate these important degradation mechanisms before one can transform the performance and lifetime of AEMWE.

People experiencing homelessness are often absent from the development and implementation of new housing projects. As mounting evidence demonstrates the link between health and housing, it seems ineffective to design solutions without the participation and insight of those who are chronically unhoused. This study describes a method for program and product evaluation that people with lived experience of homelessness can use to determine the value of new offerings and then design improvements based on their evaluation. Specifically, this article reports the experience of evaluating a handbook describing the operations of a new type of housing for people experiencing homelessness. The research team, which included people with lived experience of homelessness, performed interviews to evaluate plans in the handbook, analyzed those results, and designed improvements in the operations of the housing based on the program evaluation. The team utilized participatory analysis of the interview data and then used a Human-Centered Design approach to generate ideas based on the analysis and develop concepts to improve the operational plan. The evaluation identified four high-priority problems with the operational plan and the group then designed three unique solutions to address those problems. This project demonstrates that people with lived experience of homelessness can participate as equal partners in the evaluation of a program and the subsequent program improvement design that was based on their evaluations.