Citizen science
GRECO will encourage citizens to actively participate. Our researchers will listen to their opinions and include them in the photovoltaics research process. This will profoundly change the scientist-citizen relationship.
How citizens like us can change the world of solar energy ?
GRECO is taking solar energy research out of the lab and into the hands of the people. As the project launches the app GENERATION SOLAR, Luisa Fernanda Barbosa Gomez tells us how citizens will make a difference. Luisa is based at the Studies Centre on Science, Communication and Society (CSS) of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.
GRECO is a pioneering European research project that does science differently. Coordinated by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid alongside ten international research centres, participants are showing that solar energy science can be carried out in an open, responsible way. And unlike the vast majority of research projects around the world, this approach involves Citizen Scientists.
A deeper understanding of Citizen Science
GRECO researchers actively involve Citizens Scientists in the process of research, development and innovation both in the design of new PV solutions and in the provision of data.
Citizen Scientists contribute to GRECO research in various ways: In an Europe-wide search for “old”(older than 15 years) solar modules modules, Citizen Scientists provided many installations and the corresponding data. In the next step, our GRECO researchers will try their repair process on these modules from various manufacturers, and which have sustained different damage by climate or usage.
The data generated by Citizen Scientists will be directly included into GRECO research. For instance, our researchers will use the data of the old modules to develop reliable ageing models.
In return, society will gain awareness and the ability to influence the spread of solar energy – thus leading to an overall deeper understanding of photovoltaic research.
