Community Energy Development
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The Community Energy Development Lab focuses on how communities design, govern, and benefit from sustainable energy systems. The lab’s research examines energy transitions in Northern, remote, and Indigenous communities, with an emphasis on supporting locally driven, equitable, and sustainable development outcomes.
Through interdisciplinary and applied research, the lab studies the economic, institutional, and social dimensions of community energy systems. By combining quantitative analysis with community-engaged approaches, it generates insights that support better decision-making, stronger governance, and more resilient energy futures.
Dr. Oscar Zapata
I am an applied economist working at the intersection of economics, environmental sustainability, and community well-being. My scholarly home is the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) at the University of Saskatchewan, where I hold the Centennial Chair in Community Energy Development and direct the Energy Security stream of our Master of Sustainability program.
Before the University of Saskatchewan, I taught economics at the University of Regina, completed a postdoc in field experiments in planning at the University of British Columbia, and trained as an economist at the University of Calgary and in sustainable international development at Brandeis University. I began my academic life in Quito, Ecuador, a perspective that still anchors how I think about development, equity, sustainability, and the economies of remote places.