Additional assistance to rural communities in the areas of energy and water constraints (500-600)The urban area was defined as land with a population of 50,000 or a group of 2,500 to 50,000 people according to the United States Census Bureau. Rural is then defined as everything that is outside this definition. Rural areas face particular challenges when it comes to energy and water consumption. For example, utilities face higher costs to modernize their energy bases and often find it more difficult to implement cleaner technologies because of the great distances between customers and the tortuous patchwork of reliable resources. Additionally, many system organizers and thought leaders in breakthrough energy know about living in suburban or urban areas and might find it more difficult to relate to the unique challenges of rural areas. It is likely that climate change will impact rural communities in diverse ways compared to urban areas due to a number of aspects including common occupational categories, poverty levels and demographics. The “climate gap” refers to the low...