海角社区 Researchers Examining Power Grid Inequity in Disadvantaged NOLA Communities
October 31, 2023
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� Oftentimes, when a state or region鈥檚 power grid is discussed, the words innovation, resilience, reliability, etc., are mentioned. But there鈥檚 another equally important term that is the focus of a research project by 海角社区 Electrical Engineering and 海角社区 Sociology faculty鈥攅quity.
Focusing on the city of New Orleans, 海角社区 Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Amin Kargarian and 海角社区 Professor of Sociology Frederick Weil are working to model power-grid-resilience equity by considering the hardships or social consequences faced by different communities and integrating those issues into a protection plan for city power infrastructure, specifically from flood-induced hazards.
The work is funded by a National Science Foundation Disaster Resilience Research grant totaling $363,852.
鈥淣ew Orleans has the second-highest energy burden among all cities in the nation; low-income households in New Orleans experience an energy burden larger than 9.8%鈥攁 quarter of them more than 18.9%鈥攚hile the national average is 3.5%,鈥� Kargarian said. 鈥淚n terms of hardship, imagine an hour of power outage in low-income areas and an hour in high-income areas. The low-income areas may face more difficulties, as they have no backup generator. Also, losing [power to] the fridge and thus food is harder for the low-income areas. The value of $500 for a low-income family, which might be 25% of their monthly income, is much more than that of a high-income family that makes $500 per day.
鈥淲e plan to consider various factors, such as level of income, level of education, race, and ethnicity. We will collaborate with the 海角社区 Survey Lab [to design a survey and analyze data to understand the impact of power outages on communities] and the City of New Orleans Mayor鈥檚 Office to help us better understand community hardship and the impact of climate change on the [residents of New Orleans.]鈥�
It鈥檚 easy to see why flooding and its effects on New Orleans鈥� power infrastructure would be the focus of the research team, as 20% of the city is considered 鈥渉igh flood risk.鈥� Kargarian said the team plans to use resources such as Tiger Dams颅鈥攔eusable barriers manufactured by U.S. Flood Control鈥攖o determine how to proactively protect power substations a few days before a flood event. At the same time, it will take into consideration equity and social justice as they relate to resource allocation for 鈥済rid-resilience enforcement.鈥� As the project develops, the team will work with the City of New Orleans Mayor鈥檚 Office to present its findings in the hopes that energy systems are examined from the current 鈥渆quity-neutral鈥� standpoint to one that is eventually 鈥渆quity-aware.鈥�
One additional aspect of the project is the outreach that will be conducted with area high schools and HBCUs, providing educational and training opportunities. These include outreach to underserved high school students and public awareness of the project, research internships for under-resourced high school students, an industry-sponsored diverse workforce training program, and mentorships and training for college students from underrepresented groups.
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