Presenting Team Members:
Alexandra Kahl – PhD Student in Energy Science and Engineering
Kyra Owensby – PhD Student in Energy Science and Engineering
School: University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Challenge: Resilience for All in the Wake of Disaster
Problem Definition: Develop holistic solutions to improve the resilience of the built environment, making equity a central focus of the proposed solution by strengthening the ability of communities—especially those that are underserved, marginalized and vulnerable—to adapt, persist, and recover in the event of natural or manmade disruptive events.
Project Title: Backup Power In the Wake of disaster to Increase Hazard Resilience in Low Income Communities
Solution: The U.S. hit a record breaking year for power outages in 2020, creating a need for continued research in disaster resilience. These blackouts largely impact disproportionately vulnerable communities. This proposal aims to mitigate the effects of blackouts on these communities by starting a nonprofit organization focused on distributing power to affected households. Utilizing models and feedback from an application, the organization will determine which neighborhoods need battery distribution. Successfully implementing and scaling this process will have the ability to highly impact outage affected communities all over the United States.