The EARNEST Consortium, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is dedicated to identifying and advancing solutions for the future of the U.S. electricity system. As part of its public engagement efforts, EARNEST is hosting its first webinar series focused on “U.S. Grid Reliability and Resilience.” This upcoming session will examine how households in the low-income Bryant neighborhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan, experience and respond to long-duration power outages.

Between 2000 and 2021, Michigan ranked second nationwide for large, frequent weather-related outages, underscoring the urgent need to better understand the lived experience of vulnerable populations during such events. In this context, researchers interviewed 48 households in the Bryant neighborhood (out of 280 households), a community where three-quarters of residents are low income, half are renters, and home values are one-third of the city's average. The study identifies which energy services residents most value during outages, the burdens faced by households with overlapping vulnerabilities, and the strategies families employ to adapt in place when relocation is not feasible. Challenges such as food spoilage, frozen pipes, and inaccessible medical equipment compound financial and emotional strain, while inefficient housing stock accelerates the loss of comfort during outages. Despite these hardships, households demonstrated resilience by relying on portable chargers, battery-powered lanterns, improvised heating solutions, and mutual support among neighbors.

The findings highlight the importance of prioritizing energy services such as refrigeration, heating and cooling, lighting, and cooking at the household level, and ensuring access to community services such as warming and cooling centers, grocery stores, and gas stations. By heeding the self-identified priorities of low-income communities, policymakers and utilities can better design resilience strategies.

Parth Vaishnav, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, will present the methodology and findings from this work, as well as its broader implications for resilience planning within the EARNEST Consortium.