When Hurricane Beryl hit, residents all across Harris County, from every economic status, educational attainment, and racial and ethnic background lost power. But even as the storm destabilized life for almost everyone in the region, the impacts of the storm — and the safety and wellbeing of Houstonians during and after it — have not impacted everyone the same. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The inequities in our disaster response – and our efforts to make communities and infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather – are the result of policy, regulatory, and business choices that can, and should, be changed.

To better understand why these inequities persist, and what can be done about them I spoke to Dr. Sergio Castellanos, an Assistant Professor in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and the Primary Investigator at the Rapid, Equitable and Sustainable Energy Transitions, or RESET, Lab. Sergio and the RESET Lab have done extensive research on natural disaster responses in Texas, including a major report, “Enhancing power system resilience to extreme weather events: A qualitative assessment of winter storm Uri”.

Timestamps

3:20 - About the RESET Lab

4:49 - An overview of RESET’s research into Winter Storm Uri

8:21 - Utilities’ communication challenge during and after extreme weather events

14:28 - Strategies for effective communications during outages and mapping social capital

17:51 - Are utilities incorporating public feedback?

23:10 - Inequities in both natural disaster responses and deploying resilience solutions; racial divide in residential solar

30:53 - Impact of current policies and programs in reducing racial and economic inequities in access to distributed energy resources

35:26 - What’s next for the RESET Lab

38:38 - Mexico’s incoming president and Sergio’s outlook on energy and climate action in Mexico

Show Notes

RESET Lab

Enhancing power system resilience to extreme weather events: A qualitative assessment of winter storm Uri. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (March 2024).

A Synthesis and Review of Exacerbated Inequities from the February 2021 Winter Storm and The Risks Moving Forward. Progress in Energy (March 2023).

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Resilience for All: Improving Disaster Response and Responsiveness with Dr. Sergio Castellanos