RESILIENT SOLAR: Powering and Empowering Communities
Institute for Sustainable Communities Nicole Enright, Tessa Kaneene, Henry McKay, and Debra Perry.
Communities across the U.S. are exploring how resilient solar can help strengthen community resilience, advance renewable energy goals, and best serve vulnerable neighborhoods during disasters.
The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) is at the frontlines of this work. We helped each of the communities showcased in this report advance their projects, face obstacles, develop innovative strategies, and create models for others to adopt and adapt. While these projects are not fully implemented, we hold them up as promising examples of how resilient solar can power—and empower—communities.
This publication showcases efforts in four U.S. cities—New York, Baltimore, Duluth, and San Francisco. With strong leadership provided by community-based organizations, universities, and municipalities, these collaborative resilient solar projects are demonstrating the power to profoundly improve the health, safety, and well-being of communities, particularly those that are historically underserved and often most vulnerable to disaster. This report tells the stories of trailblazing resilient solar projects and connects readers to tools, resources, and lessons learned that they can put to use in their own communities.
