As iciness storms and summer season heat waves more and more stress the nation’s strength grids, Stevens researchers get developed a unique strategy to title the homes most at probability of blackouts — without even visiting them.
The timing might perchance perchance well per chance not be more serious. With more than a quarter of U.S. homes already entirely electric, and solar installations draw to triple accurate during the next 5 years, determining vulnerabilities has turn into serious for emergency planning and public safety.
“We’re racing toward electrification to combat climate change, but we must also understand the risks involved,” says Stevens professor Philip Odonkor, who led the be taught conducting. “So, what happens to these solar and electric homes when the power goes out?”
Summer season energy, iciness blues
Odonkor, with present graduates and AI summer season fellows Andrew Majowicz M.Eng. ’24 and Chetan Popli M.S. ’24, draw out to answer that ask.
In a unique scrutinize printed within the Journal of Good Cities and Societythey explore the way in which forward for electrified American homes by leveraging AI and inspecting Department of Energy (DOE) building-inventory knowledge.
The crew dug deep into the energy patterns of 129,000 single-household homes across eight states. Their purpose? Repeat the hidden energy “signatures” that distinguish entirely electrified homes — those powered fully by electrical energy — from of us that use a mixture of energy sources.
They did not stop there, alternatively. For identified mixed-energy homes, the crew additionally worked to pinpoint exactly which dwelling equipment get made the shifts to electric strength and which have not.
After processing and inspecting the dataset, Odonkor’s crew came across that homes’ energy signatures weren’t most full of life distinguishable, nonetheless they additionally granted serious insights into the resilience of particular person homes.
Photograph voltaic-powered homes, as an instance, demonstrated impressive resilience accurate through summer season heat waves. On the opposite hand, they proved remarkably susceptible accurate through iciness storms; truly, entirely electrified homes were virtually three instances more at probability of iciness outages, in contrast to those drawing strength from mixed energy sources.
“Think about Texas in 2021, when millions lost power during a winter storm,” Odonkor explains. “As more homes go fully electric, we need to prepare for these scenarios.” “Solar panels help in summer, but they can’t meet the intense heating demands that occur during winter blackouts.”
Recent guidelines on how to uncover planning and response
The scrutinize wasn’t most full of life pathbreaking for its findings; it modified into once most full of life fundamental for the innovative AI-powered methods that were veteran to conduct the analyses.
Odonkor’s crew developed glossy machine-finding out fashions able to figuring out a person dwelling’s energy programs and vulnerabilities with over 95% accuracy, the use of most full of life its energy-consumption patterns. The unique approach enables utilities and emergency responders to pinpoint at-probability households across complete neighborhoods, without the need for invasive surveys or inspections.
“Until now, we actually had to go door-to-door to determine if a home was fully electric,” notes Odonkor. “Now, we can automatically identify the most vulnerable homes while still safeguarding people’s privacy.” “This will shift the way we prepare for and respond to extreme weather, enabling faster, and more targeted action when it’s needed most.”
The scrutinize’s capacity advantages prolong beyond empowering particular person homeowners. As cities work to beget climate resilience, these unique tools might perchance perchance well per chance aid neighborhood emergency-service objects prioritize responses accurate through outages. It will probably perchance well per chance additionally abet metropolis planners within the long-term vogue of more resilient housing inventory and neighborhoods.
That is key, on story of communities nationwide are grappling with a one-two punch of rising old strength grids subjected to more frequent episodes of extreme weather.
As we more and more transition to electric homes to manage with climate alternate, the crew’s findings support as a warning that we are going to need implement suggestions that offer protection to susceptible solar and electric households accurate through iciness emergencies.
“The path to sustainable cities isn’t just about going green; it’s about staying resilient,” he emphasizes. “As we shape the future of urban housing, understanding vulnerabilities isn’t just a luxury — it’s essential to keeping communities safe.”
