Full Citation

Title: The inequitable distribution of power interruptions during the 2021 Texas winter storm Uri

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2023

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ISSN:

DOI: 10.1088/2634-4505/acd4e7

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Abstract: Climate change induced extreme weather events will increase in intensity and frequency, leading to longer and widespread electricity outages. As an example, Winter Storm Uri in Texas left over 4.5 million customers without power between 14 and 18 February, 2021. The social justice consequences of these events remain an outstanding question, as outage data are typically only available at the county level, obscuring detailed experiences. We produce a first-of-its-kind unique spatially resolved dataset of interruptions using satellite data on nighttime lights (NTL) to track blackouts at the census block group (CBG) level. Correlating this dataset with demographic data reveals that minority CBGs were 1.5-3 times more likely to suffer from interruptions compared to predominantly white CBGs, whereas income status was positively correlated with the likelihood of interruption. The presence of critical facilities-including police and fire stations, hospitals, and water treatment facilities-in a CBG reduced the chances of interruptions by around 16%, a small difference that does not otherwise explain the disparity among communities. We suggest explanations, test a subset of them, and propose further work needed to explain what drives these disparities.

Url: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2634-4505/acd4e7/meta

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Authors: Shah, Zeal; Carvallo, Juan Pablo; Hsu, Feng-Chi; Taneja, Jay

Periodical (Full): Environ. Res.: Infrastruct. Sustain

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Pages: 1-22

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Natural Resource Management

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