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When her fish died, Lila Ellington had enough. Once once more, the power had been out for several hours in her New Orleans neighborhood, and with it, the pump that supplied oxygen to the aquarium stopped working. When she got home, the fish were floating lifeless on the surface of the water. “It has been very hard for me. I live here alone, my fish were my only company for years,” says the 60-year-old woman through tears.
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FOLLOWING
Ellington now wants to install a battery to be able to store the energy it has produced since 2017 with the help of solar panels and be independent from the operator Entergy in terms of energy. The power supply in New Orleans cannot be trusted.
The rain comes, the light goes out
According to statistics from Entergy, around 140,000 households were affected by power outages in the first half of 2021 alone, 29 percent more than in the first half of 2020. “Even a heavy downpour is enough to make the power go out Ellington says. In the summer months, this occurs at least once a week for several hours. New Orleans, located on the Gulf of Mexico, is particularly affected by extreme weather events.
But you can’t blame the weather alone for power outages. The city’s energy infrastructure is outdated and in disrepair. “If you look at the power lines in New Orleans, you might wonder if this is what a 21st-century distribution grid really looks like, and the answer is clearly no,” says Logan Burke, executive director of the Power Alliance. Affordable, an organization that advocates for equitable and sustainable access to energy.
Outdated infrastructure, poorly insulated houses and power outages push prices up even higher than usual following the current energy crisis. “In some cases, people are paying as much as 20 percent of their income in electricity bills,” says Burke. This affects the low-income population more.
The energetic priest
“In many cases, people have to choose between food or medicine and electricity,” says priest Anthony Barriere. He uses the donations to support members of his congregation who are in financial need. He also wants to equip churches and congregations with solar panels and batteries so that in the event of a power outage, people can charge their mobile phones or shelter in an air-conditioned room from the New Orleans heat, which can be deadly. , especially for the sick and the elderly.
But not everyone can afford solar energy: installing a photovoltaic system costs up to $20,000. An amount that is out of reach for many New Orleans residents, where 23 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
new energy for all
Thomas Neyhard and his wife Lisa have turned this inequality into a business. In 2011, they founded Posigen in New Orleans, a company whose goal is to make solar energy and energy efficiency accessible to low-income and African-American communities. “Decarbonization is not only taking place in rich neighborhoods, but also in working-class neighborhoods,” says Neyhard in an interview with DW. He wants to democratize access to solar energy, he says. The company, which started in 2011 with five people, now has 500 employees and has installed more than 12,000 solar panels on rooftops in Louisiana.
Through leases with especially favorable conditions and without credit checks, the company allows people with lower incomes to be energy independent. “Without Posigen, I mightn’t have afforded it,” says Lila Ellington. If your electricity bill used to be more than $350, now you pay just under $200 for all your energy costs, including the lease fee. Having $150 more a month makes a big difference.
However, Ellington saves much more following renovating his house. This is because Posigen carries out a renovation program before the solar panels are installed: houses are insulated, conventional light bulbs are replaced with LEDs, and the home is generally more energy efficient. Experts agree that rooftop solar panels are not enough. The problem usually starts in old or poorly rebuilt houses following a storm. Father Barriere also sees the problem: “What we have to do is build better, build houses that can withstand a hurricane, but also build houses that are weather resistant and efficient.”
In New Orleans, sustainability and security of energy supply go hand in hand. Many steps are necessary to achieve both. Meanwhile, the people of New Orleans help each other, as they often do in difficult situations and catastrophes. “We’re good at being communal,” says parish priest Anthony Barriere.
(gg/ms)
Author: Isabella Escobedo
