Thrust 4: Climate, Energy and Health Integration

Overview

Thrust 4 develops data-driven tools and analyses to identify, visualize, and reduce energy–health vulnerabilities across communities, with a focus on low-income and socially disadvantaged populations.

Spatial Patterns of Energy Burden and Vulnerability

U.S. county-level choropleth map showing customer-weighted outage hours in 2018, with quintile-based energy burden classification (Q1 lowest to Q5 highest) revealing geographic patterns of power outage exposure across the continental United States — Customer-Weighted Outage Hours by County (2018, Quintiles Q1–Q5)

U.S. county-level choropleth map showing customer-weighted outage hours in 2020, with quintile-based energy burden classification (Q1 lowest to Q5 highest) revealing geographic patterns of power outage exposure across the continental United States — Customer-Weighted Outage Hours by County (2020, Quintiles Q1–Q5)

U.S. county-level choropleth map showing customer-weighted outage hours in 2022, with quintile-based energy burden classification (Q1 lowest to Q5 highest) revealing geographic patterns of power outage exposure across the continental United States — Customer-Weighted Outage Hours by County (2022, Quintiles Q1–Q5)

Maps illustrate persistent and evolving geographic inequities in outage exposure, motivating integrated energy–health vulnerability analysis.

Research Focus & Methods

Interactive ArcGIS-based energy–health vulnerability mapping platform
Integration of census, environmental, energy, and public health data
Advanced geospatial modeling and machine learning methods
Analysis of power outages, climate change beliefs, and extreme weather health effects
Open-access data infrastructure development
Public dashboards for visualization and decision support

Key Themes

Vulnerability mappingGeospatial analysisMachine learningOpen data infrastructureDecision support tools

Current Work

We build an interactive, ArcGIS-based energy–health vulnerability mapping platform by integrating data from census, environmental, energy, and public health sources. The tool combines social vulnerability, environmental exposure, energy burden, and health indicators to support local validation in Tennessee and scalable applications at state and national levels. Advanced geospatial modeling and machine learning methods are used to examine how energy insecurity and environmental risks translate into unequal health outcomes over time.

Policy & Community Relevance

To support transparency and long-term impact, Thrust 4 also establishes an open-access data infrastructure that links environmental justice, health, and energy datasets and provides public dashboards for visualization and decision support. Together, these efforts enable evidence-based planning, targeted interventions, and more equitable energy and public health policies.