OAKLAND -- Climate change is making power cutoffs and interruptions a common occurrence and that tends to hit working-class neighborhoods the hardest. but a church in Oakland has become a model for providing refuge during those situations.It is working-class neighborhoods that bear more of the cost as affluent people become more energy independent."When we got the solar panels, I was like, 'let's do battery storage next,'" he said.
"If I flip that switch off, we are totally off the grid -- totally! We're just running on energy from these panels," Robinson explained."Man, it's like beating up the Empire, right? It's like, the little people win, you know?" Thanks to an organization called California Interfaith Power and Light, the church was the recipient of the Greenbuild Legacy Project Award, along with a total of $85,000 to purchase the battery equipment.
David Johnson, who was on the committee that selected the church for the award, said he's happy the energy project achieved a social equity goal as well.