Louisiana’s New Way to Use Lighthouses

Tropical Storm Debby has left a trail of havoc as it's made its way through the south, leaving a stark reminder of how devastating extreme weather can be in the humid subtropic climate of the south. Louisiana is no stranger to the danger posed by extreme storms, with many still feeling the effects of storms like Katrina in the current day. A group in New Orleans has a new plan to keep people safe and together in the event of an extreme weather scenario, they call them Lighthouses.

More specifically they are called "community lighthouses," and are places like churches with solar-powered batteries on a power microgrid. The microgrid these churches are equipped with can divert power away from the main grid during normal daytime and help alleviate the cost for individuals in the grid to power their homes otherwise. In the event of loss of power, most commonly due to weather, the microgrid can supply a local area with enough power to continue life as we know it today.

The Community Lighthouse Project is spearheaded by Together Louisiana, a statewide non-profit with the stated mission of giving faith and community-based groups a chance to foster their community for local causes. Lighthouses in the program would also become bases of operation for community response in case of extreme weather, offering phone chargers for people who need their mobile phones for contact, food distribution, cooling/heating stations, oxygen exchange, and other light medical equipment when available. Currently, the Community Lighthouses are a project specifically of the Together New Orleans chapter of Together Louisiana, but hopefully, we could see a future in which Community Lighthouses are commonplace. Imagine the convenience of a Church down the street supplying you with power when a power line goes down.