Build Back Greener

OUR MISSION

Provide Cleaner Energy for Communities in Crisis

Support Our Work

Featured

FOR RESPONDERS

Cut diesel, cut carbon, cut costs. Power your next field operation with mobile solar energy.

FOR COMMUNITIES

Build resilience through mobile solar access and education. Assemble a fleet in your area.

FOR INDUSTRY

Repurpose commercial solar equipment for a cause. Open up warehouse space and reduce solar waste.

Climate change drives emergency humanitarian need.

But relief and recovery is carbon intensive.

IT’S TIME TO GREEN THE DISASTER RESPONSE INDUSTRY

Impact

We’ve deployed 45+ kW of mobile solar

and 170+ kWh of mobile battery storage

to 10+ disaster response and recovery missions,

providing emergency clean power access to 14,000+ US citizens.

How We Work

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

(Grid is Down)

We mobilize every available mobile solar system we can in the region and help responders plug in.

EARLY RECOVERY

(Grid is Returning)

We recover functional solar panels from storm-damaged installations, saving them from land-fills and repurposing them for local projects.

LONG-TERM RESILIENCE

(Grid is Back Up)

We build turn-key solar generators with second-life equipment and train locals on deployment.

Recent News

News

Sep 10, 2020

Mobile Power for the People: Building Back Greener in Puerto Rico

Sep 10, 2020

As summer comes to a close, a new door opens. The largest mobile solar generator microgrid Footprint Project has ever built is bringing mobile, sustainable power to communities in Puerto Rico.

The completion of this microgrid is crucial for the island’s disaster relief recovery. As back-up diesel generators continue to fail when communities deprived of power need it most, a solar generator microgrid will provide reliable, sustainable energy to people who no longer have to depend on a failing central power source.

Sep 10, 2020

Sep 4, 2020

Electric Chainsaws for Debris Removal for Iowa Recovery

Sep 4, 2020

As citizens regained power in the following week, the Solar Energy Rapid Response team (SERRT) returned their solar trailer to Minneapolis and donated two electric chainsaws to assist NECHAMA Jewish Response to Disaster as they stayed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Electric chainsaws are proving to be essential for disaster recovery and volunteer training because they are quiet, light, and do not require gas.

These chainsaws were used for debris removal--the most powerful electric chainsaws can cut through diameters of two feet or more. According to city workers in Cedar Rapids, it will take at least a month to remove all the debris to open up essential streets.

Sep 4, 2020

Aug 17, 2020

Iowa Storm, Rapid Response

Aug 17, 2020

On Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service declared a one out of five “marginal risk” warning. They did not predict that a 100 mile per hour wind derecho would leave over 200,000 citizens in Iowa bereft of power. A derecho is a spanish term meaning “straight ahead,” and is defined as a line of intense fast-moving, damaging windstorms occasionally accompanied by thunderstorms. This type of environmental disaster is notoriously rare and difficult to predict. Although the average wind speed in these straight line storms is 50 to 70 mph, this derecho was particularly fierce, with a record 110 mph, resulting in hurricane force winds in Iowa.

Aug 17, 2020

Aug 6, 2020

What's Happening in Puerto Rico?

Aug 6, 2020

Severe weather forecasts indicate a brutal 2020. The U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted 13-19 named storms, the majority of which will become hurricanes before reaching landfall*. As resources are already stretched thin in response to COVID-19 and the economic fall-out, first responders are concerned about what this means for disaster relief in places that are still recovering from past environmental emergencies. Recovery has been especially difficult on the islands of Puerto Rico.

Aug 6, 2020

Jul 9, 2020

Climate Justice for Social Justice: Building Back Together

Jul 9, 2020

Our base of operations has had an eventful and demanding early summer. While we traditionally respond to environmental disasters, our work in Minneapolis has focused on empowering our community in the wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd. Footprint Project has partnered with community organizations on three solar deployments to energize relief spaces, memorials, and displaced-persons encampments.

Jul 9, 2020

May 4, 2020

Empowering a Covid-19 Clinic in Matamoros, Mexico

May 4, 2020

In April of this year, the Footprint Project partnered with Global Response Management (GRM) to power the COVID-19 Clinic for the Matamoros Refugee Camp. The Footprint Project provided a solar tent and trailer which became the first operational Solar Powered COVID-19 Clinic supporting doctors and medics.

May 4, 2020

Apr 24, 2020

Our Response to Tennessee Tornadoes

Apr 24, 2020

As COVID-19 began spreading across the United States in the early months of 2020, two devastating EF3 tornadoes hit Nashville and Chattanooga. These tornadoes rendered many neighborhoods and communities without shelter or power.

Apr 24, 2020

Apr 10, 2020

Puerto Rico Earthquake Deployment

Apr 10, 2020

In early January, a swarm of earthquakes began striking off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, crippling centralized power production and leaving thousands displaced from their homes. Footprint Project’s responders were some of the first volunteers to begin relief efforts.

Apr 10, 2020