In The Field
Footprint Project Blog
Powering Chispas in Asheville, NC
After months of designing and building, we recently met up with worker-owned cooperative Chispas at their headquarters in Asheville, NC to deliver a new solar trailer. While sharing some amazing food, our team trained Chispas members to use the trailer to power essentials under blue or grey skies.
Responding with Power in the South and the North
Ahead of Winter Storm Fern, our Appalachia team opened a battery library at our warehouse in Mars Hill, North Carolina, and preemptively supported the Buncombe County Emergency Operations Center, Black Mountain Fire Department, Swannanoa Resilience Hub, and Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance with power for communications at warming centers.
In Lake Providence, Louisiana, a small town in the Mississippi Delta where ice toppled trees and transmission lines, we partnered with Together Louisiana to power a warming shelter, heated blankets, and home health devices like feeding tubes, medical beds, and oxygen machines.
Power can protect communities. It can also terrorize them.
Meet Sara
We would like to introduce you to our newest board member, Sara Rossi. Sara is the Managing Director of the Health Resiliency Fund at Direct Relief.
In her work, she oversees initiatives and grant-making programs that strengthen health facilities’ resilience and sustainability in the face of disasters and a changing climate, domestically and around the world.
Winter Storm Fern, 2026: Footprint Project Response
As the first major storm of 2026, Winter Storm Fern has kept us busy here at Footprint Project! We hope that everyone who has been impacted by the ice, snow and cold temperatures stays safe and has received help as soon as possible.
Resilience Has an Address in Western NC: New Solar Microgrids Strengthen Communities After Helene
On September 22, 2024, Hurricane Helene emerged in the Caribbean Sea, rapidly intensifying into a devastating Category 4 storm aimed at Florida and later impacting six states, particularly wreaking havoc in North Carolina. Our team mobilized quickly, deploying renewable energy solutions and establishing essential support hubs to aid communities in desperate need.
Hurricane Helene Response & Recovery
On September 22, 2024, Hurricane Helene emerged in the Caribbean Sea, rapidly intensifying into a devastating Category 4 storm aimed at Florida and later impacting six states, particularly wreaking havoc in North Carolina. Our team mobilized quickly, deploying renewable energy solutions and establishing essential support hubs to aid communities in desperate need.
Footprint Project Announces RFP for Solar and Atmospheric Water Generators
Footprint Project is pleased to announce our Request For Proposals (RFP) for Solar and Atmospheric Water Generators!
Direct Relief Donates $250,000 to Footprint Project
Footprint Project’s partner in resilient power for health, Direct Relief, donated $250,000 to proactively fund the deployment of mobile solar and battery storage to communities impacted by disasters this year.
An Earth Day message from Footprint Project
When was the last time your power went out? I don’t mean those split second events, almost imperceptible but for your blinking microwave clock. I’m talking about a day or a week or a month or more without electricity. Whatever’s in your refrigerator is going bad.
Healthier Power in New Orleans
Disasters exacerbate disparities. From Hurricane Katrina to the pandemic to Hurricane Ida, food insecurity is perpetuated by New Orleans’ high rates of poverty and vulnerability to extreme weather events.
Decarbonizing Disaster Response - PV Magazine
We sat down with PV Magazine to discuss the Maui wildfires, decarbonizing disaster response, and duck curve financing.
Microgrids for Maui
When fires devastated communities on Maui in August, we watched in horror as the news traveled across the Pacific, reports growing deadlier and more devastating by the hour. Never having been to Hawai’i, we began to strategize about how we could help.
Lighting the Way to Recovery in Mississippi
Early this spring, a series of tornadoes devastated several communities in rural Mississippi. We joined forces with local partners requesting emergency power: Delta Health Center in Rolling Fork, the Fannie Lou Hamer Center for Change in Eupora, and the Zion Baptist Association in Winona. These hubs would go on to serve as foundations of recovery and resilience in their communities.
Firefighters Armed with Solar Training in Northern Sonoma County
Tucked away in the hills of the Russian River Valley near Cloverdale, CA, the Northern Sonoma County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a shining example of effective use of cleaner energy in disaster response. The team of industrious firefighters stores, maintains, and frequently deploys one of Footprint Project’s solar trailers to emergency sites and shelters.
Building Power in the Eye of Hurricane Ian
A few months ago, long before a tropical depression that would become Hurricane Ian formed in the Caribbean, the United Methodist Committee on Relief decided to invest in resilient power solutions for their disaster response teams.
Solar Generators Light Up Ukraine
At Footprint Project, we focus on deploying solar generators to disasters in the domestic U.S. and Puerto Rico. Logistics, program sustainability, cultural competency, and overall need have always pointed us in the direction of our own backyard when it comes to building back greener - until Russia invaded Ukraine in February.