At the Utah Smart Energy Lab, Alex Farley, a fourth-year Ph.D. student, is merging engineering with community resilience principles to strengthen local infrastructure. His work on resilience hubs, a concept that retrofits community spaces like libraries and meeting centers with resources, services, and robust energy systems, offers a proactive approach to extreme weather challenges. Farley explains that these hubs are designed to act as safe havens during disasters while serving as an asset to the community in everyday life.
“The idea is to bolster community assets that are owned and trusted by the community by making them as resilient as possible,” Farley said. By integrating solar panels, oversized batteries, smart thermostats, and other technologies, these hubs are built to withstand extreme events such as heatwaves, wildfires, and hurricanes. His research examines the increasing threat of extreme weather events to power grid reliability, highlighting historical failures and their widespread consequences, and looks at sizing the energy system for a resilience hub. As a result, he is bridging technology and community welfare and setting a new standard for resilience-focused infrastructure.
A key element of Farley’s approach is community involvement. “One of the biggest takeaways is that community orientation is absolutely essential,” he said. “Engagement should be built into every aspect of designing and implementing a resilience hub.” By involving the community in the planning process, each hub is tailored to meet specific sustainability goals and practical needs.
As extreme weather events grow more frequent, these community-driven solutions highlight the intersection of engineering and social impact. Farley’s work not only pushes the boundaries of power system design but also lays the groundwork for resilient infrastructure that benefits everyone. “Working in this space gives me the opportunity to scratch that problem-solving itch I have as an engineer while contributing to something meaningful and impactful that I’m really passionate about,” Farley said. With plans to continue his research alongside Masood Parvania, he is ready to advance sustainable, community-based solutions nationwide.
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