VitalGrid

When the grid fails,
who loses life support?

Power outages are climate events. For residents on ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and powered wheelchairs, they're potentially fatal. VitalGrid maps where outage risk meets medical vulnerability — before the lights go out.

~500KPA residents on
powered med. equipmentCMS DME claims
26%U.S. adults
with a disabilityCDC, 2023
4.2×Elevated outage
death risk, device usersKlaiber et al., 2021
72hrsMedian critical
device battery lifeFDA/HHS advisory
Demonstration pilot. This tool uses modeled and synthetic data — not live utility readings or real-time medical registry data. Not for emergency planning or regulatory use. See full methodology on GitHub.

Philadelphia Neighborhood Vulnerability

Click any neighborhood to see composite Power Vulnerability Score. Color = combined risk level.

Low (0–39)
Moderate (40–59)
High (60–79)
Critical (80–100)

Neighborhood Vulnerability Grid

Composite PVS combines outage frequency, medical device dependency, household recovery capacity, and climate hazard exposure. Data modeled from EIA-861, CDC PLACES, CMS DME, ACS Census, and NOAA. Demonstration pilot — see GitHub for methodology.

Select a neighborhood

Click any cell to explore

Outage Frequency—
Medical Dependency—
Recovery Gap—
Climate Exposure—
Median Income—
Disabled Residents—

Equity Gap Analysis

Power vulnerability correlates strongly with income, disability prevalence, and race. FEMA and utilities plan for average households. These neighborhoods are not average.

Power Vulnerability Score by Neighborhood

Income vs. Medical Dependency

Each dot = one neighborhood. Size = Disabled population share. Red = critical vulnerability score.

What a City-Level Pre-Notification Program Would Mean

Side-by-Side Neighborhood Comparison

Compare any two neighborhoods across six vulnerability dimensions.

Policy Action Generator

Select a neighborhood and intervention type to generate data-driven recommendations ready for utility engagement, council testimony, or emergency management planning.

Medical Devices & Outage Risk

For hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, electricity is not a convenience — it's a medical necessity. These are the devices at stake when the grid fails.

Why Outages Are a Disability Emergency

Medical Dependency × Outage Risk by Neighborhood

Compound Vulnerability Index — Top 16 Neighborhoods

Compound Vulnerability combines outage frequency, medical device dependency, recovery capacity, disability prevalence, and climate exposure. Higher = more urgent for pre-notification and resilience planning.