May 22, 2025

On May 7th, the UHC was honored to host Dr. Diana Hernández, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University. Her foundational research on energy insecurity - defined as the inability to adequately meet household energy needs - has  identified sociodemographic disparities, adverse consequences and promising interventions toward energy equity and justice. 

Dr. Hernández began by introducing a conceptual framework for understanding energy insecurity and contextualized it with the real-life example of a deadly fire in an affordable housing building in the Bronx during the winter of 2022, caused by a faulty space heater. She pointed to an Op-Ed she had written in the New York Daily News shortly after the event, noting that the fire was:  

“a reminder that the legacy issues of deficient housing and unmet needs remain in effect. After all, in a properly heated building, why would a tenant need to depend on a space heater for days on end?”  

Energy insecurity as a broad concept is defined through a number of different determinants that can vary based on location. In New York City, the predominance of indicators reported are reduced energy consumption due to increasing energy costs, and – perhaps counterintuitively to some outside of NYC – homes being too hot, among other indicators. As a result, in New York City 28% of residents experienced energy insecurity by identifying with 3 or more such indicators. 

This inevitably translates into inequitable health outcomes. People experiencing energy insecurity are more likely to experience worse health, with households experiencing energy insecurity having increased odds ratios of using medical devices, cardiovascular disease, respiratory conditions, and more.  

Dr. Hernández also offered a perspective regarding blind spots in diagnosing a multi-dimensional condition like energy insecurity. She noted that other similar issues are described more viscerally – such as “hunger” – and posed describing the condition with similarly poignant language like “drained” and “depleting.” 

With climate change advancing and access to programs that help the most energy insecure like LIHEAP under threat, we should uplift and support work like Dr. Hernández’s to improve health outcomes in cities and inform expanding affordable energy access. 

Interested in learning more about the structural determinants of health, new opportunities for research, or recommendations for community action and policy? 

We're bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers focused on health in cities this fall at our 2025 Urban Health Symposium to energize work on urban places and health, generate novel ideas for research, and stimulate debate on policy implications. 

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