Diana Hernández believes energy insecurity must become part of the political conversation, an urgent issue she says remains largely overlooked despite its widespread impact.
“It is not on the political agenda,” she said in an interview with City Newsroom about the mayoral race. “I was just so frustrated with the lack of new ideas.”
Hernández is an associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the intersection of energy, equity, housing, and health. Her new book, Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy, was published this month.
Her journey into this field of energy insecurity began as an “incidental finding,” she said. While working on her dissertation project in the Dorchester section of Boston, she was initially focused on housing and health issues. During the home visits as part of her research, Hernández observed that families were struggling with cold homes, energy disconnections, and problems arising from oil-to-gas conversions –issues that directly affected their health.
“Health is both a predictor of energy and security and an outcome of energy and security,” she said.
Energy insecurity is the inability to adequately meet household energy needs. For Hernández, the consequences are wide-ranging, from poor sleep and mental health issues to dangerous coping strategies like using stoves for heat. And the problem is more common than many realize.
At the heart of the crisis is affordability. Many energy-insecure households already underconsume energy to manage costs. Yet even in energy-efficient homes, bills can remain unaffordable based on income.
“We actually have more efficiency in appliances and in new construction,” Hernández explained, “but the use of energy and the cost of power has definitely increased, and that has led to higher bills,” Hernández said.
Households with children are especially vulnerable, she said. While attention is often given to older adults due to their susceptibility to health risks, households with children also face high demands on budgets, especially in the context of soaring housing costs.
Aging infrastructure compounds the problem. Many low-income families live in deteriorating buildings with deferred maintenance, not to mention the erratic weather due to climate change, which is making energy needs more volatile and expensive.
“We have to go upstream of income and upstream of homes and buildings in order to really get at the root causes of the lack of affordability, which actually is based in real estate,” she said.
Hernández pointed to the Cooling Assistance Program, which provides free air conditioners to low-income residents, but noted that many still can’t afford to run them. Testifying at a recent City Council hearing, Hernández stressed that unless policymakers address the underlying high energy costs, providing air conditioners alone won’t protect vulnerable communities.
She argues there should be regulated energy rates for low-income users. “That is an abnormal circumstance where you would have a service commodity or good that has no variability based on affordability. Housing has that, food has that.” Regulating energy costs, she says, “we can really do more to support affordability.”
Meanwhile, the safety net that once offered a lifeline is fraying fast. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) –-a federal program designed to help households afford heating and cooling—is at risk after staff cuts by the Trump administration.
“It is unclear whether or not the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program actually exists in the US,” Hernández said. “The staff of that office… have been zeroed out.”
Hernández added that the energy burden could escalate rapidly as the expansion of artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure drives demand for more high-capacity data centers, with ratepayers likely shouldering much of the added cost —an emerging threat that could make energy bills even more unaffordable.
She believes that the current political focus has largely ignored energy’s critical role in public health and social well-being. Despite the urgency of the crisis, energy insecurity remains off the radar for many policymakers, alongside broader issues of environmental justice and health. These issues, she said, have “been deprioritized, not necessarily following the evidence but following political inclinations and ideologies,” she said.
Hernández also expressed her concern about the growing role of politics on medical research funding, including at Columbia University.
Whereas the Morningside campus receives tuition funding in addition to grants and donations, Columbia’s medical campus relies solely on donations and grants, particularly from the National Institutes of Health, Hernández explained.
The Trump administration’s federal funding cuts to Columbia and threats of cuts to other research universities “totally destabilize the field of public health,” she said. “I don’t think we’re in a sinkhole just yet, but it does definitely feel like we’re on shaky ground.”
As a professor, Hernández said she feels anxious for the next generation of public health and social justice researchers, those “trying to make the world a fairer place.” To maintain funding for this field, she hopes to see Columbia reassess its values and stand firm in the face of political threats.
She also points to local partnerships, such as the one with South Bronx Unite, a group monitoring air quality alongside Columbia researchers in a heavily polluted section of the Bronx. She says these collaborations are essential for holding systems accountable and building more equitable, responsive governance.
Her upcoming book “offers language, frameworks, data, and a call to action,” that, she hopes, will inform urban policy in New York City and beyond. She says she has already heard from city governments calling her book “required reading.”
“We need policymakers to be super informed about this,” she explained. “You can’t make a policy that is so piecemeal when there’s a complex problem that we’re trying to solve.”
Jennifer Zhou is a Master's student at Columbia University's Journalism school with a background in journalism, finance, and media. She previously worked at UBS in Wealth Management and as a reporter for Hong Kong's largest broadcast TV channel. Passionate about business and economic journalism, she is currently covering transportation issues in NYC.
Jennifer Gan is from Nanjing, China, and covers Arts and Culture for City Newsroom. She has experience in broadcast reporting and obtained a dual degree in Journalism and Psychology before coming to J-school.
Lauren hails from Long Island, NY and got her first taste of journalism as a food writer at Washington University in St. Louis. She previously worked as a teacher and now covers education for City Newsroom.
