As the city of Detroit works toward achieving a full transition to clean and renewable energy by 2034, one woman credits the city's new solar project upgrades with saving her family's lives.

Dorothy Gladney has lived in her home in Detroit for nearly 50 years. After dealing with electrical problems over the years, Gladney found out her home's wiring was in desperate need of repair, pushing her to accept the work of the city's neighborhood solar initiative.

Not long after, a quiet morning nearly turned deadly.

"I had a stove that wasn't working, and I was cooking on a Sunday morning, and this the alarm starts going off," said Gladney.

Along with replacing her wiring, water heater and furnace, Gladney's home also got brand new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Gladney says she never imagined how big an impact the solar project would have on her family.

"The carbon dioxide detector saved my husband, my two great grandkids, and my life," she said.

Gladney's gratitude made it all the way to the top, bringing Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to her front door.

"This is what I wanted, I wanted the neighbors to control their own future," said Duggan.

Over the last two years, members of the city's Department of Neighborhoods have been heading into communities that have a large number of vacant or blighted properties to share their efforts to fight climate change and transition to clean energy.

"We really leaned on our stakeholders in the area too, to call out their friends, their neighbors to help get and galvanize those that are in the footprint of this solar program," said District 3 manager Kayana Sessoms.

Duggan says the initiative's current success is just the beginning.

"Take the area that you can't really do anything with and remove the blight, and then, strengthen the blocks for the folks who stayed," said Duggan.

As Gladney's family enjoys their new upgrades, she hopes other neighbors take advantage of the benefits.

"This is the best program could have happened to me," said Gladney.