DISASTER RELIEF EMERGENCY ALERT
Everyone using our technology systems had power all the way through the last disaster and had power for many days after. For everyone else, they will need your help in disaster recovery. Here is what you can do when the next disaster strikes:
1. Be ready. Have back-up power systems at the ready.
2. One way to help is by donating to the Red Cross. All donations will provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by the storm. To donate, visit www.redcross.org, call 800-Red-Cross or text the word "Redcross" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
3. The Salvation Army has dozens of mobile feeding units and shelters that will be working to serve thousands in the most heavily hit areas. Visit www.salvationarmyusa.org to donate.
4."Feeding America" will have thousands of pounds of emergency food, water and supplies in the disaster zone ASAP. To donate, visit www.feedingamerica.org or call 800-910-5524.
5. "AmeriCares" will be providing medicine and other supplies to people affected. To donate, visit www.americares.org.
6. "World Vision" will be distributing flood clean-up kits, personal hygiene items and emergency food kits to people hit by a hurricane. To donate, visit www.worldvision.org.
7. "Save the Children" will be working to provide relief to families and their children. Visit www.savethechildren.org to donate.
8. "Samaritan's Purse" will be asking for volunteers to help victims. To volunteer, visit their website.
9. For emergency communications, be sure and charge your cell phone every chance you get and remember that you can charge your phone from your car. Just open a window in your car if you are charging your phone in your car with your engine running to avoid Carbon Monoxide dangers.
10. Encourage FEMA to pre-stock our technologies in various parts of the country so every citizen is "good-to-go".
History has taught us that the first thing that goes down, and the first thing that is needed, is communications and power resources. We have the technology to cover those needs for every kind of disaster that has struck in the last 5 decades.
Everyone using our technology systems had power all the way through the last disaster and had power for many days after. For everyone else, they will need your help in disaster recovery. Here is what you can do when the next disaster strikes:
1. Be ready. Have back-up power systems at the ready.
2. One way to help is by donating to the Red Cross. All donations will provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by the storm. To donate, visit www.redcross.org, call 800-Red-Cross or text the word "Redcross" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
3. The Salvation Army has dozens of mobile feeding units and shelters that will be working to serve thousands in the most heavily hit areas. Visit www.salvationarmyusa.org to donate.
4."Feeding America" will have thousands of pounds of emergency food, water and supplies in the disaster zone ASAP. To donate, visit www.feedingamerica.org or call 800-910-5524.
5. "AmeriCares" will be providing medicine and other supplies to people affected. To donate, visit www.americares.org.
6. "World Vision" will be distributing flood clean-up kits, personal hygiene items and emergency food kits to people hit by a hurricane. To donate, visit www.worldvision.org.
7. "Save the Children" will be working to provide relief to families and their children. Visit www.savethechildren.org to donate.
8. "Samaritan's Purse" will be asking for volunteers to help victims. To volunteer, visit their website.
9. For emergency communications, be sure and charge your cell phone every chance you get and remember that you can charge your phone from your car. Just open a window in your car if you are charging your phone in your car with your engine running to avoid Carbon Monoxide dangers.
10. Encourage FEMA to pre-stock our technologies in various parts of the country so every citizen is "good-to-go".
History has taught us that the first thing that goes down, and the first thing that is needed, is communications and power resources. We have the technology to cover those needs for every kind of disaster that has struck in the last 5 decades.
For more about why our technology is the best emergency power solution, please see the following PDF documents:
mt_moreland_apco_presentation.pdf | |
File Size: | 3780 kb |
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h2ra006_maxwell_2012_p.pdf | |
File Size: | 583 kb |
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dem42-1_colbow.pdf | |
File Size: | 2489 kb |
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xi_6_maxwell.pdf | |
File Size: | 280 kb |
File Type: |
Analyst View: Extreme Weather and Fuel Cell Backup Power
Download as PDF
Previously Superstorm Sandy hit US shores, bringing widespread devastation in its wake. Eight million homes in the US Northeast were left without power after storm surges flooded substations, blew transformers and destroyed power lines. Unfortunately, many backup generator systems also failed due to flooding. Most notably, backup generators at the New York University Langone Medical Center failed resulting in an evacuation of patients, two hundred of whom had to rely on battery-powered life support.
Many establishments rely on diesel-powered backup systems, but these are limited by the amount of diesel kept on site. A lot of businesses, such as small data centre owners, only keep enough fuel on site for a few hours of runtime – sufficient to cover conventional grid outages. Several hours after the storm hit websites as recognisable as the Huffington Post and Bloomberg News were down after a data centre in New York’s Financial District flooded, destroying its backup power.
A fuel cell backup power system is no more waterproof than a generator, and as such is no more advantageous at basement level in case of flooding. Some diesel backup systems are located high in buildings, but the units themselves have limited fuel reservoirs – additional fuel will be delivered at ground level and is often stored there, to be pumped or carried further up the building when needed. As The Verge notes in its article ‘Post-hurricane, New York’s internet industry runs on diesel’, a data centre on Eighth Avenue had backup power that was supposed to last for 85 hours, but flooding damaged the fuel pumps and the data centre went offline after just a few hours.
Most stationary fuel cells are fuelled by mains gas. The natural gas grid is relatively safe from extreme weather events. Running underground, the pressurised distribution network is susceptible to earthquake damage just like the electricity grid, but it is largely protected from overground events such as high winds, storm surges and flooding that more commonly interfere with the electricity grid. A pressurised fuel supply means that no mechanical pumps are required in order to get the fuel up a building – so long as the pipes and valves are well protected from impact damage there is no reason why a fuel cell high in a building would stop working during an event such as Sandy.
Indeed, UTC Power reported to Fuel Cells 2000 on the 1st November that all of the 23 systems it has installed in the New England and New York area affected by Sandy continued running in either grid connected or grid independent modes throughout the storm, with just one unit temporarily offline following a fan failure. Three days after the storm struck, two of the systems were continuing to run independently in locations where grid connectivity had yet to be restored. Before the storm hit the US, it passed through the Bahamas over a three day period during which seventeen Ballard ElectraGen systems operated flawlessly, keeping the local telcom network online throughout a prolonged grid failure.
Fuel Cell Today has seen an increasing number of large data centre owners including Apple invest in natural gas powered fuel cell backup power systems, thanks to their efficiency and reliability. With such reliable power provision it is perhaps unsurprising that earlier this year eBay announced that a new data centre at its flagship Utah site would draw its prime power from a 6 MW natural gas fed Bloom Energy fuel cell installation. In this model, the electricity grid is demoted to the role of backup and the capital of the fuel cells is offset by the displacement of large, expensive backup generators that the online auction house claims were utilised for less than 1% of the year.
Buildings powered by fuel cells, such as the Central Park police station and the NASDAQ stock market at 4 Time Square, were some of the few that remained illuminated during New York’s last major blackout in 2003. Natural disasters often highlight the shortcomings of incumbent systems and are perhaps the best proving ground of the robustness of fuel cell power. The current interest in fuel cells for backup power at telecoms base stations in the US originated from the failing of conventional systems during Hurricane Katrina, which left thousands without cell service during a time of extreme need. The case for fuel cell backup power has never been more apparent.
Jonathan Wing Market Analyst
[email protected]
www.fuelcelltoday.com
Download as PDF
Previously Superstorm Sandy hit US shores, bringing widespread devastation in its wake. Eight million homes in the US Northeast were left without power after storm surges flooded substations, blew transformers and destroyed power lines. Unfortunately, many backup generator systems also failed due to flooding. Most notably, backup generators at the New York University Langone Medical Center failed resulting in an evacuation of patients, two hundred of whom had to rely on battery-powered life support.
Many establishments rely on diesel-powered backup systems, but these are limited by the amount of diesel kept on site. A lot of businesses, such as small data centre owners, only keep enough fuel on site for a few hours of runtime – sufficient to cover conventional grid outages. Several hours after the storm hit websites as recognisable as the Huffington Post and Bloomberg News were down after a data centre in New York’s Financial District flooded, destroying its backup power.
A fuel cell backup power system is no more waterproof than a generator, and as such is no more advantageous at basement level in case of flooding. Some diesel backup systems are located high in buildings, but the units themselves have limited fuel reservoirs – additional fuel will be delivered at ground level and is often stored there, to be pumped or carried further up the building when needed. As The Verge notes in its article ‘Post-hurricane, New York’s internet industry runs on diesel’, a data centre on Eighth Avenue had backup power that was supposed to last for 85 hours, but flooding damaged the fuel pumps and the data centre went offline after just a few hours.
Most stationary fuel cells are fuelled by mains gas. The natural gas grid is relatively safe from extreme weather events. Running underground, the pressurised distribution network is susceptible to earthquake damage just like the electricity grid, but it is largely protected from overground events such as high winds, storm surges and flooding that more commonly interfere with the electricity grid. A pressurised fuel supply means that no mechanical pumps are required in order to get the fuel up a building – so long as the pipes and valves are well protected from impact damage there is no reason why a fuel cell high in a building would stop working during an event such as Sandy.
Indeed, UTC Power reported to Fuel Cells 2000 on the 1st November that all of the 23 systems it has installed in the New England and New York area affected by Sandy continued running in either grid connected or grid independent modes throughout the storm, with just one unit temporarily offline following a fan failure. Three days after the storm struck, two of the systems were continuing to run independently in locations where grid connectivity had yet to be restored. Before the storm hit the US, it passed through the Bahamas over a three day period during which seventeen Ballard ElectraGen systems operated flawlessly, keeping the local telcom network online throughout a prolonged grid failure.
Fuel Cell Today has seen an increasing number of large data centre owners including Apple invest in natural gas powered fuel cell backup power systems, thanks to their efficiency and reliability. With such reliable power provision it is perhaps unsurprising that earlier this year eBay announced that a new data centre at its flagship Utah site would draw its prime power from a 6 MW natural gas fed Bloom Energy fuel cell installation. In this model, the electricity grid is demoted to the role of backup and the capital of the fuel cells is offset by the displacement of large, expensive backup generators that the online auction house claims were utilised for less than 1% of the year.
Buildings powered by fuel cells, such as the Central Park police station and the NASDAQ stock market at 4 Time Square, were some of the few that remained illuminated during New York’s last major blackout in 2003. Natural disasters often highlight the shortcomings of incumbent systems and are perhaps the best proving ground of the robustness of fuel cell power. The current interest in fuel cells for backup power at telecoms base stations in the US originated from the failing of conventional systems during Hurricane Katrina, which left thousands without cell service during a time of extreme need. The case for fuel cell backup power has never been more apparent.
Jonathan Wing Market Analyst
[email protected]
www.fuelcelltoday.com