Are You Dependent on the Power Grid?
Imagine, it’s just a day like any other day at work. You are doing your part in providing the essential services needed so that society can function as smoothly as possible and that people are kept happy, healthy, and safe. Maybe, you are the owner-operator of a small business—a specialized office-based surgery center. Or perhaps, you are the facilities manager of a large ambulatory surgery center or community health network. Maybe you run tests in a small blood draw lab. Or, maybe you work in a biomedical laboratory researching the latest cures or solving complex forensic crimes. Regardless of the role you play in the day-to-day operation of your facility, there are many factors in your environment that both help you complete your job and are also out of your control, and power is no exception. As the unsung hero of our daily lives, it is power that allows us to perform more complex, life-saving tasks than ever before in human history—and faster than we could have ever imagined. Both reliable and affordable, the modern energy grid is what makes it possible for teams of researchers and industry leaders to communicate across oceans and time zones to collaborate— achieving constant progress and aiding in critical medical and technological breakthroughs.
You Could Be at Risk
But, in the blink of an eye that can all change and the power can be gone. Suddenly and without warning, hundreds of thousands of dollars of pharmaceutical, vaccine, and biomedical inventory are now at risk as their power-intensive refrigerators and freezers can no longer function. The threat posed to a high-risk patient currently in surgery is now significantly higher. And even the patient who was scheduled for a “routine” surgery has now been thrust into an unexpectedly perilous situation.
In 2020, the average downtime experienced per customer in the United States was just over 8 hours according to the US Energy Information Administration. While that may not sound like much, in 2013—the first year they began reliably collecting that data—the average downtime experienced per customer was around 3.5 hours per year, an increase of over 100%
Reliable Power is a Necessity
Most of this increase is attributed to the equally increasing occurrence of major weather events over several years, rather than being an anomaly in their records. Therefore, it is not a matter of if, but instead when you will lose power in your facility—and for how long. While a reliable source of backup power is required in many healthcare environments—such as the operating and procedure rooms where surgeries are being performed—there exist many areas where, while not required, emergency backup power can provide critical aid when you need it most. An indoor generator can provide hours of reliable backup to expensive and difficult-to-replace vaccine reserves that are used to shield infants. Children and the community at large from preventable diseases. Proper planning with a backup generator can help to keep years or even decades of priceless biomedical research materials, critical to the next breakthrough, safe, sound, and free from the temperature excursions that could render them unable to be used.
