When the lights went out on the mainland not so long ago, I starting thinking how much our digital/wireless wonderland has been fueled by a commodity that we've taken for granted - power from the grid.
As folks back East found out, when the Electronic Age blew its fuse, even the most simple undertaking, such as keeping your food cool with that snazzy new stainless steel fridge, became problematic.
I've always been intrigued by the amount of power used, both by businesses and households. For example, when my parents moved into their new house back in 1968, they had one black-and-white television, a fridge and freezer, a washing machine, a dishwasher, and a 30-gallon water heater. That was status quo in '68. In fact, I distinctly recall some of our neighbors continuing to wash their dishes by hand because the dishwasher used too much juice.
Of course, if you walked into a similarly equipped home nowadays, you'd think the family was the victim of a massive burglary. It seems that two TVs in every household is the minimum, not to mention two fridges (don't forget the one out in the garage). Clothes dryers, air conditioners, and high tech gear such as DVD players, VCRs, PCs, printers, and on and on.
So what, if anything, has HECO done to ensure that we'll have dependable power?
Dave Waller, an engineer at Hawaiian Electric, said the company has addressed growing demand by both increasing capacity and undertaking energy efficiency programs that manage load growth. A good example of this, he said, is the solar water program where HECO provides incentive payments for customers to install a solar water-heating system. He said this technology can reduce electricity costs for a typical household by about one-third.
What does HECO recommend that the small business or home do to mitigate problems associated with overloading and power outages?
Waller said most outages on Oahu are caused by automobile accidents slamming into power poles or Mylar balloons contacting power lines. Whatever the cause, he said it's important for customers with computer gear or other equipment with continuous power needs to own a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) or, in some instances, a generator.
Hawaiian Electric's Web site (
www.heco.com) provides some useful tips on how consumers can ensure adequate protection and suggests purchasing inexpensive, off-the-shelf equipment such as surge protectors, UPS gear and the like.
HECO's Web site, while practical, is pretty basic, so I asked Waller what he did to protect his office. He said his home was built in 1948, so before even buying protective gear, he rewired his house and had a new service connection to the utility installed.
He worked closely with his electrical contractor to determine how each room in the home was utilized from a power standpoint and he factored in a possible addition to the home. He also made sure that the electrical system was grounded properly.
For his home office, he concluded that since his family used lap top computers, they didn't need a UPS but most certainly required a surge protector to shield phone lines and cable lines from voltage fluctuations. Surge suppression was a concern not just from external circumstances but also from appliances, phone lines or a cable connection. He reckoned that he spent about $100 on the surge suppressors. Rewiring the house cost him close to $5,000.
Gordon Bruce, an IT consultant (formerly chief information officer at the Estate of James Campbell) advises that homes and businesses first assess their power needs to determine what critical equipment they want protected and for how long. He then suggests you "oversize," or purchase a UPS with 20 percent more capacity than you need, to factor in future growth. Bruce recommends APC, a large manufacturer of UPS equipment. It offers an
online tool to help you configure your UPS.
In some cases, a UPS might not be enough and you will need a generator. A UPS can handle short-term need, but is not designed to run your business during a power outage. Purchasing and installing a generator will run you at least several thousand dollars. Some buildings in Honolulu provide generator power, but not many.
Similarly, surge suppressors may not be sufficient if you have sensitive (expensive) equipment. Surge suppressors generally do a good job of preventing spikes, but do not necessarily ensure a smooth flow of power (To get that, you need a line conditioner, which will also run a few thousand dollars).
To select the appropriate UPS you'll need to list the variety of computer, processor, monitor, or printer, the number of internal hard drives, peripheral devices (cable/DSL modems, routers, switches, etc.) and your site voltage. Then determine how long you want run time to be during a power failure.
For most systems, a five-minute window provides plenty of time to shut down your system safely. Most UPS manufacturers provide software that will automatically shut down your system if an outage is detected.
One additional comment: Printers should not be plugged into the UPS backup power plug. There's really no need to keep a printer going during an outage and they draw a very large amount of power from more critical systems such as your CPU.
