Better preparation for the next blackout
The massive blackout in August, which left about 50 million people in the Northeast, Midwest and Canada without electricity, will long be remembered as one of the worst power outages in the nation’s history. In the event’s aftermath, local governments searched for ways to better prepare for future outages. Fortunately, many lessons emerged from the recent crisis.
For starters, it is a good idea to establish detailed contingency plans that spell out exactly how a community should respond to a blackout to secure the safety of the public. Cleveland Heights, Ohio, has such a policy and was able to place critical-care medical patients in facilities with back-up power. The city’s contingency procedures, which it developed over the years as it grappled with various storm-related outages, allowed Cleveland Heights to feel well-prepared when the recent blackout hit.
The use of renewable (non-hydro) energy as a supplemental power source is another way to soften the impact of a blackout. Local governments can use wind, solar or biomass energy to augment the power they receive from the national or regional grids. Typically, renewable energy is too costly to use as a primary power source, and it usually cannot meet all of a community’s needs. However, it is a viable power source to help utilities meet emergency needs. Also, municipally owned utilities (MOUs) that can generate their own power often can avoid outages that affect utilities relying more heavily on national or regional power grids. For instance, the Braintree (Mass.) Electric Light Department was able to keep its customers’ lights on in August because the utility can disconnect from the New England regional grid and generate its own electricity during an emergency.
Despite what recent media coverage may suggest, a blackout of August’s magnitude is less likely than other power interruptions, like a “brownout” (a period of reduced electricity voltage caused by significant demand). Brownouts can occur during periods of extreme temperatures, when power plants try to keep up with the demand caused by air conditioning or heating.
Not surprisingly, the best way to prevent brownouts is to reduce regional demand. Lowering demand can be a fairly painless process that saves money. Research by the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program concludes that the average office building can reduce energy use by 30 percent through modest conservation measures such as installing more energy efficient lightbulbs, regularly cleaning HVAC filters, turning off computers at night, using motion-sensor lights and making better use of natural light.
Although the suggestions above can help in many ways, they cannot immunize a community from future massive blackouts. Luckily, regional blackouts are rare. Still, the blackout of 2003 should prompt all communities to assess their vulnerabilities and improve their contingency plans.
Colin Haller is project manager of energy programs for the International City/County Management Association, which is based in Washington, D.C.