Page 64 - North American Clean Energy May/June 2019 Issue

energy storage
Critical Conditions
The desperate need for fail-proof backup power in medical facilities
by Alex Saucedo
As our world becomes increasingly connected, we become ever more reliant on power. Most of us view a temporary loss of power as a nuisance, an interruption to the way we live with our gadgets and electronics. But when we or a loved
one needs it the most - in a medical facility - a power cut is a thoroughly frightening prospect. While it may not be something we often think about,
the consequences of such an incident can be devastating.
In 1987, New York Hospital su ered a 22-minute power outage. During this outage, the electric respirator of a prematurely born, 40-day-old infant stopped. Aware of the infant’s reliance on this respirator, sta were prepared for this complication and began e orts to help him breathe with the use of a manual air pump. Sadly, these attempts were insu cient, and the baby died.
Of course, this was decades ago. Policies, procedures and backup power technologies have greatly evolved since then. Yet in 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, 45 patients at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, died - a direct result of a power outage.
Code red
e 1987 outage at New York Hospital was caused by backup generators failing during a scheduled repair of the main power plant. is problem has continued to overshadow hospitals.
During a New York City-wide blackout in 2003, not only did multiple backup generators fail
in hospitals, but it was also reported that fuel supplies for those generators fell to critically low levels as fuel trucks struggled to maneuver across the city. Fuel shortages were a problem again during Hurricane Rita in 2005, and again in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey. During these incidents, two major hospitals required bucket brigades to haul diesel up to the oors where the generators were located. Despite this e ort, the generators in both hospitals failed – hundreds of patients had to be evacuated.
Hospitals su ered backup power failure again after both the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, and the 2012 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In addition, a 2015 ood in the Tamil Nadu state of India resulted in the deaths of 18 patients.
An uphill battle
e issues facing hospitals regarding their power supplies are complicated. An aging power grid infrastructure, combined with an ever-increasing demand for power and a deluge of extreme weather events, has led to precarious circumstances in which power outages are becoming more regular. According to Eaton’s Blackout Tracker Annual Report, in 2017, the United States alone
su ered 3,526 power outages lasting an average of 81 minutes each. e frequency and impact these outages can have on all aspects of
healthcare services (acute care and emergency response, life support devices, communications and le retrieval, medication storage, air quality, temperature
control, sewage disposal, and water puri cation systems) underscores the need for fail-proof backup power.
e National Fire Protection Association and the National Electrical Code both require US healthcare facilities to have emergency power restored within 10 seconds of an outage. Facilities are also required to have 96 hours’ worth of emergency power fuel. It’s clear, however, that these failproof measures aren’t failproof enough.
Code green
Backup diesel generators have proven inadequate time and again, and yet, even at the cost of human lives, they continue to be used. is has to change.
Renewable energy alternatives like wind and solar o er a source
of clean energy, but they don’t always deliver the power we need when we need it. Fuel cells can address this problem. ey meet the speci c power requirements crucial in fast-paced and critical settings
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