Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

According to a recent CNN report, utilities in much of the United States still deliver power with the same equipment they used in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, when a load placed on the power grid becomes too great, providers lack the efficient means to avoid overload. Without the right power protection in place, a company or institution can be at risk.

The University of Minnesota conducted research that found that non-disaster related power outages in the U.S. are up 124 percent since the early 90s. Those entities without power protection or a plan in place have felt the effects of this increase and are pressuring utilities to do something about it.

For an educational institution, a power outage can mean the elimination of key tools for control and communication. The institutions likely also rely on security systems such as access control and surveillance cameras that without power protection leave the school vulnerable. The safety of the school, staff, educators and students is put at risk in such situations.

The educational institution can leave it to the utility to ensure they provide consistent power and backup systems, or take an offensive approach to ensure power failure do not endanger the school. To achieve power protection, the school should ensure that all peripheral equipment is fed through a quality surge suppressor. This protects expensive equipment from power surges and spikes.

More vital systems may find power protection in uninterruptible power supplies, or UPSs, which provide batter power in the event of an outage. Gas or diesel power generators can also provide the answer when mission critical situations require large amounts of backup time. The key to the power protection plan is to eliminate any single point of failure as redundancy can make a vital difference. 

No educational institution can afford to not have a power protection plan in place. This helps to ensure the continuous operation of vital components, regardless of the health of the power supply. And, until the utility company can guarantee 100 percent uptime, all organizations will benefit from a robust power protection strategy that ensure redundancy so that no systems or data are ever lost due to a power failure.