In an independent study conducted by the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory it was concluded that power outages and fluctuations cost the U.S. 80 Billion dollars annually. It has also been reported that power quality issues cost the country 15 Billion dollars a year. 80% of this 15 Billion dollars is paid for by the consumer. Older buildings have things like overloaded circuits and faulty, out of date wiring and fixtures that contribute to this high cost.
Power quality solutions is the answer to keep your bottom line from being taken by the power company
Many buildings were erected before the implementation of power quality solutions. There are also many tenants who treat electricity as an unlimited resource. As power bills continue to climb the reality is beginning to dawn for some of them. During peak power consumption some buildings start to notice things like lights flickering or complete black outs.
Many of the machines that are damaged by these power quality issues are smaller unprotected machines like laptops. Money is also lost when larger machines have to cycle through their start up after being shut down by a black out.
Here are five signs that your building needs power quality solutions
- Electronic data loss, or corruption. Power quality issues like power surges, high voltage spikes, brownouts, and black outs are extremely dangerous to smaller machines. Extra amounts of electricity could cause the programs to overload and result in erased, distorted, or corrupted data. Years of information can be wiped out in a single power bump.
- Burned circuit boards. One of the more severe symptoms of high voltage spikes and power surges is the burned circuit board. This is a result of power being improperly regulated and generating extreme amounts of heat. The result of a burned circuit board is also the loss of data that can not be retrieved due to the condition of the computer.
- Equipment lock up/shut down. Emergency generators starting and unstable frequency power sources result in a frequency variation. When utilities are at their peak usage in the summer and electric companies have to lower the voltage to limit power this is called a brownout. Any power outage lasting longer than two cycles is considered a black out. In each one of these instances larger machines can slow down, lock up, or stop entirely. This ends up costing a company millions in down time, restarts, and equipment replacement.
- Flickering lights. This problem is a direct result of high voltage spikes, power sags, electrical line noise, and brownouts. Lights that continuously flicker, or flicker on a regular basis, are in need of severe power quality solutions as this is one of the most expensive symptoms of quality issues.
- Complete blackout. If your business, with all its accessories, has gotten the entire building to black out for more than two cycles, or you are regularly tripping breakers then the problem is with the electrical load that your building can handle. With many buildings predating power quality solutions this is a common problem to have fixed.
If you’ve noticed one, or any, of these problems in your home, or office, then you are need of power quality solutions. Be sure to contact the building’s owner and let them know you don’t want to pay for high energy prices. The building’s owner can also qualify for an energy rebate if the necessary power quality solutions are implemented.
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