Generators can be your greatest ally in a crisis such as a widespread or protracted power outage. When the overall power grid crashes, they offer you a secondary source of energy, so long as your are able to continue to fuel them. This allows you to continue operating crucial electronic equipment, like medical devices — the continued operation of which is literally life and death. If your household’s residents are reliant on life support devices like ventilators or dialysis equipment, you should make sure your house is blackout ready, with a well-stocked and maintained generator ready to go.
Of course, the reliability of the local power grid varies a great deal from place to place. In urban America, people often take for granted that the energy they need will be available when they need it. But the unfortunate truth is that a power outage could happen any time and any place. And the ramifications of this go beyond the medical needs previously discussed: imagine losing power on a 100 degree plus summer day, and you’ll see that even the healthy have much to worry about in an outage situation.
The infographic below, courtesy of the folks at Black Diamond, gathers the best information on power outages and generators as they apply to the Chicago metro area and Illinois in general. Although the information is regionally specific, it highlights the kinds of things you’ll need to know, whether you live in the Windy City, the Big Apple, or anywhere else. Take a look, and think over your own emergency plans today.
