The First Facility Management Blog

If the power goes out, will America’s small businesses be prepared? Not really, according to the results of a recent survey commissioned by Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson.

The survey results indicate that the issue is not really “if” the power will go out but “when.” Consider these statistics:

• 79% of the small business decision makers surveyed experienced at least one power outage in 2007.
• 67% of respondents anticipate experiencing outages again in the next 12 months.
• 42% of the small businesses that experienced outages in 2007 had to close their businesses during the longest outages.

And while small business decision makers ranked outages above fire, government regulation, weather damage, theft, and employee turnover as threats to their businesses, only 39% of them have back up power systems, leaving 61% vulnerable to the negative business impacts of outages.

“Keeping the lights on, the computers running, and employees working during a power outage is important for any business, but particularly for small businesses,” said Ed Feeney, an Emerson executive vice president who heads up Emerson Network Power’s Systems business. “Their margin for error is thinner, and the competition’s tighter, so even a brief outage can do significant harm. This makes back up power systems a fundamental part of business continuity.”

In a tight economy, a plunge into darkness could put a small business in the red. On average, power outages cost about $80 billion each year, with most losses—98%—borne by businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

“Emerson’s survey findings are alarming considering that more than 99% of all American businesses are small businesses, with these companies generating 45% of the total U.S. payroll,” said Steve Strauss, nationally syndicated business columnist and author of The Small Business Bible. “It is critical that small enterprises have a business continuity plan that includes back up power systems to keep the business running when the main power source goes down.”

John Zagara, owner of Zagara’s Marketplace, a Cleveland, OH area supermarket, needs no convincing. “During the massive blackout of August 2003, the power went out mid-afternoon. Our back up power system automatically switched my electrical source to a natural gas powered generator which ran all registers and certain refrigerated equipment,” Zagara said. “Our front end staff continued to check out customers until closing at 9 p.m. Our customers were in awe of our service delivery.” Zagara’s back up power equipment enabled him to not only continue serving customers, but to save meat and frozen foods, valuable perishable inventory.

Zagara utilizes a back up generator and an ASCO power transfer switch. A power transfer switch automatically detects a loss of power from the main power source and turns on a back up generator within seconds. When the main source of power returns, the switch safely shuts down the generator and reconnects to the main power source.

To help small businesses understand the impacts of power outages, Emerson Network Power has launched a back-up power information resource at www.emerson.com/smallbusiness. It includes an online tool small companies can use to measure their vulnerability to the impacts of outages.

Emerson Network Power released the findings of the survey in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the Great Blackout of 2003, which began on Aug. 14, 2003, when an overgrown tree tangled with sagging power lines in Ohio and triggered a series of human and technology gaffes that resulted in the largest power outage in North American history. The blackout left 50 million people in the Northeastern United States and Canada in the dark—some for days—and cost the economy an estimated $6 billion in productivity.

GE Consumer & Industrial’s new online Environmental Information Center examines and sorts lighting and electrical industry information in an all-encompassing Web site that business customers can tap for one stop information gathering and learning about salient sustainability trends and issues.

Launched in June, the site goes in depth on legislation, laws, compliance codes, technology, specification information, EPAct, and a variety of sustainability topics, including the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) voluntary LEED Certification programs, GE’s lighting products of ecomaginationSM, and how specific GE lighting and electrical products contribute to various LEED certifications, including LEED-NC (new construction) and LEED-EB (existing building).

GE designed the site with a compilation of information for architects, lighting designers, engineers, facility managers, construction managers, contractors, real estate professionals, government officials, end user customers, distributors, and OEMs.

“Visitors to our Environmental Information Center will notice that we’ve gone not just a mile wide, but also a mile deep in terms of what’s presented,” says Heather Wilson, ecomagination marketing manager, GE Consumer & Industrial. “This extension of our customer education effort brings calm and order to the storm of information that our customers face every day about sustainability and the environmental and financial benefits of energy efficiency.”

One of GE’s motivations in creating the site was to anticipate growing interest in LEED certification. The USGBC expects the number of LEED certified buildings will climb 20 times higher between 2006 (4500 buildings) and 2010 (100,000 buildings). LEED is a voluntary building standard created by the USGBC, an independent environmental advocacy organization in Washington, DC.

Healthy bodies and a healthy building go hand in hand in the winning entries for ASHRAE’s 2008 Student Design Competition.

This year’s competition featured architectural design as well as selection and design of HVAC&R systems for a 60,000 square foot community recreation center. The center features a gym with two full size basketball courts and a running track, a wellness center with fitness equipment room and aerobics room, a natatorium with a six lane swimming pool, and indoor racquetball courts.

First place in the HVAC system selection category was awarded to Alyssa Adams, James Gawthrop Jr., Amy Leventry, Gregory Smithmyer, Calvin Douglass, Justin Herzing, and Michael Smith of Penn State University, University Park, PA. Their advisor is William Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E.

The students chose a ground source heat pump with active chilled beams or fan coils in a four pipe system configuration for both heating and cooling and a dedicated outdoor air system for all spaces with an enthalpy wheel for energy recovery and a solar assisted LiCl dehumidification unit in the natatorium space.

“This solution was found to be the most sustainable of all the systems considered,” the students wrote. “It uses heat transfer from the earth as opposed to burning fossil fuels and utilizes solar energy from the solar thermal collection panels, reducing the amount of energy supplied to the building and the energy footprint of the facility. Electricity used by the facility is directly translated into emissions at the power plant. Therefore, minimizing the onsite energy consumption not only saves energy but also reduces carbon emissions.”

First place in the HVAC system design category went to Chaowanaphan Lekkham, Patarapol Puangkum, Pakorn Nontiwatwanich, Wiroj Ekwongmunkong and Supayos Suveepattananont of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Their faculty advisor is Chirdpun Vitooraporn, Ph.D.

The students chose an electric air cooled chiller system with 134a as a primary refrigerant and water as a secondary refrigerant. Elements of the system include variable speed drives, outside air units, CO2 sensors, and heat pipe and heat recovery wheel units.

“The relative energy consumption as well as relative operating and maintenance costs determined that the system is not only beneficial for the building owner and users but for the environment as well,” the students wrote. “We believe our design provides a functional, economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable HVAC system for serving the center.”

First place in the architectural design category was won by Alexandra Gibson, Justina Jones, Bryan Quarles and Bazigha Tufail of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Their advisor is Brian A. Rock, Ph.D., P.E.

Their design was based on their goal of using sustainable technologies for HVAC&R, lighting, energy supply, and water use. Key features include a green roof to combat the urban heat effect and to provide extra roof insulation as well as contributing to CO2 absorption/oxygen output; rainwater harvesting; development of proper lighting controls detecting the amount of daylight penetration, efficient illumination fixtures, and the use of light shelves for indirect lighting; and photovoltaic panels to minimize electricity use.

“To produce a building that includes all of these ideas while remaining beautiful and also acting as an educational tool, integration of these systems from the beginning from the design was a key element,” the students wrote.

Awards will be presented at ASHRAE’s 2009 winter meeting Jan. 24-28 in Chicago. Winning student groups will each have a poster presentation to display their projects at the meeting. The competition recognizes outstanding student design projects, encourages undergraduate students to become involved in the profession, promotes teamwork, and allows students to apply their knowledge of practical design.