Software developer Kenna Ofoegbu of Houston, Texas, goes to great lengths to keep his three children cool in the summer, and that means using air conditioning.
Yet her house has had three power outages in the last two and a half months alone. One of those outages lasted three days.
At that time, Ofoegbu and his wife decided to pay for two nights in a hotel, both for air conditioning and connectivity.
“I couldn’t afford to go several days without an internet connection,” said the 42-year-old. “Electricity and internet access are crucial for my daily work.”
When that ordeal was over, the couple did what many do when they can afford it: They bought a generator. It cost $1,500, plus $800 for an electrician to do the wiring. It runs on either propane or gasoline to keep the house running.
But burning these fuels can pollute the air we breathe and exacerbate climate change, so Ofoegbu and many others are looking for cleaner ways to keep power on in an emergency.
So far, the options are mostly expensive, but they are getting better. Here is the current status:
Many people are now installing battery systems in their homes. In April, more than half of rooftop solar buyers in California chose to include batteries in their solar system so that the home would not fail in the event of a power outage. Sales of these solar-battery systems in the U.S. have skyrocketed in the past year, according to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
The company expects that 27 percent of new residential solar systems in the U.S. this year will include storage systems, nearly doubling the share of buyers who chose that option last year (14 percent). These systems easily cost thousands of dollars, but solar and battery prices have dropped, making them affordable for more people. Government incentives are also helping.
On the portable side, “solar generators” and boxes known as solar power stations are growing in popularity. They are not true generators because they do not produce electricity. Instead, they store it for use when needed. Users must prioritize certain devices or applications in the event of a power outage to avoid draining the battery.
A generator called the Patriot Generator, offered on 4Patriots.com, costs about $2,500 and has enough power to run a refrigerator for 19 hours, medical equipment for 15 hours, or personal electronic devices for over 100 hours.
The companies Yeti, Bluetti and Jackery also sell such power stations – basically larger versions of the power banks that you use to charge your phone on the go. They weigh about 18 to 27 kilograms and are charged by plugging in or using solar energy.
“A lot of people start with a power station this size and maybe use it for camping, recreational activities or barbecues,” says Brian Essenmacher, director of North American business development at EcoFlow, which also develops products for RVs and off-grid homes. “I could probably hook up a couple of freezers and a refrigerator to it and it would run for a day or more.”
Increasing demand
Experts say the number of days people rely on these backup solutions is increasing as human-caused climate change worsens and storms, freezes and heat waves strain the country’s aging power grid.
According to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. resident experienced 16% more outages in 2022 than in 2013. On average, it took about four hours for power to be restored in 2022, an hour longer than in 2013, the agency reported.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), half of the power outages caused by major events in the United States last longer than twelve hours and more than a third last longer than a day.
This means that air quality will be affected by generators turning on more days. For example, days with record heat, when air conditioning often causes power outages, are often days with bad air.
“During heat waves, high ozone pollution is almost guaranteed,” says Max Zhang, an engineering professor at Cornell University. “On hot days, the effects of diesel generator emissions are the worst,” he says.
Diesel particulate pollution, or soot, is also carcinogenic. Diesel and gasoline-powered generators also emit nitrogen oxides, which can trigger asthma. They also release carbon dioxide, which warms the earth.
Jason Benedict moved from Oregon to Berkeley, Michigan, a suburb north of Detroit, in 2020. He has already experienced several power outages in his new state.
The February 2022 ice storms were the worst. He was without power for more than five days and had to throw out food. He tried to keep part of a room warm enough for himself and his dog, but eventually left his house to stay with family nearby. The power came back on, only to be out again for another two days because of the weather.
Benedict, 38, an accountant, wanted something cleaner than the machines he heard chugging around his neighborhood, “those gas generators that run all day, every day.” So late last year he spent about $25,000 on a solar array on his roof and a Tesla Powerwall battery in the garage.
“Knowing that it really isn’t a problem is absolutely worth it,” he said.
Diesel, propane and gasoline generators still dominate. They are “extremely inexpensive and robust,” says Jeffrey Marqusee, senior research advisor emeritus at NREL. But they “are not the perfect solution for the future that we face, as people think.”
“This is no longer the world.”
