In the month of February we have seen two incidents that have brought the need for advanced battery technologies to the attention of millions of Americans. Earlier this month, sports fans – and fans of funny TV commercials – had their gameday festivities interrupted when a power outage at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, halted the Super Bowl for 34 minutes.
And, more recently, the winter storm playfully named Nemo – reminding many of the animated film “Finding Nemo” – was anything but humorous when hundreds of thousands lost electricity thanks to heavy snowfall and jarring winds. We could even look back a few months further at the outages that lasted for more than a week in some areas following Hurricane Sandy.
Each of these offer strong arguments for a renewed focus on backup power and advanced battery technologies. Not only can they help to avoid the disruption to daily life and major events that come with blackouts, but they also offer a critical component in the success of alternative energy technologies like solar and wind power installations.
James Greenberger, the executive director of NAATBatt, a trade association representing many companies in the advanced battery technologies industry, recently wrote an article for The Energy Collective. In it, he said that the best and most effective advertisement during this year’s Super Bowl didn’t cost millions of dollars, nor did it last 30 seconds. It was a free 34-minute commercial for better battery and backup power solutions.
“The message that the industry needs to deliver is clear: While battery backup power systems are by no means a complete solution to power reliability problems, they can provide a margin of power and comfort in moments of grid interruption that would be welcomed and highly valued by millions of American consumers,” Greenberger wrote.
Ultimately, innovative methods for bonding of battery terminals and other power storage technologies can improve the energy efficiency of everything from wind turbines and solar panel installations to eco-friendly cars and more. Could there have been a more effective Super Bowl ad than 34 minutes without power during the biggest sporting event of the year in America?