This 4/25/13 NYT' article identified me as "an energy economist who specializes in climate change mitigation". To set up an appointment go to: http://twitthis.com/2xkq3c

1. Search All NYTimes.com
Global DealBook Markets Economy Energy Media Personal Tech Small Business Your Money
Power Grids Iffy, Populous Areas Go for
Generators
By KEN BELSON
Published: April 24, 2013
AFTER Tropical Storm Irene pummeled the
Northeast in 2011, Keith and Barbara Wolff
realized it was time to act. Though they were
spared during Irene, several other storms had cut
the power to their home in Brookfield, Conn.,
forcing them to throw out food, wear sweaters to
keep warm and find coffee shops to recharge their
cellphones and laptops.
So the Wolffs did
what many of
their neighbors
had done: They
bought a portable,
gasoline-powered generator that produced
enough electricity to run many of their essential appliances, including
their refrigerator, water well, hot water tank, heater and home offices.
The Wolffs paid about $1,000 for a 7,500-watt generator made by
Generac. A week after paying an electrician $900 to hook up the unit
to their electrical system, they put their new purchase to work when a
snowstorm knocked out their power for nine days.
Matt Roth for The New York Times
AGAINST ALL STORMS Charles LaDuca of Bethesda, Md., spent about $12,000 to buy and
install a 14-kilowatt generator, below.
Related
Go to Energy Special Section »
Enlarge This Image
Log in to see what your friends are sharing on nytimes.com. Privacy
Policy | What’s This?
What’s Popular Now
Log In With Facebook
The Rational Choices of Crack
Addicts
Gunman and 12 Victims
Killed in Shooting at D.C.
Navy Yard
MOST E-MAILED RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
1. EDITORIAL
Big Coal Takes On an Obama Nominee
HOME PAGE TODAY'S PAPER VIDEO MOST POPULAR
Business Day
Energy & Environment
WORLD U.S. N.Y. / REGION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEALTH SPORTS OPINION ARTS STYLE TRAVEL JOBS REAL ESTATE AUTOS
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
GOOGLE+
SAVE
E-MAIL
SHARE
PRINT
REPRINTS
U.S. Edition Subscribe: Digital / Home Delivery Log In Register Now Help
Page 1 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
9/18/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

2. “It was a pretty hefty investment, but it
was well worth it because when it’s cold
out, you want to at least be able to take
a shower,” Mr. Wolff said. “There are
two things you can do: Be completely
aggravated and non-functional or do a
workaround so your quality of life is
better.”
Generators have been a backup for
homeowners in rural America and
twister- and hurricane-prone corners of
the country for decades.
But in recent years, they have also
become popular with families in
metropolitan areas across the northern half of the country that have
been hard hit by recent so-called superstorms.
With utility companies straining to keep up with the power failures
after storms, homeowners are increasingly taking matters into their
own hands.
For as little as $150, consumers can buy a 1,000-watt gasoline-
powered portable generator at a big-box store like Home Depot that
will keep a few home appliances running for several hours.
Larger homes with more appliances require more powerful generators
that can cost well over $2,000 yet keep refrigerators, heaters, water
pumps and other essential equipment running. Hookups to a home’s
electrical system are extra and can require a licensed electrician.
Now those with portable generators are being outclassed by
homeowners with more money and larger homes springing for far
more expensive standby units that can cost $10,000 or more installed.
Typically powered by natural gas or propane, they flick on
automatically and almost instantly in a shutdown.
“It’s not cheap, but people look at it as a home improvement product,
particularly as they age,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, the chief executive of
Generac Power Systems, which recently produced its one-millionth
standby unit. “People are coming to the conclusion that power outages
are becoming more frequent.”
Generator makers do not release sales figures, but a report by the
Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2006 estimated that more
than one million generators a year are sold, with portable units making
up roughly 90 percent of the sales.
Leading manufacturers like Generac and Honda, however, said sales
had been unusually strong in the last several years and that the
percentage of standby units had risen steadily as Tropical Storm Irene,
Hurricane Sandy and other major storms had led to widespread
Matt Roth for The New York Times
2. DOT EARTH
First Hurricane Brews After Silent First Half to the Atlantic Storm
Season
3. Unlocking the Potential of ‘Flammable Ice’
4. FIXES
The Next Wireless Revolution, in Electricity
5. Lawrence H. Summers’s Letter to President Obama
6. PROPERTY VALUES
Homes for $1,300,000
7. PROPERTY VALUES
What You Get for ...$1,300,000
8. Volkswagen Says It Will Bring Electric Vehicle to U.S. in Two
Years
9. Push for Yellen to Lead at Fed Gathers Steam
10. Summers Seen as Costly in Political Terms
Log in to discover more articles
based on what you‘ve read.
What’s This? | Don’t Show
Page 2 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
9/18/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

3. failures along the Eastern Seaboard.
“The market has certainly increased, not just because of Sandy, but a
plethora of weather events,” said Tom Pernice, marketing manager in
the generator division at the American Honda Motor Company. “When
you get a Sandy, a Rita, a Katrina, there are issues.”
One unintended consequence is the growing number of people —
dozens a year — who die from carbon monoxide poisoning because
they ran their portable generators in enclosed spaces without enough
ventilation for the exhaust.
“For every dead person, there are 10 people who got sick from carbon
monoxide and didn’t realize it came from carbon monoxide,” said
Albert Donnay, a toxicologist who has urged generator manufacturers
to include carbon monoxide sensors.
The generator boom raises even larger questions about the reliability
of the nation’s electrical grid and the ability of network operators to
handle the more severe weather in an age when families are living in
larger homes filled with a greater array of electrical devices.
In their recent report card evaluating the country’s infrastructure, the
American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s energy network a
grade of D plus, which was unchanged from the prior report in 2009.
“Investment in transmission has increased since 2005, but ongoing
permitting issues, weather events and limited maintenance have
contributed to an increasing number of failures and power
interruptions,” the report said.
Demand for electricity has grown by 25 percent since 1990, and
utilities may need to spend as much as $1.5 trillion by 2030 to expand
and update the nation’s electrical infrastructure, according to the
society.
“We have all the technology available to strengthen the grid, but
whether it’s being done is another question,” said Michael Stavy, an
energy economist who specializes in climate change mitigation.
“Generators are a short-term solution for something that the consumer
is powerless to solve, so it’s rational to get one.”
In the days after Hurricane Sandy pummeled the Northeast, Gov.
Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said that more money was needed to
shore up transmission and distribution networks to prepare for
extreme weather events, though he sidestepped the question of what
was causing them.
“I don’t call it ‘global warming’ because you trigger a whole political
debate,” he said last October. “But the frequency of extreme weather is
going way up.”
The governor’s comment aside, it is unclear whether the storms that
Page 3 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
9/18/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

4. have hit the Northeast recently are evidence of a growing pattern or a
blip on the historical weather map.
“Obviously, there have been two significant events in the Northeast
over the past two years (Irene and Sandy) that some people might be
reacting to,” James L. Franklin, a spokesman for the National
Hurricane Center in Miami, said in an e-mail. “Whether this is a
statistical anomaly or the beginning of a trend is unknown.”
He noted that the mid-1950s was a period of “a lot of tropical activity
in the Northeast,” but it ebbed.
Homeowners are not waiting for the debate to be settled because they
have more pressing concerns, like keeping their families warm (or
cool) and healthy during emergencies, no matter how frequently they
occur.
That’s what prompted Charles LaDuca to buy a standby generator
made by Generac that runs on natural gas for his 6,400-square-foot
home in Bethesda, Md.
After several storms and power failures forced Mr. LaDuca, his wife
and two children to abandon their home, he had the 14-kilowatt
generator installed two years ago.
Mr. LaDuca spent about $12,000 on the generator and installation,
which took about six weeks. The generator arrived promptly, but
natural gas pipes had to be routed around the house and permits from
the county were needed.
But the generator, which automatically turns on during a power
failure, provides power to about 80 percent of Mr. LaDuca’s home,
including to the stove, heater, garage door, lights and television.
Mr. LaDuca said he was the fourth of the 20 or so homeowners on his
street to buy a generator. “It’s sort of a luxury,” he said, “but we can
run the house and keep the kids occupied and keep our food from
getting spoiled. It’s expensive but it’s worth it.”
Demand for generators has meant extra work for utilities like Con
Edison, which has had a 50 percent jump since 2010 in the number of
requests to inspect the natural gas lines that are being connected to
newly installed standby units.
Typically, licensed plumbers install any extensions to the natural gas
pipes, and utilities sign off on the connection of the generators to their
gas lines, a service they provide at no charge.
While such standby generators are more expensive than portable units,
consumers are learning that they are more reliable because natural gas
or propane is rarely interrupted by weather. By contrast, portable
generators often require gasoline that may be harder to find after
storms as stations run short of fuel.
Page 4 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
9/18/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...

5. The number of requests to install standby units “will stay steady
because of more acute events and folks are being more self-sufficient,”
said Robert Schimmenti, the vice president for engineering and
planning for electric operations at Con Edison.
“The fact that we’ve had a few of these storms recently makes it top of
mind for folks,” said Timothy Cawley, the senior vice president for
central operations at Con Edison, which plans to spend about $1
billion during the next four years fortifying its operations. “We
recognize it’s a hardship to go without electricity, but it’s the new
reality.”
A version of this article appeared in print on April 25, 2013, on page F8 of the New York edition
with the headline: Power Grids Iffy, Populous Areas Go for Generators.
SAVE E-MAIL SHARE
Try unlimited access to NYTimes.com for just 99¢.
SEE OPTIONS »
Get Free E-mail Alerts on These Topics
Power Outages and Blackouts Generac Power Systems Inc
Northeastern States (US) Home Appliances
BOOMING »
Confronted by Mortality, a
Husband Takes Stock
OPINION »
Invitation to a Dialogue:
Working From Home
DINING & WINE »
Restaurant Review: Estela’s
Mild Eccentricity
MUSIC »
A Sound, Then Silence (Try
Not to Breathe)
OPINION »
Disunion: The
Father of the
14th
Amendment
The Civil War-era
politician John
Bingham wrote one of
America’s most
important documents.
TELEVISION »
The Brand of Me, as Seen on
TV
© 2013 The New York Times Company Site Map Privacy Your Ad Choices Advertise Terms of Sale Terms of Service Work With Us RSS Help Contact Us Site
Feedback
INSIDE NYTIMES.COM
Page 5 of 5Generators Become Must-Have Appliances in Storm-Battered Areas - NYTimes.com
9/18/2013http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/business/energy-environment/generators-become-must-have-appliances...