When Yvon and Francine Marcil returned from a sunny southern vacation this past January, the fury of the Great Ice Storm of 1998 had just descended on their home in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, east of Montreal. Who could have imagined it would be 21 days before repairs to snapped power lines and crumpled transmission towers would bring life back to normal?
Fortunately, the Marcils were among the lucky few who managed eventually to round up a backup generator. "Without the 5,000-watt generator we brought in, life would have been impossible in our home," remembers Yvon.
Although he could have been better prepared on the home front, Yvon's business foresight helped make the ice storm more bearable for thousands of his neighbours. Years earlier he had recognized the value of backup power and equipped his restaurant with a 150,000-watt generator for just such emergencies. His was one of only two restaurants in the city serving hot food during the three weeks that most people's kitchens were out of order.
"Business was pretty good," smiles Yvon.
Emergency backup power isn't the only use for generators, of course. Operating power tools off the grid is standard practice on new construction sites and at remote locations such as cottages. Even in areas serviced by a utility, it's often better to run your hydro-guzzling tablesaw or big plunge router from a generator than it is to use a long, power-robbing extension cord stretched back to some far-off plug outlet. Small portable generators also have many recreational uses, such as powering the lights at that isolated fishing cabin you long to escape to. Depending on your circumstances, there can be plenty of good reasons to investigate portable power.
Image: The great ice storm of 1998 left more than one million households without power that January, and was a stark reminder of just how dependent we've become on electricity. Getting generators of all kinds to the hardest-hit areas was the focus of a national effort. Two Home Depot stores in Ottawa alone sold more than 3,000 units. Generators became so valuable that many were stolen, and a black market emerged. The image of toppled power pylons, such as these south of Montreal near St-Bruno, became a new icon for the devastating effects of bizarre storms that many scientists relate to global climate change.
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