Encore: Home generator sales spike with mass outages, climate change and COVID

Encore: Home generator¹ sales spike² with mass outages, climate change and COVID

Transcript³

Climate change is bringing more extreme weather that often leads to mass power outages. That has more Americans installing home generators⁴. (Story originally aired on ATC on Jan. 31, 2022.)

Home generator sales are booming with mass outages, climate change and COVID

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Climate-driven events can leave hundreds of thousands of people without power and in the dark. People thinking about hurricanes or wildfires or bomb cyclones⁵ are, more and more, installing home generators. NPR’s Jeff Brady reports

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE⁶: outside christopher Glenn's Oregon house, next to the garage is a home standby generator installed after an experience in 2019.

CHRISTOPHER GLENN: We had a major snowstorm that brought about three feet of snow to our backyard, and we were without electricity for approximately a week.

BRADY: Glenn's spouse⁷ works remotely. And without electricity, he couldn't work. They also have an organic tea business that was shut down during the outage.

GLENN: A customer in Ohio or Florida or Texas, they don't care if we're with or without power out here in Oregon. They want to know why we're not responding.

BRADY: Beyond snowstorms, Glenn also is concerned about wildfire season. Like in California, Oregon utilities sometimes turn off electricity so power lines don't spark fires. Glenn says the next time the power goes out, this big white box next to his garage will keep the lights on.

(SOUNDBITE OF GENERATOR REVVING)

BRADY: The generator powers the entire house, the business and charges an electric car. And the cost - $9,000, including installation. Despite that, the home generator business is booming. One manufacturer, Generac Power Systems, had a 50% jump in revenue last year, according to president and CEO Aaron Jagdfeld.

AARON JAGDFELD: Our typical homeowner would live in a single family, unattached house, probably lives a little bit more suburban⁸ than urban, right? So this is not a product that would be for if you live in a condominium or an apartment.

BRADY: These large home standby generators typically burn natural gas or propane. Paul Hope with Consumer Reports says because they were expensive, they account for only about 5% of the generator market.

PAUL HOPE: The vast majority of generators run on gasoline and are different sizes of portable generators.

BRADY: These cost as little as a few hundred dollars. You'll have to choose what gets power during an outage. You can connect a generator directly to your circuit breaker box to power your house. That requires an electrician. Without that, you have to run extension cords from the generator to individual appliances.

Safety is a big issue. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about 70 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators. The agency says the machine must be at least 20 feet from a house, but that can be a problem for some people, says Hope.

HOPE: Maybe they don't have five or six heavy duty outdoor-rated extension cords to run, you know, from a generator that's at least 20 feet from the house. So they naturally try to bring it a little bit closer, plug some things directly into the generator and, you know, use fewer cords that way.

BRADY: But that risks carbon monoxide poisoning. Most new generators have automatic shutoffs if carbon monoxide levels get too high. Finally, Hope says you also should consider the climate change consequences of backing up your power this way.

HOPE: The sort of tragic⁹ irony¹⁰ of generators is they're actually horrible fossil fuel-burning polluters.

BRADY: So they contribute to the same climate change that's producing more severe weather and outages. A cleaner but more expensive option is installing solar panels and batteries. Those will keep the power on like a generator but only as long as there's enough sun to charge the batteries. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

2 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 cyclones   

n.气旋( cyclone的名词复数 )；旋风；飓风；暴风

参考例句：

• The pricipal objective in designing cyclones is to create a vortex. 设计旋风除尘器的主要目的在于造成涡旋运动。 来自辞典例句
• Middle-latitude cyclones originate at the popar front. 中纬度地区的气旋发源于极锋。 来自辞典例句

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

8 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

9 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

10 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。