Over the past couple of decades, technology has become an essential element of almost all learning environments. Therefore, accidents such as power outages can have a considerable impact for a day or even several days. 

There are more than 25 million students across the country, attending over 4,000 higher education institutions. Thus, power outages are becoming a more relevant issue, as there were over 3,500 just in the past year.

For this reason, it is of great importance that college campuses are aware of the potential causes. They should also have a plan B in place in case something like this happens. 

Hurricanes And Thunderstorms

When talking about what causes power blackouts, natural disasters have to be at the top of the list. If a higher education institution is not prepared with backup power, snow, hurricanes, heat waves, and thunderstorms can cause significant damage. 

Not only that but in the past couple of years, droughts and floods have become a more common occurrence, resulting in power complications that are quite annoying and expensive to deal with. 

Old Switchgear

Natural disasters aren’t the only cause of these culprits, as overpriced taxes on the power grid, along with outdated infrastructure and switchgear, are also a source of issues. Several colleges experienced blackouts for more than a day throughout the past couple of years, causing hundreds of classes to be canceled and thousands of students to be affected.

The common cause was degraded switches, circuit breakers, and fuses.

Fuel Outages

Lastly, high-powered devices causing internal circuits to be damaged have resulted in college power outages for several days. We are talking about motors, air conditioners, refrigerators, pumps, and even elevators. Not only are such culprits heavy to manage, but they also cause significant financial damage, given the fact that such devices are put out of use.

What To Do In Case Of A Power Outage

As a student, there isn’t a lot that you can do to fix a power outage, but there are several actions to avoid to stay safe. First, you should have the relevant phone number for reporting a power blackout saved in your phone. 

In some cases, an outage doesn’t take place across the whole campus. It could be just a couple of rooms, one of which may be yours.

Unless the fire alarm is going off, you should stay inside your room. Apart from the fact that getting back to your room might be impossible due to the digital locks not working, staying in your room is the best way to ensure that you are safe. 

Also, make sure that all power cords are unplugged to prevent further damage. Last but certainly not least, it is crucial to make sure that you have a couple of backup light sources. 

Concluding Thoughts

Power outages will continue to happen, which is why it is essential that both higher education institutions and campus students know the cause and what to do in case of such a culprit. We did our best to go through what causes outages and the actions you should take.