Santa Barbara County Unveils ‘New Toy’: The Nanogrid Emergency Response Trailer
“Outfitted with solar panels, battery packs, and a fuel cell powered by green hydrogen, Santa Barbara County’s newest disaster response service is an environmentally friendly nanogrid on wheels” (Fausey, 2023).
“On the outside, the $200,000 trailer boasts the slogan ‘Serving Santa Barbara County Using Renewable Energy,’ and it is equipped with a retractable solar array, a tailgate ramp, a pull-out table, power outlets, hydrogen storage tanks, and a television.
But the inside is where the magic happens. Walk through the trailer and you’ll pass by the large, energy-independent hydrogen fuel cell, additional power outlets, storage spaces, a mini fridge, and a Keurig coffee maker.
With all that tech, the nanogrid can start generating energy in only 15 minutes” (Fausey, 2023).
“The nanogrid was developed by Sesame Solar, whose mission is to ‘focus on decarbonizing disaster response in offgrid power,’ according to Anne Webb, their vice president of sales. The county hopes to obtain a second trailer soon, Hubbard said, to base one in North County and one in South County” (Fausey, 2023).
“Attendees of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day Festival may have seen the trailer on display over the weekend. Another purpose of the county’s new toy is to bring attention to resilient power projects and educate the public about energy-independence and emergency preparedness.
‘It’s an exciting opportunity to be more prepared for emergencies, but also to have a very visible asset for the community to see what the county is doing,’ said Brandon Kaysen, the county’s general services energy manager. ‘This is a wonderful resource for us to have a further commitment to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and resiliency for Santa Barbara’” (Fausey, 2023).
This project impacted me because of how a simple design solution could impact a whole community. First of all, the truck acts as a shared resource for the entire community. Rather than trying to come up with solutions for each individual, everyone is able to come together when they need help. This could be applied to my medical design, creating one instance of my design per community rather than focusing it on an individual level. As well, the project being fully renewable could be technology I utilize if designing a larger shared resource like this.
Most importantly, I like how this not only helps in an emergency, but is also serving as a symbol to the public to be prepared and that their government cares about them. I hope that my project can also educate people simply through its existence, even if it is not currently in use. This will inspire more individuals and communities to invest in similar projects like it.
References:
Fausey, C. (2023, May 4). Santa Barbara County unveils ‘new toy’: The nanogrid emergency response trailer. Santa Barbara Independent. https://www.independent.com/2023/05/04/santa-barbara-county-unveils-new-toy-the-nanogrid-emergency-response-trailer/
