Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood¹. The Red Cross is a major provider of blood and emergency services, supplying about 40 percent of the nation’s blood. The San Francisco Disaster Action Team (DAT) and Blood Warehouse is a Red Cross chapter that plays a critical role in delivering blood to Bay Area hospitals daily. It also houses emergency supplies for use in the event of disasters, such as fires, which California is experiencing with increasing frequency². The warehouse stores, packs, and ships approximately seven trucks of supplies daily to people in need.

Donated blood must be kept at a low temperature to maintain its vital properties. The warehouse employs a variety of systems to maintain supplies at the proper temperature. If the donated blood gets too hot, those critical supplies are lost.

In the aftermath of an earthquake or fire, the Red Cross could lose power to the warehouse, and lose the ability to refrigerate the plasma exactly when it is most needed in the community. The team would have only a two-hour window to package and relocate all the supplies to a new location if the power failed. Motivated to ensure operation of the warehouse through a power outage, the City of San Francisco purchased FreeWire’s Mobi Gen units and provided them to the Red Cross in 2017.

The Mobi Gen is an 80 kWh mobile battery unit capable of 11 kW continuous output to power essential instruments and lighting. The Mobi gets power from the grid and stores it in its integrated high voltage lithium-ion batteries, like those used in EVs. The Mobi units have been integrated into the warehouse power supply through the unit’s 240-volt outputs. In the event of a power loss, employees switch over power from the grid to the Mobi Gen units. This resource can power the facility for up to three days.

The warehouse could have backed-up power with a stationary propane generator. However, the Red Cross operation is in a warehouse that is not well ventilated. A generator has a large footprint, is noisy, and emits exhaust that would make working around it unpleasant at best and poisonous at worst. For the frequency of outages experienced, the facility would also need to continually maintain the generator, requiring additional time and significant expense. The FreeWire Mobi Gen units provided a quiet, zero-emission alternative for emergency backup power.

   
Mobi Gen supplying backup power to Red Cross warehouse

The mobile functionality of Mobi Gen makes it an ideal solution for both backup power as well as off-grid use in the event of an emergency. The units can be moved to the back of a trailer and relocated with ease. Mobi Gen is a clean, quiet, and flexible addition to the Red Cross toolbox, assisting them in their life-saving mission.

The American National Red Cross is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation will contribute to the emergency services and humanitarian relief provided by this warehouse and their vital work nationwide.

¹ https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/how-blood-donations-help/blood-needs-blood-supply.html
² https://www.businessinsider.com/california-wildfire-crisis-getting-worse-climate-change-2019-10