Telecom firms said they spent days preparing for Hurricane Sandy by activating regional coordination centers, testing equipment and positioning fuel for backup power generators.

WSJ: Telecom Firms Skirt Worst Damage

Second, nuclear reactors can only be run above maximum capacity for a short period before they begin experiencing complications, so each region maintains backup facilities to burn fuel oil or natural gas at peak periods or for when the nuclear reactors are offline.

FORBES: Japanese Oil Demand Likely To Jump

The power plant's backup diesel generators and their fuel supplies were destroyed by the tsunami.

WSJ: GE Steps Up Aid in Reactor Crisis

Replenishing fuel supplies for backup generators "is a particularly critical challenge, " he said.

WSJ: Outages Expose Wireless Carriers' Backup Plans

Whether for everyday use as a primary power source, for use during periods of peak grid demand, or for backup use during emergencies, fuel cells offer an attractive, efficient and eco-friendly solution.

FORBES: Grid Problems Boost Fuel Cell Market

In the event of a prolonged power blackout, backup generators frequently run out of fuel or suffer performance problems when they operate continuously for more than a few days.

FORBES: Backup Generators Are the Bad and Ugly of Decentralized Energy

ReliOn, a fuel-cell manufacturer based in Spokane, WA and focused on emergency-generation applications, reported that one of its customers hit by Hurricane Irene had 56 cell towers with fuel cells installed for backup power.

FORBES: Grid Problems Boost Fuel Cell Market

The tsunami which followed knocked out the backup generators, leaving plant operators scrambling to keep the fuel units from overheating, melting down, and releasing radiation into the air and sea.

FORBES: Three Months Later, Japan Still in Meltdown

The amendment would require gas stations located within a half-mile of a highway exit or hurricane evacuation route to be prewired for backup generators, which would allow electric pumps to continue to pump fuel in the case of a power outage.

WSJ: Deadline on Evaluations

He said he had assigned one of his employees the task of purchasing diesel to run backup generators, but added that this was complicated by the recent spike in the price of fuel.

CNN: Syria: Battle for the cities

While backup generators were on hand in some places, generators had to be brought to storage areas for fuel and de-icing fluid.

WSJ: How Snow (and Libyan Soldiers) Led to Airport Logjams