Why do we need lightning protection?
Lightning is one of nature's most powerful and destructive phenomena
Lightning discharges contain awesome amounts of electrical energy and have been measured from several thousand amps to over 200,000 amps - enough to light half a million 100 watt bulbs! Even though a lightning discharge is of a very short duration (typically 200 microseconds) it is a very real cause of damage and destruction.
The effects of a direct strike are obvious and immediately apparent - buildings damaged, trees blown apart, personal injuries and even death. However, the secondary effects of lightning - the short duration, high voltage spikes called transient overvoltages can, and do, cause equally catastrophic, if less visually obvious, damage to the electronic systems inside a building.
Protecting electronic systems
We are continually meeting people who have structural lightning protection for their building, but have suffered damage to the - unprotected - electronic systems within. Simply stated, a structural lightning protection system cannot and will not protect the electric systems within a building from transient overvoltage damage.
A total solution
A reliable lightning protection scheme must encompass both structural lightning protection and transient overvoltage (electric systems) protection. That's why we advocate a Total Solution approach to lightning protection - to ensure complete protection of your employees, the fabric of your building and the electronic systems therein.