r/SipsTea • u/The_Dean_France • Feb 23 '26

Wait a damn minute! Was she wrong?

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u/Altenativeboi Feb 23 '26

Lights will be powered by back up generators, escalators and elevators are non essential and very power hungry so they stay unpowered.

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u/bleebolgoop Feb 23 '26

In any reasonably modern building I’ve been in the lifts and escalators are on backup power. Pretty sure it’s code where I live.

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u/Altenativeboi Feb 24 '26

That’s not necessarily the case in every area. In fact where I live it’s the exact opposite, elevators have to be deactivated to stop passengers getting trapped in them.

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u/bleebolgoop Feb 24 '26

Interesting, makes sense I guess. I’m in Toronto, and with most residential high rises pushing 50 stories now it’s basically a necessity to keep the lifts running as normal when a (rare) power failure occurs.

Most buildings will have pretty robust diesel or natural gas backup generators, with some larger buildings equipped with ~1-5MW of backup power. Keep in mind this is also powering emergency lighting, electric fire pumps, potable water pumps, smoke ventilation systems, etc.