01 January 2005 Lightning strikes: Protection concepts By Peter
A. Carpenter The risks from lightning are real, and traditional
lightning protection devices do not adequately cover all risks.
Over the last 30 years, significant technology improvements have
given us a proactive approach in lightning protection, including
the integration of charge transfer technology, strategic surge
protection, and a unified grounding system. When eliminating the
strike to the protected zone and the associated structure, you
can reduce or eliminate the secondary effects of lightning. If a
lightning strike could put a facility out of business, or even
out of action for a few hours, consider whether the cost of
preventing all future lightning risks would not easily offset
the cost of installing a charge transfer system (CTS) lightning
elimination system. It is inexpensive insurance. A large
thunderstorm can produce over 100 lightning flashes a minute,
and even a modest storm cloud can generate the energy of a small
nuclear power