More and more damages due to lightning strikes
As reported by the media, increasingly more damages are incurred due to lightning strikes. The insurance industry anticipates that the climate change could become very expensive for them.
The General Association of the Germany Insurance Industry (GDV) anticipates that the lightning frequency in Germany, and therefore also the damages over the following years, will increase.
According to the GDV, lightning strikes caused damages of approximately one billion Euros over the past five years. Total damages resulted in 240 million Euros alone in 2006.
This was the result of 450,000 reported surge damages. The first half of 2007 had almost three times the lightning at approximately 1.5 million registered lightning strikes as the same period in 2004.
Information technology was especially affected
According to a study that was commissioned by the GDV at the Technical University Aachen, surge damages also occur when lightning strikes at a distance of 1.5 to 2 kilometers.
"Not only the distance to the location of the lightning strike, but also the building density plays a great role in the assessment of surge damages", says the manager of the study, Alexander Kern. The appliances of information technology at approximately 43% are thereby affected more frequently from surge damages due to lightning strikes.
Voltage transfer via data lines
Suitable protection is especially important for the frequently affected equipment from the IT field. Surges cannot only enter the equipment through the power supply; data lines can also transfer destructive voltages.
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