Electrical Readiness

When there is talk of nukes flashing off, the one critical vulnerability you will already need to have hedged is electricity.  People don’t generally consider how utterly reliant the world is on electricity.

Even more so in the past five-years, or so, as the iniquitous “wall warts” have become the USB charging ports on damn near everything that plugs into AC power, seems like.

This morning, a short discussions on the why and a checklist of things to keep at a constant state of readiness.  At least until the warring and confrontational mindset that has encircled the globe lists and calmer spirits prevail.

Judging by war talk and markets, might not be any time soon, though.

In response, we go through the personal EMP readiness checks today…what will you need?

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author avatar
George Ure
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/George-Ure/e/B0098M3VY8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share UrbanSurvival Bio: https://urbansurvival.com/about-george-ure/

65 thoughts on “Electrical Readiness”

  1. And so it begins …

    https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/the-us-diesel-crisis-is-here-and-its-spreading-along-the-east-coast

    Meanwhile, the IMF wants to keep on keep in’ on …

    https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-10-26/imf-chief-wants-central-banks-to-keep-raising-rates-to-hit-neutral-level

    And …

    “memory chip market is facing “unprecedented deterioration” and it plans to cut investment next year by more than 50%. Its third-quarter profit plunged 60%.” …

    https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/poor-report-cards-us-companies-fan-recession-fears-2022-10-26/

    And I think to myself … what a wonderful world …

    https://youtu.be/A3yCcXgbKrE

    • Dude PFB,

      way to close minded hear mi amigo. expando earth but a infinitesimal growing spec of dust – in the whole big ‘shebangabang” of multiverse..

      proof we be specs ?…I dont know -https://youtu.be/DUIgplyj6gQ

      – take look see, and tell Ure lying eyes that it is just swamp gas.

      ..90% of which comes from the No BTC area – in and around palastine, mexico area of SW USA.

    • Two things on chips.

      EOM’s keep soldering memory chips and CPU’s to the PC boards. No way for average users to upgrade.

      When faced with not being able to upgrade their current laptop or desktop system with more memory or a faster processor in order to run new OS updates, users are switching to Linux instead of dumping their legacy systems into the eWaste stream and springing for a new system.

      There should be a carbon offset credit for doing that, but that whole scheme wasn’t meant to line the pockets of the average citizen. LOL.

    • The diesel issue is near and dear to my heart. Not only do I live in a farmer heavy region of Indiana, but I also drive a diesel fueled VW. Everywhere I go, it’s a bit of a drive, so the little wagon drinks it pretty often. Diesel in short supply will be disastrous at the beginning of the food chain, all the way down it to the stores that sell it. Here in Southern Indiana, it sells from $5.30 to $6 a gallon. I swear, between the squeeze on food, fuel, and energy consumption, it looks like the whole upset diesel cart was a planned demolition, but that’d be crazy talk, right? It sure is suspicious….

      • Not so much crazy talk when you examine what Biden has done so far….everything he does is ass-backwards. Withdrew the military from Afghanistan before evac-ing the civies who helped the U.S. Cut off any new oil drilling before an alternative to gas/diesel was available. Mandated a deadly jab found not only to be ineffective but with deadly side-effects.
        If I were a betting man, I’d say Biden (and his ilk) is a satanist and wants to crash the U.S. into oblivion.

      • Suspicious ? U want suspicious take a gander at the “thing” running for Senate in the great state of Pennsyltucky, from debate last night.

        That was as pure, progressive liberalism as you will find..East of the Mississippi . No wonder the guy never wears anything but hoodies, wearing a suit – easily be mistaken for skunk ape/big foot/lurch .

      • You’ve got an oil burner? Cool!

        I haven’t done it (yet), but we can run waste vegetable oil without a lot of adjustment. It has to be really well filtered, and it is difficult to get a Mercedes or Volkswagen diesel started on WVO, so many of the TDInuts install a ~2 gallon tank under the hood, to put dino-diesel in, strictly to start the engine. Once started, they switch over and let McDonalds or Burger King pay their fuel costs for them. I dunno what works (or doesn’t) with a Cummins or Powerstroke, but this works for VW TDI’s.

        WVO can be “cracked” into real biodiesel without a lot of trouble. I have thought several times about buying a VO cracker and a used (small) tank truck, then letting McDonalds pay me to cart their WVO off for them. There were several threads at TDIClub regarding diesel crackers. They’ll be back in Fred’s archives now. The cracker I was looking at would make 150gal of biodiesel per day, using soy, rapeseed, algae, or any other vegetable oil, or any kind of (well-filtered) WVO. It is made in Brazil, not China, and its cost was ~$6000 at the time I was contemplating this stuff, IIRC.

    • The diesel issue will be a game changer.

      Diesel powers everything.

      Trains
      Food delivery
      Diesel AND gasoline deliveries.
      Farm machinery
      Cargo ships
      Coffee to your beloved Starbucks
      Back up power for cooling reactors ( see Fukishima )
      Cruise ships
      Garbage trucks.

      Get the idea ?

      No diesel means game over. Period.

      Ever hear the term “9 meals from anarchy” ? Means most people have a three day supply of food in their house. What happens after that ? I do and it aint pretty.

      This is massively important.

      • “people have a three day supply of food in their house. What happens after that ? I do and it aint pretty.”

        Been there done that and NO it is not pretty at all…..we take so much for granted.. most are just two paychecks from homeless..

      • Hmmm. Brand new “frying oil” sells for Sam’s Club at about $9.80/gallon. Wouldn’t that work as well as well as used oil from fast-food chains and diners? Ain’t free, but in a time of shortages I can see the currently “free” waste oil ending up being sold.

      • @MarcR

        “Hmmm. Brand new “frying oil” sells for Sam’s Club at about $9.80/gallon. Wouldn’t that work as well as well as used oil from fast-food chains and diners?”

        It would work better. Herr Diesel demonstrated his engine, running on peanut oil, before either “diesel fuel” or a market for his engine, existed.

  2. “Judging by war talk and markets, might not be any time soon, though.” Is this backwards day or a misprint George? Is the word NOT a typo?

    • Actually refers to previous para:

      “…calmer spirits prevail.
       
      (Judging by war talk and markets,) might not be any time soon, though.”

      In other words, no calm, no return of investors (mostly all gamblers now) and no grown-ups around for damn sure…

  3. Eat, Drink and feel Mary – 4 tomorrow we may all die…filthy rich, bitches!

    But Gmex cant have no “ice cream”, cause he be smokin(BigBongHits) of the fedfare Budz (Biden Blue) – smokin that fiat “money magic”.

    Like all pretenders, frauds and charlatans – there aint no there there, behind the curtains! ? Do they even match the drapes?

    No meat in the “soup”, like a nice vichyssoise, light, refreshing potato soup sans any MEAT.
    USD – fed reserve note/FRN ..plant based paper & ink, GU’s feverent belief in “slave master authority” = no meat, no backing..a big fat Zilch.
    or
    blockchain – BTC..ya know the made up numbers like on Ure FRN notes “serial number” – same shit, same dial, same Aszholz.

    ure zero equals the BCNs $21,000 dollaz this AM…Hello Barret Jackson and the BCN dream car – aston martin DB5…”bond…james bond”

    No Bitcoins 4 Ure…never mind the “restart”..must be present to collect.

    • “No meat in the “soup”, like a nice vichyssoise, light, refreshing potato soup sans any MEAT.”

      Dam.. now I want go make some potato ham soup.. lots of onions and one carrots diced for color.

      • here in the BCN household the War Department, my better half, always throws 339 Lentil beans into the ham soup. When I her asked why the hell do you have to put exactly 239 ? She said and I quote “one more bean and the soup would be too farty.

        She wasnt kiddin..

      • (urp!) Coming off a week’s supply of beef stew… all locally sourced. Couldn’t finish the pot. Had to bag and freeze the leftovers after several days of stew eating.

        Many of Hawaii’s ‘local’ eating habits were cultured in the old days with little or no refrigeration. Rice is a small side dish in Japan. In Hawaii it became a staple starch because it ‘keeps’ and stores well. Canned meats, such as SPAM, also became a staple here for the same reason. Now we have the huge Parker Ranch raising beef cattle locally. Add some local veggies, and beef stew blooms in the pot.

        And the solar PV system is large enough to keep the freezer running, and run the microwave to zap a frozen meal. (I hesitate to use the term ‘nuke’ these days!)

  4. We have two 250 gallon propane tanks, each of which will last us a year of cooking and water heating. Our tankless propane water heater draws its minimal electrical needs from 3 solar panels and 3 AGM batteries, so we’re set for hot water. I’m installing a 24v well pump, powered by two 200w solar panels. Storage is a 500 gallon tank on a 24 foot tower. Our diesel generator can be run once a week to do laundry, and we have 150 gallons of diesel fuel stored. We heat the house with wood, and we have 3 cords split and stacked under roof. Now if only I could figure out a way to COOL the house with wood. We have HF and VHF radio capability, which we may or may not have after an EMP. We have two bicycles.
    About all we can do at this point is sit back and hope all this stuff not required for survival.

    • I won’t detail it all… but the whole concept of the retirement ‘Volcano Ranch’ is sustainable independence as much as possible. Water is a private well in the Mauna Loa aquifer just two miles up the road. Hot water is solar plus PV electric assist for pumps and controller. Electric systems are all surge protected. I have a backup generator if needed.
      Water supplier is vulnerable if power goes out and backup generators fail. But many local homes live on catchment water, and I can quickly cobble some garbage cans on the downspouts as needed. My biggest worry is fuel failure. Gasoline & diesel is refined on Oahu and barged to the neighbor islands, so that is a big vulnerability that I cannot do much about. So I look for fuel workarounds. Got the solo stove and plenty of organic biomass fuel available for cooking. Heck, the native Hawaians lived just fine in the 1700s here. And raw fish is a delicacy here!

  5. As with many other phenomena, EMP comes in a range of intensity, from “not much” to “fry your eyeballs.” Lots of variation.

    This suggests three (very general) levels of danger and mitigation steps. (My personal theory, NOT endorsed by anybody authoritative.)

    1) “NOT MUCH” The EMP weapon happened further away, or wasn’t very big, or simply didn’t work right. STEPS: Unplug sensitive devices as possible when not in use, and especially disconnect any external antennas on radios. Hi-Fi systems, things with computerized integrated controllers like microwave ovens, heating system controllers, PCs, etc, etc. A mild EMP isn’t much worse than a routine summertime thunderstorm. Vehicles are likely not bothered or damaged. Some few things get zapped, most, not. Surges on the AC powerline. (AC line surge protectors will help some — well worth doing.) (AC power may go out for a while — maybe a long while. It’s a much bigger and more sensitive target.)

    3) (yes, “3”) “EXTREME” Very Bad Deal. You’re close to Ground Zero. (A misnomer, actually, since EMP effective weapons are detonated at very high altitudes — many miles up.) Extreme countermeasures necessary are expensive and complex. RF shielded rooms, electronic by-passing, good grounding, filtering and blocking devices — a LOT of money, and a LOT of things to do. Making a B-52 or SAM 28000 “nuclear hardened” costs fabulous amounts of money that you can’t equal.

    2) (yes, out of sequence to aid making the main point) “SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN.” Most likely scenario. So much variability that blanket to-do punch lists become silly. There is much published on the subject, so read up, and intelligently select what’s reasonable and do-able, pay your money, make your choices, keep it sane, and hope for the best. Reduce your intrinsic vulnerabilities and resume normal life.

    Pray the Big-Shots make good choices.

    KEY TAKE-AWAY: EMP comes in variable intensities, and one size does NOT fit all.

    • Isn’t one of the biggest concerns from an EMP is the main frame computers that run/manage nearly everything., from utilities to communications ?

      • Yes. It all depends on how well they’re protected, and how much they get “iilluminated.” …and where the “hit” is, of course. Most are NOT well-protected. (Costs money they’d rather piss away on something else, and doesn’t “show.”)

      • Exactly. What’s the point of shielding the cell phone if the towers will be useless.

        The tricky part is knowing when to take the subdivision because if/when the lights do come back on there may be calls for responsibility. But it has to be taken before someone else gets the wild hair to take the subdivision.

        “No warnings beyond this point” signs will only work on certain people.

      • Yes, because they can’t be shut down or otherwise removed from the electric mains. Lots of utilities are running their ‘puters and switches below-ground, but I know of none who are running their stuff inside a properly set-up Faraday cage.

        The really sucky thing about “EMP” is we can know all the theory (our host knows quite a lot of it) but there’s often a huge difference between theory and application.

        If either the theory OR the application is wrong or insufficient, we won’t know until our stuff craps out, or survives. If it shits itself, we don’t get a do-over…

    • I do have one hope in regards to EMP’s in that they dont happen.

      Theres only a handful of countries able to blow a nuke off in high orbit to , for example , take out the US.

      Heres my problem. Those nukes do not go off straight down or directed towards an area. They will go upwards as well. Take a piece of paper , draw the globe , then pick a point above the Earth for detonation. Every single satellite , ISS , Starlink , whatever will be destroyed. Anything not blocked by the Earth is done. Well thats not just the US gear , but China Russia and everybody elses gear in space. Sure there are psycho nut-jobs out there but crazy enough to knock all of that out ?

      Of course a CME is a different story….

      • Electric cars: you don’t even have to get to EMP question if you live in hurricane country. Imagine the dialog: She: “Honey, get the go-bag. We’re in the cone for a Cat 5.” He: “Fuggedabout it. The TV just said that all of the charging stations north of Orlando have 24 hour lines.”

        FWIW, I have a hybrid and two 5 gallon gas cans. Range is about 1000 miles. Coming back south from a hurricane retreat I found a mile long gas line at one gas station. Most were closed because they had no power to run the pumps. Since then apparently there has been legislation mandating generators for gas stations, however I have no idea about compliance or whether existing stations were grandfathered.

        • Repeat after me (and look for a head nod from OM2) – electrics have a place but it’s not where you might have to flee and that means anywhere on the Gulf of Mexico. Nope, gas cans, hybrid or move. Your thousand mile bugout range is great planning.

  6. After three days of – Just what the hell is going on here !? .., I am back in cash. Closed out my Call options at close yesterday.., and my Put options this morning as the 100 dropped over a full percent at the open. [ now down only quarter of a percent.] Three days of getting slapped around – a complete wash. Lost a total of….., $22
    – Could have been worse.., yeah, that is true.

  7. “Yep – got it right – sounds like we are in a nearby lifeboat, lol”
    .
    My lifeboat still has some holes in it. Not too sure which way to go to plug them up. The older I get, the more comfort I seek.., which can be a real drag on the finances!
    – Captain Kirk to Chief Engineer Scott: “I need more power!”

  8. If electric goes tens of millions will be found frozen dead in the Spring thaw. And the winter building fires from people trying to heat with BBQs will take millions more. No power for the water pumpers and the fire risk for cities is back to 1871 Chicago. A lake of water directly next to a city engulfed.

    The hardest part of riding the Apocalypse will be rejecting everyone who didn’t prepare. Family, friends and others, “I need.”

    “Can I please plug my portable dialysis machine into your outlet while I snuggle under your blanket eating your rice and beans?”

    They’re not going to be reasonable by accepting no, going back home and starving in the cold alone.

    Some may be possibly housed in stadiums on starvation diets. Prison rules there.

  9. Folks,

    Sigh, remember back to simpler days when plugs only came with two prongs, and grounding out was just a baseball term?

    Tuesday’s transcript of Mr. Biden’s remarks at his booster/variant shot offers an interesting jab depending how literally one wishes to interpret the spoken word. “This fall, get your COVID shot and get your flu shot. It’s simple. It’s easy. For most Americans, it’s one of the COVID shots per year. One — once a year it’s going to be required. And it’s the most important thing you can do.”

    It looks like rather than jetting halfway across the nation on Air Force 1 for a single photo-op, there is value to have Mr. Biden participate in a series of 3 electronic political receptions this evening. They include drop-ins to Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. One imagines a representative will not be mentioning a proxy vote mailed in support of the Inflation Reduction Act while vacationing in France due to “the continuing health emergency” nor trading company stocks of companies overseen by the rep. Another rep allegedly is in some sort of ethical conflict with their largest donor’s law firm. As for Nevada, clean as a whistle. What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

    Things are great in Britain and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has forced a backbencher to remove a tweet suggesting Mr. Sunak as PM wasn’t a great for Anglo-Asians because he’s rich. Sir Keir of course was previously found to be of more than modest means after an ex-boyfriend journalist of the woman who became Mrs. Boris Johnson outlined Sir Keir’s £10million land holdings in the Surrey greenbelt outside London.

    • Re: Servant of the People

      Folks,

      So two thieves meet in a bar, and…
      What? Oh, thank you. Message from DJ George at the control desk, the mike is live.

      Alright, now we zoom from electronic receptions in America to Mr. Zelensky meeting in person his counterpart from Guineau-Bissau in Kiev. GB of course has been awarded 21 of a possible 25 points on the 2022 corruption index, up 3 points from last year, to stand as the 18th most corrupt nation in the world.

      Naturally in these blustery times buffeting the ear for attention, perhaps yesterday’s international plea from Ukraine for $38 billion to replenish the coffers fell upon a receptive audience. It seems however that Ukrinform’s advice also from yesterday may have seen the advice of martial law #8069 suffer a pulled speaker plug for overseas listeners.

      Under provisions of the new law, if one of 14 named Ukrainian banks goes bankrupt because of the Russian invasion, the state will nationalize it for hrv 1 which is currently equivalent to 2 US cents. At liquidation should shares be worth more than a total of hrv 1, the surplus will be applied to the nation’s costs incurred by the Russian invasion.

      Interestingly, a comedic offshoot of Germany’s Der Spiegel appears to suggest that a Lviv-born Russian multi-billionaire and founder of one of the 14 banks eligible for nationalization is transferring a $1 billion sum to a new banking entity. This sum is allegedly for leverage to enable an exit from Western sanctions by the oligarch. Regrettably the move apparently would leave the original bank short of capitalization requirements.

      Let’s see how it all plays? Important people will undoubtedly sort it all out.

      • Same in 2008; Lehman Brothers collapse.

        Ole Paulson told everyone that we were getting ready to lose the largest investor in one bank that would pull the whole system down.

        We TARPED it.

        Some quotes from this ancient article:

        https://www.politico.com/story/2008/09/paulsons-rescue-plan-is-called-tarp-013609

        “We must now take further, decisive action to fundamentally and comprehensively address the root cause of our financial system’s stresses.”

        “The financial security of all Americans — their retirement savings, their home values, their ability to borrow for college, and the opportunities for more and higher-paying jobs — depends on our ability to restore our financial institutions to a sound footing.”

    • Speaking of money, Tass notes the Russian budget estimates are out for 2023-25 running about a 2% of gdp deficit and 5+% of gdp spent on defense. Ruble 1 trillion/US$16.2billion was withdrawn last week to fund the Russian deficit from the National Wealth Fund that supports the pension system.

      RT had an interesting report out in July 2021 explaining that the National Wealth Fund had dropped its US$ holdings from 35% to zero. Going forward, holdings would be 40% yuan, 30% euro, 5% pound, 5% yen, and 20% gold. This is not investment advice. Just watching the stacks at the big table.

  10. Looks as though I got out of my trade a wee bit early.., the 100 is now down over 200 points. All the markets have turned negative – one hour to go.

  11. Yet another post about covid vaccines. I know many, perhaps most, here are unconvinced or downright negative. Nevertheless, I had an encounter yesterday with my dermatologist that contributed to my thinking about the bivalent booster and the logic may be useful to others.

    My wife and I had the initial two plus two boosters, then at the end of August caught covid while in Ireland. Fortunately, very mild cases. Now we are planning more European travel in a couple weeks but we were ambivalent about getting #5 while we still presumably have some immunity from the earlier shots plus the infection. I knew the dermatologist has a heart condition, had been vaccinated and boosted, but had been off work for a couple of weeks because he was sick with covid. So, I asked if he had taken #5. His response was that he hadn’t seen good evidence of its effectiveness yet and that he tests his antigen levels monthly and that he will not get bivalent #5 as long as antigen levels are high unless he sees clear evidence that the bivalent is effective against the strains now roaming around. This is a very smart guy who publishes on cancer vaccines and hold several patents. He wrote prescriptions for my wife and me for both antigen tests and serum vitamin D levels. If both are satisfactory, we will travel without #5.

  12. Today, marks 10,000 hours of deep meditation. I started meditation over 20 years ago. I could only do it for 2 minutes a day when I started. I have a counter in that space between awake and asleep and this morning it rolled to 10,000 hours. :)

  13. “People often overlook the fact that a large part of the food on hand is electricity dependent.
    This doesn’t cover only storage systems like refrigerators and freezers, but it should also trigger some thought about how – if the power went off right this instant – would you have a delicious hot meal tonight, anyway?”

    Staying with my folks in the midwest when a huge storm knocked out power mainlines in five counties around us. Knowing the freezers would not last, we and all the neighbors got out the charcoal grills and started cooking. For several days we had ‘block party picnic’ as everyone was out grilling and sharing food. We had natGas water heater so nearby neighbors were invited to take hot water showers at our house. Great food and a hot shower did a lot to get thru the ensuing five days of hand cutting downed trees to clear the streets and property.

  14. Are the rows houses in neighborhoods with installed panels able to access power without a working grid?

    • Presactly ! One of the key points in my book on Power in the Second Depression!

      Most people don’t realize it, but the majority of (cheap) how power solar lash-ups sold by the ute ility companies require a grid synchronizing signal to control their operations.

      No grid timing signal means no power.

      Grownups like Hank and I (who have power, but real no grid needed systems) are well aware of this. But most people are not. Beware!

  15. The best strategy for grid down is to stay home, and black out the windows facing the streets. Avoid fires with visible smoke until it is too cold to get by otherwise.
    If you are roaming the streets in a motor vehicle, it begs the question, “where is that guy getting fuel?”.
    Where there are lights, there is comfort.
    Where there is smoke, there might be a hot meal.
    When the lights go out, you have already missed the boat on stocking up. Improvise and make do until the lights come back on, or until the first large wave of die-offs are over, and you need to have contact with the outside world.

    Propane is good until it runs out. Same for all other hydrocarbon fuels and alcohols. I like kerosene for back-up cooking, but wood and a rocket stove or wood stove are a longer term solution, if you have access to the wood. In the early stages of a grid down situation, concealing smoke will be more important, and the propane or kerosene will help. To maintain a wood supply, you need saws and axes. Chainsaws are hydrocarbon fuel dependent, says the guy with a half dozen. I also have a one man crosscut saw, and all manner of bow saws and axes.
    Water is your most important stored consumable. Keep a couple of flats of bottled water. I wish I had a pallet of canned water, but I don’t. Have a water barrel or a bathtub liner, and fill it quickly when you realize that the game is afoot. Renewable water resources are one of those things that should have been high on your list of things to throw money at. Camping water filters can help provide clean water without fire. Bladders and bottles are needed to gather water if your stuck with foraging. Improvise.
    In addition to food that requires heat to prepare, have at least a few days of provisions that can be consumed cold. Again, once the lights go out, a trip to the grocery store is about the last place you want to go. Young, heavily armed parents will be looking to do the Walking Dead requisitioning of your stuff once they realize that the cops are nowhere to be found, and you have resources. If you don’t have a stock of food that doesn’t require refrigeration, think it through. Solar systems are complex technical systems, and grid down scenarios attack complexity, preferentially and terminally.
    I’ll skip the lighting rant. Just avoid advertising that you have ’em.
    Gotta put a non-electric timer on order. I have the manual can openers already. That was Ure good idea for the day, G_____.

    • And there the Giant named Goliath, who cursed God, fell dead. David not having a sword of his own. Took Goliaths own sword and cut of his head. And the army of the godless fled in fear for their lives.

  16. You and your nukes . After a big day counting cash and after sarking mohitos eating pig you would have a bigger kiloton fart or belch than a nuke . Absolute sheet we listen 2

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