Scoring Power Sources is our topic heading into my “Useful Book of Emergency Power” for subscribers.
The whole matter of picking your power sources is vastly more complicated than people give it credit for being.
This morning, after the headlines and charts, we’ll scale a number of sources against a wide range of threats that could leave you in the dark if the “latter-day replay of 1929” shows up.
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I agree wholeheartedly about the advantages of diesel. A few years ago I was lucky enough to run across a 1997 Dodge Cummins 4X4 truck (last year before computers) for a decent price. After a little looking I was able to find a 550 gallon farm tank (<$500 used) which I keep prettty much filled. If you buy over 200 gal, they boys here will deliver free and use it for both my truck and tractor.
Two thoughts here:
1. An improvised system for occasional power only can be to find a 7-10Kw generator that has a bad engine. Buy it cheap on CL or at auction and scrap the engine. Mount it on that old car that you have out back with a great engine(toss the A/C and mount it there) and bad transmission. Even better if you have an old truck with a diesel, or a tractor PTO. Run it once a month to keep it active, and you have power of sorts. Even less work is buying a 2KW inverter from harbor freight and mounting it near the battery with thick cables on your daily driver. You have some portable power available at any time – even in “normal” times. Just carry a 12 gauge extension cord.
2. Good outline on the grid tied and grid interactive solar. The third type is the grid independent setup, and if you mount it on a trailer, you don’t need to bother with NEC or inspections. It still pays to wire it correctly for maintainability and safety. Put a license plate on the trailer to satisfy any authorities, and remove the wheels so someone doesn’t borrow it. Again, use an extension cord and power strips as needed. DON’T plug it into the house without a legitimate and properly wired transfer switch!
Solar energy.
When Ure talks about solar, he is talking about solar electric.
However, the best solar is solar thermal.
1. The sun is used to heat glycol and that heats water for hot water.
2. Still better is using the sun to heat the house. That same glycol can go through heaters inside the house, very much like a car radiator with a built in fan and pump.
They have been made for years.
Heating hot water 12 months and providing house heat for 5, 6, 7 months is the way to go.
The system can be automated running off two sensors in the panels. A temperature sensor in the hot water tank and the use of thermostats inside the house (like your furnace) to turn on and off the house heating side.
Larger more expensive array to start, but the payback is much much quicker -and your house will be much more comfortable.
A good topic for a book chapter.
Sir,
Thank you for the informative AccuWeather link advising that the barometer is falling. By coincidence I have just completed a reading of “The Fifth Risk” by Michael Lewis. He attacks in detail various Trump Administration appointees assigned to lead federal agencies including an AccuWeather company head to be in charge of NOAA. It’s interesting that such an individual is given oversight of the public NOAA weather data organization.
Another curious angle from Wikipedia is that AccuWeather has allegedly throttled historical data access from 15 years down to one year. It echoes what you pointed to a while back when your Yahoo historical financial data was no longer accessible to the same degree as before. I think a prediction from your internet book was for an increasingly constrained internet?
A sparkling memory, sit! Indeed, it’s part of creeping historical revisionism wee have long considered a hallmark of the corporate-government ruling monopoly
Speaking of, Accuweather, Weather Underground, and The Weather Channel are now the same entity. This somehow bothers me, because my mentor is, or at least was, a lead meteorologist at Accu…
Long term power grid outages? Somewhere around the three week level all hope is lost for the individual.
By week two Bartertown has to be up and running.
If you aren’t managing Bartertown, Bartertown zombies will come for your stuff.
“On a dark night, you could even see a candle flame flickering up to 30 mi. (48 km) away.”
– http://www.livescience.com
George, A quick note on non alcoholic gas. On the western slope of Colorado there is one fairly large western chain (maybe national??) that has been putting in “BLUE” pumps which dispense non alcoholic gas. Also here, (about 40 miles away from a real city with a semi serious connecting airport that I know you have seen), there is one station in town which does sell non-alcoholic gas. I use it in all of my gas vehicles and small motors, chain saws etc. I have noticed there is an increase in power and millage with all the vehicles.( I haven’t been able to get Bubba to check her millage on the lawn mower to date.) Is it more expensive??? It’s a business model George, what do you think? about 10%. I do take the precaution in the winter of adding “HEAT” every now and again to absorb/emulsify any H2O.