Surviving a Power Grid Collapse Conclusion Part 3

In case you missed it Part 1 and Part 2

Additional Considerations

Once the disaster extends for weeks or longer citizens in the community will become desperate and will be looking to survive by any means possible. Your home could be a target once people realize you have an energy source. Home-defense must be part of any emergency preparedness plan and you must be ready to handle desperate friends, neighbors and strangers.

Do not advertise the fact you are prepared. Many of the so-called “preppers” do actively encourage and will help others prepare for a disaster because the ones unprepared will be a burden on everyone. Not only will they be a burden they may turn to violence and justify their actions in the name of providing for their families. Once disaster strikes the unprepared will be looking for those that did prepare. You must protect your possessions, tools, equipment and materials during a crisis and the less people who know how prepared you are the safer you will be. Read more

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Surviving a Power Grid Collapse Part 2

If you did not catch Part 1 you can catch up here

Considerations

Solar panels are costly on the front end and once installed they cannot be easily removed and transported if evacuation is necessary. However, solar panels are ideal as a supplemental energy source and they can be relied upon when your community’s power grid goes down as long as you have a stand-alone system that is not connected to the grid. You will need battery storage along with gas or diesel powered generators to make sure you have an uninterrupted supply of electricity. Solar panels can be damaged, by a natural disaster or by vandals so it is important that they not be your sole source of electricity.

Wind and water can be used to generate electricity by powering an electrical generator, which would generate Direct Current and would work similar to a stand-alone solar system. One problem is of course that excess electricity must be bled off into batteries capable of handling the load. Direct Current is flow directly from the source to the load, such as refrigerators, air conditioning units and so forth. Households usually use AC so the DC must be converted for most appliances. The current does not stop flowing when the turbine is operational so it is important you have the system properly configured to handle any excess electricity. Read more