Topic: Living off the grid soon to be mandatory, if you want to survive

[Libertas]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-19/government-agency-warns-if-9-substations-are-destroyed-power-grid-could-be-down-18-m

Need to accelerate self-reliant power plans?  If not now, when?!

[Weisshaupt]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-19/government-agency-warns-if-9-substations-are-destroyed-power-grid-could-be-down-18-m

Need to accelerate slef-reliant power plans?  If not now, when?!

Yeah, this has been key to my plan since the beginning.  We relay very much upon electric power to maintain our way of living.  Of course in an EMP scenario,  it will all be destroyed.  The cost of PV systems is coming down, and if there is time and I remain employed ,  I will add a second one to the farm. But you are a fool if you don't have a generator of some sort at this point.

[Libertas]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-19/government-agency-warns-if-9-substations-are-destroyed-power-grid-could-be-down-18-m

Need to accelerate self-reliant power plans?  If not now, when?!

Yeah, this has been key to my plan since the beginning.  We relay very much upon electric power to maintain our way of living.  Of course in an EMP scenario,  it will all be destroyed.  The cost of PV systems is coming down, and if there is time and I remain employed ,  I will add a second one to the farm. But you are a fool if you don't have a generator of some sort at this point.

I'm diggin in the spurs now for a more robust plan than reliance on little 6-7k units!  It will be done this summer...I will raise cain every day till it is done.

[Glock32]

Right now due to finances all I could get for the suburban home is a 4,000 watt generator.  But I put the money I saved with a smaller generator into a bunch of military fuel cans. I'd rather have a small generator and a lot of fuel than a big generator that will be out in less than a week.  I'm putting a bit more thought and effort into things at my mountain abode, because it's my SHTF bugout location..

The enzyme based fuel stabilizer is supposed to make the fuel good for 2 years, so I just slowly rotate through the stock and put the oldest into the car then refill the fuel can.

[Weisshaupt]

I'm diggin in the spurs now for a more robust plan than reliance on little 6-7k units!  It will be done this summer...I will raise cain every day till it is done.

For most things those 6-7 KW units will be fine. T

IN fact my Full blown PV system doesn't generate more than that - its actually a lot of power. The big problem is the fuel to run them... The average house NOT in Teotwawki mode uses 15-20 KW-Hrs.  If you charged batteries with the Generator - and used an inverter ( or converted to DC appliances.. (don't) )  you would run the generator 3-4 hrs a day and run off the batteries the rest of the time.. .  Of course a good set of 48V batteries capable of providing 15KW hrs of power are going to run around 3 grand and last around 7-8 years. Then you need a charger and an inverter..  - probably around $4-6K  -- and at that point you look into getting a Solar Inverter and just using it in "generator hook up" mode till you add PV panels down the road. One way or another it adds up fast..  and then there is batter maintenance to be done f its not being used.. you have to keep them charged and warm...

In a short term scenario, the  generator with batts and inverter will be fine. The problem is long term for the fuel. PV panels of course can be used to get rid of that problem,  but to equal the charging capacity of the generator , you need 4000 Watts of panels or so and that will run another $5000 .. But the PV panel prices have come down so much and as far as I know you still get the 30% tax break.  So with cables, mounts  and other balance of systems crap  the total package would cost around $20K - and Uncle Sam  pays for a third of it.. -its not that bad, and you don't have to add more than a single string of panels to qualify for the tax break and can add more panels later..