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Dennis Quaid documentary, very sobering.

i'd not trust 100% of everything to electricity.

i already have read/seen the grid system is in dire straits, as far as updated cabling, look at the fires in CA, weren't they from old falling wires to the ground?

not only that, but foreign AND domestic terrorists can wreak havoc with anything, and if we go full on all electric, God help us.
 
It's a super interesting, and complex topic. And one that I take a fair bit of interest in, both professionally and personally. There are so many factors to be considered - from decisions about energy inputs and their respective reliability to distribution, to overall grid design choices that prepare us for future developments, redundancy and resilience, national security and addressing vulnerabilities, and on and on. Energy in general is in a huge period of disruption and transition right now, and it definitely keeps utilities, grid designers and national security experts up at night.

We also have the challenge of being a very large country, geographically and demographically, with a lot of different regions, climates, population centers, etc. that also play into decision-making by necessity. And then there is the simple fact that so many people take reliable electricity for granted and assume it will always be there at the flick of a switch, and have no idea what to do if that doesn't happen, and have never considered preparing accordingly.

Looking forward to watching this - thanks for the link.
 
We amateur radio operators have a have a built in dooms day gene that forces most of us to have emergency power of some sort available. When I built my home 26 years ago, I had all major appliances wired and plumbed for both 230v and LP gas. I also installed a 1000 gallon LP tank with a liquid line. House electric comes in through an out building where I can run a generator leaving the house fume and noise free. When the rolling blackouts hit Texas a few winters ago, I was minimally affected. The freezer has 2 months of food with canned goods extending that a good while longer. The swimming pool will provide clean water for months at reduced consumption rates.

When my wife lived in South Africa, they would have rolling blackouts from time to time for an hour or two. When the government replaced the competent engineer running the grid with an "Equity" political hack, they now endure 1-2 hours of power with 12 or more hours of load shedding daily. The local coal that use to reliably power their grid is now diverted to China. It is obvious to me that we are headed toward the South African model in one form or another.

Most people do not realize how precarious their ability to stay alive is given their dependency on our crumbling supply chain once all forms of power and energy are cut off.
 
No overly worried these days. With my wife's infirmities and reliable upon meds, and me heading towards 65 fast, and not really caring to live in that type of world without her, whatever happens, happens.

We have enough built into plans to last a fair while. The kids i have set up as well as i could, and passed on what knowledge i could, but they are far enough away they gotta stand on thier own feet. Not planning on bugging out, this is our Alamo. I will go down swinging, but I gotta go one of these days anyways.
 
Lexie__M said:
Didn't the US have a serious blackout in the NE US in the late 70's where much of the NE US and some Canada was down for weeks?
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Then living in NJ, I went through the NE blackouts in 1965, 1977 and was at work in NJ for the 2003 blackout. In 2003, several of my co-workers were visiting our Home office in NYC (major Insurance Co.), and ended up doing a lot of walking either to wait for buses or catching one different ferries. Luckily, that day (and most), I was at our NJ data processing center, which was designed with two separate power lines coming into it. Surprisingly, one stay up while the other went down, so computers and environmental systems were able to stay up and running.
Interestingly, when the 1977 blackout hit on July 13th, I was attending Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Street Survivors Tour" at Convention Hall in Asbury Park NJ. When we were driving home, my Brother-In-Law couldn't get any NY radio stations which we found strange (only later to find out about the blackout). Unfortunately, a few months later, several Lynyrd Skynyrd band members were killed in a plane crash.
 
Sld1959 said:
No overly worried these days. With my wife's infirmities and reliable upon meds, and me heading towards 65 fast, and not really caring to live in that type of world without her, whatever happens, happens.

We have enough built into plans to last a fair while. The kids i have set up as well as i could, and passed on what knowledge i could, but they are far enough away they gotta stand on thier own feet. Not planning on bugging out, this is our Alamo. I will go down swinging, but I gotta go one of these days anyways.
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Being tied down to home ownership is why I prefer an apartment and why I’m getting a 5th wheel camper.
I’ve been offered land in Texas and accepted the offer to buy 10 Acres from a good friend. He was going to just let me stay there but we talked two weeks ago about what I wanted to do…
(Drill for a well) and have a concrete pad poured for the camper to sit on.
I close in 3 weeks. Anyway that’s where I’ll be heading in case of an infrastructure meltdown.
 
Keystone19250 said:
Being tied down to home ownership is why I prefer an apartment and why I’m getting a 5th wheel camper.
I’ve been offered land in Texas and accepted the offer to buy 10 Acres from a good friend. He was going to just let me stay there but we talked two weeks ago about what I wanted to do…
(Drill for a well) and have a concrete pad poured for the camper to sit on.
I close in 3 weeks. Anyway that’s where I’ll be heading in case of an infrastructure meltdown.
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Please keep us updated on how things go in TX.
 
Keystone19250 said:
Being tied down to home ownership is why I prefer an apartment and why I’m getting a 5th wheel camper.
I’ve been offered land in Texas and accepted the offer to buy 10 Acres from a good friend. He was going to just let me stay there but we talked two weeks ago about what I wanted to do…
(Drill for a well) and have a concrete pad poured for the camper to sit on.
I close in 3 weeks. Anyway that’s where I’ll be heading in case of an infrastructure meltdown.
Click to expand...
Way to go. I always admired some friends I have in Kansas. They raise their own cattle and vegetables, have several water wells on the property and have a natural gas well that powers the farm including a full time generator. They are totally off the grid and have been that way for about 5 decades.
 
BobT said:
Way to go. I always admired some friends I have in Kansas. They raise their own cattle and vegetables, have several water wells on the property and have a natural gas well that powers the farm including a full time generator. They are totally off the grid and have been that way for about 5 decades.
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Have you ever watched the TV show: Homestead Rescue
They have a familia who goes to different people living off the grid who are failing and assist them (within one week) in a re-make of their "Living off the Grid" to make it fully not only livable but fully functional off-grid self sufficient.
 
None of this is really anything new. It's not like the grid was super robust and reliable 20 years ago, or 50 years ago, or that it hasn't always been a good idea to be prepared for extended outages. It was a good idea then, it's still a good idea now. On the positive side, there are a lot more good products available to provide backup than there ever were in the past.
 
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