Part 25 (1/2)

So, let's say you decide to go with the inverter and the deep-cycle battery. How do you recharge it? Well, you can charge your deep-cycle batteries off of a solar power system, either stationary or portable. The number of batteries and size of the solar system will depend on your power needs. I think you should plan on reducing your energy footprint right now and even more so during a crisis. How much power will you need? You can find that out with a product called an electricity usage monitor. These are sold on Amazon.com and by some brick-and-mortar retailers.

What You Need to Know About Deep-Cycle Batteries Deep-cycle batteries are commonly used in golf carts, boats, and recreational vehicles. They're also used in large solar power systems.

Their similarity to car batteries is that both are lead-acid batteries and both operate on the same chemistry principles. However, a car battery is designed to provide a large amount of electrical current over a short period of time. The reason is that it's meant to turn on the car engine during the starting process. A deep-cycle battery is designed to provide a steady amount of current over a long period of time. It's also designed to discharge all its juice over and over again-a deep-cycle battery can withstand several hundred total discharge/recharge cycles. That would ruin a car battery, which isn't designed to discharge completely.

Source: How Stuff Works, What Is The Difference Between a Normal Lead-Acid Car Battery and a Deep Cycle Battery?

Use the electricity usage monitor to measure the power requirements of everything you absolutely must run. This includes your refrigerator, some lights, and your water heater (unless you already have solar water heating), and maybe a TV or radio, and so on. Add it up and you'll know the size of the system you have to get.

But what if all you want to do is run portable electronics-your electric lamps, flashlights, and so on?

In that case, just consider a solar battery charger. You can buy universal solar battery chargers or even 15-50- and 60-watt solar charging kits on Amazon.com and at some major camping stores. You may also want to buy an amp charge controller (also for sale on Amazon.com).

One thing to remember with any solar power system: The cost of these items means it will be years (maybe more than a decade) before they pay for themselves.

Using the Sun to Stay Warm

For people in northern climes, staying warm in the winter is just as important as keeping the lights on. Woodstoves and pellet stoves are very popular, and I'll get to those in a minute. Solar power can also keep you warm in the winter. There are two basic types of active solar heating systems.14 They are both based on the type of fluid-either liquid or air-that is heated in the solar energy collectors. (The collector is the device in which a fluid is heated by the sun.) Air-based systems heat air in an air collector; liquid-based systems heat water or an antifreeze solution in a hydronic collector. Solar liquid collectors are best for homes with central heating. Air-based systems are best for heating individual rooms.

The costs of these solar heating systems can vary wildly, and some states offer sales tax exemptions, income tax credits or deductions, as well as property tax exemptions or deductions for installing solar energy systems.

Heating with Wood

Wood heat, via a wood-burning stove, is another great alternative, especially if you're trying to survive up north in the winter. The choice many people face is whether to get a woodstove or a pellet stove.

I grew up in Maine, back in the day when we didn't have these fancy pellet stoves. Luckily, we could buy cords of wood (from the wood cutters) for cheap, but it still had to be cut to size to use in the house fireplace and woodstoves. So, winter involved a lot of chopping and cutting, and swearing under the breath as we trudged off to the barn through a blizzard (uphill both ways!) for yet another load of wood.

All that chopping and cutting and lugging is why a lot of people switched to pellet stoves-a stove that burns compressed wood or bioma.s.s pellets. However, most modern pellet stoves need electricity to feed the hopper; if the power goes out, there's no fire. Oops!

Luckily, you can get a battery backup system for a pellet stove. If you're going to go the pellet stove route, I highly recommend a battery backup. Your local pellet stove supplier should have information on it.

If you live up north, I strongly suggest you install some kind of alternative heating system before the next winter if you don't have one already. If you don't have the money for a woodstove or pellet stove, at least get a portable emergency camp stove. You must keep these properly ventilated, but they're better than nothing and can keep you warm if the lights go off for days on end. Camp stoves usually burn stove Hexamine, Trioxane, or some other solid fuel tablets.

In a severe societal breakdown, you may find it difficult to find material to feed the ever- hungry woodstove or pellet stove. But I 'd count on being able to find sc.r.a.p-wood for a stove long after wood pellets have disappeared, which is another point in favor of woodstoves. You'll need your own ax and access to a wooded lot if and when things get so bad that the woodsman stops making deliveries.

Cut Home Energy Costs Before Crisis Strikes

Here are some other ideas on ways you can cut electricity usage in different areas of your home.15 Every penny you save is more you can put toward buying your survival gear.

Living Room * One compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) uses 20% of the energy of an incandescent bulb of similar brightness and can last up to eight times longer.16 CFLs contain small amounts of mercury (an average four milligrams per each bulb; more in the long fluorescent tubes), so proper disposal is a must. On the plus side, your risk of exposure from a light bulb is minuscule compared to the amount you probably get through eating fish, especially tuna (about one milligram per pound).

* Also, the amount of energy saved by a CFL, thus reducing the amount of coal burned for its use, results in a negative mercury value for the environment (there's plenty of mercury in coal, too)-far beyond the four milligrams in the lamp. See also:or similar web sites.

* Many electronics-DVD players, VCRs, TVs, stereos-draw as much as 100 watts an hour even when turned off. Avoid the drain and plug them into a power strip that you turn of when not watching TV.

* Plasma TVs use almost four times the energy of standard TVs. LCD flat panels use somewhat less than plasmas.

Kitchen * Run the dishwasher only when it is full. You'll save an average of 20 gallons of water per day.

* Grill outside on hot summer days. You'll avoid heating up the house with oven and stovetop cooking.

* Refrigerators account for 14% of electricity bills. Replace any ill-fitting door seals, and don 't stand in front of a fridge, with the door open, looking for something to eat.

Laundry Room * Wash in cold water. 90% of the energy used to wash clothes is used to make hot water. Almost all but the filthiest clothes will be washed equally well in cold water with a cold -water detergent-really.

* Avoid dry cleaners. Try cleaning fragile garments at home with cold-water hand was.h.i.+ng.

* Hang clothes outside to dry. Not only will you save roughly 6.5 pounds of greenhouse gases with every load; you're not adding heat to your house in summer.

Bedroom * Use fans in summer to make the air feel cooler if you set the thermostat higher.

* Close window curtains while you're at work to keep the heat out in the summer or to be a better insulator and keep heat in during the winter.

Bathroom * Take shorter showers. Every minute you spend in the shower uses four to six gallons of water. So get clean and get out. Try a Navy Shower :* Turn on the water.

* Immediately wet the body.

* Turn off the water.

* Soap up and scrub.

* Turn the water back on and rinse off the soap.The total time for the water being on is typically under two minutes. A 10-minute shower takes as much as 230 L (60 U.S. gallons) of water, while a Navy shower usually takes as little as three U.S. gallons; one person can save 56,000 L (15,000 U.S. gallons) per year.17 Alternately, use a low flow showerhead. Normal shower-heads use four to six gallons of water per minute. A low- flow showerhead can cut that to less than two.