Be prepared for “whatever”
It
is said that a crisis has two components: danger and opportunity. There is
danger in a crisis—catastrophe, collapse, and chaos. There is opportunity in
crisis—restoration, renewal, and revival. Preparedness doesn’t mean you’ll
survive, but it won’t contribute to your demise.
A
blackout is a likely scenario in either a short-term or long-term crisis, so
that is a good place to begin.
Blackout!
As
winter storms roll in and you prepare for the effects of rain, wind, and cold,
what plans you have to handle an interruption of utility power? Most of us have
experienced a blackout before. Has it been just an annoyance and inconvenience
to you? Or was it disruptive to your life or business? There’s not much anyone
can do to prevent a utility blackout, but there are ways to mitigate its impact
on your lifestyle whenever it does happen.
Is readiness for a blackout worthy of your consideration? Cost-cutting measures by utility companies throughout Canada and the US have eliminated programs that protect utility lines from growing or falling trees.
The new policy seems to be
“fix it only if it’s broken.” Severe storms, then, will most
certainly impact utility service. An interruption lasting one or more days is
more real a possibility than ever.
The
pressing question when a blackout occurs is: When will it end? Virtually anyone
can put up with a few hours of interruption. Just break out the candles, put on warmer clothes, and read a book or enjoy the company of a
friend. When the blackout continues, with no end in sight, the need for light,
heat, water, and food grows.
What’s
important in the home?
There
are four critical loads in a home affected by a blackout: lighting, heating,
refrigeration, and the water system.
•
Lighting. Lighting is essential for overall safety, particularly at night.
Fortunately, it need not be electric. candles, flashlights, and kerosene
lanterns are traditional lighting sources for blackouts. Preparation for a
blackout requires stockpiling matches, candles, batteries, or fuel for lanterns.
Don’t forget to put this stuff where you can find it in the dark!
•
Heating. Central air heating systems, even if they use natural gas or
propane, depend on electricity for the blower that will circulate the heated
air. During a blackout, this system will not work. Areas with temperate climates
allow most users to compensate with warmer clothing and the use of small propane
or kerosene heaters. Wood stoves are also a popular alternative to central
heating systems.
•
Refrigeration. A refrigerator will keep things cool for a long time after
power is interrupted. From the beginning, minimize the frequency and duration of
opening its door to preserve its cool! As the blackout continues, consume the
more perishable items first. Even a small stockpile of canned or freeze-dried
foods will prove helpful during a blackout
•
Water system. Most community water systems are designed to work for some
time following a blackout, powered with huge standby generators. Private water
systems built around streams, springs, and wells that use electric pumps will
quit working as soon as the electricity goes off. The pressure tank will still
deliver some water, so immediately fill handy containers (bottles, buckets,
bowls, bathtub, etc.) before this supply is depleted. The standard household
water heater is another source of 30-50 gallons of water. How will you handle
toilet, shower, and sink during a blackout? Some forethought and planning will
help with these processes during an extended blackout.
Other
sources of electricity
Utility
electricity available at the wall socket in a home or business is rated 120
Volts and 60-cycle AC. There are two ways to supply this same specialized power
in a blackout: A Renewable Energy
System - or a standby generator and a battery-powered
inverter.
The standby generator:
In
theory, the standby generator seems like the best way to handle blackouts.
However, there are five reasons why it is less than an ideal solution: expense,
fuel supply, peripherals, efficiency, and sound.
•
It is a fairly expensive system for only occasional use. For a big chunk of
time, the generator is not doing anything for you at all. Standby generators
designed for long life and minimal noise are more expensive than ones operating
at higher rpm (3600 rpm).
•
Requires fuel to run. Either you must install a large fuel tank nearby or
you’ll be transporting fuel cans to and from town to feed a rather thirsty
beast.
•
Needs peripheral hardware to work. Remote startup. Transfer switch. Monitoring
gauges. Fuel supply. A fire safe, weatherproof installation (shed?). A battery
that is ready to start the generator. Add these costs to that of the generator
itself.
•
It is needed for even small loads. A generator powering a few loads has a much
lighter load, but gobbles (inefficiently) fuel as though it’s doing more work
than it is. Either way, it experiences wear.
•
It is noisy. This is a security issue. A standby generator lets everyone in the
area know where you are. At the same time, proximity to the generator impairs
one’s own hearing. Bad combination. Despite these limitations, standby
generators have their place. There is 100 times more available energy stored in
a pound of gasoline than a pound of battery. In the short term and for big loads,
the generator gives the biggest bang for the buck.
At TRUEWEST SOLAR we do not directly address the issues of backup for utility outages, since our dedicated mission is solar electric power for remote homes not connected to any utility power at all. We do supply high quality, durable long life generators as well as inverter/battery systems that are excellent standby power, because this equipment works very well in both applications.
A licensed
commercial electrician in your area is the best source for the required
transfer switch and for code-approved planning and installation of a
utility-backup system for your grid connected home.
The battery-powered inverter:
Another
way to make electricity like that supplied by a utility is through an inverter.
An inverter is an electronic device that converts DC electricity into AC
electricity. (DC is direct current. AC is alternating current.) The result is
identical to the stuff from the utilities - only cleaner.
A
battery charger plugged into the utility line will also supply DC electricity to
a battery. This is a popular idea. The batteries are charged and maintained at
full readiness, and ready to substitute their energy for that of the utility for
as long as they’re able. The bigger the battery (bank of batteries), the
longer the system can bridge the blackout.
Generator – Batteries – Inverter – Household power
These systems are common. Have you ever wondered why your phone works when a blackout occurs? Phones run on electricity, too. The phone company has a “standby” or backup system which switches ON automatically when utility power is interrupted. This is called an uninterruptible power system, or UPS. At the heart of the UPS system is a bank of batteries.
Those batteries store enough energy to run an
entire complex of telephone-related equipment for many hours during a blackout.
When a blackout lasts longer than that, an engine-driven generator (fueled by
gasoline, diesel, or propane) is started up to handle the entire load and
recharge the batteries.
Here
is an example for a small system in such a configuration as we recommend it for
weekend cottages – featuring a small solar array to maintain the batteries
during absence – just to show you how things work.
Scenario
Upon arrival, a check of the inverters display panel may show the over the week solar maintained batteries are still low and in need of charging. By manually pressing a button on this display panel, the generator is started and the inverter comes to life putting as much charge as possible back into the batteries.
Since it
will take this generator about three hours to fully recharge the batteries, this
is the best time to operate any high-energy usage appliances like the warm up
gas furnace, kitchen appliances, or power tools directly from the generator. By
nightfall the batteries will be recharged and the inverter will shut down the
generator for a nice quiet evening.
Depending
on how long the cabin was unoccupied and the current weather conditions, it may
be possible to go through the entire weekend without restarting the generator.
However, it is a good practice to bring the batteries back to full charge just
before “check out” time. Hopefully, with enough sun, the small solar array
will offset the standby battery losses and the electrical usage of the DC
refrigerator until the next weekend or holiday visit.
Living
beyond the grid
RE
systems are generally located “beyond the grid.” The cost of bringing in
utility service even a mile is often more expensive than investing in a system
that is utility-free. RE technology has focused on being modular. This makes it
simple to add more capacity, and to move and re-install the system.
Putting
together a backup or RE system is also a good way to learn the basics of
electricity itself (i.e., volts, amps, watts, and amp-hours). I believe this is
essential if one is going to rely on electricity for anything. With this
knowledge comes an appreciation for how energy moves and changes, and how it can
be harnessed to fill your needs.
Talk
to us.
Whatever
you need: state
of the art design, or simpler solutions we can help you finding the
right equipment for your project
What
if the electricity GOES OFF?
by
Michael Hackleman
