Electricity - the disaster preparedness thread

[version]

I think no electricity would be a problem here but in say a hot country, its not really an issue.

What about food storage and air conditioning?

 

[catalog]

I mean they coped well for a long time without AC and you just revert to veggie diet, which is very easy in hot clime.

 

[hmg]

To what extent is the mobile phone network able to withstand power cuts? If it's resistant, a big old usb power pack would help, for charging phones and macbooks.

I had 450kg of kiln dried ash logs delivered last week

 

[catalog]

Electricity is so recent when you think about it. We would be doing ourselves a massive favour if it went.

 

[hmg]

I've been saying for years that we should have no-internet days, weekly or quarterly, which the whole of society uses to become more resilient.

 

[hmg]

Electricity is so recent when you think about it. We would be doing ourselves a massive favour if it went.

It's been about for around 14 billion years, by a conservative estimate. The universe IS electric.

 

[version]

I mean they coped well for a long time without AC and you just revert to veggie diet, which is very easy in hot clime.

Yeah, but we coped without electricity for a long time too. The point is that once we developed these things, we structured our society around them and lost some of the knowledge and skills required in the previous arrangements, so, if something goes wrong, it's not as simple as immediately reverting to what came before.

 

[catalog]

OK yes I know that, stones are electric etc. But I mean harnessed in the way we currently harness it.

 

[sufi]

A Carrington-like event, or simple mismanagement, poor planning, diplomatic clumsiness.

or an Enron-like event, a bunch of power companies in UK collapsed recently, the whole thing is precarious

 

[Leo]

Electricity is so recent when you think about it. We would be doing ourselves a massive favour if it went.

except for being able to communicate with anyone, run a hospital, call police, get money, hold elections, etc.

 

[catalog]

Yeah, but we coped without electricity for a long time too. The point is that once we developed these things, we structured our society around them and lost some of the knowledge and skills required in the previous arrangements, so, if something goes wrong, it's not as simple as immediately reverting to what came before.

Not so simple to immediately revert but it would be something that could probably be achieved in not that long. Like one or two generations?

 

[sufi]

except for being able to communicate with anyone, run a hospital, call police, get money, hold elections, etc.

presumably all these things used to take place before electrification

 

[hmg]

Rolls Royce need to crack on with their miniature nuclear power plants, one in every town like the old gas works.

Super clean thorium power on an urban scale, even better

 

[catalog]

except for being able to communicate with anyone, run a hospital, call police, get money, hold elections, etc.

You can do all those things without electricity.

Granted they would look very different but actually none of them rely on electricity per se.

Only the versions of them as we currently know them do.

 

[Leo]

 

[version]

presumably all these things used to take place before electrification

Yeah, but we switched them over to electrification. It's like digitising an archive then losing it and having to rebuild a physical one. It can be done, it's just a massive job and one that you've ditched the tools for.

 

[sufi]

look at this tech - almost unbelieveble but at the same time banally real
Compressed air batteries to store power

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[catalog]

Yeah, but we switched them over to electrification. It's like digitising an archive then losing it and having to rebuild a physical one. It can be done, it's just a massive job and one that you've ditched the tools for.

But it can be done

 

[hmg]

If power goes down we'll take a giant leap towards the brutal dismantling of the state, so it's not all bad.

 

[sufi]

Forget The Past