Stay tuned for "load shedding," the unavailability of electricity for so many hours a day. This will lead to people buying battery/inverter systems to charge when the power is available, to get them through times of no power. And to people playing the sucker and installing solar cells, which wear out in a few years. Also look into the costs of a motor-generator set. Be advised that if you do not have natural gas service, the better alternative to gasoline or Diesel fuel is liquid propane. Gasoline or Diesel fuel does not store well (forms a shellac-like coating on the tank walls and tubing). Kerosene lanterns are actually pretty good, particularly if you have a cerium-oxide impregnated mantle (lights up brightly). Candles are old hat, but still reliable.
Those who have a fireplace, get a stove insert and find sources of firewood. (Coal is out of style, but works fine. It is also ferociously hot! So, beware.) Also, find how to switch on your central heating air fan independently of the thermostat (if there is any electricity available). The stove will heat up its room to a surprising degree, and the fan can distribute the heat around the house more evenly. Be sure to have enough draft through your stove, so you don't accumulate any carbon monoxide in the house. (People try to keep warm by burning charcoal indoors, but it is a killer.)
If a power outage occurs during winter, and it is below freezing outside, move your refrigerated food out there. Stuff in horizontal freezers might last for a while without such measures.
It's a double-whammy. The state-mandated Green objectives drive the power companies toward wind farms, which are erratic, but the same objectives try to force people into all-electric homes and transportation. I think political resistance movements in the future will consist of tracking down the political advocates of such nonsense and sabotaging their electricity supplies.
On the firewood, my wife's family manages to scavenge enough wood to cook completely free. I was so amazed at how resourceful poor people can be. Cocoanut palm fronds burn fast, but give off so little smoke...
I've got big trees in my back yard. Every so often one had to be "put down" (rotten core) and would produce a large amount of firewood. Lately, not so much. Too many other headaches.
In the Philippines it's more about gathering fallen branches rather than chopping down anything, at least out in the boonies. Works out great! Lots of Cocoanut fronds.
Stay tuned for "load shedding," the unavailability of electricity for so many hours a day. This will lead to people buying battery/inverter systems to charge when the power is available, to get them through times of no power. And to people playing the sucker and installing solar cells, which wear out in a few years. Also look into the costs of a motor-generator set. Be advised that if you do not have natural gas service, the better alternative to gasoline or Diesel fuel is liquid propane. Gasoline or Diesel fuel does not store well (forms a shellac-like coating on the tank walls and tubing). Kerosene lanterns are actually pretty good, particularly if you have a cerium-oxide impregnated mantle (lights up brightly). Candles are old hat, but still reliable.
Those who have a fireplace, get a stove insert and find sources of firewood. (Coal is out of style, but works fine. It is also ferociously hot! So, beware.) Also, find how to switch on your central heating air fan independently of the thermostat (if there is any electricity available). The stove will heat up its room to a surprising degree, and the fan can distribute the heat around the house more evenly. Be sure to have enough draft through your stove, so you don't accumulate any carbon monoxide in the house. (People try to keep warm by burning charcoal indoors, but it is a killer.)
If a power outage occurs during winter, and it is below freezing outside, move your refrigerated food out there. Stuff in horizontal freezers might last for a while without such measures.
It's a double-whammy. The state-mandated Green objectives drive the power companies toward wind farms, which are erratic, but the same objectives try to force people into all-electric homes and transportation. I think political resistance movements in the future will consist of tracking down the political advocates of such nonsense and sabotaging their electricity supplies.
On the firewood, my wife's family manages to scavenge enough wood to cook completely free. I was so amazed at how resourceful poor people can be. Cocoanut palm fronds burn fast, but give off so little smoke...
I've got big trees in my back yard. Every so often one had to be "put down" (rotten core) and would produce a large amount of firewood. Lately, not so much. Too many other headaches.
In the Philippines it's more about gathering fallen branches rather than chopping down anything, at least out in the boonies. Works out great! Lots of Cocoanut fronds.