Can You Replace One Source of Energy with Another and Do You Even Want To
The Internet is full of information and advice on how to maintain the same quality of living during a SHTF scenario as you had before the crisis. Some retailers will try to convince you if you only had this one product or piece of equipment all your troubles will be solved during a disaster.
The reality for most people however, is that their quality of living will be substantially lower during a crisis than it would otherwise normally be. Of course, you must do what you can to sustain life during a crisis. You should strive by preparing now, for the highest quality of life as possible, but quality of life is subjective. If you compare how it is today to what you would expect it to be like without electricity then there really is no comparison at all.
Dependency
Everyone is dependent upon something and there is no escaping this reality. What happens though when the things you depend on are no longer available, can you survive. You are dependent upon the power grid now, and some people may believe they can survive once it fails because, guess what they have a backup system, but is this simply another system that will create a dependency and of course that system is subject to failure as well.
Some may find themselves spending all their time and resources searching for replacements instead of simply learning to live without certain things.
What Is the Definition of Going off Grid?
To some it may be living without the help from any municipality. It is living without city water, gas and even trash pickup. In other words to some it is not being dependent on modern conveniences or any infrastructure at all. To others it may be a lessening of their dependency upon a local municipality or local infrastructure.
Will lessening dependency upon one system only make you dependent upon other systems though, such as those that produce alternatives sources of energy, such as solar, wind and hydro.
Electricity in urban America became common in the 1930’s. It would be some time yet, decades in fact, before it was common nationwide however. Rural America was getting along quiet well without it, thank you very much.
There is no doubt it would have made people’s lives easier, but along with electricity would come changes in people’s lives, and some did not look forward to the expected changes. The electrical grid was very small, and there were problems to be ironed out still and people were hesitant to embrace it wholeheartedly at first. People did not feel they were missing out, or that they had to do without, because they never had experienced it before.
Electricity would of course help farmers as time went on. Crop yields would improve and animal husbandry improved dramatically because of electricity as well, leading to an increase in food production, but again, farmers had been using essentially the same methods of farming for thousands of years, and some may have felt there was simply no reason to change.
What good was it to have electricity if you needed to save up to buy electric water pumps, the windmill worked great, people had to buy light fixtures, but coal oil and kerosene worked just fine too, and besides candles were great to read by and they could be made right at home.
Mixing bread dough by hand was outdated because electricity could power hand mixers, and new electric ovens could bake bread and pies like nobody’s business. In the beginning, it cost money to have electricity because what was the point of having it if you did not go out and buy tools, appliances and equipment that could operate off it. Houses were not built with electricity in mind, so it took considerable effort and resources to adapt and eventually build homes with electricity in mind.
People went into debt all in the name of simplifying their lives. One power tool could do the work of 10 men and cooking and cleaning was never easier. Soon however, making a living off the land was not enough, because it cost too much to have modern conveniences. The cycle of dependency was already in full swing.
What Works For You
Survival is always at the individual level, so what works for you may not work for others. Can you survive without electricity, without power tools, and without electric or gas ovens. Is solar power right for you and can you produce enough electricity using wind turbines or hydropower to supply your home. These are questions you need to ask yourself, because it is very likely that you will be put to the test, sooner rather than later.