Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid..

BB.
BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
in Solar Product Reviews & Opinions #1
From a political news source. However, a very interesting article that avoids most of the political "stuff" (at least, after the opening ~4 paragraphs):

PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off Grid...
When Roscoe Bartlett was in Congress, he latched onto a particularly apocalyptic issue, one almost no one else ever seemed to talk about: America’s dangerously vulnerable power grid. In speech after late-night speech on the House floor, Bartlett hectored the nearly empty chamber: If the United States doesn’t do something to protect the grid, and soon, a terrorist or an act of nature will put an end to life as we know it.

Not much technical detail--But the guy really did "go off grid" in a big way by keeping small/simple (and his is busy 6 days a week building/farming/chopping wood/etc.). 87 years old and "retired".

-Bill
Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Intersting Article about an Intereting Guy: PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off Gr

    One smart cookie... unusual outloook too.
    I love this closing quote

    "“You drove a long way to get here. How many houses did you see that were on fire?” he asks.

    “None,” I say.

    “Exactly, but I’ll bet you every one of them has fire insurance. And not one of them has insurance against something like this ( anEMP or un hardened Grid),” he says."
     
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #3
    Re: Intersting Article about an Intereting Guy: PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off Gr

    "Drudge Report"--Both on his page today, the above article and:

    MAN BURNS DOWN HOUSE TRYING TO THAW PIPES WITH BLOW DRYER...

    Really sad for the home owner... House was a on stilts and was using various heaters under the home to thaw pipes.

    Prep for one disaster and a second comes and bites you on the tail.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re:Interesting Article about an Interesting Guy:PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off Gr

    I've always liked him. Didn't agree with everything he believed, wasn't in his party, but based on his stance on PV and the threat to the grid, etc., I voted for him a few times. I give him a ton of credit at 87 living up there in the mountains working hard every day.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
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  • Ken Marsh
    Ken Marsh Solar Expert Posts: 114 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.
    BB. wrote: »
    From a political news source. However, a very interesting article that avoids most of the political "stuff" (at least, after the opening ~4 paragraphs):

    PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off Grid...



    Not much technical detail--But the guy really did "go off grid" in a big way by keeping small/simple (and his is busy 6 days a week building/farming/chopping wood/etc.). 87 years old and "retired".

    -Bill

    Don't really agree with him on the grid.
    However, I know four separate cases of old codgers in good health, living off grid in remote areas, each one an SDA.
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  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.

    Why do you disagree about the vulnerability to the grid? The Carrington Event, the 1989 Toronto event, and other smaller events have proved it.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.

    i have to add that there was a guy that gave a report on the status of the grid to congress and they ignored his warnings. i ran across it from a link i kept following from this forum and i failed to bookmark it.:roll: he did write a book on it also concurring that it is when (not if) one of any number of things will take the grid out thus threatening our daily personal and business routines in addition to national security. i don't think it's the same guy depicted here from bb's link as this guy i'm referring to was in the cia and several other agencies otherwise there are similarities.
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  • bartstop
    bartstop Registered Users Posts: 2
    #8
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.

    What kind of disaster could take the entire electrical grid down? Seriously, if we had a disaster of that magnitude, having electricity will be the least of my concerns.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.
    bartstop wrote: »
    What kind of disaster could take the entire electrical grid down? Seriously, if we had a disaster of that magnitude, having electricity will be the least of my concerns.

    not necessarily as a single solar flare of a carrington level event would take out a large swath of not just the us, but it could take out the western hemisphere. this is called electromagnetic pulse or emp and it doesn't just come from nuclear bombs. the grid as it is now is pushed to the max and beyond in some places and it wouldn't take much to make it fail. add to that the possibility of cyber attack as the generating stations are all on the net. these are real possibilities and not just alarmist.
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.
    bartstop wrote: »
    What kind of disaster could take the entire electrical grid down? Seriously, if we had a disaster of that magnitude, having electricity will be the least of my concerns.

    Again, not necessarily. My neighboring Canadian Province, Newfoundland, experienced an interesting problem a few days ago. Most new homes there heat with electricity and the grid was being pushed to the max, but this Winter we had a sever cold snap and the huge load on the grid overheated one of the main generating station transformers, destroying it and who knows what else, plunging almost the whole of the Province into darkness. Hundreds of thousands of homes had no electricity and therefore no heat during one of the coldest Winters in recent memory.
    The power company has been trying to save the system by introducing rolling blackouts, and that has helped a lot of people, and repair crews from neighbouring Provinces are on their way to try and help out. But as of 11:00 last night, this was the latest:
    "Breaking News! 90,000 customers are currently without power as of 11:00P:M. Newfoundland Hydro is Experiencing severe generation problems resulting in a blackout spanning across the province with only small pockets having escaped the outage. Nalcor CEO ED Martin has confirmed there is currently no power being generated from the Holyrood generation station."
    As of now, it's anyone's guess when things will return to normal.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.

    there's more cold air headed that way too. just entered my area last night and expecting about a 60 degree f drop in about a day. allot of it is headed south so i have no idea as to when and to what degree it may impact your area wayne. is electric that cheap up there that many opt to heat with it?
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  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    #12
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.

    And one of the biggest sun spots in years is now directly facing earth. 75% chance of an M-class flare today, and a 30% chance of an X-class flare. An off-the chart X-class flare is what caused the Carrington event and is what will wipe out modern society at some point. They regularly occur, it just happens that we didn't rely on electricity for everything the last time it did. We got lucky with the smaller event in 1989.

    Most of the doomsday theories on shows like Doomsday Preppers are crap.

    This one is not.

    Big solar flares "pluck" the Earth's magnetic field like a harp. That causes big currents to travel through the ground. The long-distance power lines that run between cities act as "antennas" (in reality, as inductors) and conduct those currents to the really big transformers that are on either end of the power lines. Those big transformers fry instantly - they are only designed to handle 1-2 amps @ 100,000 volts but the induced currents can be many times that.

    In a normal environment it takes 6 months to order, produce and install just one of those transformers. A Carrington event could wipe out hundreds at one time. All affected areas would be reduced to third-world status in 3 days, with population death rates up to 90%.

    No electricity = no water, no food deliveries, no fuel deliveries, no supply deliveries.

    No fuel + supplies = no replacement transformers. A perfect catch-22 situation.

    http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/

    http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/02/22/solar_storms_could_spark_2_trillion_global_katrina.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm

    http://www.space.com/15324-solar-storm-earth-surprise-attack.html
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: Interesting Article about Interesting Guy:PREPPER:The Congressman Who Went Off Grid.
    niel wrote: »
    Is electric that cheap up there that many opt to heat with it?

    Hahaha, In a word, NO!
    It's just that everything else is just as expensive and a whole lot more hassle. Heating oil selling at some gas stations @ almost $5 per American Gallon because many on low or fixed income cannot afford the min sale of $300 to $500 per delivery. It's now $1000.00 to full a standard 200 gallon oil tank. And insurance companies require new fiberglass tanks to replace steel ones, no matter the condition of the tank, and unless the fiberglass tank is double wall, it's only good (in the insurance companies eyes) for 15 years at $2000.00 a pop installed. And they also require proof the homeowner has a contract with a licensed oil furnace company for at least yearly service. People just can't afford it unless they're rich. The alternative is pellet stoves, but that's no longer cheap either. Same with firewood if you have to purchase it and include all the work and care involved. People are just throwing up their hands and going electric, especially older folk. It's a real problem.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #14
    Re: Interesting Article about an Interesting Guy:PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off G

    wayne,
    you're right and that makes sense as everything has been going nuts lately. lesser of many evils type thinking.
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  • Slappy
    Slappy Solar Expert Posts: 251 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #15
    Re: Interesting Article about an Interesting Guy:PREPPER: The Congressman Who Went Off G

    Thanks B.B. that was a good read. Thanks for sharing.
    Their is another congressmen in Kentucky that went off grid. Google search and you come up with many different articles.
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