self-sufficiency
self-sufficiency
Hello,
Since the ice-storms of '96, when I told my wife that I'm the only (and dumbest) electrician in the neighborhood that doesn't own a generator, I've spent considerable time trying to convince others about having back-up systems available to heat and power their basic needs. I went the battery-route and keep a couple large capacity gel-cell batteries and inverters on-the-ready for the next outage, which, of course, hasn't happened since I bought this gear.
Like you mentioned, I own an exercise bike and would like to have a simple gen/regulator hook-up to charge-up the batteries when everything else fails. All this is fun stuff, and adds to general knowledge and good hands-on training. I've even taken-up solar-training to get prepared for the next phase.
All this may seem like a waste of time to some, but it wasn't when half the neighbors parked at my house one-time when we were the only one that had heat. I really woulld not want the neighbors over anymore, but I would like to be able to sell them the tools to run their own furnace, fridge, pellet-stove, cooktop, or combinations of any.
It all comes-down to some degree of self-sufficiency, which is the opposite of what is being "preached" today.