Survival Without Electricity

When you rely on electricity, and know it will be in limited supply, one objective is conserve as much electricity as you can, and to find ways to do things without using  electricity.

Dynamo Hand Crank Technology

Many small tech tools and gadgets are battery powered.  Batteries wear out, and even lose power simply sitting on a shelf as they age. Something better than battery power, is human power.  Using a hand crank with a dynamo, a type of electric generator, you can create your own electricity, without the need for batteries. In modern technology human powered hand cranked dynamos are used in many low power gadgets to provide for power radios, flashlights, and other  equipment to recharge batteries.

Eton corporation sells a series of American Red Cross products catering specifically to the needs of emergency preparedness. One of their products is a dynamo hand crank radio with NOAA weather alerts, flashlight, and siren. According to their web site the product sells for about 50 dollars and is available at many department stores.

Propane Powered Appliances

Appliances that generate heat, such as toasters, coffee makers, and hot plates, use much more power than non heat producing appliances.  When using alternative electricity sources such as power inverters and portable generators as we discussed in our previous article, consider using non electric alternatives.

The quickest and easiest way to heat a pot coffee or a simple meal, are small portable propane stoves.  Coleman, one of the best know names in camping equipment, produces a very simple one burner stove for about 35 dollars, with various two burner models from around 75 dollars.  They are powered by a small 16.4 oz. propane cylinder which sells for about 3 dollars.

The Lowest Form of Technology is No Technology

While we can look at low tech ways to communicate, what about a no tech way to communicate? If you lost total communications with a family member or business associate, you need to establish a place to meet to regroup, to assess what happened, and what do you do next.

If you are planning for a fire drill common practice is to find a common place to meet out of harms way.  Think about a worse case scenario, if you could not communicate with anyone, but had to evacuate, where would you go?  Choose an area that other members of your family, or business partners are familiar with, and pick a land mark that you can use as a meeting place, perhaps a town square, a national park?  Once you have place in mind, make sure  that everyone knows where to meet in case of emergency!

Practice Low Tech

Before Facebook crashes again, or you get one of those Twitter is over capacity messages for an extended period, get a message out to all of your friends, and tell them what state park, and what time to meet you. Take a few cold six packs, a small grill with some burgers and buns, and then you can do something very low tech you many have not done in awhile.  Talk face to face with your friends!