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How to Deal with Rolling Blackouts: Notes from South Africa
How to Deal with Rolling Blackouts: Notes from South Africa
Editor’s note: By now, just about everyone has heard about the difficulties occurring in South Africa. The violence is palpable, the corruption is an everyday fact, and utilities such as water and electricity are no longer a given. Not only that, but the cost of these utilities has become prohibitive, so conservation is a necessity. Backup power, such as solar or generators, have become a necessity for many families.
Now people in California are dealing with rolling blackouts due to PG&E’s new policies during wildfire season.
In this article, a regular reader from South Africa shares some of the tips for starting out with generators and backup power that have made it easier to deal with the continuous rolling blackouts and outrageous prices for electricity. ~ Daisy
Living in South Africa we have had our share of rolling blackouts nationally. The cause: nefarious activities. The result being us forced to find ways to ensure we are not affected as badly.
The problem is better now, but it has highlighted that it is not just a South African problem, but in actual fact a Western world problem. We all are totally reliant on a massive aging infrastructure that can come tumbling down like a house of cards, with or without help.
Another problem is the cost to keep the national system operational. In some areas, it is not a priority to resolve the regular failures.
For getting started with backup power, remember that NEEDs vs WANTs – a huge price difference.
- UPSs – with like 2 up to 8 100ah batteries. Good for a number of hours depending on use – most cost-effective solution
- Generators – works for some, but cheap ones cost more as they damage some electrical appliances over time.
- Solar inverters and panels – power failures, what is that? And you save a lot of money afterward IF YOU DO IT RIGHT.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
What Preppers Can Learn from Cape Town, Where Residents Live on 13 Gallons of Water Per Person Per Day
What Preppers Can Learn from Cape Town, Where Residents Live on 13 Gallons of Water Per Person Per Day
Living in Cape Town South Africa, after we have gained experience with rolling blackouts, our city (and surrounds) ran out of water … a first-world major metropolis ran out of water.
This is my summation of what happened and how we personally dealt with it.
Two things to note:
- Cape Town falls in a winter rainfall area. (Similar to Northern California)
- In our country, clean water is a constitutional right. Building dams, desalination plants, and maintaining the dams is the responsibility of the national government. Local governments are responsible for distributing the water. They are not allowed to build dams or desalination plants. Cape Town was forced to do both, at taxpayers’ cost.
This is to give you some background on how things are (or are supposed to be) here. You will see that how things are supposed to be are not how things are.
How did Cape Town almost run completely out of water?
There were basically four main reasons, as Cape Town knew of this pending problem:
- An unforeseen severe drought triggered it all.
- Unbeknownst to most, because of “state capture” (a kind phrase for corruption), the National Department of Water and Sanitation had no funds left to build dams. The South African public was blissfully unaware of this.
- The local budgets, the part that the city must budget in order to distribute the water, was used to build a dam, effect some repairs to local national water infrastructures, and because year after year there were good rains, the rest was used for other pressing political promises, like schools, toilets (yes toilets), and housing etc.
- There was a huge influx of people into Cape Town from other provinces, seeking jobs, as the Western Cape is one of the best-run provinces in SA.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Backup Power on a Budget: Notes from South Africa
Backup Power on a Budget: Notes from South Africa
Editor’s note: By now, just about everyone has heard about the difficulties occurring in South Africa. The violence is palpable, the corruption is an everyday fact, and utilities such as water and electricity are no longer a given. Not only that, but the cost of these utilities has become prohibitive, so conservation is a necessity. Backup power, such as solar or generators, have become a necessity for many families.
In this article, a regular reader from South Africa shares some of the tips for starting out with generators and backup power that have made it easier to deal with the continuous rolling blackouts and outrageous prices for electricity. ~ Daisy
Living in South Africa we have had our share of rolling blackouts nationally. The cause: nefarious activities. The result being us forced to find ways to ensure we are not affected as badly.
The problem is better now, but it has highlighted that it is not just a South African problem, but in actual fact a Western world problem. We all are totally reliant on a massive aging infrastructure that can come tumbling down like a house of cards, with or without help.
Another problem is the cost to keep the national system operational. In some areas, it is not a priority to resolve the regular failures.
For getting started with backup power, remember that NEEDs vs WANTs – a huge price difference.
- UPSs – with like 2 up to 8 100ah batteries. Good for a number of hours depending on use – most cost-effective solution
- Generators – works for some, but cheap ones cost more as they damage some electrical appliances over time.
- Solar inverters and panels – power failures, what is that? And you save a lot of money afterward IF YOU DO IT RIGHT.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
