Solarious - stumbling away from the grid

Peak Oil Survival: Preparation for Life After Grid-Crash

Just the name alone drew me to the book. Of course I want to know how to live after the bottom inevitably drops out from under us. The book was really a quick read. It looked much more dense textually than it turned out to be. But there was a lot of good information here, centered mostly upon three areas of expertise: Finding and preserving clean water, finding and making light, and heating and cooling of both environment and food.

The chapters are very short, and each show a few different ways to achieve the stated goal, depending upon your location and particular circumstance. Neither bending toward warm or cold weathers in bias, the book has something to offer for everyone. The one thing this book ISN’T is a handbook for surviving in the wilderness. Most of the projects use salvaged materials from a more populated locale than the wilderness affords. No, this is just what it says. How to make soda can shingles and dig an outhouse when Home Depot goes under and you no longer have city water running through the pipes.

I enjoyed reading the book, and found I came out with a fair understanding of most of the topics covered, especially the importance of water in a person’s chances for long-term survival. If you’re smart, you’ll put many of the ideas in here to practice long before the arrival of grid-crash. The only thing I felt missing was a solid discussion of making shelters, as I suppose it flew too far toward the wilderness for their intended audience. If they eventually write a companion guide to cover that enormous topic, I’ll gladly be in line to buy it.

I just finished reading Power of the People: America’s New Energy Choices (2007), a nice short read about the history of, current usage of, and the future possibilities for energy consumption in the United States. At 188 pocket-sized pages, the book doesn’t take more than an afternoon to thumb through. This is thanks to the concise way in which Carol Sue Tombari explains things. She writes as though you’re sitting down together to share a nice salad lunch, not stuffy, not too complicated. But in the mix, she throws in a surprising amount of information about the current energy landscape. You see, Ms. Tombari knows what she’s talking about, after years working for both private and governmental authorities on the topic of energy. So when she talks about the ways in which power utilities fell victim to disincentives for innovation when they “reregulated” in the 1990s, you can bet she saw it happen from the front lines.

The book is divided into two main sections of two chapters each. First, you find out why all this is important anyway. What IS the energy crisis? Then on to Energy 101, a brief discussion of the current power generating technologies and what is already possible in terms of augmenting power load both at the personal and utility level. I learned a lot about how the utilities work (and why this model is outdated). The next main section focuses on the future. What will we have to do to survive the looming power shortage? In the first chapter, she outlines the different players in the energy system, and then discusses how each is challenged by setbacks, and suggests how that challenge will have to be overcome. The last chapter outlines the future and its many possibilities.

I really liked the format of the sections, in which each technology is presented in “the good”, “the bad”, and “the balance” sections. This allows you to get a clear overview of the limitations and promises without delving too deep into science. If you are looking to implement alternative energy solutions in your life but don’t know which one fits for you, I’d recommend this book heartily. If you already have a clear idea of what’s going on, you’ll still find a nicely written essay with interesting photocopy-friendly facts to quote.

The best audience for this book, however, are those who are looking for a way to change energy consumption on a societal level. Buried within the outlines of various technologies is an underlying cry - “Innovate!”, challenging readers to help find the solutions alternative energy implementation barriers. Only a few logistic issues separate most alternative technologies from gaining wide-spread acceptance. What is the power of the future? Could you be the mind to crack the riddle?

I did find my soldering iron the other day and was ready to get started on the solar panel repair. And then I remembered, of course, that it uses a plug. Which, if you’ve read my other posts, is a problem, as I don’t use electricity at home. So, FINALLY, today, I unearthed a handy tool that I’d forgotten about - a little pocket blowtorch that fuels up like a refillable butane lighter. Sweet! Now there are no excuses.

Real life (yes I know, we bloggers aren’t supposed to have one of those) has been intervening this week, making shop time scarce. So, in the mean time, I concentrated on my first COMMITMENT, eating less fast food. It’s much harder to do than I’d imagined, given that my daily food budget is something like five dollars, and I have no kitchen (yet).

Here’s the report: Total elimination of fast food burgers is a step in the right direction. CHECK. However, not to starve while greening up my own kitchen, I did eliminate two foods from the “nasty list”: bean and cheese burritos and side salads. I’m sure many of you out there could point me to a million reasons why these two foods should disappear as well. Yeah, I know. But my stomach doesn’t speak green quite yet. And my pocketbook definitely doesn’t either! =)

In the interest of not boring people with “what I ate for lunch today” syndrome, I’ll spare you the details of what replaced what. But with lots of veggies taking over main food duty (I forgot how much I love carrots!), suffice it to say I’m feeling a little better already. Next up, eliminating caffeinated sodas from the repertoire. Baby steps, people! I’m currently waiting for a copy of Skinny Bitch: A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous! to arrive at the library. You can read a good review of it at Vegsource.com, itself a great resource. From all indications, it’s going to be a boot camp guide to eating right and saving the planet. Just what the fast food junkie ordered.

What do you eat to snack healthily?  Favorite easy vegetarian meals?