A few years ago, we had some bad storms come through Alabama, and the tornadoes pretty much shut the whole state down. We were without power for almost two weeks. We used the little outside solar lights to see in the house at night. Roads were closed, so there was no going out to buy batteries, candles, and anything that was not already in the house. This really made me realize the importance of being prepared for some kind of an emergency situation like this, and one of the things that I have been doing , is adding a few solar-powered items, as I can afford them. I have a couple of solar flashlights, and a little box that has a battery in it to run the phone and iPad. It plugs in and charges, and then when you use that up, it can charge back up with solar power again. They make more ways to charge up gadgets that have a USB cord; so that if you do lose power, you can use solar, or one of the little radios that also has solar and a hand crank. After going through the tornado and living with no power; I think that it is important to have a way to charge up at least your phone to be able to make contact with family, or emergency services.
I think too many people rely totally on technology and fail to understand the need for alternative power. We should all have a solar battery charger or a wind-up radio for emergency use. In recent indcidents when a large area has been left for days or even weeks without power because of weather conditions, the only way for people to know what was happening was by listening to their local radio station on a battery-powered or wind-up radio.
I agree we have become to dependent on the others to provide the services we need and technology to give us the information we need to survive. We have forgotten how we functioned before the internet and cell phones became the normal things for every one to have. A battery operated radio should be one of the things every home has, the batteries will run down so a crank radio is even better. We are told on the tv to make preparations to survive but no one listens, me included. I tell myself I will but life gets in the way. I do have my battery powered radio but that is about it. I like the idea of solar power for the tech gadgets and will get one for myself. I would even like to install solar panels for the house, nothing is worse than having to throw out food, which we have done when a storm came through and cut the power off for days. It would be nice to be able to install a small panel just to run the refrig or heater if the power goes out.
The longest my family has ever had to go without power was a little over 24 hours a few years back and that was bad enough. The idea of being without power for two weeks is terrifying. In South Africa our power supply is under terrible strain at the moment and we've been having a lot of "load shedding" (planned power cuts) lately - usually periods of four hours, sometimes every day. Mom and I have been lucky as we've had very few power cuts at night so far, but I hate the idea of being left in the dark for four hours. We've got battery powered radios and lanterns, but that's as far as it goes. Fortunately we're not really reliant on electricity when it comes to using phones as we have a land-line and don't use our cellphones much. This discussion has certainly given me something to think about though. We won't be putting solar panels onto our house, but I'll certainly look out for any solar powered gadgets or chargers that may help make this situation a bit easier to bear.
I live in a tropical country and we use to have rotating brown out during Summer, my solar chargeable lamp is my alternative during this time and we also carry with us solar lamps when we go to our farm in a mountain where electricity is difficult to connect.
As I may or may not have previously stated on this forum, I love solar energy, but I still don't have a panel outside my house yet. I am thinking of getting one, but at the moment I am saving up, and I also have to convince my wife, as she says "she's not a believer".
Yvonne, we have the same kind of phones and computers, so what is the name of the solar power box that you use. I want to get a couple myself. When hurricane Ike came through here in '08, we were out of power for three weeks. Thank goodness I had tons of candles stashed for our frequent outages. We do have a welding machine/electric generator, and we supplied electricity to two homes at the time, but it cost us $1800.00 for gas during that three week period. The problem I have right now is I can't run that thing by myself, nor can I afford the cost now. So I'm going to sell it, and buy two smaller electric generators that have a push button starters. That way I can run my refrigarator, freezer, TV, and one large window air conditioner.
Our only experience with solar has been the outdoor lights, that we placed along our walkway. We don't have enough sunny days year round for serious solar power. I like the idea of charging cell phones with solar, and will have to check them out. Thanks, Yvonne!