Alternate Power

I think everyone should have some type of alternate power. I understand that most people will not have an alternate source and will want to use yours or take yours. When energy fails, you want have access to gas stations, ATM stations, and your water will eventually stop as they use pumps to send it to your home.

Here are some examples:

1. Batteries. They want last long unless you have a lot of them or can recharge them. To recharge them you need an alternate source. A source may be solar yard lights. It is slow but you can charge them on a sunny day. Try to have devices that take the same type of batteries. AA or AAA's I use a volt meter to check my batteries before I dispose of them.
2. Generator. Generators are great, they can be loud, they use gas, oil or a mixture of gas/oil, which means you have to have extra gas and oil on hand. 2 Cycle oil as well. If you store gas you should use a fuel additive to ensure it last longer. You can fill you vehicle up with the gas cans and then fill the cans up again so as to rotate it. Remember that in most cases you can't get gas if the power is out. 
3. Solar Panels. You can create a fairly cheap Solar Generator with one panel and a few batteries and a solar controller. Unlimited power in a sunny environment like Hawaii. You need to monitor the drain on the batteries and only use items sparingly.
4. Solar powered Radio. Have a solar power and or hand crank AM / FM radio. Most come with a built in Cell phone charger which can be helpful. Remember the cell towers, if they have back up power, they will eventually fail and the cells will get overcrowded.  This will also be one less thing you need batteries for and generator power.

Remember, the best thing to do is to have a plan. It might be one of the items above or several of the items. You may even have your own plan, but have a plan and test it out. Spend a day or a weekend using your alternate engery source. This will tell you have long you can go with your alternate source and what weaknesses it may present.

Be prepared, Be Ready!