Puerto Rico what would life be without electricity, the entire island is dark, here is a few things we can do to survive.

An awakening of sorts occurred in the early 1950's in the U.S.A., the first "pulsator type" washing machine hit our shores from Japan, they reached the U.S. market in 1953. Also, television began in earnest to become what the major broadcasting companies are today, they started to broadcast very aggressively. A better design of refrigerator was also making its debut in the American market. 1953

The electric motor tells us this is one of the "new" style washers. My mom's
had a hand wringer on it, of course that was a kids job, "stop your sniveling
and keep cranking" she would shout over the sound of the motor running. Yes
some had gasoline motors.

was becoming so "electrified" by the expansion of the use of home appliances it has been referred to as "the year of electrification". Due in part to the three sacred "treasures" 1) Black and white TV, 2) New modern refrigerators 3) The washing machine. By the time 1973 rolled around, most households owned these 3 appliances, we have added much more since then. Sitting in a dark room suffering from insomnia, how many little green and red lights do you count? They are everywhere now like the camera's on cell phones, we take all the "stuff" that is plugged in for granted, whether we like them or not. I pay close attention to the disaster's that play out in the world, I have a lot of compassion for the lives that are affected by the severity of these unbelievable natural disasters. A report from Puerto Rico states the entire island does not have electricity, what would life be without electricity? Internet outage, power blackouts, indoor lighting without electricity. In the past 100 years, our demand for electricity has only increased, it has never decreased, I fear we take it for granted. What in your opinion is the most important electrical discovery in the past 100 years? (Leave your answer in the comments.)
  The production of electric power is very expensive, the producers spend an enormous amount of money to make an equally enormous amount of money as profit. The industry demands large amounts of water and fuel to produce the megawatts that are in high demand in these most modern of times. The plants using gas turbines as heat sources are much more efficient than the old solid fuel plants. I worked in plants burning natural gas in a gas turbine, wood waste in the form of 2-inch chips, and petroleum coke which is a by-product of the gasoline processing industry. To make electricity a lot of fuel is needed, and when it comes in the form of solid fuel the cost to produce power increases substantially due to the amount of maintenance on the fuel feed systems and the ash systems. That is a major influencer in the reason the demand for coal is in a terminal nosedive, coal will never be a major fuel in producing electrical power again. Petroleum Coke is actually "synthetic coal", its use as well has been curtailed to the point of it being obsolete as well. The production of electricity is dependent on a lot of equipment, all of it runs on the "parasitic" electrical demand on the plant. The "parasitic" load on the plant can be as large as one megawatt, 1.000.000 watts. In the event of an earthquake occurring while the plant is online, (I worked in plants brought down by mild earthquakes, lightning storms, and high winds, the plants shut themselves down automatically.) After the plant shuts down due to shaking, lightning strike or any other outside influence, the entire plant must be inspected, mechanically and electrically. Upon completion of the inspections, the plant can once again run, some of the big plants that burned solid fuel took as many as 3 days to achieve full power, sometimes it takes longer depending on difficulties encountered during "startup", it takes a long time to make steam from a "cold" plant. It is common for a plant to experience damage during startup that may force it into an outage, termed as a "forced outage" the plant is then doomed to be inoperative until the repairs are made. The repairs depending on the damage incurred have the potential of lasting anywhere from a few days to a few month's, sometimes a year or more. If the plant outage is joined by a utility outage, that is outside lines, transformers, and other delivery equipment, the outage has the potential to last a long time, I suspect as is occurring in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Marie laid waste to the island inhabited by 3.4+ million people. The plants generally handle an emergency shutdown very well and are able to start right back up after the inspections are completed, however, that can still take several days. I stated these facts to enlighten people a little as to what it takes for the "miracle" to happen, walk up to the switch on the wall, flick it up and voila! there are lights, heat or entertainment.

A Large Coal fired plant, that appears to be steam coming out of the stacks,
to know for sure a closer look is needed, sometimes ammonia crystals cause
the stacks to plume like that, but in the end I'm not sure what it consist of. 

  After a catastrophic disaster surviving without electricity becomes a rock solid new reality, we must find a way to live without electricity for at least a week or more.
  1)  How can we produce indoor lighting without electricity? The most obvious would be battery powered lanterns, a stock of batteries is needed and stored ahead of time, a lot of batteries. Solar lights can be used, either a self-charging solar lamp or a stand-alone solar cell providing a battery charging bank as a "trickle charger". Inexpensive solar systems are available, a cell large enough to charge a 12-volt battery or better yet several 12-volt batteries will provide power for multiple lights and energy to charge our electrical gadgets. Camping lanterns, propane, or white gas work well, are convenient and inexpensive to use, and one advantage to camping lanterns is they generate a moderate amount of heat, not enough to heat a house but it will raise the temperature a few degrees. Tea lamps may be part of the answer, they are a small candle powered light capable of producing enough electricity to charge a cell phone or taking a much longer time a laptop may be charged. Candles may also be used, the age-old solution for lack of lighting will never go out of use. Another source of light may be had with "Hurricane lamps", growing up we had several throughout the house set up and ready for use in the event of a severe blizzard or a tornado, that far north Hurricanes are not a worry. Hurricane lamps are the old fashion looking glass globe lights, inside is a wick of cotton about 1/2 - 1 inch wide and approx. 1/4 inch thick. The reservoir is filled with lamp oil, the wick draws the fuel up, we light it and sure enough, you will have lights. The final suggestion and possible solution may be a power generator purchased and connected directly to your breaker box for use in an outage. The same can be said for a complete house solar system, of course, both must be installed prior to a utility outage. Be sure to know how to use whatever it is that is decided on for lighting, electrical shocks can kill, inexperience while working with electricity is able to kill as well. I prefer using propane camping lanterns for lighting backed up with a few Hurricane lamps and some candles.

This is a "Tea Lamp", generating enough electricity to charge a cell phone.

  2)  Cooking during an electrical blackout can be a challenge as well, however, if like me you are a bar-b-que kind of person, they work well for meals. Keep in mind water will need to be boiled, it can be boiled on an outdoor grill but it takes a lot of fuel. Camp stoves are a solution to boiling water, one burner or two, they are available in all kinds of sizes and configurations. I  recommend a two burner dual fuel stove, they burn either white gas or unleaded gasoline, enabling us to cook for a month on less than 5 gallons of fuel. A home wood fired stove may be used for boiling water and cooking some food items, it pays to keep in mind it will take an enormous amount of time to cook a meal on one. Cooking on an open fire is possible, boiling water can be achieved as well, the shortcoming is if there is enough fuel available. I prefer my camping stove, many years ago we bought a free standing propane stove that makes use of a 5-gallon propane tank, it seems to be less efficient than the dual fuel camp stove but the convenience is worth it. A huge pot for boiling water is a must, water will be scarce.
  3)  If it's cool outside heating without electricity may be a challenge as well. There is a huge concern when it comes to heating during a power outage,  Carbon monoxide, do not warm your home with an outside grill, hibachi, unvented gas, kerosene or solid fuel heater, the potential for CO2 to gather in your home is huge. Do not sit in your vehicle while it is running in an enclosed space, also if you do run your motor vehicle do not do so with the access door to your house open.
  A good answer for heating a home is a wood burning stove, they are much more efficient than a fireplace and will not allow warm air to escape up the flue. A wood burning stove must be installed prior to a disaster event, knowledge of how to use them is important. Pellet stoves are another choice, my house is heated by a pellet stove year around, some are capable of running off of a car battery, it's a good way to go for heat.
  Of course, we can always bundle up, long johns, wool socks, heavy trousers and a warm jacket.
  4)  Water without electricity, my main focus is having enough water, we can live up to 4 days with no water, on the 4th day we begin to die from dehydration. A case of 24 one pint bottles of water is enough to supply one person, 1/2 gallon a day, for one week. It will take 4 cases per person per month for drinking only, no hygiene water, no cooking water, and no coffee water. A water purification system is a device that is worth having in your survival kits, there are many on the market. A large coffee percolator will suffice for boiling water, making coffee and making soup, that's a pretty good use of one item. Purchase a gallon of unscented bleach and add that to your disaster supplies as well, for water purification and hygiene considerations it is a must-have.

We need to have some means to boil water, this will work, depending upon where
you live fuel may be a problem.

  Surviving without electricity in this day and age is inconvenient at best and deadly in it's worst case. If a member of your family is disabled and dependent on electricity definitely if it's within your means purchase a generator for your house. Hire an electrical engineer to spec out the size for your needs, to merely run out and purchase a 1.5kv generator may be a poor choice if it ends up being too small for the equipment it is supposed to power. Be certain you will have access to whatever fuel it burns, and make for sure your fuel storage capabilities are up to the consumption demands of the unit, if they are not they will have to be constructed. Another alternative for a disabled person would be to evacuate to a location out of the disaster zone.
  I certainly don't trivialize the recent disasters we are suffering in Florida, Texas, and Mexico but there is one thing I always get back to, something that is near and dear to my heart. I must have coffee in the morning, I do not have now, however, I do plan on purchasing a propane powered coffee pot and a case of coffee, caffeinated coffee.
  I can only imagine the suffering the victims of the three disasters are going through, In some instances, all the preparation in the world would not have changed things for them. In other cases it may have answered nicely, most of the time preparation and planning are worth much more than the expense and hassle of putting it all together. By just taking the time to construct an emergency plan with your family you will find it will pay off greatly, especially if no one in the family is home or is not in contact with the others, this one document has the capability of saving one or all of your loved one's lives and it's free to put together.
 

This will do. 

This is by far not a complete list, but it does address a few concerns, offering answers that work, nothing fancy, most of the stuff is available in the garage (if you are like me, it seems I'm a borderline hoarder sometimes.) camping gear, and other miscellaneous items we can put to good use. It fits right into our company's mission statement which reads partly to "become as self-reliant as we possibly can be." I encourage you to be, please pay attention to my numerous water warnings, it is the most important piece of survival equipment we can have. Keep a case of water per person on hand, that will last 7 days if you drink the minimal amount of water required by the human body to survive.
  Thank you for reading and sharing the blog, leave a comment and tell me what you think.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com