I'm writing a book on electric power after SitX, i need your help

I made a joke in a thread earlier about writing a ebook about 'surviving in a post sitX world, the electrical and other fuel sources available to create a good living environment without the current infrastructure to help.' and I think i'm actually going to do it! Hehe although I need a snappier title

For a long time i've wanted to make some good quality information which I can package as an attractive coffee table book, I have visited CAT (center for alternative technology, wales) since I was a toddler and always been really interested in alternative forms of power generation, i've built up a fair bit of knowledge out of curiosity and I have worked with power supply and distribution at shows and events so I have a good working knowledge of power, it's uses and problems, I'm not looking to make money all I really want to do is make a few limited books (carved wood bound, etc) so that I have a useful compendium of information for when TSHTF plus a few to give away and sell.

The text because I don't believe in copyright will of course be available free under the least restrictive GNU copyright licence, as will any artwork, etc. Hopefully people will have access to some good ideas and i'll be able to make some money to 'further research' possible solutions.

I was hoping because ATS has some really good survivalists, who really know what they're talking about, that you would be so kind as to look at my idea and make suggestions. Pretty please....

Ok, so the format I was thinking of going for is to break down the required loads into chapters;

1)Having enough power to survive with your BOB
2)lights, radios and small home use.
3)Medium sized homestead with some gadgets, tools and utility's
4)Fully functioning commune with a full workshop and farm machines
5)Power for the whole community, creating large scale projects

I will be trying to think forward and allow the system to adapt to future technology (such as fuel cells, etc) and changing needs. The assumption will always be that you want to use a full array of electrical gadgets, although other fuel sources will also be covered such as hydrogen and alcohol – while I agree it's quite possible to live with no power what so ever like in the olden days with horses and hard work and stuff this book isn't for people who want to do that

Ok, i'll quickly skim though what I hope to cover in the sections mentioned above.

1.Hand crank flash lights, hand crank radios, laptop / hand held device powered by battery charged with hand crank, solar cells or micro generator with a discussion of the pros and cons of each.

2.Twelve volt systems to work from a single car battery, discussion of standard solar, wind, water plus liquid combustion and solid fuel solutions when applied to a small system but also less commonly covered devices such as larger hand primed gravity dynamos (think grandfather clock which makes power not time), bike generators, solar heat generators and 'large arrays of very small sources' (lots of well placed dynamos to create small amounts of power all over the place)

3.A 240 Volt system (or 110 if you're american) for use with washing machines, power drills, etc -basically enough power to do all the jobs a self-sufficient house need to do. Again i'll cover the conventional solutions in some detail then move onto less conventional means, such as clever use of thermocouples (hehe I will have mentioned these a few times already no doubt, such as the ones in the soviet lamps which used the heat from the flame to power a transistor radio -now thats clever) Alternative storage methods such as hydrogen, potential gravitational energy, etc and alternative uses for the hydrogen rather than just converting it back into electricity when need. Also some alternative drive methods for workshop tools, such as water power props, direct drive wind power, water pressure, etc. Also heating, cooking and other higher energy tasks will be covered in detail here.

4.Probably a fairly short chapter just adding a more industrial scale to section three, probably with the main focus of fuel for tractors (alcohol, bio oil, etc) and systems which unlike 3 which need a medium load all year round instead need to have a large peek in certain seasons (sowing and harvesting).

5.Again a fairly short chapter covering quickly the issues of power distribution within a community, maybe large scale wind or hydro projects and fuel distilling.

Of course I will be stressing safety and caution throughout, sustainability and proper waste management. Everything will be designed to be made with readily available stuff, full diagrams and explanations for anything which needs it and tables with charts and formula which are important. Basically the idea is to have a good quality, easy to understand source for all the data you might need to plan and create the electrical system you require, further more it should be designed so as with a little effort you can start at stage one and pull yourself up by your bootstraps until you have an entirely functioning system.

So now you know the basics of my idea what do you think? What am I missing out?

If anyone has any information or links or anything which might be good for me to know before I start writing it would be great if you could post them in this thread

Thanks in advance, your input is much appreciated (hehe if you're really helpfulI might even give you a free copy -oh no wait, it was going to be free anyway, oh well )

First problem I see is that your basing all your sources on readily available materials, ie fuels, oils, etc. Tho these items will be there, they will run out eventually or not be around to replenish.

If I were you, I would focus on natural elements, things like firewood, kindling, using dried tree leaves, branches and sticks as the fuel source. Next I would focus on teaching folks how to make shelter out of those same materials, rocks, even making a sub-level habitat for added security and insulation from the elements.

Third I would focus on how to make hunting and other necessary tools. Then I would also touch on how to make clothing from animal furs and footwear.

Basically in order to ensure long term survival when SHTF, you have to look at it from the prospective of how things were before electricity, before boilers, before fossil fuel engines, and any other industrial era convienience.

Surviving is not about making it convienient. Its about being able to survive without modern convienience.

Also keep in mind, that everything you mentioned in your future book, as well as the things I spoke of, are currently available online.

People just have to get the information. But as the old saying goes, you can lead the horse to the water but you cant make it drink.





Cheers!!!!

I quiet agree, farming, knife making, etc are vital skills which are needed for survival however many, many books already cover this topic while very few really cover the topics i will be, i certainly have yet to find a good quality one or even a fairly average free one

As i said in my op we don't need to go back to 1750 just because our governments fall to bits, over the years i have been studying and learning about methods and means of running modern gadgets without the need for Total, Shell, BP or any other massive multinational. It's far easier than you might think, also very rewarding.

None of the devices i mentioned or will mention will use rockoil (crude and it's derivatives) but rather bio fuels such as alcohol which can be made in usable quantities fairly easily.

Any 'high tech' project i will be breaking down into simple tooling solutions, i.e. if someone needs to have cast metal pieces i will try to cover which form of simple process is best to create them, in this case most likely green sand casting.

In all i hope to create a book which if grabbed when SHTF or stored in a shelter will allow people to create a more technological solution - because i really don't want to live in a world where all the work has to be done by hand, call me lazy but i grew up poor - i know who's going to be doing all the hard work.

Things like Baghdad batteries would be very nice to know about.

reply to post by alaskan


Ahh thats a very good point, chemical based power! All sorts of ways of getting power from different chems, hehe everyones seen the lemon/potato powering a radio experiment which could be useful.

I'll certainly look into finding a use for these and a way of making them, or something like them. Maybe as emergency lights, radio, signaling, etc as they would only make a small amount of power but should give a good few hours use in even the worst conditions.

You need a diesel vehicle and a seed press to make your own biodiesel for starters. This vehicle would be your life. You could never run out of fuel as almost anything can be pressed and cleaned in a diesel vehicle. Anything you plan should start with this vehicle. Keep it filled with fuel and put a 100 gallon fuel transfer tank in the back with a pump. Rapeseed, soy, hemp, many wild plants can be pressed into biodiesel. Make sure the vehicle you get is newer than about 1992 or else you have to update some seals. When the SHTF you can drive away from the hordes and spend your time collecting firewood, food and fuel.

Anything that you make is going to eventually fail, since you will be unable to repair or replace parts for it indefinitely. Which leaves you with:

Heat:

Light:

Cooking:

Water Purification:

Communications:

Computer:

Entertainment:

ETC…
I think you get the idea.

reply to post by defcon5


ok so you can't picture a world with sustainable technology but that's why i am writing the book, most of the things we now know were discovered and tested in big costly labs but that doesn't mean you need those labs to make them.

We aren't going to run out of metal anytime soon, when it grows rare we'll just take more care of our supply. High grade iron and steel can be melted in earth made charcoal forge, this forge can make most the mechanical parts needed produce power.

Now can people please stop posting that we will go back to pre-industrial revolution tech levels, i want to make a book for the POST industrial revolution world -i did state that in my op

reply to post by neighbor_guy


thanks this is the sort of info i was looking for, the company i work for uses biodiesel they get locally but i've not seen the process yet, hopefully i will before i get to that bit of the book

Don;t suppose you could speed up my research with some good links? A tech description of how they work would be awesome.

I also look at things and imagine how power could be extracted.

We were looking at recumbent exercise bikes the other day, and my first though was how many LED lamps could be lit while you're burning off the calories?

How many simple PC cooling fans could you rig together on a swiveling shaft that always faced towards the wind? Could I also funnel the wind into each of these individually?

How many fully charged, power tool battery packs would it take to power my house if I was able to invert it efficiently? Could I charge a few at a time, and have 2 or three days per month off the grid?


This question is for you.
Have you ever looked at Stirling engines?

This video shows large ones..But they can be built on just about any scale.

Originally posted by alaskan
Things like Baghdad batteries would be very nice to know about.

Heh, you beat me too it, I was just thinking the same thing.

Solar power knowledge will be useful, as will wind and refining alcohol for machines.

1.Hand crank flash lights, hand crank radios, laptop / hand held device powered by battery charged with hand crank, solar cells or micro generator with a discussion of the pros and cons of each.

Sounds good, get it fleshed out.

2.Twelve volt systems to work from a single car battery, discussion of standard solar, wind, water plus liquid combustion and solid fuel solutions when applied to a small system but also less commonly covered devices such as larger hand primed gravity dynamos (think grandfather clock which makes power not time), bike generators, solar heat generators and 'large arrays of very small sources' (lots of well placed dynamos to create small amounts of power all over the place)

Yep, I've built a solartron already (solar powered battery), great things to have in an emergency.

See this link:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The use of kinetics is also under-the-radar and worth a look, a perpetual motion machine, if designed and built correctly will aid in charging battery's.

3.A 240 Volt system (or 110 if you're american) for use with washing machines, power drills, etc -basically enough power to do all the jobs a self-sufficient house need to do. Again i'll cover the conventional solutions in some detail then move onto less conventional means, such as clever use of thermocouples (hehe I will have mentioned these a few times already no doubt, such as the ones in the soviet lamps which used the heat from the flame to power a transistor radio -now thats clever) Alternative storage methods such as hydrogen, potential gravitational energy, etc and alternative uses for the hydrogen rather than just converting it back into electricity when need. Also some alternative drive methods for workshop tools, such as water power props, direct drive wind power, water pressure, etc. Also heating, cooking and other higher energy tasks will be covered in detail here.

Now we're talking! Citizen Smith is into the wind-powered angle and has an excellent thread ongoing on this.
With enough solar panels on a roof or area and a bank of batteries on the charge, you're off to a great start in running a house off the grid.

4.Probably a fairly short chapter just adding a more industrial scale to section three, probably with the main focus of fuel for tractors (alcohol, bio oil, etc) and systems which unlike 3 which need a medium load all year round instead need to have a large peek in certain seasons (sowing and harvesting).

This assumes that machinery and infrastructure are still in place to for industrial farming. It may be on a vastly reduced scale to this. Otherwise it's a good plan.

5.Again a fairly short chapter covering quickly the issues of power distribution within a community, maybe large scale wind or hydro projects and fuel distilling.

Reminds me of the Steven King Move 'The Stand' were they fire up the town powerstation and everyone gets power to their home

[edit on 14-2-2009 by WatchRider]

If you're going into the wilderness, something I've done for short periods, just think like you're going on a camping trip and never coming home again.

Protection from the elements is you first consideration.


Not factored into this Doomsday scenario presented are some questions: will you be in an area where there are roving bands of hungry and diseased people? Will all the resources and food be consumed or will there be abandoned cars, tankers of fuel, canned food, etc?

A region of the world can break down completely, but it doesn't happen over night. Those with security and payment will have the regular services the longest. Survival will more likely take the form of being an insider rather than outsider.

Final thought, have access to antibiotics.


Mike F

Good luck with your project I hope its succesful, I am pretty sure a book like this has recently been released and I think its called Living Off Grid or LIVING OFF THE GRID, I've seen it on Amazon.

Good idea..good luck with the book.

Nice, i've got a few things to be researching then Thanks for all the info so far, i'll get right into looking up details.

mmiichael,i was going to work on the assumption that people already had a few more important books in their libary -food for free, SAS Survival guide, Ray Mears bushcraft, etc so shelter, food, etc are already taken care of. People or a person have escaped the doom and are now stuck in a lost world -maybe the 5% immune to the bioweapon oor those that make it to the isle of wight Think 'Day of The Triffids' style survival situation, where the basics of survival have already been met and now it's more of a day to day issue.

Of course i will also taylor it so that someone wanting to live off grid and away from the corporate sin can use the systems too, as can a backpacker or motorcaravan enthusiast or even simply a cabin in the woods.

I aim to show how complete systems can be made with zero resources but hope to break the tasks down so that parts can be scavanged or even brought if available. A Thermocouple array and hydrogen electrolisis plant could be made from scrap metal with only hand made wooden tools, earth forge and green sand molds, the metal could also be extracted from ore locally if no scrap existed however i would expect most people would have access to more useful tools, workshops and scrap which would allow them to skip these steps or at least rush through them.


Northern Raider,
Not sure if i've seen that one, it rings a bell but i'll check it out thanks. I know that plenty of people are selling books with info about 'living off grid' and 'free energy' however after spending a long time looking for a book to add to my van i've found that they're all.... lacking, ideas presented are often unrealistic or overly expensive - this book won't spend much time on the likes of Photo Voltaic Cells because to be any good they require silicon wafers cut with lasers in super high tech factories, plus they're very costly.

It also seems to me that many if not most of these books are made by people who want to make a quick buck on the ebook market, they copy paste old nonsence from the 60's next to free energy machines from the 90's and charge $60, i won't be doing this - i love open source so will be making a free ebook and then also selling high quality hard copies in small numbers (order yours today! hehe /joke) Plus i actually want this book for myself, i've been collecting books like this for a long time and there is a massive hole in my collection! Oh and I, unlike so many of the authors of these books, actually respect THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!!! Yes, i will e using only tried and tested actual science in my book, wild i know

Here's something that may be of similar interest. If SitX kicks in and you have to run for the hills, why not make your stay comfortable?

This website offers a book by "Mountain" Mike, called "The $50 & Up Underground House Book"

www.undergroundhousing.com...

Mountain Mike lives in one himself, he was featured on an episode of Louis Theroux about survivalists.

Originally posted by NatureBoy
Oh and I, unlike so many of the authors of these books, actually respect THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!!! Yes, i will e using only tried and tested actual science in my book, wild i know

That is crazy talk and has no place here. Go away before we see if you float like a witch.

RubberBaron, Mike Oehler's $50 dollar work has been getting a lot of name-checking lately in other related threads. Check them out for his and alternative designs.


[edit on 18-2-2009 by Nirgal]

reply to post by NatureBoy


I'd strongly recommend getting a hold of the latest edition of Hugh Piggott's Scoraig Wind Plans for a true 'junk engineering' manual for schematics and performance calculations

we dont need to have a problem with energy for everyone, we should right now be getting together with our communities and invest in MAGNET MOTORS for cars, electricity, water pumps, water purifiers, and other anomolous creations from magnets. Im stoked to see electrogravity and readily available family space crafts with gps and auto nav systems. Im not dreaming, we have this technology, and we have a need to have true liberty. The freedom to fly into space or around the world is liberty. Furthermore we could create floating farms with electrogravity. or even space gas harvesting on auto pilot. We dont need to go backwards. Those who go backwards will be the anarchists, the gangsters, the white collar criminals who will lose there criminal forms of happines and drag the world down with their absolute ignorant attitudes.

What we need are sane good people with guns, to defend resources, and to build the future not for profit but for truth, no matter who or how many it may hurt in the long run. That is the reality of our universe anyway.

I'm really surpirsed that I didn't see steam engines on the list so far. They are realitvely easy to make for anyone who has some mechanical aptitude and can easily run a generator.

There are many options for fuel to produce steam power, including wood, fossil fuels, and even solar.

If it was good enough for the industrial revolution, it should be good enough for post sit-x


[edit on 18-2-2009 by DropInABucket]