Alternative electricity

       This article assumes public electricity (the grid) is no longer available.  It also summarizes lessons learned so far. The normal caveat is that the initial period of testing the alternatives has had a bit of a drought, so that is assumed to be worst case, usually during the summer. The rest of the year, things should be somewhat better as regards the water turbine electric plant, but having less sunshine and more cloudy weather for the solar plant during the fall, winter, and spring. Obviously, one year's experience may provide more ideas to improve things.

            So in a worst case scenario, the present priority is to keep the 7.2 cu. ft. freezer working since it has basic grains and seeds primarily, and also make enough electricity to recharge the eneloop AA and  AAA batteries which will probably be used a lot by security personal. The Hemlocks also has some adapters to convert AA and AAA battery sizes to D and C cell sizes. After that the Hemlocks uses local sources (like wood) for heating and cooking and washing (use wood for warm water washing). And local sources of water are gravity powered and from springs (using the RAM), so we should have plenty of clean water (we have for ages), to include for waste water disposal (the septic tank and field), and garbage disposal is by using the garbage pit.  So none of the aforementioned three requires electricity or outside help, and is already up and running, but does need basic periodic maintenance.

            Now if there is not enough local electricity to power the freezer, then today there are three more options. One is to change the thermostat setting to require less electricity, which will probably reduce the shelf life of the things in the freezer. By the way, most of the stockpiled food and supplies are in not in the freezer, but stored appropriately. Now most of the seeds are frozen, or at least refrigerated (including away from moisture as best I can).  Two is to just turn off the freezer, and store the contents in a cool dry place in the provided plastic containers to keep the mice out. This option has variations, like only do it for part of the year when electric production is down. Three is just to use caches under the local overhands, which generally are around 54 F, year round. Of course in this way to go, I also have to defend against the local critters.

            Most stored medicines are in dry pill form, so they can be stored in a cool dark place, like the kitchen pantry, to extend their shelf life. Obviously, any medicines or vitamins that are in liquid, or moist forms (like gummy bear vitamins for kids) should be kept cold, or used up first.

            Presently the water turbine powered electric plant is set in the drought mode (there is more on this in another article), which means it can keep the freezer working with the present thermostat settings for two days.  Then one should switch to the solar plant for one day just to give the batteries for the water turbine plant a chance to recharge up. Right now the drought setup provides to keep the water turbine plant batteries above 48 volts, and the solar panel batteries at 12 volts or above. Now the Hemlocks has a 50 foot "tether" for the solar panel (100 watt) just to chase the sun as best we can (and the yard dogs don't chew it up).

            Last, a couple of reminders. The Hemlocks has a lot of renewable wood (like a square mile) for heat. We also have up to 800 feet of water fall, but choose not to use that for security reasons (like we use a pond and 16 feet of water fall). And the Hemlocks is at 36 degrees north latitude, and is full of shady trees, so this is not the best solar place to be in.