A freak wind storm blew through town yesterday and has left me without power for 16 hours. This is the second or third weather related power outage.
I have a lot of hobbies and use a fair bit of power - I offset my carbon footprint with a 5kw solar system on my roof.
My solar array is setup as a "grid tie" system. This means that I feed all the power my panels produce into the meter. Since solar isnt a stable power source - sometimes the utility takes the excess power I produce and give me credits to use when my solar isnt enough (or at night).
The solar array was never meant to be a zombie apocalypse system - it was to simply offset my costs and "do my part". I also foresee an electric vehicle in my future so the idea of driving for free was appealing. The problem with the grid tie system is that when the grid goes down - you cant switch over to the solar panels (legally). My panels don't take me off the grid - they simply offset grid related costs (and perhaps slow climate change by a nanosecond).
I used to have a gas generator with a bypass panel - but i was living in a rural property. Living in a city - you expect services to be returned in a timely matter. My ares is old and established - which means there are underground wires within the subdivision - but there are still utility pole connections outside the subdivision. I have a feeling that they aren't going to bury those wires until they have a good reason - so I need to take matters into my own hands.
The cheapest solution is to get a 5000w gas or diesel generator and run an extension cord into my kitchen. This is not ideal - but gas or diesel can be siphoned from my neighbours car if things go zombie apocalypse.
Another solution is to permanently install a Genrec Natural Gas powered generator. Its permanently wired into your panel - does weekly self tests - and sends notifications to your phone on all events. Most of these units have an LP adaptor - so if the gas system was disrupted as well (in a zombie apocalypse) propane could be used. That means hopping a lot of fences to steal propane tanks (which probably wouldn't be a bad idea anyway).
The only other solution I am considering is the Tesla battery. This would be the most expensive option available. The upside to the battery is the power would be mine - its already generated and stored. Its perfect for residential neighbourhoods and could last me anywhere from a day to 7 days. The downsides are it doesn't come with an inverter, the cost is high, and unlike a generator once the battery is drained its drained. If a long outage happened in the winter when solar generation is low - this would not be a very good solution.
I think natural gas is probably the way to go - its a seamless switch over so my computer wouldn't be affected - but its expensive and for the most part tied to the gas system (propane is still a last ditch option).
Its strange to have these problems in modern cities - but there will always be outages. Natural Gas outages are extremely rare - to have them both happen at the same time is highly unlikely. This is the route a lot of daytraders and other people who need uninterrupted power go.
The technology exists to not have to live without worrying about power outages - extreme weather has lead me to seriously look into backup systems. Something tells me that the weather situation in my area is only going to get worse.
Ryan Geddes is a writer and entreprenuer located in Toronto Canada. When he's not writing, hes helping with House&Canvas Furniture Paint.