Down goes the Grid!!!

[morpher44]

I think it is appropriate on this Forum, in this
Renewable Energy category to entertain ideas
about how to deal with total and complete Grid Failure
-- which NASA predicts may happen in 2012 --
if the Sun hits the earth with a large CME.

This occurred before in 1859 apparently -- but
now we are completely dependent on electronics and
electricity.

Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nasa headline...

NASA - Severe Space Weather--Social and Economic Impacts

From this report, the East Coast looks particularly
vulnerable as well as the North Western USA.

Some non hardened satellites and communications
may go down.
You might want to re-think purchasing that expensive
iPhone/Blackberry ...which would be junk post 2012.

YouTube - Nasa Warns Of Super Solar Storm 2012

I am firm believer that humanity will be just
fine after 2012 ... that we won't be wiped out...
that we shouldn't be in fear ... or buy into all the hype
about an Apocalypse.

That said...
we may be in a state of shock ... and have
our economies further ruined if we fail to plan
...contingency-wise... for the sort of scenario
Nasa and other scientists are starting to warn about.

The Sun is in fact doing weird things this solar cycle.
It has been devoid of sun spots until just last week.
One solar storm started on about Thursday I think ...
and it has since rotate around the Sun to the other side
where we can't see it. In a few days ... I think ...
it will be in view again ... and scientists are dying for a look.
Did the storm on the Sun get larger?
What is the Sun doing?

I think the efforts being made by many of you on
the Energetic Forum may bear fruit if the power grid does go down.
Circuits like Dr. Stifflers SEC, the "big" Joule Thief,
and various magnetic motors, etc. are R & D we must
continue with ASAP.

I would encourage those of you who are able to spend
what normally would be your self entertainment hours working
on what could be the very technology that helps your
local communities get through a hard time.

Ham Radio operators might want to dust off their equipment,
charge up or buy spare batteries ... dig out those generators.
Communications may go lower-tech for a while.
Some of you may not be aware that Ham Radio operators
have TERMINAL-NODE-CONTROLLERS which are a form
of packet radio for digital communications.
These guys and galls have equipment crucially needed
during times of disaster since grids will go down.

Those of you who are inspired to do

* emergency power systems
* emergency communication systems
* emergency battery chargers
* emergency heating / cooling systems
* systems that purify water ... or pump water with low power
* hydrogen creation & motors using hydrogen
* renewable energy -- wind, solar, etc.

... please get your videos up here ... and post
them to this thread if so inspired.
Try to make them educationally so that others can "copy" what
you've done ... or at least can remember what you've done
so that they can dig out this knowledge from memory and
put it to use during an emergency.
This is important work I think ... even if nothing happens.
Something will likely go wrong some place at some time ...
as happened with Katrina ... and so technology that we
all can repeat -- using easy to find stuff -- will be so valuable to us all.

I would like to encourage thinking along these lines.
Please post your ideas here ... and lets start working on this.
Soon we all may be unemployed and have lots and lots
of time on our hands w/o a plan.
Would you love to be in a position to be able to teach
your neighbors how to make a simple Joule Thief circuit
or how to pump water from a well using "hand made"
power generators.

I am inspired by the Professor on Gilligan's Island. What a cool dude!!

[morpher44]

The Sun vs. The Milky Way Galaxy

One theory as to why the Sun is a bit crazy this cycle
is due to the Sun (and our entire solar system) is
approaching the equilateral plane of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Yes our Galaxy is a big spiral of stars. The Galaxy has a thickness
... bot MOST gravity balls out there are very near the
equilateral plane.

How does galactic gravity work? Is it transmitted in waves?
I believe that scientist have not in fact YET detected gravity waves ...
although they are trying with very sensitive equipment.

Some worries are that the asteroid belt might be "tweaked"
with additional gravitational forces as we near this plane.
Such tweaking might alter the orbits of various objects
in the asteroid belt, causing unpredictable collisions.
Some material from that belt might HURL towards the inner
planets as they are pulled toward the Sun.
Most will burn up ... this happens all the time ... no worries.
The Earth is very nicely protected by the moon,
the Magenetic fields and NORAD Space Command
(and other defenses in other nations).

A big object, however, might cause a bit of concern.
No this would not be planet X.
It might be big-nasty-object-X, however.

Further, the Sun may heat up as it approaches
the equilateral plane. There is so much we don't know
about how the Sun actually works.
There is evidence the Sun is getting hotter ...
and it does appear to correlate with this time
period of approaching the equilateral plane.
I'm willing to throw out that speculation ... because
it doesn't seem far fetched to me.
Anyone can spin a ball with centripetal force and
know that heating occurs as velocity increases.
Think of huge gravity balls experiencing mutual
"frictional heat". It sounds plausible.

Chem-trails -- Some think this is a "secret" attempt to
alter the reflective index of our atmosphere using materials
that stay suspended in the atmosphere for long durations ...
and contain reflect molecules containing certain metals.
I'm surprized that no one has thought to attempt to
document WHEN these are observed in an attempt
to correlate them with space weather phenomenon ...
or in anticipation of space weather phenomenon -- rather.
Yes I know this sounds like a less "evil" conspiracy theory
than the one that would have us believe that we are
being infected with swine flu from the sky ... or being
poisoned to cull population growth. The latter two
are pretty strange theories given that there are other
efforts all around the world to save the starving ...
and heal the sick ... and shelter the homeless ... etc.
Those theories would have us believe that humanity and
its leaders are completely skitzophrenic.

FEAR & Mind Control:
I think "fear" is being used to get people motivated to work
on protecting themselves ... be it personal health ...
finances ... home protection ... etc.. etc.
The "mind control" message I'm receiving ... is get busy
and do something ... before its too late.
How many out there are receiving this ... honestly?
The subliminal messages in this regard are so strong now ...
its almost completely out in the open.
The Earth Quake drill in LA was the scariest material I've
ever seen from the USGS. Intense!!!
I think there is basically a wake up call occuing here -- my opinion.

Global Warming?
------------------
Yes ... Solar system wide warming ... yes....

- Associated Press: Study says sun getting hotter
Solar radiation reaching the Earth is 0.036 percent warmer than it was in 1986, when the current solar cycle was beginning, a researcher reports in a study to be published Friday in the journal Science. The finding is based on an analysis of satellites that measure the temperature of sunlight.

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

[Mark]

Hi Morpher

This may sound crazy but I swear I've been thinking the same things!

Now I'm thinking about switching my house over to a 12 or 24 volt system. Using a solar panel/windmill hybrid system to keep a couple of battery banks charged and get EFFICIENT!

[dragon]

obvious signs...

There are a lot of obvious signs of something on a large scale will occur. Reguardless, it's always good to have a food stock and some alternative energies available. Self sufficiency should have always been the goal but big companies and government make it so easy to be dependant on them. Move away from any dependance, become self sufficient then any thing that may occur you and yours will be far better off in any emergency. As well, you'll be better prepaired to help others as you won't need help yourself.

There are some hard times comming whether it be economic, catastrophic or otherwise - self sufficiency is the key.
________

[jibbguy]

Morpher i agree with you that we are not going to be "destroyed" in 2012. I believe that such fatalism serves those who WANT us to think that, so we feel: "It's all useless, so why bother trying to change anything?" I always get a kick out of the "History Channel" on TV, that re-plays disaster scenario shows over and over again. I have learned that anything these people push that hard is probably wrong.

And there is need for concern to what happens to global communications, the power grid, and the Internet if the next cycle high is as bad as 1961's, as many scientists think it will be.

That's why studying new sources for home energy is so important. Even if we cannot generate "3.5k Watts" to run the needs of a home without a lot of cost, we should at least be able to do "800W" ; and have a battery bank available with a pulsing charger... This would make a big difference in our lifestyle from zero watts, lol. That combined with the great energy saving advice from Peter's book and other places would be the difference between freezing in winter, or keeping a low-wattage freezer going the rest of the year (Dr. Swartz has some very good ideas on modifying horizontal chest freezers to be refrigerators for using a fraction of the usual energy, which is something they have been doing in boats for many years... Their motors are much smaller, and much more of the "cold" stays in them when the door is opened).

Practical use of the energy-saving techs we have seen here, like ~Imhotep's~ and Dr. Stiffler's and others' would be a huge help in creating low-power lighting systems. Perhaps all the designs and info on these and other subjects should be printed out on paper to have in case no 'puters are available for a while. Nearly all of the stuff that is used for these things can be scavenged from other devices.

Another thing we may need to study for home power generation is how to make & magnetize our own ceramic magnets, using a potter's kiln. If an all-magnet motor design (or a "highly efficient" pulsed-magnet design) is ever Open Sourced for all to use, this may become necessary as we could soon see the supply of rare earth magnets disappear; several years ago a consortium of Chinese & Japanese corporations cornered the market and have a lock on over 95% of the world-wide supply & manufacture.

So it might be wise to stock up on neo's and magnet wire, they can be used for conventional wind-powered alternators, and home-made fuel-or-hand-powered gen-sets as well

Also on the materials needed for a hydroxy system. It could be possible to build heaters or boilers using hydroxy that would be several times "COP>1", simply because of the very high heat generated by the burn against metal. Even in warm climes, this could be useful for creating distilled drinking water. Another very helpful item for purifying water would be having a stockpile of "MMS" sodium chlorate /sodium chlorite which also does double-duty as a medicine... It would kill any pathogens in the water, but not remove all toxic chemicals.

Building a wind gen is fairly easy compared to other stuff and there are examples of doing it on-the-cheap, like the guy in the UK who makes the blades out of PVC pipe and does the whole thing for around $70 .

Hopefully we will have something "better" to build before then but it pays to have back-up

One thing i have chosen to do is store an old laptop in a EM pulse- hardened container along with backup CD's, but that presupposes i have a means to charge the battery, lol.

[morpher44]

solar & wind

Hi Morpher

This may sound crazy but I swear I've been thinking the same things!

Now I'm thinking about switching my house over to a 12 or 24 volt system. Using a solar panel/windmill hybrid system to keep a couple of battery banks charged and get EFFICIENT!

@Mark,

Yes do it if you can.
It is expensive.
My thoughts on this are that you can calculate how much
you use from your electric bill and then subtract the amount
consumed by your clothes dryer and other unnecessary appliances.
In time of crisis, you can dry your clothes using wind power
-- like done in the days of old.
So in terms of keeping solar/wind costs down ... don't get too
overboard on watts/hr ... and instead figure out ways to go lower
power.
Some of the low-power-lighting solutions in this forum are
awesome ... so investigate those.

What I'm interested in now ... is figuring out some sort of
"night-time ... no-wind" power generation solution.
Ideas? I find that I'm a very nocturnal person ... because
in my location ... its too damn hot to go outside.

[morpher44]

self sufficiency vs. mutual sufficiency

There are a lot of obvious signs of something on a large scale will occur. Reguardless, it's always good to have a food stock and some alternative energies available. Self sufficiency should have always been the goal but big companies and government make it so easy to be dependant on them. Move away from any dependance, become self sufficient then any thing that may occur you and yours will be far better off in any emergency. As well, you'll be better prepaired to help others as you won't need help yourself.

There are some hard times comming whether it be economic, catastrophic or otherwise - self sufficiency is the key.

@dragon

Well said. I've always enjoyed disaster movies
and hope that I could live up to the heroic ideal of helping
others. I think the internet age has made us all learn
how to organize and communicate and socialize in social
networks that are virtual. This skill set seems like it will
fail us if things go down ... but I'm thinking no.
There is a real trend to go low power with communications
and personal computing. Within the next 10 years I predict
we will see lots and lots of innovation in that regard.
What I would encourage the designers to be thinking about,
however, is building in more "strength" and "hardness"
to these life-saving appliances.
Why should the military be the only ones with hardened equipment?
And ... the military will have their hands full.

My last cell phone failed me ... not because the electronics went
bad .. but because the display was "cracked" in my pants
pocket. Boom ... single point of failure. W/o a display,
your phone becomes junk. Your contacts are not viewable.
As consumers we should demand "hardened" appliances for
communications and computing. These devices can
literally save our societal *SS if things go bad.

Self sufficiency and removing dependencies is good ...
but don't cut yourself off completely like a hermit.
Communicating with the outside world -- to bring medical rescue --
to ask for supplies -- to pass on information --
depends on a "mutual sufficiency" attitude.
And crucial to making this all work will be portable --
almost "free" energy.

[morpher44]

motor startup

...
One thing i have chosen to do is store an old laptop in a EM pulse- hardened container along with backup CD's, but that presupposes i have a means to charge the battery, lol.

@jibbguy

Great ideas. Regarding powering your protected laptop ...
Cool idea to keep it EMP safe ... and
as for powering it ... at least you'll having something to power up ...
and it will just be a bit of a puzzle for you.
You could be the last man on earth with a laptop.

Motors need large start-up current (see):
Everything you ever wanted to know aboutemergency power, lights and generators! (Part one)

It seems acceptable to me to design systems
with motors that require human start up.
I don't mind using just a bit of my muscle power
to spin up a motor ... and then switch it on.

Generators:
Forget diesel and gas. I'm thinking wood-burning ... and steam
with Tesla Turbine. A guy on youtube makes Tesla Turbine's
from CD cases.
YouTube - Revin' Up the Tesla CD Turbine II With Magnetic Disc Pack
I love the sound this sucker makes.

[morpher44]

good show

Hulu - Paranormal TV: Holes in Heaven: HAARP and Advances in Tesla Technology

[Stealth]

Self sufficiency requires more than just energy. First thing you can't live without is water. You need some kind of storage system if you have no running water supply. Next is food, same goes for food,some kind of storage facility. Next is power. You can buy a system for that, wind, solar combination will suffice with battery capacity for backup. Next is medical supplies, you can buy and stock some items, but it's best to know how to make your own, and what to use them for. Also you will need to power down most of your electrical needs to accomodate your lower energy availability.
Using the most efficient LED lights, changing all your appliances to 12 volt DC, to use charged batterys. Insulate your house better to lower your temps in summer, raise the temps in winter. You will also need to build an efficient heater for cold weather that will run off 12 volt motor(Frenette heater). Even if you could keep your computer up and running, the internet may not be up and running, plus your cable provider may not be available either. I'm sure there are other problems that will need to be addressed also, but you could get by on these. Good Luck. Stealth

[morpher44]

Here Comes the Sun -- Storm...

Animated Gif showing storm on Sun rotating around into
view again. Scientists are real curious about this one.
Take a look ... animated GIF is a bit slow.
19.5 degrees? I wonder.

http://soho.esac.esa.int/data/LATEST...nt_eit_195.gif

[Inquorate]

Wind power

Morpher i agree with you that we are not going to be "destroyed" in 2012. I believe that such fatalism serves those who WANT us to think that, so we feel: "It's all useless, so why bother trying to change anything?" I always get a kick out of the "History Channel" on TV, that re-plays disaster scenario shows over and over again. I have learned that anything these people push that hard is probably wrong.

And there is need for concern to what happens to global communications, the power grid, and the Internet if the next cycle high is as bad as 1961's, as many scientists think it will be.

That's why studying new sources for home energy is so important. Even if we cannot generate "3.5k Watts" to run the needs of a home without a lot of cost, we should at least be able to do "800W" ; and have a battery bank available with a pulsing charger... This would make a big difference in our lifestyle from zero watts, lol. That combined with the great energy saving advice from Peter's book and other places would be the difference between freezing in winter, or keeping a low-wattage freezer going the rest of the year (Dr. Swartz has some very good ideas on modifying horizontal chest freezers to be refrigerators for using a fraction of the usual energy, which is something they have been doing in boats for many years... Their motors are much smaller, and much more of the "cold" stays in them when the door is opened).

Practical use of the energy-saving techs we have seen here, like ~Imhotep's~ and Dr. Stiffler's and others' would be a huge help in creating low-power lighting systems. Perhaps all the designs and info on these and other subjects should be printed out on paper to have in case no 'puters are available for a while. Nearly all of the stuff that is used for these things can be scavenged from other devices.

Another thing we may need to study for home power generation is how to make & magnetize our own ceramic magnets, using a potter's kiln. If an all-magnet motor design (or a "highly efficient" pulsed-magnet design) is ever Open Sourced for all to use, this may become necessary as we could soon see the supply of rare earth magnets disappear; several years ago a consortium of Chinese & Japanese corporations cornered the market and have a lock on over 95% of the world-wide supply & manufacture.

So it might be wise to stock up on neo's and magnet wire, they can be used for conventional wind-powered alternators, and home-made fuel-or-hand-powered gen-sets as well

Also on the materials needed for a hydroxy system. It could be possible to build heaters or boilers using hydroxy that would be several times "COP>1", simply because of the very high heat generated by the burn against metal. Even in warm climes, this could be useful for creating distilled drinking water. Another very helpful item for purifying water would be having a stockpile of "MMS" sodium chlorate /sodium chlorite which also does double-duty as a medicine... It would kill any pathogens in the water, but not remove all toxic chemicals.

Building a wind gen is fairly easy compared to other stuff and there are examples of doing it on-the-cheap, like the guy in the UK who makes the blades out of PVC pipe and does the whole thing for around $70 .

Hopefully we will have something "better" to build before then but it pays to have back-up

One thing i have chosen to do is store an old laptop in a EM pulse- hardened container along with backup CD's, but that presupposes i have a means to charge the battery, lol.

Tithe moment I'm pinning my hopes on the tesla switch for repeatable 'OU' but point taken - I have a solar panel but will buy more.

Also, a wind generator and a radio along with the rice, water and beef jerky reserves (got a kid on the way) may prove quiet providential.

When the lights go out (if indeed they do), my thoughts will be with you all.

Love and light

[Bob Smith]

Joe Pipe for Heat

There's a guy who's developed a system of firing a propane flame thru 2 concentric tubes aligned so that the flame goes into a vortex and a kind of physical harmonic resonance (is that an oxymoron?). Anyway, after first seeing it in videos, I wondered if it could be scaled down to use small tea lights (the kind you can buy in bags from Ikea). My guess is that the resonance brings on a kind of quantum effect that liberates more heat than what would occur by normal combustion apart from the tubes. The system is called the "Joe Pipe," after the Joe Cell, I guess. I haven't had time to work on it, but someone else may find it of interest.
Here's a YT link - account doesn't seem to active lately:
YouTube - #01-Flame Pipe aka Joe Pipe
Yahoo Joe Pipe Group:
Joe_Pipe_Tech : Joe Pipe Technologies
Bob

Edit: Forgot to mention I thought this would be a good energy idea for possible home heating this coming winter.

[Stealth]

A big snow storm hit our region last week. It knocked out electricity and water for thousands of people all over 2 states. Most were not and are still not prepared for whatever is coming on down the road. Winter is just now starting, so we could see many more such white out conditions before the winter is over. If more people were aware of the technologies available here and on the web, they could have been better prepared and possibly still be in their homes instead of having to go to a shelter. It just goes to show how much information is discredited and kept out of the hands of the general public. Hopefully in 2010 things will loosen up and these technologies will be made available to everyone. Good Luck.. Stealth

[sodpa]

Wood gasification

For those with welding skills or the money to hire it done and access to plenty of wood, it is hard to beat wood gasification. They can also be bought ready made. The feed stock can also be the pits of fruits, nut shells, wood pellets or other woody material. The main thing is it must feed down through the gasifier and not bridge.

Depending on the size gasifier built, different size engines can run on the gas. If it is a water cooled engine heat can also be used for hot water and heating. Pumps for water and all kinds of things can be powered by belts.

You still need a battery bank and inverter. Run gasifier once or twice a day to recharge. If you can also afford some pv panels, wind, micro hydro or other it would cut back on the amount of time running the gasifier and all the work that goes with it and handling lots of wood material. Makes a great backup using a great fuel.

Lots of info available online.