7 Ways to generate electricity when it all hits the fan.

Hello, my friend and welcome back!  A Loyal reader of mine (Yooper) was asking why I haven’t written many posts on generating your own electricity.  I have to admit that he is correct, and I have been remiss as of late, and for that, I apologize and will work to correct this.  In light of that, the post today is on the many different ways to generate your own power.  Grab a cup of coffee my friend and have a seat while we visit.

With the exception of a plague, almost all other disasters will involve the loss of power to one extent or the other.  It only makes good sense to know in advance how to plan to power your home and devices when there is no public power available.

While there are many ways available to generate your own power, many people are not aware of all of them.  While this list is in no way complete, I hope to cover at least the more practical ones used by many off-grid people and Preppers today.  Let’s start with the more popular ones:

• Solar Power – This one is by far the most popular way used today. All you need is a few 50 + watt Solar panels, a Voltage regulator and a bank of batteries to store the generated power.  The popularity of these has brought the cost of 100-watt solar panels down to the point where they are very affordable to the average person.
• Wind Turbines – With the placement of large wind turbines on hills all over the US, the idea of using smaller ones to generate electricity for a homestead has gained popularity. Besides the ones which you can purchase ready to go, many have taken to the idea of building their own, using items such as car generators and voltage regulators to charge their battery banks.
• Hydropower – Many people live near fast flowing streams or rivers and utilize them to power homemade hydro-powered generators. While you can buy these little generators all ready made and ready to drop in place, for a fair price, many have chosen to build their own using various materials they have available.
• Steam Powered Generators – These work much the same way as the Windmill and Hydro Generators with the main difference being that they use steam to drive their turbines. They are simple to construct and use, but care must be taken to avoid getting hurt when operating them.

Here are some of the less popular ways to generate electricity that are very effective all the same:

• Wood Powered Generators – One of my readers has confided in me that he took an old gas generator and converted it to run on wood gas. When his batteries get low due to lack of sun or wind, he simply fires up his generator and runs it for a few hours to recharge his batteries.  He said that where he lives there is plenty of wood lying around so it works well.  I believe several others are doing the same.
• Chemically Powered – Yes, you read that right. Some people actually use basic chemicals found in the area they live in to create and recharge their battery bank for power.  This idea is not very popular simply because most people do not know how to gather the materials they need or even know what the need is for that matter.  You would need some type of acid and a pretty good supply of iron and lead to do it for long periods of time.  Just another reason why it’s not that popular.
• Human powered generator – Let me not leave out this popular idea. There are those who have mounted 12v generators to a platform and use a stationary bike to drive it. Depending on the efficiency of the generator you use, it can be a good alternative for the times of the year when other methods are not available.

Well, these are the only ways that I can think of offhand with the exception of a few new devices which use heat to create electricity.  Those, however, are for generating very small amounts of power only.  In the future, I am going to make a concentrated effort to bring you more post on generating electricity.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s post and I hope to see you again real soon.  Until next time my friend, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared.  God Bless America!

-Sarge-