Episode 35 – Micro Hydro Electricity Intro
Mar 28, 2011 Uncategorized
One of our CanadaPrepared.com friends, Paul Cobham of SurvivalSchoolCanada.com, has put together a talk on micro hydroelectricity. Microhydro, as some call it, is perhaps the most consistent and reliable way to produce electricity for your home. It’s also a lot simpler than you might think! All you need is a good stream that doesn’t freeze up or dry out, a drop in elevation and the necessary equipment. Once installed, maintenance is on par with solar or wind, but the production is much more consistent.
Coupling this technology with solar or wind would definitely make for the ideal off-grid situation.
Keep in mind that you will need to talk with your local natural resources office for regulations and advice. Paul, a long time instructor of outdoors survival, speaks very well about this topic. I know you’ll enjoy it!
Tags: electricity, hydro, Microhydro, off the grid, offgrid, power
Unexpected Preparedness Lessons – Vacuum Storage Bags
Mar 20, 2011 Uncategorized
Sounds like some sort of oxymoron, right? Yet there are times when you do something for one reason that turn out to be great for a preparedness reason. Vacuum bags for packing clothes is one of those things!
When my sweetie headed down to our Nova Scotia home with about 1/4 of the stuff from our household, she packed all her clothes and linens in these vacuum packing bags that she bought at Dollarama. I’m sure other dollar stores have them as well. She got the large size for $1.25 each, filled them, sealed them and they happened to fit perfectly into a 5 cubic foot moving box. Honestly, this wasn’t planned! It just worked that well.
She towed her things behind the truck on a 20 foot car hauler with side rails and everything tarped. But that wasn’t enough for the rain she would encounter on the last two days of their trek. When they got to the house, everything was soaked! All the cardboard, furniture, everything! Well, everything except her clothes and linens!
If you’ve ever been in that ‘everything soaked’ situation, you know what a morale booster having clean, dry clothes can be. That’s the bonus lesson of using these vacuum bags. She did it to save space, and it saved some of her peace of mind.
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