Right-wing preparers should be the biggest booster for this climate solution | Solar

When I wrote these words, the first trend story in The Guardian was titled:The history and future of social collapse“. This is a study by a Cambridge expert who works in ominous things, called the Center for Survival Risk Research; he concluded: “We cannot be on dates around the world, but by looking at 5,000 years of time.” [civilisation]we can understand the trajectory we are facing today – self-termination is likely to be”.

Even though I have been working in climate change for nearly 40 years, I can’t claim to have done a study myself and I have to say: It seems to be right. So this may not be the worst moment, worrying about how you would think about it when our civilization temporarily collapses. Perhaps you have noticed that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and violent. Or, you read the story of Donald Trump closing the federal emergency management agency and speculate that you have to take care of yourself. Or hey, maybe you think a pedophile might try to put you in a black helicopter 15 minutes to city The Communist mayor will let you live the rest of your life, riding the horror subway.

any. I’m not telling you what to do – I’m just talking about the energy supply of your bunker here. Along the way, it can be said that maybe it’s time for the right-wing nut to join our left-wing nuts to embrace the solar energy. Not because it is good for the environment – heaven forbidden. But because it works. Including when reaching hell under adverse conditions.

Maybe this is not an obvious choice. At least in the United States, conservatism is widely recognized by fossil fuels. The Trump administration has spent many months doing everything it can in the past few months Solar and wind power generation and boost hydrocarbons, even closure There is 80% wind power near the coast of Rhode Island. So it is understandable that in many cases your stubborn Prepper will tend to use what he knows and trusts. Of course, it’s not just Trump-Big Oil has done the work as manly, and that’s the idea of ​​climate change being the “elite” of those science, and so on.

That’s why you can go on Reddit and find long-term exchanges on how to keep the Jerrycans of Diesel fuel fresh. (It turns out that diesel can grow algae – The consensus on the forum is that if you store it in a metal can in the dark you might have been for years, although you might want to buy some “diesel biocide” just in case. This is Some are available online for $185 per gallon. )

But say you think the emergency may last longer – and then things will get harder. Here is a way to outline his dilemma on the forum:

I currently have three 275 gallon fuel tanks. 2 In my basement, full of diesel. A gasoline that will be placed outside. I just picked up the 3 70s-80s retro air pump that allegedly works in the order of work. What is everyone doing for their family? Concrete pads for pumps and water tanks? What are you doing to protect the pump from encountering or damage from the snow? How do you make sure that 250 gallons of gasoline flip and refill it before it goes bad? I was trying to sell it to close friends and neighbors at a pricey price, or a slight loss to make sure the fuel is always fresh.

I guess this might work – run your own gas station for your neighbor despite a slight loss. (If they are as old as me, you can attract them with a free water cup.)

But saying that the emergency lasts longer, you must Replenish Your tank. At some point, you may realize the incredibly complex system that you tie yourself together, with multiple points of failure everywhere. Today, to get oil, you basically need a company big enough to drill holes a few miles below the ocean; to get gas, you need a driller to be able to explode miles of explosives under the surface of the ground to “fract” the sediment into the flow. Then you need to be able to place the crude oil in a large refinery that can split it into various components and then transport the truck fleet to the gas station, etc. Once you have it, it has to maintain its engine properly – there are a lot of engineering involved in burning flammable liquids at a steady speed, for example, moving the power supply to the wheels, which is why there are about 2,000 parts in the drivetrain of the internal combustion vehicle. Any of them can and does break, at this point you’d better have a good stock in the bunker unless you’re absolutely sure your local Pep Boys will get up and running.

Or – one minute to endure with me – you can go to the sun. Again, I know Trump hates it. “It’s all steel, glass and wires,” he Tell A California party shortly before the last election. “It looks like hell. You see rabbits caught…it’s horrible.” But maybe aesthetics isn’t your primary concern, maybe you’ll hunt rabbits anyway – in this case, solar recommends a lot for our average paranoia. Actually, I think you can say that this is a form of power that exactly matches the rational conservative view: If you look at it in a way, then transpersonalist is energy.

On the one hand, it works – very, very long. My oldest solar panels have stretched over the roof for a quarter of a century and they still remain strong. The oldest solar array in France is Just tested Thirty years later, it is still at 80% of its original output. Now you can easily connect solar panels to batteries – some even from the Nazi billionaire Elon Musk (although there are also Many competitors Now, if you need nonfascist electronic storage). Once your basement has batteries, the afternoon sun can last all day. Indeed, if you already thought of it, like buying the Ford F-150 Lightning, an electric version of the most popular car in the United States, your battery is enough to keep your home running in days.

But most importantly, there is no complex system to plug in. It’s just you and the sun, which is currently expected to continue to burn for 5 billion years (admittedly, you’re alone).

Again, it’s very simple to use all the electricity. Take Ford Lightning, or actually any electric car: it has about 20 moving parts in the drivetrain. I know that good red Americans should have some skepticism about electric cars – our president explained that they “only drive for 15 minutes to charge for the fee.” (You might think he would be more respected, his course golf cart is electric and comes with a large number of 18 holes). But in reality, electric cars are now high-performance vehicles (if you have to, you can actually get Electric Hummar), they are self-sufficient. When I bought mine again, again, early on – the salesman offered me six free oil swaps. I looked at him for a moment, and then he blushed, giving me free floor mats. The tires need to be changed, that’s it.

Here’s the truth: you just plug the electric car into the solar panels and the battery in the house. You don’t need to worry about running out of gas or power at the gas station. And you know, just in case, I’ll get an e-bike too. A manual backup (called the pedal) is in place.

I often recall the first few movies of the MAD Max movies, especially the popular MAD Max 2 released in 1981. Mel Gibson, who wanders in the Australian outback after the end of the world (energy crisis, environmental collapse, never really designated), his main pursuit is to oil. In a major plot point, he helps defend a surrounded refinery in exchange for some gasoline (gyroscope, deadly steel boomerang). Even in this desperate future, it’s all about oil.

That made sense at the time, because when the movie was made, the solar panels were basically still a toy – they were most likely found in calculators and watches. A roof full of panels would be very expensive. In the 1980s Apocalypse, you have no choice but to try to live in whatever oil still remains (especially if you want to drive to a sand dune van in the desert). But since 1981, the price of solar panels has dropped by about 99%, and the price of batteries has also dropped. As a result, in Australia, about 40% of homes now have solar panels on their roofs. It’s so simple and cheap that it’s almost incredible. As an electrician Saul Griffith Written recently:

Our roof generation More than 10% of total energy supply. For a single home with a large roof, installation exceeds the required installation requires payment. My friend Fred’s house produces 141% of the electricity needed to run all the electricity in a year, including 2 cars and a heated pool. This is truly rich.

The Australian system is priced at one-third of what will be currently operating in the United States. This is mainly because we have increased the price with many unnecessary permissions, which is another place to satisfy easily. Why should the government stop you from harvesting the electrons that fall on the roof? This is a conspiracy! In fact, it is: It’s suitable for utilities to make us obsessed with the current way of business.

That’s why we’re performing Sunday Later this month: Single-use clean energy celebrations nationwide to make local governments change their ways and make some savvy efforts. If we can’t move Washington right now, we can at least put pressure on the Blue City Hall and the state legislature, and maybe some red people: This spring, crimson Utah became the first state to allow European-style “balcony solar”, those apartment-scale solar panels that you just hang out from the balcony and plug into the walls.

I mean, Mad Max is a great entertainment, but not well prepared. Even if you find the tanker for the hijack, you will still use light fuel very quickly. It seems like a limited number of old tankers. And the sun, the sun is always rising. Why not kick back and enjoy a relaxing life with your solar panels? No crazy maximums required – you can be the maximum maximum speed, running refrigerators and Piña Colada machines and everything else you can imagine.

I think preparing for disaster is the best reason to put solar panels on? I don’t. I think avoiding disasters is the best reason: the rapid establishment of solar, wind and batteries is the first scalable solution to the climate crisis that has emerged in all these decades at work. If we put forward enough time quickly enough (for example, in progress at China’s pace), then we’ll take some of that tingling out of global heating. We can’t stop climate change, but maybe we can stop it in a place where civilization is cut.

But I know that many people think more alone than in society, and their main concern is their own and their family’s fate. So, for them, the answer is the same: solar panels make your house truly your castle. If you want to defend it with AR-15 – well, now you have something to defend.

That’s why I think that from unbuilt hippies to entrepreneurs to evangelical pastors who are building hundreds of events across the country, Sunshine Day seems to be in all kinds of types. At a moment when our incredibly polarized society makes it difficult to do anything, it deserves at least a modest celebration. so come out September 21 to celebrate the rise of clean energy so that panels can be placed more easily and meet with your neighbors. By the way, knowing your neighbors is also a great survival technique.