The Energy Hungry Prepper versus The Energy Happy Prepper

No it will not be pre-electric if it gets that bad. It will be worse.
Prior to, that’s right prior to, the industrial revolution, England developed coal mining and distribution because they were running out of wood for heating and local manufacturing (pottery, blacksmithing, etc.). This allowed them to keep less land forested. The land that was instead used to pasture additional horses. The increased use of animal power in farming allowed them to have a agricultural revolution prior to the industrial revolution. From memory, it roughly doubled their output per person.
We will not have a pre-electric level of farming, but a pre-coal level. That is a much iffier proposition.

I have been researching generators for home use and have considered everything from a 10k diesel to a PTO drive system. Fuel storage continues to ruin the viability of such large-scale options, however I cannot access my well water without power due to the depth of the well. After many hours of research and carefully weighing my options I have decided to purchase a small inverter generator suitable for that specific purpose. It could also be used to power one circuit in the house or run a power tool if necessary. It is a tri-fuel system so it is compatible with my existing propane water heater system which I upgraded last summer to 650 gallons of fuel. I also have many 25 gallon portable propane tanks. The generator uses 1 gallon of fuel/1 hour 50 min of use at full load so 25 gallons of fuel will give me 45.8 generator hours. I have a secure, vented location in the basement in which to locate the generator so noise will not be an issue. My idea is to run it only as needed a few times a week, making a schedule of necessary tasks to be performed within a specific time-frame. This way health and cleanliness standards can be maintained along with a measure of convenience which will free up man hours to concentrate on more pressing issues. I see this as a good compromise to an otherwise all or nothing scenario. It is also in addition to my primary source of fuel, which is wood……….and lots of it, already cut and stacked with more standing in the north 40.

I’ve just started prepping in earnest within the last couple of months, but it has come easy to me since my father was a sort of a prepper way before anyone ever talked about a survivalist lifestyle. In the 60’s, when I was in grade school we had weekend property in central Wisc. in a wooded area with no electricty or services of any type. My father had a mobile home brought in and we spent nearly every weekend there no matter what the weather. We had no heat other than a small fire box that my father built out of sheet metal. About the only good it did was provide a place to warm your hands. Our outhouse was built on skids so that when the hole filled up you slid it a couple of feet and dug a new hole and throw the dirt on top of the old hole. Our water source was sandpoint well which we drove ourselves. The only modern convienances we had were a couple of flashlights, (only used to find the matches to light a candle if you woke up in the middle of the night) and a single burner coleman stove for cooking and heating water.
I guess I’m not all that impressed with the tiered approach, especailly if you’re just starting down the path of becoming a prepper. Start with an 1880’s mindset that not only can you survive without the modern convienances but also thrive and have fun doing so. Once you are prepared for living in the 1880’s, then start modernizing if you choose to do so.
If you’re serious about preparing for an 1880’s lifestyle take a look into some of the more recent technolgy that you can adapt to such a life. One of the newer ideas based on century old technolgies are Rocket Stoves for heating and cooking. A simple google search on the subject and you will find hundreds of site and I would read them all. In a worse case situation, I would rather collect sticks than have to cut and split firewood. The gas you’re storing for that chainsaw won’t do you any good if this goes on for several years. I can get all the wood I need with a hatchet, bow saw, or lopping shears.
Water purification is another subject that is included in almost every serious prepper site. I have yet to see anyone talk about a slow sand bio filter. Having lived 2 years in Honduras and witnessed the improvement in the lifestyles for some of the poorest people in Central America, I can personally vouch for them. Another new twist on ancient technolgy. There are two drawbacks to them, they are heavy, therefore not portable and they must be kept warm, at least 65 degrees for them to work. All you need to build one is a garbage can full of sand, a bag of pea gravel and about $3 worth of plastic plumbing parts.

I was think of trying to rig up a hydrogen heating and cooking system, with PV-powered electrolysis to get the hydrogen from well water. I’ve seen blueprints for digestors that produce (supposedly) odorless methane to the same end, but the idea of cooking and heating with poo gas is less than appealing (and then there’s that “supposedly”). Either way, the whole thing is supposed to be run through a normal propane/natural gas system. My hope is to prep for SHTF situations and save some money in the mean time on heating and cooking.