Urban Survival Preparation - More Alternative Power Solutions

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a comment asking us to look into Sunforce Solar Products. Sunforce Products is a Canadian based company that markets alternative energy (wind and solar) generators and inverters to retail customers and outlets. You ought to check out Sunforce Solar products. They make a wide array of products to fit most budgets including a wind generator which is going to be my next purchase. Semper Fi. Gunny Mad Dog.

I am already familiar with Sunforce as I have one of their 25 watt folding portable solar panels. It is a mainstay in my portable Bug Out power system to re-charge batteries (AA and AAA) for my flashlights, radios and lanterns). I can also use it to charge 12v car batteries to in turn power an inverter for other applications like power tools. An electric chain saw makes a lot of sense for this capability as opposed to the probable eventuality of running out of gas.

Sunforce makes several models of folding, portable solar panels as well as a wide range of rigid solar panels. A friend of mine has one of their 15watt rigid panels and charge controller and is happy with their quality and performance. Upon reading my post about buying four solar powered motion detecting lights from the local chain hardware store, he bought a couple of these same type of lights from Sunforce, via Amazon, and has them installed on his house same as I do with wing nuts so they can be rapidly taken down and packed for a Bug Out.

Their wind generators makes a lot of sense and this is probable my next purchase as they can be easily disassembled and taken with you upon an orderly Bug Out.

Think about what you are going to do for your power needs in the event of a catastrophic collapse. You'll at least need the ability to power/re-charge flashlights, lanterns and radios. Some people have the foresight to fully implement an alternative power supply where if the power grid fails it won't mean a thing to them.

One word of caution. If you have power and the local area doesn't, be sure to take precautions so your demonstration of power does not become a beacon saying "Here I am. I have power. I probably have food and other things you'd like to have as well. Please attack me."

Take a look at their main sellers below. You can click on any product and read the product details and reviews.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 21, Preparing for a Possible End of the Year Collapse

UrbanMan's comments: I have been speaking to Jim about the possibility of a Stock Market collapse before the end of this year,...that's right, within the next three weeks. Not that I think it is probable, just possible. Since Congress has not extended the current tax rates (the so-called Bush Tax Cuts) which will expire December 31st, there is the possibility of many people consolidating their assets and cash resources.

If Congress does extend the current tax rates, everyone's tax rates will go up including capital gains. I read somewhere that if a person has an annual income of $75,000 than they will be taking home $200 per pay period (every 2 weeks) less next year. If the tax rates are set to go up, this should cause many investors to sell off stocks in order to realize the much lesser current tax rates and capital gains rate. If too many investors do this, it will cause a panic, developing a selling run and collapse the market which would drive this country into an immediate depression.

I told Jim that it would be a good idea to start "leaning forward" and fine tune not only his Survival plans for Bugging In and Bugging Out, but for material procurement that he may have been putting off. But I'll let Jim tell what he is doing.

Jim here. UrbanMan asked me to write a short story on what I am doing in case the a Stock Market crash precipitates a collapse.

Even though it a pain in the ass, I will keep my vehicle fuel tank no less than 5/8ths full. I picked up another 5 gallon plastic fuel can at Wal-Mart, and had that one, plus the two other cans filled, so now I have 15 gallons of gasoline in my garage.

My water service won't deliver again until near the end of the month, but I added two additional 2.5 gallon water jugs to my monthly order. I also bought three cases of water at the grocery store.

I also bought: one case each of green beans, peas and corn; one gallon of corn oil (which is getting really expensive); twelve cans each of canned roast beef and Spam. Plus six boxes each of Kashi cereal. And of course my normal grocery load.

My son will soon be out on Christmas break from college, so he'll be with me if the collapse hit's before the end of the year. We'll use the time to do some shooting and I'll tell him about my plans and beliefs on Survival Preparation. As it stands now when he is at school, we do have a contingency plan if a collapse hits.

Hopefully, we'll have cell phone or regular phone contact just before or right after when the SHTF. If I have to Bug Out, we have three linkup points: His apartment, the south end of one of the buildings on campus, and, the back end of a truck stop. We are planning to use the phrase "Ford Truck", "Chevy Tahoe" and "Dodge Charger" to denote the location we will meet and one of those is a designated no communications site as well so in case we don't have any way to communicate that will be the emergency linkup location, before we Bug Out to the Cabin.

I am also heading down to the Sporting Goods store to pickup a few more boxes of 12 gauge shotshells and a box or two of ammunition for my Mosin-Nagant. I can't buy it right now, but I know if the SHTF, I'll regret not picking up an M-4 that UrbanMan has advised me to on many different occasions.

I also took $1,000 out of my bank account and will hold onto to it through the new year. I can always re-deposit it if noting happens. I already have the previous silver I have bought, plus $800 in cash on hand.

I asked UrbanMan flat out if he thinks the Stock Market will crash or otherwise a collapse to hit before New Year. He said no, not really, but it pays just to "take a step forward" (his words) in case it does.

It pretty scary to me thinking that me and my son would have to survive a SHTF collapse. Hopefully nothing happens. I need to get a couple of my relatives into the plan and be better prepared to receive the stragglers. UrbanMan constantly tells me that "Survival is a Team Sport" and now I have a better sense of what he means. Take Care.

Survival Planning - Bugging In, Cold Weather Threat

UrbanSurvivalSkils.com received a comment from Jack, reference to Being Prepared to Bug In,.......”There is a lot to consider if bugging in, and you mention a several considerations... Many people, I find forget about how they might heat their home, if bugging in if the gas or other utilities get shut off. Considerations other than security, food, and water are just as important. You may be sheltered from a winter snow storm that lasts several days, but without adequate heat or knowing how to dress for the cold weather, many people would certainly perish.

As heating oil, gas, and other commodity/utilities go up this winter, it would be good to mention ways of thinking about keeping warm, etc. if you have to shelter in. The same concept applies in the summer, when it is 100+ degrees out in certain geographies. How do they plan to stay cool if the grid goes down etc. Just my 2 cents. I read your blog avidly.

UrbanMan’s Reply: Jack makes a good point. After an infrastructure collapse, not only the lack of electrical energy but the availability and delivery of fuel oil and propane for heating will threaten many people, especially in the Northern latitudes of this country. Even in the desert Southwest, winter temps can get into the single digits and routinely go as low as the high teens and lows twenties, are very threatening. It has been my experience that the homes built in last 30 or 40 years have very little insulation, my house is an example, so without a heat source the inside temperature of houses may not get more than twenty (20) degrees above outside temps. And this presents a very real hypothermia threat to Survivors.

There are some counter measures we can take to ensure cold weather is as minimal threat as possible:

1. Weatherproof our house as best we can; new weather stripping on doors; be prepared to board up windows which act as a cold radiator. This should tie into your defensive plan as well.

2. If you own a propane gas grill, buy extra tanks. I have three which two of them are always full. I have a heater attachment and when operating which can increase the temperature in a 10 x 10 foot room by 12-15 degrees. However, you will rapidly burn through the propane so use it wisely. One reader wrote me about his procurement of a propane tank gauge. He bought it intending to do “triage” on abandoned propane tanks to determine if they have enough propane in them to worth hauling away.

3. If you have a fireplace, ensure it is serviceable. Fireplaces are very inefficient ways to heat, unless you put in an insert. Electric blowers on fireplace inserts can make a big different, however require electricity, which probably won’t be available. I have quite of bit of wood stockpiled and save newspapers as well, not only for burning but to use as insulation against windows or for ground insulation if and when my house becomes full of my Survival Group and stranglers. I also have about 30 butane lighters divided in my Bug Out bags and go kit bags and bricks of wooden matches, so I can start fires anywhere.

4. Buy good quality cold weather clothing. Pants, thermal underwear, socks, good boots, gloves, watch caps (stocking caps), scarves or neck pull overs. Did I say gloves? One pair is no pair; three pair is one pair – get the idea? Have multiple spare pairs. Ensure that the members of your Survival Group understand the hypothermia threat. Dress in layers, avoid sweating or getting wet at all costs. Use the buddy system to ensure everyone is looked after.

5. Have sleeping bags. Again, quality bags and multiple bags if you can afford it. The military style two bags in one with an outside gortex cover are great, but bulky. Look at your potential environment and choose the necessary bag rated for that climate’s extreme temps. Good selection of sleeping bags here: Sleeping Bags.

6. Be prepared to designate a sleeping room where members of your Survival Group can not only rest, as they will and should be on different security and work shifts, but so they can sleep in the “warm room”.

Survival Planning - More on EMP Threat

Recently came across a November 28th report from World Net Daily (WND), written by Bob Unruh, entitled "Report Warns Obama about 'new' Dark Ages -Airplanes would fall from sky, cars would stop, networks fail".

I don't think there is alot lot more you can do to prepare for EMP if you are board with a Survival Preparation plan already for contingencies such as socio-economic collapse. EMP would certainly cause a total collapse of the infrastructure, but nobody really has an idea on just how prolific the affected areas would be. I have bolded some of the more interesting parts of this article.

The WND Article:

Two national-security experts have issued a report through the Heritage Foundation that warns Obama administration officials to start working now to prevent – and mitigate the damage from – an electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States because of the potential for "unimaginable devastation."

"Not even a global humanitarian effort would be enough to keep hundreds of millions of Americans from death by starvation, exposure, or lack of medicine. Nor would the catastrophe stop at U.S. borders. Most of Canada would be devastated, too, as its infrastructure is integrated with the U.S. power grid. Much of the world's intellectual brain power (half of it is in the United States) would be lost as well. Earth would most likely recede into the 'new' Dark Ages," states the report by James J. Carafano, the deputy director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, and Richard Weitz, senior fellow and director of the Center for Politial-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute.

The report, which is described by the Heritage Foundation as a "backgrounder," is titled "EMP Attacks – What the U.S. Must Do Now" and was released just days ago, says what is needed right now is for the government to "prevent the threat," by pursuing "an aggressive protect-and-defend strategy, including comprehensive missile defense; modernizing the U.S. nuclear deterrent; and adopting proactive nonproliferation and counterproliferation measures."

Further, measures are needed to add to the "resilience" of the electrical grid and telecommunications systems, including duplicating some essential functions, and "robust" pre-disaster planning should be going on now for "federal, state, local private-sector, non-government organizations and international support," the report said.

Especially, the nation needs to work to "protect the capacity to communicate," the report explains.

"An EMP strike can easily obliterate America 's electrical, telecommunications, transportation, financial, food,and water infrastructures, rendering the United States helpless to coordinate actions and deliver services essential for daily life," says the report.

"In the words of Arizona Sen. John Kyl, EMP 'is one of only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies.' The time to prepare is now!"

The new report echoes the warnings carried in a story first broken in WND five years ago about a blue-ribbon commission appointed by Congress to investigate the impact of an EMP attack on the U.S.

An EMP catastrophe, which scientists have warned also could come through a naturally occurring Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun, largely is feared to come from an act of war from an enemy. If there is a nuclear explosion high in the atmosphere over North America the resulting electromagnetic discharge can "permanently disable the electrical systems that run nearly all civilian and military infrastructures," the report said.

"A massive EMP attack on the United States would produce almost unimaginable devastation. Communications would collapse, transportation would halt, and electrical power would simply be non-existent," the report warns.

"All past calamities of the modern era would pale in comparison to the catastrophe caused by a successful high-altitude EMP strike," the report said. "The effects of EMP will immediately disable a portion of the 130 million cars and some 90 million trucks. Since millions of vehicles are on the road at any given time, there will be accidents and congestion that will impede movement…. The U.S. rail network depends directly on electricity. … America 's aviation industry will be destroyed…. The U.S. food infrastructure depends heavily on the transportation sector," it warns.

William R. Graham, chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and the former national science adviser to President Reagan, previously testified before Congress and issued an alarming report on "one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences."

He identified vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructures that "are essential to both our civilian and military capabilities."

Not taking the steps necessary to reduce the threat "can both invite and reward attack," Graham told the members of Congress at the time.

He described that the attack would come like a swift stroke of lightning, and would immediately disrupt and damage all electronic systems and America 's electrical infrastructure.

A detonation over the middle of the continental U.S. "has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures that support the fabric of U.S. society and the ability of the United States and Western nations to project influence and military power," said Graham.

"Several potential adversaries have the capability to attack the United States with a high-altitude nuclear-weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse, and others appear to be pursuing efforts to obtain that capability," said Graham.

"A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication. For example, an adversary would not have to have long-range ballistic missiles to conduct an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the U.S. coast using a short- or medium-range missile to loft a nuclear warhead to high altitude. Terrorists sponsored by a rogue state could attempt to execute such an attack without revealing the identity of the perpetrators. Iran, the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism, has practiced launching a mobile ballistic missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shahab-III, a test mode consistent with EMP attack, and described the tests as successful. Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States . While the commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots."

The new Heritage Foundation report echoed those concerns.

"Even with farsighted mitigation measures there is little question that a nationwide EMP attack would be crippling," it warned. "Thus, while pursuing mitigation, the U.S. should take all possible measures to protect and defend the nation against a ballistic-missile attack that could be used to deliver an EMP strike, as well as pursue aggressive counter-proliferation measures against rogue states developing nuclear weapons."

The report warns such an attack would turn science fiction into reality.

"Airplanes would literally fall from the sky, cars and trucks would stop working, and water, sewer, and electrical networks would fail. Food would rot, medical services would collapse, and transportation would become almost nonexistent," it explains.

The report warned that one criticality is to develop domestic sources for replacement equipment for the electric equipment, transformers and substations that would be damaged.

"The equipment used in the transmission grid is costly, specially produced, and has to be ordered from overseas … Those with the expertise to replace transformers and capacitors are likely to be overwhelmed…"

What would happen already has been documented, the report noted, in the 1977 New York City blackout, although on a much smaller scale.

"Two lightning strikes caused overloading in the electrical power substations of the Con Edison power company. These lighting strikes, the equivalent of a minuscule fraction of [EMP], caused the Indian Point power plant north of the city to fail, as well as the subsequent failure of the Long Island interconnection. … Failure of the Linden-Goethals 230,000-volt interconnection with New Jersey resulted in the protective devices removing overloaded lines, transformers, and cables from service. As a result, a power failure spread throughout the New York area. This blackout lasted only one day, yet resulted in widespread looting and the breakdown of the rule of law throughout many New York neighborhoods. The estimated cost of the blackout was approximately $246 million, and nearly 3,000 people were arrested through the 26-hour period," the report said.

"The blackout in New York City resulted in an immediate breakdown of the social order. The police were outmatched and had no chance of stopping such massive theft, largely having no choice but to stand by watching the looters from a distance. In North Brooklyn , a community of more than a million residents, only 189 police officers were on duty…."

In 2003, a blackout in Ohio , New York , Maryland , Pennsylvania , Michigan and Canada saw "massive traffic jams and gridlock when people tried to get home without traffic lights. … Railways, airlines, gas stations, and oil refineries halted operations. Telephone lines were overwhelmed due to the high volume of calls. Overall, the blackout's economic impact was between $7 billion and $10 billion due to food spoilage, lost production, overtime wages…"

A true EMP attack, the report said, "could prove even more severe."

Further, major disruptions will happen in communications, financial and other computer-dependent parts of society.

Peter Vincent Pry, chief of EMPact America , said the world this past summer dodged a bullet – in the form of a massive solar flare.

The results of that naturally occurring even could be very similar to a nuclear-caused EMP attack, he said.

"The last 'great' geomagnetic storm was in 1859, called the Carrington event. Modern civilization, so dependent upon electronic systems, has not yet experienced a 'great' geomagnetic storm. Many scientists think we are overdue," he wrote. "Some scientists believe that, as we approach the solar maximum over the next two years, since the solar maximum brings increased solar flare activity, the possibility of a "great" geomagnetic storm will also increase."