I can't talk about backup power without talking about solar, because unlike the brittle and expensive gas supply chain, the sun just relentlessly keeps coming up every morning... which is very convenient for recharging your battery: https://susankayequinn.com/2025/04/solar-how-to-get-started-and-why-you-should.html
#climatechange
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@susankayequinn
I have a generator for when the power goes out but I hate running it - it's noisy, smelly, needs to stay outside (and when the power goes out the weather is usually really bad) and so needs 50 feet of extension cord.
So I got an EcoFlow battery to use with it. My plan is to use the battery (which can be indoors with short to no extension cords) to keep fridge and freezer cool in bursts, and charge it outside with the generator and panels as needed and as weather permits. I figure I can get about 4 hours of battery runtime for every hour I need to run the generator.
@evilotto sounds like that works, but like you say, noisy, smell, fumes
@susankayequinn We do camping with a group of WWII re-enactors. Nothing harshes my mellow quite like the roar of a generator. We use a Jackery with a solar panel to recharge it and it keeps our mobile phones charged and has enough juice to run my husband's cpap all night long! Peace and quiet as well as peace of mind.
@mrszee very nice! And yes, absolutely, these things have multiple uses! Good on you for not adding to the pollution everyone has to breathe at the re-enactment camp!
After I wrote up the general backup power options post, my kiddo had to evacuate from the LA wildfires. So I found myself doing another round of calculations and seeing if the new Jackery I'd got them would run the air purifier (answer: yes).
https://susankayequinn.com/2025/01/backup-power-for-air-filters-water.html
I can't talk about backup power without talking about solar, because unlike the brittle and expensive gas supply chain, the sun just relentlessly keeps coming up every morning... which is very convenient for recharging your battery: https://susankayequinn.com/2025/04/solar-how-to-get-started-and-why-you-should.html
#climatechange
I also recommend folks check out (and support!) Solar United Neighbors-- they're a US advocacy group that helps navigate issues around solar install regulations and they run solar co-ops to get cheaper pricing by having people go solar together!
Could you maybe edit to specify that this is a US national group? Reach, context, etc… @susankayequinn
every time I look at a solar irradiance map of the US, I think
"everyone in the red should have solar, every last person"
"the electric companies are terrified of this"
@susankayequinn even the yellow zones would shrink the need to buy energy enormously. It's a one time investment, and you've got 40 years of cheap, reliable & independant decentralized energy.
@susankayequinn do u know what is the map based on? Like why would the area around the bay get less sun?
I mean, I have solar in Pennsylvania and it totally works economically for me, so if I can make it work in PA, I can't even imagine how it *wouldn't* work in the high irradiance zones -- this is why the utilities are desperate to handicap it there, and they'll absolutely collude with corrupt politicians (hello TX) to make it seem like it's not "economical" (which is a lie)
@susankayequinn also, can we just appreciate how close the two ends of that scale are? The "<4" is pretty open-ended and I'm sure there's specific places with dreadful numbers, but overall you're not looking at a 10x difference in irradiance between the best and the worst places in the continental US. "Oh no, we'll only get two thirds of the free energy people in ideal conditions get! The horror!"
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@susankayequinn I remember how groundbreaking was Mark Z Jacobson's report more than a decade ago (2 decades?) showing how to build out renewables in the US and beyond to supply all the energy we need.
https://thesolutionsproject.org/ is born of his work at Stanford. How that project evolved over the years reflects the lack of political will and how--as you say--the changes happen at the local level from the ground up.
Thank you for all you do to support the changes we need!!!
@susankayequinn Technology Connections has a thorough rebuttal of the idea that solar is somehow impractical -- and it doesn't even talk about climate change. Solar is the right choice, even for purely economic reasons, and anyone saying otherwise in 2026 is either lying or not paying attention...
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@susankayequinn Technology Connections has a thorough rebuttal of the idea that solar is somehow impractical -- and it doesn't even talk about climate change. Solar is the right choice, even for purely economic reasons, and anyone saying otherwise in 2026 is either lying or not paying attention...
@susankayequinn I live in Ireland. The entire contiguous USA is further south than we are. Our weather is notoriously shitty. And people still have solar panels here in Ireland because even here they work.
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