Affordable Energy Backups

Many people ask, "Why backups anyway?" A lot of them want to know why they should not just get off the grid completely. My main answer is cost. I feel the the cost of getting off the grid completely would prohibitive, at least for me. I have done a lot of reasearch and attended energy shows and cannot come with a cost effective way to get off the grid. The cost of my getting off the grid would range somewhere between twelve and twenty-five thousand dollars. One reason for that is that here in central Wisconsin neither solar or wind can be depended on to do the job alone. Therefore I would need both solar AND wind generating units to be assured of enough power. Thus it partly depends on where you live as to whether going off grid would pay. With my electricity running at about $720 per year, even a mid range eighteen thousand dollar set-up would take me twenty-five years to get a my payback. That is without even figuring in the cost of maintaining the equipment. I feel that this is much too long and would not be a wise investment. This would in fact strip me of all of my money for other survival projects. I also would probably have to borrow to accomplish the task and that I refuse to do. That would add interest to the cost and make the payback even longer. Another thing you need to think about are the laws. Those survivalists living in cities, suburbs and even some smaller towns may have zoning laws to contend with which do not allow wind towers, etc. Although no one should be able to tell us what to do with our property, the fact is that they do. Also there is the consideration of space. Would you have enough room on your city lot to put up a wind generating tower and several solar panels. So if we are not going off the grid, why a backup? When things like ice storms, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes and other natural or man-made disasters hit, we will need that backup. Even with a natural disaster, you might be without power for weeks. Should the disaster be caused by terrorists or future war, you may not get power for much longer. There are many things that need electricity. In todays world we have refrigeration, the blower on the furnace for heat, medical conditions that need power equipment and you may have need to keep your computer running. Whether one or more of these reasons, or something else entirely, I believe a backup unit is needed. What you need your backup power for will determine how big and what type you need. I will not be able to cover everything, but I will look at several different options. From there you will need to decide what you need, what you can do yourself, how much you want to spend and possibly what is legal in your area. Where I presently live I can install anything I wish for the generation of power and I will tell you what my plans are. Having moved here recently I am just getting started on my new backup unit. It is my wish that every true survivalist can set up at least a minimal backup system. Whether it is because you get shut off for not paying your bill in a coming depression, an act of nature or an act of man, I think that eventually we will all need that backup.