What to do about power outage?

[caters]

On New Earth me, my momma, and my dad have solar panels, wind turbines, and a water wheel for producing electricity in normal circumstances.

However if the winds are so strong that we can't operate our wind turbines(Like 60 MPH gusts or something), there is a severe drought, and it is cloudy outside it would be the WCS(worst case scenario) because this would cause a power outage.

I have looked up how to make a bike generator but 24-100W per person won't be enough, even if the voltage itself is enough.

How could I not use fossil fuels to produce electricity, and get enough Watts, Volts, and Amps to power my house if my 1:1:1 hybrid of Wind, Water, and Solar doesn't work(which is very unlikely but I might come across it)?

[zetreque]

Are you talking about long term. Like past the point where battery storage would last?

If your goal is to not use batteries:
I have often thought about setting up some pulley mechanism to lift a large boulder or container of rocks up into the air and then have a sort of geared down alternator that spins when you release the pulleys using gravity to lower the rock back down to the ground. It would take some engineering and I'd like to look more into this someday.
You would obviously need to lift them into the air with your other energy devices and this setup would act as a battery if you are against using batteries for backup.

Otherwise, another natural source of energy is tidal forces or wave energy.

[zetreque]

Is burning firewood/overgrowth considered a fossil fuel? (sterling engine)

You could also get creative with geothermal/hotsprings maybe. Anything with a temperature difference

I think rechargeable batteries are the way to go though because eventually the sun will shine or the wind will blow again. Like even if a meteor hit earth and darkened the sky, the wind is still likely to blow I think. By then we might have bigger concerns however than powering our cellphones, TVs, microwaves, laptops and refrigerators even.

[caters]

Yeah that's what I was thinking of was a few rechargeable batteries that have a total voltage of 48 V and then an DC-AC converter that converts 48 V of DC to 240 V of AC and some of it back again to prevent power surges which can by themselves lead to power outages.

[Darby]

Well, if this is a completely different planet we're talking about, you could resort to the historically tried and true methods of eco-destructive scavenging ... find some large and/or numerous slow moving easy to catch animals (preferrably not too intelligent) having large fat reserves, hunt them mercilessly to near extinction, and render them down for fat as fuel. Easy peasy.

We are self-destructive apex predators are we not ?

To thine own self be true. ;-)

j/k

[caters]

I don't think that we are often self destructive apex predators. In fact I don't think we are apex predators since most of our kills are not from predation but rather from trophy hunting.

For example 2000 lions are hunted a year for their body parts. If we occasionally shot lions for meat purposes that would be much better for us(human population under control) and for the lions(lion prey population under control).

[Darby]

I don't think we are apex predators since most of our kills are not from predation but rather from trophy hunting.

Not to overly belabor a passing point of humor, but that's only true from the most sheltered myopic modern day suburban country club attending vantage point possible ... zooming out instead to paleontological time, make no mistake - we are indeed apex predators who have conquered our environment, to the grave potential detriment of both the environment and ourselves, and as a result we may be on the cusp of a mass extinction event that is already slowly underway.

[TheVat]

We are in the interesting position of being omnivores who spread into temperate regions, where the growing season curtailed gathering of plant foods and favored the more predative mode to fill in the nutritional blanks. Those who could assume the apex predator role successfully, greatly increased available protein and survival prospects. Cognitive development and fertility were both augmented by the regular provision of whole protein. Though there were many early instances of ecological damage - e.g. burning off forests to create more open woodland/savannah areas suitable for hunting game - the end result was the development of barbecue sauce, which makes up for a lot of dead voles and owls and mastodons and such. No, I'm kidding, we are horrible horrible planetary citizens.

[Watson]

I think cater should provide the source when representing statements as fact, or say 'just made it up.' I was unable to find any confirmation, but did come across this interesting bit. I thought the African government was trying to stop poaching. Instead they are collecting a bounty.

Lion bones and rhino horn have become key trade targets!!

South Africa has facilitated the following ... read here the article
• An export of 250kg of lion bones to Laos in 2009 (previous total 2000-2008 was 0);
• An export of 586 bones to Laos in 2010 (previous total 2000-2009 was 0);
• An export of 14 live lion to Vietnam in 2010 (previous total 2000-2009 was 2);
• An export of 29 skeletons to Laos and 19 to Vietnam in 2010 (previous total to Laos 2000-2009 was 5 and Vietnam was 0);
• An export of 90 teeth to Laos in 2010 (previous total to Laos 2000-2009 was 0)
• An export of 54 lion trophies to Laos (previous total to Laos 2000-2009 was 1). (Figures courtesy of Lion Aid, 2012)


Lion hunts in South Africa are worth more than 90 million dollar (£60 million) a year says the Professional Hunters Association. 16,394 foreign hunters (more than half of which fly from the US) killed 46,000+ animals from Sept. 2006 - Sept. 2007. Trophy hunter is worth $91.2 million a year and foreign tourist sometimes pay up to $40,000 to shoot a lion. The government supports hunting because of its revenue. Provincial government sell permits to kill rhinos, lions, elephants, and giraffes ... read and help LionAid http://www.lionaid.org/

We must work together to launch a worldwide campaign for African lions!

http://www.serengeti-wildlife.com/2012/ ... ody-parts/