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EU Energy Crisis Part 2

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Following from my previous article on the EU energy crisis, this is a follow-up article with a simple message:

Read this thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1567929340737863680.html

Ursula von der Leyen is still disastrously wrong with her plan to better regulate the electricity markets to reduce costs. As that thread points out, there is simply nothing that can be done, and it will be the highest bidder than wins the energy. Anybody sensible is filling their strategic reserves to full capacity as we speak.

The real problem is that the EU is a net importer of electricity during winter due to green policies, and their major supplier (Russia) is no longer a possibility to buy from. As other articles point out, this is not a single-winter affair either.

What Next?

As the thread correctly suggested, there is an extremely high likelihood that the EU begins to experience rolling blackouts as winter approaches. I spoke to somebody whose family member is high-up in the UK energy industry (note that this is purposefully vague) - and they are making preparations for rolling blackouts. These plans are extremely likely to be utilized. London banks and financial firms are also preparing for rolling blackouts.

Currently we are experiencing them periodically, and I have already noticed that the grid voltage has begun to dip enough that the lights are flickering. We are already close to capacity where I live and the blackouts have not even started yet.

Personal Planning

As I spoke about in a recent article, I have begun making preparations for rolling blackouts, but these will not be nearly enough. My intention is to buy a larger UPS/EPS system to feed this one to run more power hungry items over longer periods of time.

Some basic questions I still need to find an answer for:

  1. Several days without electricity - This means no charging devices, no internet, no cooking, no hot coffee, no nothing.
  2. Several days without heating - This still runs largely from gas in most areas, which means no heating during the coldest times in winter. The UK is not Siberia or even Germany with their -40 degrees Celsius, but at -10 degrees it’s not pleasant either.
  3. Working without electricity - As long as I can keep a laptop going, I should in theory be okay. A laptop can be charged several times a day. The internet would likely be down, and so maybe 3/4/5G cellphone towers.

Potential mitigations:

  1. Purchase large UPS/EPS - I need to locate and buy a cheap battery bank. I also need to figure out how to wire everything important through it, such as some form of lighting, charging, etc.
  2. Large portable power - This would be for charging my laptop. Worst case this could be charged at my workplace and then brought back to my house as the cost of energy is so high.
  3. Mechanism for burning - This would allow for cooking, boiling hot water, etc. This unfortunately cannot be done inside, so it would need to be done outside. The idea would be to somehow transfer the heat indoors. This could be done with thermal flasks, hot water bottles for warming the person.
  4. Additional heating lamp - In a pinch it could be possible to run a 100W (or so) infrared thermal lamp from electricity, as this could run from a UPS/EPS/battery bank for quite a few hours.
  5. Satellite internet - There appears to be a few options for satellite based internet these days and they may be worth investigating.

Other than this, I don’t really have the time or expertise to really do much else. This is essentially at the limit as to how prepared I can be.

I have also considered building a wind turbine, but I don’t have the time to do the engineering required to build one.