My last blog was not intended to offend anyone whose home or property was damaged by the recent East coast storm, but only to point out how brittle and vulnerable we have become. It would not be as bad if we were smarter and would take advantage of easy things to help ourselves. Here are just a few of my ideas.
Every car is a power plant. Did you know that? The car heater can keep you warm as long as you have fuel. Getting fuel should not be as difficult as it has been. Down at Norfolk, Va the Navy has plenty of fuel and the ability to deliver it. At Little Creek, Va there is a fleet of support ships that can deliver fuel and equipment to any beach in the world, so why not up the coast in New York and New Jersey? If you have fuel, you can use the power plants in your cars.
Most cars have an alternator that puts out about 50 amp at 12 or 13 volts. That is equal to 650 watts. A one horse power motor takes 750 watts when operating at full load and most are sized to operate at about half that. Your car puts out this much power 100% of the time that it is running, but you don't need the power 100% of the time. That is where the battery comes in. It can store power being produced by your car so that you can actually run even larger motors for short periods of time later. It is the old Hybrid car thing, but Hybrid cars don't work so well since the batteries are built for much higher voltages. With me so far?
Next thing that you need is an inverter. Don't know what an inverter is? It is a simple, cheap, solid state device that converts you 12 volt DC power from you car into 120 volt AC power that your house uses. One for your home would be about the size of a half of a loaf of bread and cost less than $50. If I were the government, I would be passing these out like there was no tomorrow. 10 gallons of gas will cost almost $50. I keep one in all my cars just for emergency situations. It is not a big deal, so why isn't FEMA passing them out? You'll have to ask. If you have power, you can keep the food in the freezer from rotting. Most stores have rotten food now that they should have given away so people could store the food in their home refrigerators and freezers. It is not that complicated.
How about water. People were warned days in advance about the storm and could have stored water in the bath tub or some empty milk jugs, but most did not. What is wrong with human nature? On my sail boat, I had a Pur Water Maker that could make 70 gallons of fresh water from sea water per day. The whole thing was no bigger than an airline carry on. GE is one of the largest makers of water purification equipment. They buy the elements from China as you might have guessed. Rather than truck water in, why don't they just pass out a few water makers and let the people make their own water? Remember the power? Use the power from all the cars that are sitting around with half a tank of gas not being used for anything.
Once people are sure they have some power and water and food, they can go a long time and can clean up their places a little at a time. Most things are wet, but they will dry out enough that they can be burned. They need to set up small areas where combustible materials can be accumulated during the clean up and just burned rather than have to be trucked away. I am sure the EPA will make life difficult for the people. Are you starting to see how FEMA and our government helps????
