Priorities in a survival situation = Shelter (3 hrs), Water (3 days), Food (3 wks).
How certain are you that you could thrive without Food, Energy or Water coming into your home?  I could break something. True, do your research, ask an expert, be adult.  I don’t want to suffer. We have found it to be fun so far. There’s no need to test. There’s always a needs to test theories.

In this  session we will be discussing only the FEW factors. In future we’ll discuss the SMART factors as they are secondary and more complex. See SMART FEW for what each means Consider the following cycle:

1. Anticipate challenges.
2. Plan to minimise risks. 
   1. Risk of damage to a system.
   2. Psychological damage.
   3. Renting? Legally ok?
   4. Do the drill.
   5. Correct things you missed.
   6. Rinse and repeat.

Food: For up to 3 weeks it’s simply a case of intelligent and responsible stockpiling. We chose that a normal amount of eating out is “OK”.  Beyond 3 weeks we would want to have some significant food production.

Energy
3 mins : Where is the breaker? What devices could be harmed? What will happen when you switch back on?
3 hours : Minor inconvenience depending on time of day. Any UPSs or other batteries going flat? Some minor creatives solutions (boiling water on stove).
3 days : Now things are getting real. For us only our refrigerator was possible. We have an EcoFlow Delta Pro. Jackery and BLUETTI are great.

Water
5 litres per person per day of bottled water. Stored somewhere cool and dark. Used in FIFO (First In First Out) order. Find A Spring Website to find spring water. LifeSaver Bottle can be good in a pinch. Consider a waterBOB.

 Don’t loose sight of the fact we need to remove about 2400 GT of carbon from the atmosphere in the next 60 years or so.
Carlos’ Micro Greens & Mushrooms:

• Frow mushrooms in mushroom blocks.
• Sprout micro greens  in Pete moss
• Mushrooms supply CO2.
• Greens support the mushrooms with O2 and humidity.

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 Can all humans thrive on a vegan diet?
 Eating avocados in the wrong place could be “as bad as meet”  
 We could feel better after a change of diet because the previous diet was making us feel bad (rather than the new diet making us feel better). 

• Actions ⇒ Consequences.
• Human and animal health.
• Environmental & sustainability.

 The Samburu people seem to eat almost entirely animal produce.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samburu_people

• You’re killing animals no matter what you eat, just a question of size.
• It’s not just about what you eat, thank of vegan car interiors.
• How reliable is price as a signalling mechanism to maintain homeostasis?
• Consider environmental costs of not staying healthy.
• Animal agriculture can help recoup the required biodiversity to grow crops.

Action Buffet

• [ ] Be aware (Traditionalism without technophobia)
• [ ] Don't be preachy either way (Environmentalism without evangelism)
• [ ] Have a buffer of food (Prepping without paranoia)
• [ ] Try just one week without any animal products (to raise awareness)

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Compost

 “a mixture of ingredients used to fertilize and improve the soil commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste and recycling organic materials.”

Aerobic

• There’s warm compost, full of thermophiles. so called because the organisms are heat loving (thermo-phile).
• Optimal conditions about 100-120F (38-49C working).
• Nice and fast way of making good compost.
• Directly produces aerobic.
• Should smell sweet.

Anaerobic

• an alternative process. 
  • Faster than warm compost. Often in liquid form. Needs to go through an aerobic stage. because anaerobic bacteria are pathogens.
  • Smells foul like grey water. It’s a cold process.

Black Soldier Flies

• Black soldier flies are yet another approach  and can be combined with worms.
  • 1 kg of lava eat 15 kg or organic waste, producing 5 kg of compost.
• Convert food waste into animal feed.
• Reducing food waste is one of the biggest things we can do to help the climate.
• You can arrange for some of the flies to breed and self-sustain.

 ⚠️ Composting won’t help us get carbon out of the environment.
Action Ideas
Learn how to make Biochar. Read the Book The Biochar Solution by Albert Bates https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8174381-the-biochar-solution. Add 1% - 5% biochar by volume to your compost. 

Abide by the 4 Ms of co-composting. Moisten Microbialise Mineralise
Microbialise

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• Burning Man can teach you a lot about camping. 
  • 105F desert in day, 40F at night (freezing).
• Think about medication (e.g. catheters, drugs).
• Consider the wind (imaging 60 mph).
• Think about shade from the sun (old parachute?).
• Solar showers can work pretty well.
• Take your water with you.
• Dust could be an issue (e.g. gypsum in desert).
• May not be the woods, could be anywhere.
• Try digging down as far as possible for water. 
  • Check in our woods’ bomb hole for water.
• 5 Litres of water per day requires > 1kWh d^-1 to pump from 7.2m deep. 
  • Working: 5 Kg x 10 ms^-2 x 7.2 m = 3600J

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 It’s hard to know how to create a greenhouse, compost effectively and grow your own food. Carlos will show you exactly how with a groundbreaking system he’s been running for more than 10 years. 

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Simpler

• Buy less stuff that creates waste in the first place. 
• Buy cheap, buy twice.
• Glass is reusable and washable.
• Care of disposable items.
• Some brands use less / no packaging.
• Buy local / markets etc. You can actually talk to people.
• Buy bulk.
• Take your canvas bag to the supermarket 
• Take your container of eggs with you.
• Delivery food has a lot of packaging. 
• Local farmer box or something.
• Think before hitting that “Buy” button on Amazon.

Smarter

• Purchase with recycling in mind.
• Re-fill things. Surface area to volume area scaling.
• Ask your car supplier what will happen at the end of life.
• Where can you recycle batteries locally?
• How repairable is what you are about to buy?

Sustainable

• Recycle stuff yourself, if not then recycle locally.
• One person’s trash is another’s treasure.
• Give stuff away, but only consumables
• Have a well organized storage system at home- then you can store, not hoard.
• Compost to a warm or cold compost bin.
• Buy food and nutritional supplements from companies who design sustainable packaging https://linktr.ee/revivemyhealt 
• Yoghurt pots cut-up for plant labels, or to plant seedlings
• Cook just enough for those eating.
• Cardboard-Re-use for returns, eBay, etc., If plain and simple compost it, Give it kids to play with.
• Know what you can recycle locally.
• Perhaps creating Biochar from plastic is an option.
• Styrofoam cup recycling:  Liquify it with acetone. Mould something cool with what’s left.
• Lobby to ban single use plastics, maybe through Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
• Electronics-Is there a small appliance recycling bin somewhere?
• Look for someone local to fix your electronic stuff.
• Be brave, try and fix it yourself. Ask here.
• Buy durable appliances, maybe https://www.miele.com or https://numatic.co.uk
•  Do recycle batteries properly, they can be quite toxic. 

Sequestered

• Pay to offset the carbon of what’s left.

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 What you measure you can manage, but what are the strategies for monitoring and reducing your power usage this winter? 

Whole House Monitoring

• Smart meter fitted by electricity company.
• Shelly EM (it’s bi-directional). 
  • Bi-directional is important in case you have generation sources.
• Be a little sceptical of devices that promise too much from one source, for example saying they can monitor all devices in your home from one place.

Per Circuit

• Install an Emporia Vue or similar in your consumer unit

Per Device

• Use plugs to measure Individual devices.
• Ben’s SmartWire device, click for 3D model.

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 If you’re reading this then you’re using a gadget, but how much energy do our gadgets use? Are they efficient or inefficient? Is this something we should lose sleep over? 

• Switching off your charger for one day is used up in 4 seconds of car-driving.
• The energy saved in switching off the charger for one year is equal to the energy in a single hot bath.
• Use a Kill a Watt or similar to test for yourself.
• Even a large TV may use 250W for 4h a day = 1 kWh per day.
• That’s less than 1% of European personal energy use.

Big factors are…

• Efficiency of the motor etc.
• Surface area (lower better). 
  • Bigger are fundamentally better.
• Thickness of insulation (thicker better).
• Temperature of the room (lower is better).

Discussion

• Long tail effect comes in here.
• Heating water on demand? 
  • BUT they use pure un-magnified electrical energy.
  • You could be heating from carbohydrates (e.g. gas, biomass).
  • Need to be situated close cause of dead water.
• Opening fridge door. 
  • Not too much of an issue if you do it briefly.
  • The sensible heat of dry air is quite low.
• Look for “switched-mode” power supplies. 
  • Feel things to see if they are warm.

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1. Solar Power: Installing solar panels on your property is a popular and environmentally friendly way to generate electricity. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity through photovoltaic cells. The electricity generated can be used to power your home or stored in batteries for later use.
2. Wind Power: If you live in an area with consistent wind patterns, you can consider installing a wind turbine. Wind turbines harness the power of wind to generate electricity. Like solar power, the electricity can be used directly or stored in batteries.
3. Microhydro Power: If you have access to a flowing water source, such as a stream or river, you can use microhydro systems to generate electricity. Water turbines or waterwheels are used to convert the energy from the moving water into electrical power.
4. Biomass Energy: Biomass energy involves using organic materials, such as wood or agricultural waste, to produce electricity. Biomass can be burned directly to generate heat and power or converted into biogas, which can then be used to produce electricity.
5. Generators: Portable or standby generators powered by fossil fuels (such as gasoline, diesel, or natural gas) can be used to generate electricity. While generators can provide a temporary power supply during emergencies or in off-grid situations, they are typically not considered long-term sustainable solutions due to their reliance on non-renewable resources and emissions.

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Do you know how much energy is used in the home? By learning what is wasting electricity, we can do something about it and reduce our cost $$.

For Example
If things are getting hot, and they’re not heaters, they’re inefficient.
Switching off gadgets when they’re not in use
 
Some ideas for efficiency;

•  Add water bottles to your freezer and use them to keep your fridge cold, extra water storage, keep yourself / pets cold.
• Buy a solar oven to cook outdoor and purify water via boliing
• Learn where your energy comes from   
• Measure your appliances' energy use 

According to the International Energy Agency, standby power consumption accounts for roughly 8% of residential electricity demand.
David JC MacKay- Sustainable Energy- without hot air

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