10 Things You Should Never Do When The Power Goes Out

10 Things You Should Never Do When The Power Goes Out

by 

MICHAEL MAJOR

 

December 29, 2022

There are many reasons why we may find ourselves in the midst of a power outage. It could be a planned blackout, severe storm, natural disaster, EMP, or accident.

Regardless of the cause, we need to take the appropriate actions to ensure that disruption to our access to electrical power has as little effect on our lives as possible.

While we all know what to do when the lights go out, it is worth mentioning a few things that we should definitely not do.

Open The Fridge Or Freezer Unnecessarily

The food in our refrigerator will stay cold for at least four hours, and your freezer should stay frozen for a day or so.

These estimates will only remain true as long as we limit the number of times we open the doors to our fridge and freezer.

Each time we crack the seal, cold air is allowed to escape, and without electricity, there is no way to cool it back down.

Think carefully each time you open the door and do everything possible to limit the amount of time it is left open.

Drive Around Unnecessarily

If the power outage is widespread, the gas stations will not be able to pump fuel out of the underground tanks.

Like battery power, you are going to have to conserve the gas in your vehicle as well. Any trips you plan to take out of the home must be carefully considered and be absolutely necessary.

Waste Battery Power

A power outage is not the time to try to get a high score on Candy Crush.

Limit the time devices that run off batteries are turned on and do not use them for any frivolous purpose.

Smartphones, tablets, flashlights, lanterns, and radios should only be used when necessary and for the least amount of time possible.

Smartphones should be turned off when not needed or at least switched to airplane mode to save battery power.

Even if you have battery backups or off-grid power solutions, do not waste battery power on anything that is not essential.

Use Candles

It seems that a power outage would be a perfect time to light the home with candles. Using candles is a good way to light a room without batteries, but it can be dangerous. All it takes is a moment of clumsiness to turn a candle into a house fire. If you choose to use candles, use proper holders that will not tip over.

Leave All The Lights On

We do not want to leave all our interior and exterior lights turned on when the lights go out. Like with electronics, a power surge could result in these lights being overloaded and burned out.

You should, however, keep one exterior and one interior light turned on so that power crews can see your home has restored power, and you can also tell that power is restored from the inside.

Run A Generator In The Garage

Leaving an expensive generator outside is something that none of us particularly want to do.

It is very tempting to move our generators inside the garage to keep them safe from tampering or theft.

Although it is true that the door which leads from the inside of the house to the garage is designed to keep carbon monoxide and other fumes from entering the home, you should never run a generator inside a garage. The fumes will build up inside the garage and find their way into the house.

The problem with carbon monoxide is that it has no taste, color, or smell and causes illness that will lead to death if left untreated.

Use A Barbeque In the House

For the same reason as running a generator in the garage is a bad idea, you should never use a barbeque indoors.

It can be tempting to do, especially in the dead of winter, but the resulting carbon monoxide that will flood the house is deadly.

The same goes for camp stoves or any other stove that burns fuel. The same goes for using a barbeque or fuel-burning stoves in a garage.

Even if the door is open, there is no guarantee that the resulting carbon monoxide build-up will be exhausted from the space.

Leave Electronics Plugged In

If the outage is temporary, the power will eventually be restored. However, when this happens, there will be a momentary surge.

Some electronics are sensitive to surges in power and can be damaged.

Unplug electronics after the power goes out and only plug them back in when the power has been fully restored.

Alternatively, you could use surge protectors for any sensitive electronics, which should insulate them against any power surges resulting from the restored electrical grid.

Touch Downed Wires

It does not matter if the power is out; never touch a downed wire.

Removing fallen power lines from your property can be tempting, but your home being without power does not mean that the fallen power lines are not still live.

Therefore, give all fallen power lines a wide berth and assume that all downed power lines are still live.

Forget About Your Plumbing

During a power outage, it is not intuitive to think about your plumbing.

However, if the outage occurs during the winter and you lose heating, your pipes become susceptible to freezing and need to be insulated, so they do not freeze and burst.

It is best to do this before an outage, but if the power goes out in the dead of winter, you should assess which pipes may freeze and do your best to insulate them.

Concluding Thoughts

The ever-increasing fragility of our electrical grid will lead to more power disruptions in the near future.

There is also the constant threat of EMP, CME, or even terrorist attacks, which could take down the electrical grid on a grand scale.

Therefore, it is essential that we always take the correct actions each time the power fails to remain safe.

https://www.askaprepper.com/10-things-you-should-never-do-when-the-power-goes-out/

COCOA Health Benefits & Recipes

Cocoa Recipes and Health Benefits

January 27, 2022

At my table, I am serving up recipes made from cocoa powder and teaching you about cocoa powder’s health benefits and nutrition facts. Oh, how I love chocolate recipes such as chocolate pudding and homemade healthy hot cocoa. Read on for cocoa recipes and health benefits.

How Cocoa Powder is Made

Cocoa powder is made after cocoa beans are roasted and ground into a liquid state. The cocoa butter (fat) is removed to make chocolate and the excess is made into cocoa powder.   I thought they made the chocolate from the powder by adding fat.   Cocoa is what is left after Cocoa butter is extracted from Cocoa beans. If you would like more information on how chocolate is made from bean to bar see my blog Link.

Two Types of Cocoa Powder   

Cocoa powder:  Hershey’s, Nestle, Generic Baking Cocoa are the brands. This cocoa powder is lighter in color and is naturally acidic or bitter with a PH of 5 or 6.

Dutch Chocolate powder:  Darker in color, this cocoa powder is used for baking, and has a mild taste. They make it by washing the cocoa with potassium carbonate and an alkalizing agent. This neutralizes the cocoa and is why it is called the Dutch process. This makes this cocoa not as healthy as regular cocoa. It loses some antioxidants in the wash.

According to the UDA, 1 Tbsp of cocoa has 12 Calories, 82 mg potassium, 1 gram of protein, 12 mg caffeine, and some iron.

Health Benefits of Cocoa

Cocoa is rich in polyphenol and flavanols which are antioxidants.   These are also found in tea, fruits, vegetables, and chocolate.   Polyphenols lower inflammation in the body, lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol and blood sugars, and improve nitric oxide levels in the blood. 

Remember -when cocoa is processed to make it more palatable fats and sugar are added which decrease some of these good effects on the body.

I love chocolate and joked with another coworker who also enjoyed it. We would say, “if we die of a heart attack it would most likely be from Chocolate”.   Thankfully I have gotten wiser in my chocolate choices.  Such as, eating only Dark Chocolate which is less sugary than milk chocolate.

Cocoa also lowers your risk of heart attacks and strokes and improves blood flow to the brain. This improves your mood and some symptoms of depression.  The tryptophan in Chocolate turns to serotonin and the caffeine makes you feel good.  

No wonder cocoa or chocolate makes you feel better.  

Believe it or not Cocoa may help with weight control.   It helps regulate your energy, reduces your appetite and inflammation, and helps you feel full.   Some studies found that people who consumed chocolate had a lower BMI than those who ate it less often.  Cocoa is also noted for Cancer prevention from its antioxidants.

Healthier Ways to Eat Cocoa/Chocolate

If you buy Chocolate buy dark chocolate with 70% cocoa or higher to give you satiety and health benefits.   A little square of dark chocolate goes a long way. Cocoa powder and dark chocolate are wise choices.

Cocoa Powder – Healthy Hot Cocoa Recipe

Here is a Recipe I figured out last winter and love.  

• 1 cup skim milk or Almond Milk
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder- I like the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup- antioxidant benefits in this
• 1/2-3/4 tsp Turmeric
• Pinch of black pepper- (needed to absorb the turmeric)

Mix with wire whip and heat in microwave 1.5-2 minutes. Whip again.  You may have sludge at the bottom of the cup after drinking it- but it is so yummy.  

Homemade Chocolate Microwave Pudding Recipe

I love this when I am in a chocolate mood. Low sugar, no fat, and high in calcium. Add sliced banana to the top of the warm pudding and add some whipped cream.  

• 2 ¾ cup skim milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 tbsp. Cocoa powder
• ¼ cup Cornstarch- use 3 TBSP if you like it less thick
• 1 tsp vanilla

Whip and cook in microwave for 3 minutes and whip and cook another 3 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla when done. Ladle into small bowls and top with whipped cream and or sliced bananas. I like my pudding hot, but you can cool it and it will be thicker.

Ways to Use Cocoa Powder with Less Fat and Sugar

• Add cocoa powder to smoothies and protein powder with a banana to add nutritional benefits.  
• Make homemade hot cocoa and pudding as in the recipes above.
• Add a small amount of cocoa powder to your oatmeal with honey or maple syrup.

At last, Enjoy some chocolate treats, knowing you are getting your calcium and cocoa.   Yum! Cocoa Recipes and Health Benefits. Do you have any great ways you like to use cocoa powder? Comment below.

https://dabillaroundthetable.com/cocoa-recipes-and-health-benefits/

DIY Pet Holiday Gifts Your Companion Will Love

DIY Pet Holiday Gifts Your Companion Will Love!

The holiday season is upon us and your pet may be in luck… Gift-giving doesn’t have to be just for people. Despite this, we’re sure you don’t need any extra names or items on your shopping list, so why not get crafty and make something for your animal friend?

We have compiled a list of fun and festive DIY gift ideas for your four-legged family members that are quick and easy, and can be made at home this holiday season, giving you more time for important things, like festive movies and cooking up a feast!

By making a homemade holiday gift for your pet, you can ensure it is made with care, using only materials that are suitable for your pet, and that it meets all of your quality standards.

For Your Dog: Sock and Ball

Dog lovers can create hours of fun with two simple items you can find around the house! For dogs that love to play fetch, this is also an ideal way to throw the ball a lot further.

You will need

• An old sports sock
• One or more balls (for larger dogs, use one to three tennis balls, and if you have a small dog, you can pick up a smaller rubber ball from the pet shop).

Method

1. Take the ball or balls and push them into the sock.
2. Tie the end of the sock, leaving enough to give you a “handle.” 

This is a perfect toy for games of tug of war where you can hold the handle and the dog can hold the other end. 

Did your dog love this sock toy to death? Check this list for some great alternatives.

DIY braided dog toy

You may have seen braided dog toys at your local pet store. These are so easy to make that any pet parent can do it, and they can be created using festive colors. The method below will produce a small rope toy about 9 inches long. Once you have completed one, you can play around with the length and thickness of your fabric to customize it to your desired length.

You will need

• Six 1“ X 18” pieces of fleece fabric.

Method

1. Lay the six fabric strips on top of each other and tie a knot in one end (it can be helpful to tape the braid onto a table or put it between your knees.)  
2. Separate the fabric out into 3 pairs.
3. Braid the fabric. 
4. At the end of the braid, tie a knot to finish it off. 

Want to step up your dog toy game? We love this DIY Dog Holiday Wreath Pull Toy!

For Your Cat: Cardboard Cat Castle 

Make the purrfect place for your fluffy friend to rest!

You will need

• Cardboard box (large enough to fit your cat!)
• Cardboard sheet for roof 
• Utility knife
• Metal ruler
• Hot glue gun
• Embellishments – craft paint, colored paper, etc.

Method

1. Remove the two cardboard flaps from the longest side of the box. 
2. Cut the two remaining flaps into triangles to serve as the roof peak.
3. Cut the sheet of cardboard to serve as a roof.
4. Fold it in half to create a center ridge. You will want the roof to extend at least a couple of inches on all sides, so add a couple of extra inches for the overhang!
5. Use a hot glue gun to attach the roof to the house.
6. Use the knife and ruler to cut out windows and doors.
7. Now for the fun part — decorating! There are so many ways that you can be creative with it! Check out this list of DIY cat castles for inspiration.

For Both: A Holiday Gift Basket 

Spoil your dogs and cats this year with a homemade gift basket! 

Find the perfect gifts! For your dog, a new squeaky toy and a delicious dog treat will go down a storm. For your cat, a new cozy blanket and a floppy fish cat toy will leave him feeling pampered. Plus, don’t forget to add a couple of cans of your pet’s favorite CANIDAE® pet food! Cats love our Balanced Bowl Chicken & Pumpkin Wet Food, and dogs love our Real Turkey & Vegetables Dry Food. 

1. Once you have all the toys and treats in order, it’s time to assemble your hamper. Skip buying a bag or basket and use a new bowl or bed to hold the gifts! Don’t forget to remove all tags, wrappers, and another packaging from your gifts and arrange the goodies. 
2. Add a bow or ribbon to the basket to dress it up, but make sure to remove it before giving your pup or cat their basket.

Remember, while your pet may be content with an extra-long walk or a big belly rub, there’s no harm in spoiling them a little this holiday season! 

At Canidae, we work in partnership with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist to ensure that as well as having something delicious to eat, your dog or cat is provided with a nutritionally balanced diet. Canidae pet food contains no fillers, artificial flavors or preservatives − just complete and balanced goodness. Plus, every mouthful is supported by probiotics, antioxidants and Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids.

If you’re looking for another way to treat your pet this holiday, consider exploring a new wholesome, high-quality food that’s good for your dog and for the planet. Canidae Sustain delivers on Canidae’s mission to create the best dog food possible while creating more goodness to pets, people and the planet. Sustain features premium recipes made with responsibly sourced proteins like wild-caught Alaskan Salmon, cage-free, humanely raised chicken, and ingredients farmed using regenerative farming practices – and offers a vet-formulated plant-based option for our meat-free pups. We go beyond the ingredients, giving plastic a second life, using packaging comprised of 40% post-consumer recycled materials – the most you’ll see from any pet food brand. Like all of our health-first dog food, Sustain is formulated with antioxidants and probiotics to support a healthy immune system, has no added fillers and includes Omega 6 & 3 Fatty Acids to support skin and coat. Explore Sustain for your dog. 

Contact your vet to discuss switching to Canidae’s delicious recipes today!

https://canidae.com/blog/diy-pet-holiday-gifts-your-companion-will-love

Company Can Make Drinking Water From Nothing But Air & Sunlight

And it doesn't even need an energy grid.

Deena Theresa

Created: Apr 20, 2022

Updated: Apr 26, 2022 11:17:29

Imagine this. Potable water as an unlimited resource, a sustainable development goal that keeps the benefits flowing. 

But, with increased water scarcity exacerbated by catastrophic climate change, the promise of easy access to clean, drinking water sounds like a dream that isn't rooted in reality.

To illustrate, constant changes in water cycle patterns and drastic increases in extraction for human use are making it more difficult to access safe drinking water. According to a report by UNICEF and WHO, one in three people in the world does not have access to safe drinking water. Natural disasters can also destroy or contaminate water supplies, making communities more susceptible to diseases like cholera and typhoid. UNICEF has found that, every day, more than 700 children under five die from diarrhea linked to inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.

It gets worse.

Increased water stress also leads to higher competition for water. This, in turn, can lead to conflict. Syria's civil war, to a large extent, has been linked to a severe drought.

While techniques for condensing water out of the air have been in use since ancient times, most modern condensers designed to produce large amounts of water need to be connected to the electricity grid, substituting one problem for another one. But, what if there were a solution? 

What if you can pull water out of thin air without using additional carbon or being connected to an energy grid?

SOURCE Global's hydropanels can do just that, and the technology is more science than fiction. The hydropanels utilize solar energy to condense clean, pollutant-free drinking water from the air. The onboard water reservoir can also be plumbed into a household, directly to the drinking tap. The system then takes it a step further by mineralizing the water for ideal hardness and taste, making high-quality water readily available.

Source's hydropanels have already found homes in 52 countries

"Girls and women spend an average of 200 million hours daily collecting water. That was the main motivation for our company — women shouldn't have to haul water anymore. It inspired Cody Friesen [the founder] to look into finding a way to tap this unlimited resource, which is water vapor in the air, and put it in the hands of people who need it," Thomas Borns, the U.S. Direct Sales Manager at SOURCE Global, tells IE in a video interview. 

The Hydropanel is a boon for people with poor access to clean drinking water, who have to trudge for hours to fetch it and don't have access to a reliable energy source.

Around the world, the onus of this responsibility — fetching water —primarily falls on women. This can hold them back from pursuing education, indulging in recreational and sport activities, and getting out of poverty. 

Of course, this global issue doesn't solely affect developing nations or people living in remote areas. Poor infrastructure, a lack of transparency around where water comes from, safety, and cost are also persistent problems in developed nations. 

"The most important impact of the hydropanels can be seen just a few hours from our company. And that's at Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. Navajo Nation has groundwater but it has been contaminated largely by depleted Uranium mines in the area. We had installed our hydropanels and a tap at an 83-year-old woman's house. And at 83, that was the first time here in the United States and her entire life that she'd ever had running water of any kind inside her home," says Borns. 

That kind of impact appears to be something that can be achieved right here in the United States. "And I think it's important for people to understand that water as an issue is not specific to the developing world. It's a problem here in the United States today," Borns continues.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

IE: What's the science behind the Hydropanel?

Thomas Borns: What we're doing inside our machine is causing passive condensation and using efficient means to collect that water. The Hydropanel comprises a traditional solar panel that powers the whole system. Flanking that on either side are these two black or dark rectangles we call solar thermal panels that take in as much thermal energy as possible.

Essentially what we're trying to do is get the inside of the panel to be hotter than the air that's around it. So that no matter where we are, like here in this desert environment that we designed the panels in, we can make water.

We can have these panels installed in a polluted environment and still get just pure water from the point of condensation.

This cooler ambient air is laden with water vapor which condenses into liquid water. And this liquid water is collected on a hygroscopic proprietary material inside the machine. The material allows for water molecules to pass through the membrane. 

We can have these panels installed in a polluted environment and still get just pure water from the point of condensation. Water that's condensed is super pure. It's essentially double distilled to the point where you wouldn't necessarily want to drink it. So we mineralize the water inside of the panel or in an adjacent tank with calcium and magnesium. Bringing the water up to a pH of about eight makes it taste good.

How many liters per month does one panel produce? Is there a certain percentage of a city or community's water supply that the arrays can produce?

It depends on the weather. Because we're a solar product, we need to have the sun to be able to power the system. But relative humidity will fluctuate dramatically anywhere on any given day, which means we can have days where we're making a lot more and have days we're making a lot less.

A single one of our newest panels, which we're calling Roxy, has been designed for a residential sort of use case. That panel will make about 15 cases of water per month, which is about 360 of those standard 6.9-ounce bottles of drinking water.

These numbers will be pretty different in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and here in Scottsdale. It varies from place to place.

As you mentioned earlier, people in some rural communities can spend a major part of their day traveling to water sources. How can the Hydropanels be a respite to such communities? Could you illustrate a few examples of how it has managed to include and involve local communities, whilst improving their lives?

This goes back to women in particular, for me. One of the very special projects that we did was at the Samburu girls' school in Kenya. Our initial installation was 40 panels. It's amazing to see the impact of these panels at that school, because even though it was a school in many ways—and they were able to provide care and education for these women—the students still had to fetch water from far. And when we installed these panels, we were able to diminish that tremendously. Instead of going out and filling up buckets of water and bringing it back to the school, these girls can now go fill up their bottles at these stations where there's a little dispenser.

Another example is an indigenous community on the northern coast of Colombia. Most of their water was brackish, and they had to do different sorts of boiling to make it drinkable. One of our installers was out there for almost a month living in tents, alongside the members of this community. It's just amazing to see how much this community came together to help with the installation and embrace this technology. 

You mentioned that water scarcity was something that isn't normally associated with developed countries. What are the biggest challenges when it comes to working on a global issue like water scarcity? How do you 'solve' water?

I think it comes with education. It has to do with people becoming aware of the importance of water. It can be tough depending on the community that you're in. I grew up in the desert, in Arizona. My mother's side was a ranching family and my dad's side had a lot of farmers, so I grew up with this understanding of water being precious as drought has always been an issue here in Arizona.

Water is a precious resource, and depending on where you are, it takes a lot of infrastructure to get clean water to you.

But then I go to other communities where the idea of drought and water scarcity hasn't been pounded into somebody's psyche from an early time. People turn on the tap, water comes out, and they're not that worried about it. So I think the first step is educating people on the understanding that this is a finite resource. 

Water is a precious resource, and depending on where you are, it takes a lot of infrastructure to get clean water to you. The first step in solving this is getting people educated to have a full understanding of this as a limited resource. The world is changing and we need to have solutions to counteract that.

We have a few startups that employ a similar technology - collecting water from the air. How different are the SOURCE hydropanels?

Most [startups] of what I'm aware of go by the term atmospheric water generator. These technologies use a form of active condensation which requires a lot of energy. Typically, atmospheric water generators require an ambient humidity of 30 to 40 percent. Often they will have a hard time keeping that water clean. What we use is passive condensation. 

And while that does mean we might produce water at a lower actual volume than some of those atmospheric water generators, we can also produce water quite literally anywhere. I've seen our panels make water in an environment with ambient humidity as low as seven percent, which is about as dry as it can get. 

Also, none of the other products that I've encountered are stand-alone. Our system is completely self-contained and self-powered. All we have to do is deploy them and orient them toward the sun. And then we can start making water. There's no other infrastructure required.

Those two key things, the fact that we use passive condensation instead of active condensation, and that we have no outside need for power, or any other infrastructure, are really what set us apart from anything else.

What are the current limitations of these hydro panels? Do we have solutions at hand?

Yeah, so the one major limitation is cold weather. 

There are 250 plus nodes and sensors inside each unit. So it's essentially its own weather station. It's smart enough to know when it should put itself into hibernation mode, and it does this for two reasons. 

One, if the system were to try to process ice, it can be very detrimental to the components inside the machine pumping ice. Additionally, because we're taking this water vapor out of the air, a lot of that water vapor that you're looking to harvest is now crystallized [below freezing]. So if you could get it to work below freezing temperatures, there's a whole other sort of heating element that is needed. And we have found that it probably requires another energy source. 

But we're working on finding a way to make that work. Because the reality is water issues don't stop when the weather gets cold. It does limit us a little bit, but we're working on finding ways to cross that chasm as well. 

Tell us about your future plans.

This new unit that I discussed earlier is going to be able to make water at night as well. I'm also really excited about the progress we're making with our station installations.

I think the truest and coolest application of these panels is when we can install just a handful for different homes and be surgical with where we're putting them. But having a big field and an array of these panels is a great way of providing water for a whole community at once.

I've had the pleasure and opportunity to work closely with some of our engineers as they develop and make that process more efficient - maximizing what we can get out of one acre covered in panels where that water is getting sent to one holding tank where it gets mineralized and processed. That's usually designed for a community.

This Earth Day's theme is 'Invest In your Planet'. Would you say that Source has/is doing its bit?

Well, I certainly would say we haven't done our bit because that sounds like we're done. We have a long way to go. Our mission statement is truly perfecting water for every person and making drinking water an unlimited resource. We won't be done until we've done that. 

Editor’s Note: This is a part of our series PLANET SOLVERS, where IE explores climate challenges, solutions, and those who will lead the way.

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/drinking-water-from-air-and-sunlight