It’s looking pretty bad for Germany and Austria this coming winter. The price of natural gas has gone up considerably. Even worse, availability is a concern. Natural gas is used extensively for heating. With that in mind a lot of Europeans are buying cheap electric heaters. Even those tiny heaters use a couple of thousand watts of power. Unfortunately, their grids are also powered by natural gas. Switching to electric heat only stresses the grid more. They’d better prepare for blackouts.
Woodstove sales in Europ have been brisk all year. Some people are worried about air quality, which will probably be impacted. I happen to wonder what the heck they’ll be burning in those woodstoves. Europeans generally lack the access to woodlands that we have in the United States. They may end up burning construction debris and furniture. Paints, varnishes and preservatives make that a dangerous thing to do.
Here in New England heating oil prices are still very high. Eversource electric power company is about to have a 47% rate increase. While our grid is more robust that a lot of other places, heating with electricity will be expensive.
As some point I might find myself charging my 60 volt Toro electric chainsaw from my solar panels so I can cut firewood. At least I live out in the woods, so that’s handy.
-Sixbears
Heard the 1st cricket the other morn. It is coming.
ReplyDeleteSummer is brief in northern NH.
DeleteMade us realize long ago . To survive a grid down world. You must be young and healthy... So we sold out and went extreme south !
ReplyDeleteIn order to use wood heat . Those easy to get and retrieve tree's , as firewood. Will rapidly become too far away...
As you've quite often heard me state lol.
Reality is a bitch , and the older I get ...the more so it seems to get.
Me thinks there is an extreme shortage of acceptance of this thing called reality , in today's world.
Right now it's how I'm getting in shape. There's a lot of storm damaged trees that need to be cut up so I'm taking advantage of that. Some years I get a dead and down permit for the nearby National Forest. However, I'm going to buy a couple pallets of fiber blocks to stretch it out. Still cheaper than oil.
DeleteAs I get older there's a fine line between working to get in shape and trying avoid getting injured.
that's why i cut and stacked over a years firewood, in 90 degree heat. good exercise too. in bosnia after the open warfare there were no trees left, just saplings. construction wood was pallets from the nato peacekeepers. i watched a little ol lady go out every morning and return just b4 dark with a huge bundle of twigs she collected from miles away. it was a load that would buckle my knees. that was their heat and cooking fuel.
ReplyDeleteYou do what you have to do to survive.
DeleteHe nasty reality is the coming ugliness will see a LOT of peop!e succumb to hunger, cold or disease. In other words a return to what life was like when America was founded. Those who are prepared stand a better chance but there are no guarantees. And it's all part of the "elites" plan to trim the population.
ReplyDelete