4 ms·
Chicagoan here (W suburbs). Not only was I aware of it, I used it to justify a $40,000 natural gas generator installation at my home (I'm a work-from-home radio
by budgersfing 9y ago
Chicagoan here (W suburbs). Not only was I aware of it, I used it to justify a $40,000 natural gas generator installation at my home (I'm a work-from-home radiologist, so outages are unacceptable [and also need back-up internet, of course]). Also have a full disaster-management plan and supplies in place. I got plenty of jeers from neighbors and colleagues when I had everything installed. Kept us going during a several-day outage during a heat wave about 5 or 6 years ago. We hosted 3 families for almost a week, with always-on AC, refrigeration and basic lighting.
Couple shorter brownouts since then. Nobody laughing at me now.
(PS: I'm not advocating for general installation of these things, as they are a major investment. But this was in my threat model.)
- kiba 9y agoI would love redundancy and resiliency on a household if not neighborhood level, but I am afraid that such resiliency would be expensive. We're all terribly vulnerable should anything happen on a regional level.
- Reason077 9y agoNow days you could install a battery system (e.g. Tesla Powerwall) and solar, instead of the generator. This would probably come in significantly cheaper than the $40k, and pay for itself over time through reduced energy bills.