The energy suppliers in my area all have contracts I do not agree with. My gas & electric service may be cut in a couple weeks.
What’s my best move? I need enough electricity to power a mid-sized refrigerator (but could downgrade to a minifridge if needed), a few lights, router, laptop.
My boiler is gas but I have an old previously used mazut tank and furnice which I could possibly get working again with some effort.
Not sure what to do for cooking. Maybe use a portable electric cooktop.
(updates)
I’m favoring diesel over gasoline, for these reasons:
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My large mazut tank could store a year supply diesel but I doubt I could safely store gasoline in that quantity. It’s questionable though because it has mold or something growing in it so I’m not sure if it needs to be cleaned (or whether cleaning it is even possible). Or maybe the mold is harmless.
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Mazut and diesel may be compatible (not sure). That is, maybe a diesel generator can burn mazut or perhaps the mazut furnice can burn diesel. Guess I should find out how different they are.
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Clean biodiesel can be made in a basement from waste cooking oil and lye. I can probably get the waste oil at no cost.
W.r.t renewables, it’s in a densely packed city with a tiny terrace so wind turbines are probably impossible. Solar panels may be viable, I need to look into that. But I would be really surprised if solar could warm the house in the winter -- it’s not a passive house (in fact not even insulated). I think solar would be a nice clean & quiet supplement.
Camping propane or butane stove may be the way to go for cooking.
offtopic: Such a nice post for a place themed "green energy", LOL.
https://slrpnk.net/c/offgrid would have been the better place indeed 🤷♂️
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !offgrid@slrpnk.net
Yeah, I meant that normally people focused on being able to live off the grid are often aggressive towards green energy proponents and vice versa, because, well, gasoline and diesel fuel and all that are good to be autonomous, but very, very not green. I'm thinking of survivalist types.
Honestly not even that autonomous - there are a lot of ways to make electricity as an individual, making gasoline is much harder (diesel or something close enough maybe but it's still going to be an ongoing project). Hard to be off grid if you're making trips to the gas station
Rather "asynchronous supply" than "off grid", yes.
I'd argue that as an individual you'll find early XIX century approaches most realistic, like from Jules Verne's books sans possessing all the industrial knowledge of contemporary humanity.
I’m favoring diesel at the moment for a few reasons:
I have a large mazut tank which could store diesel. Although it has mold or something growing in it so I’m not sure if it needs to be cleaned (or whether cleaning it is even possible)
Mazut and diesel may be compatible (not sure). That is, maybe a diesel generator can burn mazut or perhaps the mazut furnice can burn diesel. Guess I should find out how different they are.
Biodiesel can be made in a basement from waste cooking oil and lye.