so what works for me might not work for you!
That should be printed in bold and pasted on everyone's bathroom mirror. One size has never fit all and never will.
I live in a semi-rural area (not farmland, but lots of larger properties and trees everywhere) in the Pacific NorthWest (AKA Pacific NorthWet). My well pump requires 220v power and without it I don't have water other than what is stored or can be collected from rain (which is little to none during July and August). I have a 300 gallon water storage tank I can fill if I can run the generator to run the well pump. So, running the generator a couple hours per week will give me plenty of water and charge batteries. It will also keep freezer stuff frozen until it can be used and the freezers shut down.
A friend of mine bought property a few miles away with no utilities available. His plan was to build a homestead/cabin with solar and batteries for electricity. He called one of the major solar suppliers and told the guy what he was planning... the rep asked him his zip code... and when he got done laughing, he told my friend the best he could do is a small panel to charge a couple of little batteries. Even during peak periods the best he could hope for was about the equivalent of one hour per day of full output.
During the fall, winter, and early spring the sun never gets above the trees on the south side of our property. Only now is the sun getting high enough to give decent exposure, but during the peak it is only for a fairly short time. I could mount panels down at the lower part of our property but that would put them quite a ways from the house - not a good situation. This summer I plan on converting the generator to propane, because propane is safe to store and (supposedly) lasts forever. Apparently, the new formulations have ruined gasoline's storage capability and, even with extenders like PriG, storage isn't as feasible as it used to be.
With our lower population density - mostly people who are not particularly adverse to taking responsibility for themselves - security is lower on my list of things to worry about than some other issues. Sure, there can always be a stray Zombie that got lost, but I can't see our area being a target of opportunity for hordes of them.
My point is people need to analyze
their specific situation and make
their plans accordingly. Even my problem with solar doesn't apply to a good friend who lives about 100 miles north of me - he has plenty of solar access and can get more reasonable daily output from panels. On the other hand, the reason he has solar access is because he lives in an older neighborhood in a large city. That means his Zombie Index is far higher than mine - he and I are only 100 miles apart but we have completely different circumstances to deal with.
Wally
