Now my wife seems to be pretty insistent that we absolutely cannot survive without electricity (for long periods)...
We are avid campers, so 2-3 days is good enough for her (until the ice in the chest melts ;
) ).
Recently the main breaker on our house went out on a Saturday evening, and the landlord opted for an electrician that was not able to fix it until Monday morning, so we lived for about 36 hours without electricity. It was cold, we lit a fire in our fire pit and built some 'reflectors' to direct the heat to our sitting area, and I busted out the camping gear and candles. Granted the only thing we lost was a 6 year old angelfish in a tank. Our water heater is gas so we had hot water, and we're on municipal, so we had running water still. We smelled of smoke, but all was well. I liked the experience (personally), and it made me desire to go a weekend a month without electricity, for the experience.
Now we plan to move to a remote area of the forest, pack tools in, build a cabin by hand, and live from there (ever seen 'alone in the wilderness'?). I plan to do it colonial style, she plans to do it slightly more modern style.
We simply don't have the fundage for modern electrical production (panels, hydro, wind, generator, etc).
IF any, I would like the ability to run one fluorescent light and/or a laptop computer. That's about it.
She likes microwaves, refrigerators, lighting and fans, ac and tv... BUT says she can opt out for a freezer, computer, pump for a well, and a light would be nice.
We both agree on a computer and internet access for the vast amount of instantaneous knowledge, communication, and entertainment... But that's not only going to require electric, but it will also require a monthly internet fee, possible wiring out to the location, and replacement computers... And that sucks.
so... that's the beginning of this discussion.

I can't help the electricity problem much, but you can use wireless cell network internet cards on a laptop.

for a larger monthly cost, not to mention that when the world falls apart... will that service still run? (or any internet for that matter?)

Then what are you bothering with internet? I thought you wanted internet, but you didn't really want a cable brought out and electricity. You can use the card, while having the laptop powered by a small solar panel.

depending on how the world falls apart is your first problem..if your talking nuke then EMP will pretty much take out any luxuries that you have..a simple lightning strike here a couple weeks ago took out power to a whole county including the wally world and the mall where i work..if the mall didnt have a small generator then the entire place would have
been dark..the other problem was it also took out the repeater for our walkie talkies and the sprint cell phone network as well(anybody using sprint towers was out of luck)...if you MUST have these items(fridge laptop lights etc) then your best and proably only option is to go solar at your cabin..but your talking research, time and money to be invested and you would have to start soon to get it all done..and if one does go solar you would have to either buy converters for things that cant be found using 12 volt electric or go without..yes there is a fridge that uses 12/24 volt power.. i think you and your wife need to sit down and rethink priorities and under what disaster conditions will things work..
but i do have a question for you: if problem is a nuke or other emp device then what type of vehicle are you using to pack your stuff out with? as i understand any car that is less that 20 yrs old will be worthless..

89 blazer...
Then horses... (stolen )
Then packs and foot...
BUT I'm hoping that IF we get nuked, I'll see it coming and run before the sheeples clog the roadways, and the nuke hits.
HOPEFULLY.

I was actually thinking of a couple of different methods of electricity... Depending on the amount of time and money to prepare (and therefore the technology we use).
Light indoor in the day would be best utilized with sky lights.
Electricity can be generated with a water wheel on a small stream, small windmills, water wheels in rain gutters, and solar panels... The most expensive (and unreliable) part of a solar system is the inverter (to change the DC to AC), and the Battery (to store for when you're not producing). I was hoping to run a DC system using RV products and low voltage or fluorescent lighting. The battery system may or may not be something that we can get around. This is all (of course) IF there are time and money to prepare.
On the other hand if there is not time nor money to prepare, the majority of our technology will be dominated by roman methods. The romans kicked ass. The only problem that we will have with that is that we won't have slaves .. But most of the technology can still be used, nonetheless..

Not to be a wisen-heimer but, I thought the whole purpose of "getting away from it all" was to GET AWAY FROM IT ALL??

That said, some women are just pains in the ole arse. Mine included! :rolleyes:

And getting away from the "rat race" means gettin OFF THE GRID - completely! Don't it? If you continue with the INTERNET, as far as I know, one still needs a connection. Don't they? That costs $$$ and usually is accompanied by a registration of some sort.

So, unless one can take it off a satellite without paying, yer gonna be screwed at being un-detectable. IP addresses suck because they can find ya.....eventually.

I love the idea of being out in the woods living a rural, isolated lifestyle. But, one needs to network with friends of like mind so they can pool resources and help in the emergencies that are bound to pop up from time to time.

Want room-mates? I'll go help build the cabin if I and mine can have a small section to bed down in.

Uhh, why did you need a fire in July???
Or was the "recently" actually "a while back". LOL

To some Ap2 getting away must be no cell phone... People now days have no clue how to live without technology.

I hear ya, GW!
Personally, I am going to try that experiment with cell phones. Which "experiment" - you may ask?

The one where you get two phones of the same manufacturer (I got that covered) and place one on either side of a RAW egg placed in a cermaic cup or some similar "non-conductive" vessel.

Ya dial from one phone to the other and leave em on (transmitting & receiving) for an hour. After the hour is up, ya turn off the phones and pick up the egg and crack it. It should be HARD-BOILED by then from the radiation emitted by both phones. We'll see what happens.

If it's hard boiled, I'm tossing my phones in the trash can.

It wouldn't be right donating em so that they eventually get re-used for 9-11 emergency phones for "shut-in's" or the elderly. The PTB want us dead anyway (as my research has discovered) and if that "experiment" works (which will prove that "conspiracy theory"), I'm gettin rid of just one more way they were trying to kill ME and mine!! F*#k em!!

I get what your saying, of course they make nice triggers for IED's just ask homeland security, Ok I really wouldn't ask HS.

Gas/electric refrigerator freezer from an RV....RV gas Stove and hot water heater....All converted to run on methane gas from the manure the people and animals generate....Wind /solar Best bet is to live on the edge of a small town near the national forest/park somewhere....JMHO

I love what some people call "camping" - bringing all the creature comforts with them plus generator.

When I camp I have gone so far as to forget things like utensils. Oh well.

As for a wife in need of electric, I would find another woman.

I went camping and forgot pants. Happiest-day-of-my-life.

But seriously, just take a tent and something to sleep on/in/cover yourself up.
And water.
Because food is not important. Only eat it when it's convenient, when you're "hungry" you're really just bored.

And if it's really nice out, you can forget the tent!

Yeah, I like to rough it, but the wife at least has to have a running water shower, soft bed, hair dryer etc. if we're out for more than 2 days.

Well when the SHTF and they shut off the power, People will learn the real meaning of camping... No Light, no Phone No Motorcar, Not a single luxury.... Alright I stole that... I'm a patriot not a poet damit...

LOLZ, Ok Giligan, er Graywolf.