Dear Science: A storm recently knocked out electrical power and phone service for two days in the rural region where I live. My TV and radio run on AC only, and I don’t have a backup generator, so they were useless. I couldn’t get through to anybody on my cell phone because the cell service was overloaded. What can I do to avoid being out of contact again? — Buck R.
Dear Buck: You are not alone. Emergency communication is often ignored in home emergency preparation.
Every part of the United States has experienced an electrical power and phone outage that lasted at least a day, at one time or another. It doesn’t take a storm to cut communication — backhoe operators, falling limbs, ice storms, flooding and even prairie fires compromise power and phone service with annoying regularity.
Let’s look at three solutions to the problem, in decreasing order of cost and functionality: a residential photovoltaic (PV) system, a gasoline-powered generator, and an emergency radio.
A photovoltaic system directly converts light to electricity. A photovoltaic system with battery storage adequate to power a 2000-square-foot house can cost $50,000. One just adequate enough to power an emergency radio costs roughly $50 but will work only in direct sunlight.
A gasoline-powered backup generator adequate to power a 2000-square-foot house can easily cost $5,000 to $7,000, installed.
The generator must be maintained and requires an adequate store of gasoline — up to 10 gallons for each day’s outage. The generator has to be run out-of-doors, so is often not practical or even feasible in apartment buildings.
An emergency radio costs about $50 and is available at several consumer electronics stores. Look for one that:
• covers the AM, FM, VHF-TV audio and NOAA Weather Band frequencies;
• can be powered by batteries or a built-in hand-cranked generator;
• can charge a cell phone; and
• has an emergency LED light.
The NOAA and TV frequencies may be of limited use in your area, because they require line-of-sight reception, meaning that no obstacles can lie between the radio and the station.
If you are encamped in a basement, or are more than about 25 miles from the stations, you probably won’t be able to receive them. (I found I could receive about 10 commercial radio, one NOAA Weather, no TV stations on my emergency radio between Pojoaque and Los Alamos, for example.)
For more information, see http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/.
Jack Horner is a senior scientist in a large technical services company. The views expressed in this column are not claimed to represent those of his employer or its customers.