Happy Halloween! Amid the goblins, ghosts, and other magical beasts of spooky season, it's the perfect time to think about your zombie apocalypse plan (read: your plans for keeping your home resilient when the unexpected occurs, boosting your energy independence, and recovering from extreme weather).
Imagine, for instance, that a zombie virus is rampaging across the world. People are staying home to avoid becoming infected. Businesses are closing and critical infrastructure is shutting down. One of the first amenities to fail? The electric grid.
With no staff available to keep the grid operating safely and smoothly, power supplies are shutting down, leaving homes vulnerable without a critical supply of electricity. That means you can't store any perishable food. You don't have lights or heating when it gets cold and dark (when the zombies come out). Once your cell phone runs out of charge, you'll be cut off from the outside world with no way to get news or communicate.
Sounds like the start of an HBO show, right?
But if you have a solar panels and a home battery system, you don't need to worry about losing power. Even on cloudy days, your solar panels will soak up the sun's rays and turn them into electricity that you can use in your home or store in your battery to use at night. Unlike backup generators, solar-plus-storage systems don't make any noise and don't need any fuel except the sun, making them much safer and more practical in an apocalypse scenario.
So whether you're preparing for a zombie virus, a global pandemic, or a severe weather event, a solar-plus-storage system can give your home a vital source of power when you need it most. Here are five ways to use your solar panels and home battery in an apocalypse.
#1. Keep critical devices running
Depending on your energy needs, you can install one or several batteries. The more storage you have, the more devices you can power. If you have enough batteries, you may even be able to power your entire home like normal. If you opt for a single battery, choose the essential appliances you want to keep running in an apocalypse. Think your electrified perimeter fence, your freezer, your radio, a few lights, and critical medical equipment. (In a non-apocalypse scenario, you might trade the perimeter fence for your garage door opener and the radio for mobile device chargers.)
#2. Make your electricity last longer
There's no way to know how long a zombie apocalypse might last, so you need your power supply to last as long as possible. Panasonic's EVERVOLT home battery system allows you to monitor how much electricity you're using and how much power is left in your battery. Using these insights, you can continually adjust your power consumption to make your stored energy last. For example, if it's cloudy and your panels aren't producing as much power, you can ration your electricity usage accordingly.
#3. Generate power continuously
Your solar-plus-storage system only needs sunlight to generate and store power, which means that your power is renewable and free. Put another way, you don't need to leave your home to find fuel. So instead of going out to hunt for fuel every time your generator runs low, you'll be producing power whenever the sun is out. And while a noisy generator could put a target on your back, solar panels and batteries are pretty silent.
A continuous, quiet, and clean source of power will keep you much safer in an apocalypse scenario because you'll be able to stay safe at home for longer. Take the time you would have spent searching for fuel and use it to rig traps to increase the security of your home instead.
#4. Carve out some peace of mind
Power outages can make you feel really vulnerable, especially if you know that zombies and who knows what else lurk out in the dark. With solar panels and battery storage, you'll have peace of mind knowing that you can meet your family's needs at home. For example, you can keep medical equipment running to keep your loved ones safe and healthy.
#5. Keep in touch with the outside world
When the grid goes down, so does internet access. But with a solar-plus-storage system, you can at least keep your mobile devices charged. You can also keep your radio working, which is a vital lifeline to the outside world. You'll be able to follow updates, find allies, and, hopefully, get help.
While a zombie apocalypse is hopefully not imminent, it never hurts to be prepared. And other emergencies, such as extreme weather events and power outages, are actually likely to happen. Solar-plus-storage systems can protect your home when the grid goes down and ensure that you can always use your most critical appliances.
Panasonic's total home energy solutions make it easy to generate, store, and monitor your own renewable power. Learn more about how Panasonic can help you keep the lights on, whether that's during a zombie apocalypse or a bad storm.
