Solar Power Brought by Volunteers to Hurricane Helene's Disaster Zone - Slashdot

Solar Power Brought by Volunteers to Hurricane Helene's Disaster Zone - Slashdot
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Bobby Renfro spent $1,200 to buy a gas-powered electricity generator for a community resource hub he set up in a former church near hurricane-struck Asheville, North Carolina. He's spending thousands more on fuel,
reports the Associated Press
— though he's just one of many. Right now over 500,000 people are without power in Florida, according to the
PowerOutage.us project
— with more than 9,000 in Georgia, and over 17,000 in North Carolina"
Without it, they can't keep medicines cold or power medical equipment or pump well water. They can't recharge their phones or apply for federal disaster aid... Residents who can get their hands on gas and diesel-powered generators are depending on them, but that is not easy. Fuel is expensive and can be a long drive away. Generator fumes pollute and
can be deadly
. Small home generators are designed to run for hours or days, not weeks and months.
Now, more help is arriving. Renfro received a new power source this week, one that will be cleaner, quieter and free to operate. Volunteers with the nonprofit Footprint Project and a local solar installation company delivered a solar generator with six 245-watt solar panels, a 24-volt battery and an AC power inverter. The panels now rest on a grassy hill outside the community building. Renfro hopes his community can draw some comfort and security, "seeing and knowing that they have a little electricity." The Footprint Project is scaling up its response to this disaster with sustainable mobile infrastructure. It has deployed dozens of larger solar microgrids, solar generators and machines that can pull water from the air to 33 sites so far, along with dozens of smaller portable batteries.
With donations from solar equipment and installation companies as well as equipment purchased through donated funds, the nonprofit is sourcing hundreds more small batteries and dozens of other larger systems and even industrial-scale solar generators known as "Dragon Wings."
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Solar Power Brought by Volunteers to Hurricane Helene's Disaster Zone
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Solar Power Brought by Volunteers to Hurricane Helene's Disaster Zone
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Better than nothing
Score:
by
sonoronos
( 610381 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @04:00AM (
#64862545
The cost and availability of generators must really be an issue if the only alternative is 1.5kWh of 24VDC solar. Just enough to keep the lights on (literally).
I think itâ(TM)s a good idea, if nothing else, like the kind of thing you would find powering a bathroom on a campground. Powering water pumps and LEDs for example. There are a lot of scenarios where you need a little bit of electricity without having to feed it a constant amount of fuel.
The hyperbole about generators in the article is stupid, however. Generators are critical to survival in disasters just like this.
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Re:Better than nothing
Score:
, Interesting)
by
Morromist
( 1207276 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @04:35AM (
#64862617
I've lived in places without power for many months in freezing climates where there was no plumbing and, honestly, it wasn't hard if you are half-way prepared, which florida residents ought to be by now. In fact it was quite an enjoyable way of life. What do you need generators for that is critical to survival? You can charge up your phone with a tiny solar panel, you can hand-filter water if you're dumb enough to ride out a hurricane without storing any.
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Re:Better than nothing
Score:
, Insightful)
by
jonwil
( 467024 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @04:46AM (
#64862637
This is in North Carolina. How common are hurricanes up that way? How reasonable is it to expect people up that way to be prepared for a hurricane?
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Re:Better than nothing
Score:
, Interesting)
by
jhoegl
( 638955 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @04:52AM (
#64862643
flooding, its flooding that is the problem in the Catskills, not a hurricane.
They werent prepared, because they are poor areas up there mixed with rich areas. Ironically I was looking at houses up in the mountains because of the likelihood of this happening was low. But decided not to because infrastructure was weak, which is what we are seeing now. The more remote a location from sources of water, electricity, and internet the worse it will be during a catastrophic event, not even talking about healthcare access.
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Re:
Score:
by
jacks smirking reven
( 909048 )
writes:
Why don't we see any articles about other emergency sources of power?
Because you didn't actually look for them.
helene generators
[google.com]
milton generators
[google.com]
Re:
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by
Forty Two Tenfold
( 1134125 )
writes:
Don't worry, the jewish armed forces will take that away.
[washingtonpost.com]
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by
jacks smirking reven
( 909048 )
writes:
That has nothing to do with anything anybody was saying? Do you live in Gaza? Did you have a hurricane there?
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by
LazarusQLong
( 5486838 )
writes:
well, we can use the Jewish Space LASER as a power beaming system to beam power down to the affected people.... if only they had some way to then receive the power...
Re:Better than nothing
Score:
, Informative)
by
aaarrrgggh
( 9205 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @01:19PM (
#64863669
While gas-powered solutions have a place, solar power removes the demand on gasoline which is in short supply during a disaster.
The dragon wings system is cute-- 30kW plus battery in a 20' ISO container that fans out.
[dragonwings.co]
Impacted areas in Appalachia are pretty much an ideal market for used 250-270W solar panels. You can buy them for under $35 each by the pallet, and four will get you enough power for survival-level needs.
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Re:
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by
ls671
( 1122017 )
writes:
In the small town where I used to live, our power line got destroyed and the railway company provided us with a diesel electric locomotive to provide power to the town while the power line was rebuilt. Those things are portable generators with a big fuel tank.
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LazarusQLong
( 5486838 )
writes:
I remember reading about that! It was a great idea.
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by
drinkypoo
( 153816 )
writes:
If you're up in the hills, though, you're probably not flooded, so you can have stored water. A few IBC totes' worth would keep you going for days or weeks. On the other hand, your house could landslide away, or be slid upon, so you do have to choose a well-sited property.
For floods, you're better off in the hills, for quakes you're better off in town, for fires nothing will help except for defensible space which can be hard to come by in either location. Tornadoes are unpredictable wind-wise, but often com
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by
Zak3056
( 69287 )
writes:
If you're up in the hills, though, you're probably not flooded
Eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina are in the mountains and flooded thoroughly during Helene.
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by
LazarusQLong
( 5486838 )
writes:
the flooded areas up in the mountains of NC are valleys in the mountains, veritable bowls, hence the flooding that they are no having to deal with the aftermath of.
Re:Better than nothing
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, Informative)
by
Morromist
( 1207276 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @04:57AM (
#64862649
According to this random website NC is the 3rd most hurricane hit state in the US. I wouldn't have guessed that, I would have thought like 12th or something. The 1st is FLA and the 2nd is Texas apperently. Why NC is hit by more hurricanes than LA? It doesn't make sense but apperently its the case. It might be that NC isn't known for hurricanes because they aren't as big as the ones that hit FLA?
[universalproperty.com]
This site says its the 4th most hit
[finder.com]
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Re:
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by
Entrope
( 68843 )
writes:
North Carolina has a lot of coast, and people who live on and near the coast are reasonably prepared for hurricanes. Those hurricanes don't usually dump feet of rain in the mountains, though.
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by
chill
( 34294 )
writes:
NC sticks its butt into the Atlantic Ocean and frequently gets spanked. Take a look at the current patterns and you can see why most anything moving up the east coast of the US is going to run smack dab into NC.
[nullschool.net]
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by
EvilSS
( 557649 )
writes:
A lot of storms coming in from the Atlantic side tend start following the east coast around north Florida then slam into SC/NC where they jut out into the Atlantic. Storms that cross Florida can also pick up strength and head that way if the conditions are correct (Charlie in 2004 did this). Storms hitting Florida along the panhandle also tend to follow a path up to the Carolinas (Helene this year for example, although the eye didn't go over the Carolinas the storm was so damn big it didn't matter). If you
Re: Better than nothing
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by
PackMan97
( 244419 )
writes:
Not hurricanes, but it's the mountains. Plenty of ice storms, thunderstorms and snow storms to cause trouble.
Re:Better than nothing
Score:
, Interesting)
by
Morromist
( 1207276 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @05:12AM (
#64862673
I honestly don't know, but generators are put in the garage or the yard which are both often prone to flood, and I've seen solar panals take amazing beatings by the wind. Probably, depending on where your house is the generator fairs better sometimes and other times the solar does, If you're smart and tuck it away it will obiously be 100% reliable but my point is that you don't really need either to survive. Unless you live in an iron lung or something.
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Re:
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by
cuda13579
( 1060440 )
writes:
...my point is that you don't really need either to survive. Unless you live in an iron lung or something.
I agree...and if you do have medical needs that are dependent on electricity.....you damn well better have a backup solution regardless of where you live, well in advance of any emergencies.
Re:Better than nothing
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, Informative)
by
Predius
( 560344 )
writes:
josh.coombs@gma i l . c om
on Monday October 14, 2024 @09:23AM (
#64863107
Most people that have solar on the roof are just setup for grid tie, so when the power goes out, their system shuts down as well, so they're just as in the dark as those around them. Solar + battery that can run independent of the grid is far rarer due to the increased install cost and concern over batter replacement costs down the line.
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Re:
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by
jacks smirking reven
( 909048 )
writes:
Also on my local Nextdoor group there were dozens of people (this is in FL) who were panicking and looking for small engine repair because they hadn't fired up their generators in 2-4 years and they didn't work now or their gas went bad (many had to remind them gas does go bad, you can't just leave it in a can for 3 years and expect it to be fine).
A couple ran their gas out becasue they went and bought that 9000W unit to run their fridge and electronics not realizing that those cheaper units put out 9000W r
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by
Teun
( 17872 )
writes:
It's clear you don't understand how a generator works because the fuel consumption IS depending on the load.
Constant rpm's do mean there is a base consumption of fuel but it's now where near full load of the generator.
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by
doesnothingwell
( 945891 )
writes:
It's clear you don't understand how a generator works because the fuel consumption IS depending on the load.
Well ya know that's what he wants to believe so it must be true, or he's running for office.
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by
jacks smirking reven
( 909048 )
writes:
No I can admit i was incorrect on admission. (I was technically correct, the best kind of correct)
Re:
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by
jacks smirking reven
( 909048 )
writes:
Sure, i hsould have been more specific as I was comparing smaller and inverter style versus the traditional "dumb" style since running a 9kw genpack with 800W of load is still going to burn through a lot more fuel (constant 1800/3600RPM) than a 2kw inverter genpack.
Re:
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by
theshowmecanuck
( 703852 )
writes:
Water and sanitation are required. With populations like in NC, that means at scale. And that requires more than a couple of solar panels big enough to power a couple of lights and charge your phone. You need to get out of your one man is an island mentality. Their are whole communities, towns, and cities that need more than the third world solution you keep yammering on about. But maybe where you come from, poor sanitation and the diseases it causes are normal so you don't know any better.
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, Interesting)
by
sg_oneill
( 159032 )
writes:
Thats fine if your fit, young and well prepared. What happens if your elderly and have kidney disease and need access to regular dialysis. This is not as uncommon as you might imagine thanks to the american food manufacturers habit of putting hfcs and sugar in almost everything with 1 in 7 americans facing kidney disease. Without dialysis you die. Without refrigeration, diabetics start to die cos insulin doesnt last long outside of a fridge. Eventually food turns rotten and people start shitting themselves
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by
Morromist
( 1207276 )
writes:
If you must have power to live because of medical needs then you should get emergancy power equipment. If you think I was saying that people who need power to survive don't need power then, well, I don't know what to tell you.
But most americans aren't diabetics. No food will not rot without refrigeration for years and years if you get the right kind of food. No, you don't need to worry about water supplies if you properly filter your water with a non-powered filter and have a water source relatively nearby,
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by
sg_oneill
( 159032 )
writes:
A generator lasts about 4 - 6 hours depending on the size.
Clearly not a solution here. And most pensioners , particularly disability pensioners, making up the bulk of said medical device requirers , do not have the resources to just fork out for "just in case" energy generation paraphenalia.
Your not thinking this through.
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by
gtall
( 79522 )
writes:
Sure, as long as you are not reliant upon powered health care equipment.
Re: Better than nothing
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by
kenh
( 9056 )
writes:
Keeping medicine cold, as noted in the article? Oh, and the story is about NC, GA, and TN - the residents of Asheville, NC, for example, aren't "used to hurricanes" being hundreds and hubdreds of mikes inland from the gulf or ocean, but hey, thanks for dismissing their concerns.
So they generate about 1.5KW of electricity for what, 12 hours a day? And the other 12 hours is covered by a battery of what capacity? If it was 18-20 KW capacity they would have 1.5 KW available 24 hours a day, but I doubt the donat
Re:
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by
Morromist
( 1207276 )
writes:
I currently live in a place where the only real disasters are very unusual earthquakes. I still have a small cache of emergancy supplies. Its not expensive, doesn't take up much room and they can double as camping supplies. If you live in a place like Ashville, GA, TN everyone should have this stuff. Water filters are so good and cheap its ridiculous anyone able-bodied has problems getting water in an emergancy unless they live far away from a water source. And getting a backpack and walking a few miles wit
Re:
Score:
by
theshowmecanuck
( 703852 )
writes:
And what was the population density in your freezing climate place? Did you have whole towns and tens of thousands requiring proper sanitation in warm, even hot hot weather where microbes readily breed? Or was it just you or maybe a few dozen people with maybe 5 or 10 people per square kilometer who could shit in a hole in the ground and then it froze? Tell us something with parity and you will have some credibility. But right now you sound like a deluded wanker trying to cherry pick some edge case that won
Re:
Score:
by
Morromist
( 1207276 )
writes:
How do personal generators help with sanitation? Do people start pooping on the streets when the power goes out where you live? If your toilet is somehow connected to your houses power supply and won't work otherwise there are plenty of options (albiet less pleasant). You can go without a shower for a few weeks and not die. Why are you so mad about this and calling me a deluded wanker? Go outside and, yes, touch some grass.
Re:
Score:
by
dryeo
( 100693 )
writes:
If you are on a well, it needs power to pump the water. I've lived in such places and when the power went out, no water to flush the toilet. Luckily I lived close enough to a creek, so hauling a bucket of water to flush, while some work, was doable, especially as you only need to flush after taking a crap or a lot of pees. I did have a neighbour who had a septic field up hill from his house and dependent on a pump, can't flush then unless you have a generator.
For washing, you can have a good enough sponge b
Re:
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by
LazarusQLong
( 5486838 )
writes:
it is not just that generators are hard to come by, it is also the fact that gasoline is as well.
Re:You still have to give solar panels fuel
Score:
, Insightful)
by
TheNameOfNick
( 7286618 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @05:12AM (
#64862671
I'll take two MWh of sunlight to go then so I can use it at night, you idiot. What part of fuel not being available, at least not easily, small generators not being designed for continuous operation and being loud when they are working strikes you as particularly tree-hugging reasons? Face it, solar paired with some batteries is the
practical
solution. Do you know how woefully inefficient generators are for small loads? Trying to frame this scenario as a failure of solar is insane. Solar+battery is about the only solution that can handle this load very smoothly and efficiently. And again, the inefficiency of generators isn't an environmental concern: It means you have to get more fuel, which is already scarce. They use solar because IT WORKS.
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Re:You still have to give solar panels fuel
Score:
, Insightful)
by
gweihir
( 88907 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @05:24AM (
#64862683
Many people are not smart enough to go beyond a knee-jerk reaction when they see something they do not like. The moron you answered to is a good example.
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Re:
Score:
by
TheNameOfNick
( 7286618 )
writes:
The only number in my comment is "two MWh of sunlight to go", and I sincerely hoped that no further explanation was needed. It was a response to the asinine redefinition of fuel so that solar panels can need some, because apparently that moron feels threatened by a power source that doesn't burn stuff.
Re:
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by
test321
( 8891681 )
writes:
a power source that doesn't burn stuff.
Though PV is just a smart gas burner (hydrogen-based). It downloads electricity wirelessly but needs a to be placed outside to get a good signal.
Re:You still have to give solar panels fuel
Score:
, Informative)
by
phantomfive
( 622387 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @06:09AM (
#64862775
Journal
There are a lot of good options for solar/battery emergency situations
[duracell.com]. Depending on your needs, solutions start at below $100. Anyone who lives in an emergency area should consider what they will need, and get something.
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Re:
Score:
by
e3m4n
( 947977 )
writes:
It should in the sunshine state for sure. Though, now past equinox we are less than half the day of daylight. Prob 10 good hrs of production. And youre right, its the supply issue thats the most critical. Tide has those laundry trucks that i think generate power from the diesel engines. If they dis solar thermal water heaters people could shower during the day when the sun is bright. That will leave the load for the batteries for environmental controls since its humid AF in Florida.
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by
ableal
( 1502763 )
writes:
> I'll take two MWh of sunlight to go then so I can use it at night,
2 MWh is more than the storage capacity of 20 Tesla Model S batteries (the Plaid tops out at 95 kwh). And charging them takes a lot of panel area: assuming 10 hours of continuous 1kWh/m2 insolation, it takes some 600 m2 of 33% efficient panels to harvest that much. That's a football field sized installation.
TFA mentioned a modest 1.5 kW panel with a 24V battery, probably capable of storing a few kWh (say 3 if it's a 120 Ah battery).
Re:
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by
TheNameOfNick
( 7286618 )
writes:
You could not have missed the point harder.
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by
kwelch007
( 197081 )
writes:
[convertunits.com]
Just sayin'
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by
drinkypoo
( 153816 )
writes:
Arguably the best thing is to have both solar and a nice quiet inverter generator, and a way to use it to charge your battery bank in case the solar is inadequate. Either way though you need batteries, and batteries are expensive enough that you should have at least SOME solar panels paired with them in most locations.
Solar is great, I am super pro-solar, but being prepared for all eventualities is great too. A nice reliable-brand dual fuel (gasoline and propane) generator is hugely valuable in a crisis.
Re:
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by
Powercntrl
( 458442 )
writes:
Solar is still expensive enough that it's not really cost effective unless you're talking about a permanently installed system that is generating power even when the grid hasn't been knocked out by a natural disaster.
Re: You still have to give solar panels fuel
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by
drinkypoo
( 153816 )
writes:
Solar is hilariously cheap given what it does. Batteries are not cheap unless you buy really bad ones.
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by
Powercntrl
( 458442 )
writes:
The panels are cheap(ish), but everything else to actually have a workable system starts adding up quick. If you need a licensed, professionally permitted install (which usually is the case if you want to grid tie and/or not have your home owner's insurance company flip their shit and drop you), that costs a pretty penny, too.
Sure, you can certainly buy a decent capacity Jackery-style power station and kW or so of panels and just plop them on your front lawn after a hurricane, so you can run your fridge an
Re:
Score:
by
DarkOx
( 621550 )
writes:
Practical is WTF happens to work when the excrement happens to hit fan.
Generators have obvious problems, they won't be reliable unless their are maintained, they may be damaged or destroyed by the same flooding as took out the utility power, they require fuel, small ones really cant run 24x7 for a week or more which may be required.
Guess what solar has many of the same problems and some unique ones. Large arrays of panels maybe damaged or destroyed either directly if they are in some fixed installation or
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by
Powercntrl
( 458442 )
writes:
small ones really cant run 24x7 for a week or more which may be required.
That's mostly because people don't realize you're supposed to change the oil. Getting a week of runtime out of a properly maintained portable generator is NBD if you do the maintenance.
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by
DarkOx
( 621550 )
writes:
The last one I owned called for oil ever 100 hours of runtime. This was a long time ago; but I don't suppose things will have changed much in that space.
That is just over 4 days of runtime, well short of week. Which is not say you can't also have the supplies on hand for executing an oil change. You certainly can. You can also probably live with the thing being off for the hour (perhaps a bit less) so it will take to cool enough to work on, and complete the maintenance.
It just comes back to being prepared a
Re:
Score:
by
angel'o'sphere
( 80593 )
writes:
You can buy ready made suitcases, containing a battery, several AC wall plugs and half a dozen USB ports.
Then you only decide how many panels you need.
You buy on Alibaba for about 1000 bucks, if there was not a trade war
:)
Re:You still have to give solar panels fuel
Score:
, Funny)
by
Miles_O'Toole
( 5152533 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @06:05AM (
#64862763
As a Canadian with relatives in a couple of southern states, I can't help but respond to your remark that, "It's the US...not Haiti."
You raise an excellent point. If some of those Red States south of the Mason-Dixon Line work long and hard for a couple of generations, they may get up to Haiti's standards of education and health care.
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Re:
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by
Anonymous Coward
writes:
Ooooo...you made a "US South is bad" joke! Go to Haiti. Most Haitians would choose Alabama over what they have to deal with.
Re:You still have to give solar panels fuel
Score:
, Interesting)
by
ledow
( 319597 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @07:25AM (
#64862891
Homepage
1470W over 8 hours (conservative estimate) is 11.76KWh. Even accounting for inefficiencies in the panel and other losses, that's more than enough.
My entire house only uses 7KWh a day, and that's with no special provisions to do anything energy-saving (and includes all my appliances, washing and drying clothes, etc.).
Even through an inefficient conversion, even through non-ideal weather, even through inversion and then transforming back down to 5V... that's more than enough to keep your phone charged for over a week from one day's of sunshine, or keep a fridge powered all day long.
How do I know? I live in the UK (GREAT for solar, as you can imagine!), I have a solar setup with approximately this amount, it all gets stored in batteries, then inverted to 220V, then put through an ATS, then goes through a UPS (more loss!), then has ordinary devices plugged into it, including low voltage chargers.
Every day. It powers my laptop, router, wifi, CCTV cameras, NAS, projector, sound system and a bunch of other devices and rides out many hours of power outage without me doing ANYTHING AT ALL. If I was in desperate circumstances, I could run my entire day off that amount of power, I'd just need to be careful.
My fridge, for example, has to run off my 3000W pure-sine inverter to start the motor. Sure. But it's average energy consumption over any extended period is less than 150W. That's 80 hours operation from 8 hours of sunshine at the above theoretical max.
I am literally half way to powering my entire house 24/7 from solar. I just need 4 more batteries (1.2KWh each) and a handful more panels (UK isn't great for sun, especially in winter) and it'll do it. Based on real, spreadsheeted, recorded, monitored numbers.
Is my setup huge and professional? No, I bought cheap ECO-WORTHY stuff off the Internet and cobbled it together myself, like you could in an emergency.
When disaster strikes, and you're chasing fuel and wasting about 90% of its energy on heat and exhaust and entirely reliant on mechanical means.... the guy next door who put up solar on his roof (away from floodwater!) is basically doing everything he would normally do without restriction.
And he's lending out a USB charger to neighbours who desperately need it to keep in touch and arrange their own emergency measures.
That's all this is. Just as an adhoc emergency measure by someone trying to help keep people online.
Even if it's just "hey, just use this USB cable only and don't go silly trying to run everything off it" would be enough to make a real difference. Anything else (e.g. inversion to run medical fridges) is a great bonus.
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Misnomer in power outage reporting
Score:
by
WaterFoodEarthCosmos
( 6661530 )
writes:
It is not like the story says a number of over 500,000
people
out of power but it is
customers
which depending on the power company is essentially meters out of power which typically measures the number of both households and businesses not the number of people. With household sizes averaging more than one for a lot of areas minus businesses that typically ends up a much higher number of people without power, depending on the area.
FEMA being threatened by "law and order" group
Score:
, Informative)
by
quonset
( 4839537 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @07:46AM (
#64862927
At a time when every ounce of help is needed. those professing to want "law and order" are now threatening FEMA employees who, *checks notes*, are helping people devastated by Helene.
Multiple reports
[newsweek.com] are coming in from
North Carolina
[cnn.com] of roving bands of "militias" threatening FEMA employees for doing their jobs.
An official with the U.S. Forest Service, which is supporting recovery efforts along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sent an message to numerous federal agencies at around 1 p.m. on Saturday warning that FEMA has advised all federal responders in Rutherford County to "stand down and evacuate the county immediately," The Washington Post reported.
National Guard troops had come across two trucks of "armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA," the email said. "The IMTs [incident management teams] have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation of all assigned personnel in that county."
We all know who is behind this. No point sugar coating it. The convited felon is doing his best to kill Americans then blame it on someone else.
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My kid
Score:
, Interesting)
by
Surak_Prime
( 160061 )
writes:
My grown kid is currently there with FEMA and was put on lockdown this weekend for a while because of it, and now they've relocated where they will be working out of.
I try not to discuss politics at all with my Cheeto-Hitler-worshipping dad, but he got notification of this one as a comment on one of his lying $750 for survivors vs $5000 for migrants posts this morning. So I expect to be incommunicado with him for a while again (if not permanently because of his age), because he's chosen Trump over us before
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by
quonset
( 4839537 )
writes:
If he does talk to you and this happens to get mentioned, be sure to remind him these terrorists are the ones preventing help from arriving. Let him explain how threatening or trying to kill federal employees doing their job to help people is a good thing.
Re:
Score:
by
Surak_Prime
( 160061 )
writes:
Whomever modded me down as flamebait, if you see this: FUCK YOU and your lying treasonous cult leader and anyone else spreading lies and endangering people trying to help hurricane victims. Is that flamebait enough for you?
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by
Teun
( 17872 )
writes:
a well-regulated militia...
Yeah right.
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by
quonset
( 4839537 )
writes:
a well-regulated militia...
Yeah right.
You will note, the North Carolina governor has not called out the milita to respond to these terrorists and either arrest or kill them. Silence is acceptance.
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Score:
by
Gravis Zero
( 934156 )
writes:
At a time when every ounce of help is needed. those professing to want "law and order" are now threatening FEMA employees who, *checks notes*, are helping people devastated by Helene.
Those FEMA bastards! How dare they, *checks notes*,
do their jobs and help people in need
. We don't need that garbage, we got people in need here! Waaaait a second...
Can't charge their phones?
Score:
by
CEC-P
( 10248912 )
writes:
on Monday October 14, 2024 @09:28AM (
#64863123
I've tested a bunch of sub-$20 solar panels that go straight to USB via an onboard, waterproof buck converter. They tend to top off at 7 watts but that'll charge a phone in a day or less. If someone doesn't even have that, are they even trying?
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Fine for cellphone, wifi, hotspot but nothing else
Score:
by
iamhassi
( 659463 )
writes:
The article reads more like an advertisement then it does an actual news article. Six 245 watt panels is 1.47 kW, a tiny fraction of what a normal house gets, I use to sell nothing less than 5.4 kW when I sold solar because any less and I would get complaints that the panels weren't doing enough and their electricity bill was still way too high. So this might be enough to keep a few phones charged or power a wifi router and hotspot, and that 24v battery might keep everything running overnight, but you're
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