Things that could be done pre-emergency on a community level.

[Admin]

I was just thinking about this. We could encourage the county to do some small preparedness things as well. Here's an example.

We have some county buildings. Schools, the admin buildings, those sorts of things. Well, alternative energy is sort of "popular" right now, so here's a thought. Put solar panels at the schools and county admin buildings. Just enough to run a heat pump for a couple of rooms, or maybe to power communications in case of emergency, or maybe the electric lights. It could be sold to everybody that it's to "reduce power costs".

Don't discount windmills or using hydro in the river either. Even if a simple generator-charging station was set up in a cheap metal shed, it's power that's reusable and available for important things.

By the way-hooking a converter to a couple of circuits in the schools and admin buildings is not that hard. Doing it professionally will mean a cost, Probably in the range of 50 grand to set up a few panels per building, but I will happily take the kids to a place where they can be warm while I go do whatever is necessary to feed them for the winter. It seems responsible government spending to me. What do you think?

(By the way, as a cost comparison-the playground the PTA raised the money for? 20 grand.)