Life with no electricity

Taking away electricity means rethinking

your entire day and planning how you can function without the means of

simply plugging something in. No electricity results in a complete loss

of normality.We are exploring

alternative energy sources, living off the grid and how life with no

electricity impacts us, to make you think, could you live without

electricity?Living with no electricity might not be

as easy as you may think and you not realise how many items in your home

rely on it to function. Electrically managed technologies supply us

with many things, such as heat, food, water, transport, energy,

entertainment and communication.Electricity

allows us to power the technology we use every day. If you plan on

trying to live without electricity, you will no longer be able to turn

on the central heating in your home, use the toilet, preserve food in

your fridge/freezer or have clean running water.Despite

surviving thousands of years without it before, we have come to depend

on it to complete our everyday tasks and have built our lives around it.

We are so reliant on electrical power that it would be a shock to many

if you no longer had the regular supply.Some

people prefer to not be so reliant on electrical energy and opt for an

off-the-grid lifestyle, utilising alternative energy sources for their

power. For many years, they were considered to be eco warriors and often

eccentric with a different and extreme way of life, but it is becoming a

popular choice for many.Then there are those who live and survive without access to any electricity at all. A 2010 report

showed that there were 1.2 billion people around the world with no

access to electricity. That was 17% of the global population living in

the dark.As of 2017,

this has now dropped to 840 million people living without access to

electricity. It is a staggering drop, however, the progress to connect

some of the most remote parts of the world has not been without

challenges. To reduce those living in the dark, renewable technologies

and off-grid solutions, such as solar power, will be essential.How no electricity affects youEvery

year, thousands of families will experience power cuts due to natural

disasters, bad weather or power line faults. A small storm that damages

one power line can mean a power outage for hundreds of families and

homeowners, causing total disruption in their daily routines.So how does having no electricity affect you?You

will notice that you can’t turn on the lights in your home and that

there is limited street lighting available. With dark evenings and no

light to guide the path for us, it makes many vulnerable targets.There

would be no power to use your fridge or freezer, telephone lines would

be down and phone signal lost. Your mobile phones will be useless as the

battery dwindles, with no back up charging option. Your gas central

heating won’t work and your water supply would soon stop pumping clean

water.It sometimes takes a lot for

some people to realise that without electricity it isn’t just internet

and Wi-Fi that is affected, it also means no cash machines, no lifts, no

power to keep the factories going, and no petrol pumps. It is seen as

the end of normality as we know it.Two

critical things we need in our life are heating and water, and without

electricity, these are both compromised. The gas central heating in our

homes works with electric controls and circulating systems and pumps.

Water systems are dependent on electrically managed systems and pumps,

so even if water is still accessible in your home, you would still have

to purify it before drinking.A poll revealed that

50% of the public said they would not be able to survive for more than 2

weeks without electricity, proving our dependency on readily available

power. Of those polled, a staggering 75% predicted that within two

months, they would be dead.We are

all, in some way or another, dependent on electricity, and when that

luxury is taken away from us, we are extremely vulnerable. This will

only get worse with the introduction of new technology advances and the

better the internet becomes.  But what are other options? What can we do

without electricity?