Nope, I would be up the creek without a paddle if it happened now.

thank goodness it's still winter -no heatwaves anytime soon ....lol.....but nevertheless, it's a wake-up call

For those that listen. Most people won't believe it until it happens

We're not adding any capacity to the grid, demand continues to increase. The conclusion is inevitable, we must overload the grid.

At moment, and for next little while, I'm in an apartment in Toronto. My plan? At least I have flashlights and dozens of batteries; four 20L jugs of water, plus water filter and purification tablets; I could spread out tarps to harvest rain water; I have candles, blankets, warm clothing; all sorts of long-term-storable food; a portable wood stove (rocket stove) which if need be I could use on the balcony for cooking (mere handfuls of wood per meal). I would try to eat all the fridge and freezer food first of course.
I lived in a tent from April to November in 2011, with my only electricity being a 15W solar panel with an Eliminator Power Pack as the battery, so I know I can live without electricity and running water [and be able to use the laptop a couple of hours a day to access all sorts of survival books, which I really should print off anyways].
Another couple of years and I hope to be out of the city and living full-time full-year in an off-grid earthship-style home.

I think alot of people will be quite screwed When the next grid-wide blackout happens. They don't have to be though: it doesn't take all that much knowledge, effort, or money to prepare for a simple temporary blackout. {Although a long-term / permanent blackout? Another story.}

I sure hope the liberals invest more money in solar and wind power to help us through this power shortage *cough*

A new Hydro watercourse tunnel was just drilled under the falls just recently, as seen on the discovery channel. The lining is just going up and should be up and running in time for when TSHTF in 2013.

Ready to rock.... in 2 weeks 😉

Moving to a lakeside home. Tons of fresh water and I've got 3 ways to filter and purify it. Well set up for provisions, but will only have a BBQ and camp stove to cook/heat with for a while.

Considering getting a few portable solar generators to keep laptops and cells active between family. Any suggestions for good ones?

I think the kind you're talking about are meant to be portable. And you'll pay someone to build a package. If you're thinking about solar electric power at all then you're best off learning about it and building your own system rather than pay a lot for little more than a toy. You might be looking at something more suited to a base camp.
A few solar panels, charge controller, battery storage. Inverter to step up to 110v(unless you can do everything off 12v to start). Start with a couple of deep cycle batteries and a few panels.
Then you have a system you can build on and simply expand capacity.
If you find your battery(s) draining down from use, you add more panels. If you don't have enough juice for all you want .. more storage(batteries).

You could even do one of those booster packs for your car(a big one though) and charge that off a panel or two.

Both Princess Auto and Canadian Tire have specials on right now for whole solar systems. They are the Blue Planet systems, base entry systems good for hunt camps and camping type systems. Both are in the $550-$750 range.

There is a thread that Ranger started that has info on Rocket stoves and Rocket Mass Heaters, for cooking and heat.

Hi, adamandah:

A fellow apartment prepper here. Could you tell me, please, the brand name, model, details, and where you purchased your portable rocket stove?

Refer to your March 8, 2012 posting regarding power blackouts.

Thanks!

- Stoosh

Hi Stoosh...if you look under General Canadian Discussions (and scroll down right to the bottom) there is a thread called "Rocket stoves- when the gas is gone". WildernessReturn has posted some great websites for rocket stoves.