<story><title>UK Plans for Three-Hour Power Blackouts in Event of Gas Shortages</title><url>https://news.sky.com/story/energy-crisis-plan-for-three-hour-power-blackouts-to-prioritise-heating-in-event-of-gas-shortages-12713253</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jeffalyanak</author><text>I recently built a small home solar battery system with the goal of keeping my low-power DC devices charged and running during outages like this. I&amp;#x27;ve only been running it for a few months now, but I&amp;#x27;ve been using it to keep all of my USB devices charged during that time.&lt;p&gt;In an actual power outage, I can even plug in my modem, router, and AP—using DC barrel jacks for the modem and router and a DIY PoE injector for the AP—so as long as the upstream infrastructure is still powered I&amp;#x27;ll be able to keep working.&lt;p&gt;Since I rent, I can&amp;#x27;t do a roof-mount or grid-tie system, so I opted instead to build a 12V DC system. I purchased a used solar panel and I&amp;#x27;ve assembled a ~0.5kWh battery from used packs.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m using insulated nickel strips to pass the solar panel cables through a closed closed window in a way that doesn&amp;#x27;t require drilling holes and has a minimum impact on the insulation seal of the window (although insulation in the UK really sucks anyway).&lt;p&gt;Most of the fittings and wiring have been used and come mostly from automotive scrap (an advantage of using common 12&amp;#x2F;24V standard fittings), so the financial cost has been very low. That said collecting use battery packs, testing cells, and assembling them into new battery packs certainly takes time.</text></comment>
<story><title>UK Plans for Three-Hour Power Blackouts in Event of Gas Shortages</title><url>https://news.sky.com/story/energy-crisis-plan-for-three-hour-power-blackouts-to-prioritise-heating-in-event-of-gas-shortages-12713253</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>gizajob</author><text>If you want to know the result of successive Tory governments and forty years of deregulation and mismanagement, then power blackouts and people not being able to heat their homes is it. The Tory agenda now seems fixed upon ensuring the very rich have everything and everyone else has absolutely nothing.</text></comment>