10. Get solar power
Having solar panels on your roof not only reduces your utility bill, but also puts you in the enviable position of having power when nature strikes down the energy grid. They'll eventually pay for themselves and they're also a great hedge against future spikes in energy costs. In the event of a disaster, you'll have power to fend off the zombies, nuclear mutants and ninja biker gangs that will inevitably rise up from the ashes of polite society.
9. Collect and filter your rain water for home use
A lot of water gushes down your gutter pipes during a rain storm. A typical suburban roof has about 1,000 square feet of rain-catching surface that could be put to good use with the strategic placement of a barrel or two. If a meteor strikes the nation's capital and we're cast into anarchy, it's a good bet your city water will stop flowing after the food riots subside. Assuming it rains where you live, you could provide drinking water for a small family with a couple of good rain barrels.
Wrong. Except for the southwestern US, solar power is a money wasting greendoggle. First of all, roof? Ever try to walk on an icy roof to shovel them off? Second, batteries? No mention of batteries or other energy storage. The only reason that solar "pays for itself" is that the power company is forced to buy the power (even though it is not needed) and then sell you their gas or coal generated power when you actually need it. Solar is getting cheaper, but mostly on paper, not when you actually try to buy panels. Also the cheaper technologies are much less efficient so you would have to cover your lawn (not roof) to get enough power to do anything.
What kind of disaster will wreak chaos into the power grid and leave those exposed glass sandwiches in working order?
Building an electric fence in an urban or suburban setting doesn’t make you look like a lunatic?
And where you gonna get all the old cooking oil for the biodiesel?
Somebody just needed X number of words for an article.
Yes, but can you 'fend off' those who can see you have solar panels? Ones they would like to take? Would you put survival food on the roof without protection? We need to find a better way.