this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 1 week ago (3 children)

That's excessive compared to the extremely low risk of a blackout in developed countries (excluding the United States which has regular blackouts). To illustrate:

US households spent 5.5 hours without electricity on average in 2022. Excluding major events like hurricanes, the number drops to 2.1 hours.

German households spent a whopping 12.2 minutes without electricity on average in 2022.

A portable gas heater, blankets and a camping stove are completely sufficient for the average person considering most longer power outages last for a couple of hours at worst. Exceedingly rare longer blackouts will always have a government aid program, such as a heated gym with free food, near your location.

The only one's who should really prepare for blackouts are:

  • the government
  • people who live hours away from civilization with very limited infrastructure connecting them
[–] rustyricotta@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree, though here's my anecdote from the PNW.

We've had a couple storms this winter. One of them I lost power for 4 hours, but a friend of mine in the next town over was out 4 days. And some didn't lose at all, so it varies. Power outages like this aren't too rare every year.

It doesn't bode well for our freezers, but we don't get cold enough to be anything other than cold and inconvenient. Easily remedied by temporary solutions you mentioned.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah here in the Midwest my area lost power due to the polar vortex around the winter solstice a few years back. Did it suck? Yeah. But towels under doors, ready to eat food, candles, and lots of blankets made it merely unpleasant. You absolutely should have supplies for situations like that. At some point I'd also like to keep drinking water supplies. Your emergency preparedness kit is generally best to keep at "bearable" levels for a few days. The goal is to ride it out, not to experience full comfort.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 1 week ago

We were without power for almost a week during an ice storm a few years ago. There was no government shelter that I ever heard about. We had to stay at a friend's house.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Breaking news: some countries have higher and lower population densities.