How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It - James Wesley Rawles [99]
The E85 ethanol blend has a longer storage life than standard gasoline, but it is essential that it is stored in tightly sealed containers. Otherwise, the alcohol will absorb moisture. If enough water is absorbed, the alcohol will separate from the gasoline and go into solution with the water (read: ruined fuel, and an engine that won’t start). So keep your containers full and tightly sealed. The higher the humidity, the faster this will occur.
Pri-G (available from Nitro-Pak) or Sta-Bil (available at your local auto-parts store) brand additives can and should be added to E85 that is stored for more than a couple of months, to protect the 15 percent of the blend that is gasoline. But of course you need only about 15 percent of the additive per gallon that you would normally use to treat standard gasoline. The alcohol component of the blend needs no special stabilization. As with storing standard gasoline, it is best to buy E85 for storage during winter months, when you will presumably be buying a winter blend that has extra butane added for cold-weather starting. This also extends its useful storage life.
If you are concerned that your stored E85 has been contaminated with water, you can pour some of the fuel into a clear glass tube and wait thirty minutes before inspecting the sample. If there is water contamination you will be able to see a separation of ethanol water from gasoline, with the colored gasoline floating above the clear ethanol-water mixture.
Keep all fuel tanks as full as possible for long-term storage, to prevent the empty space above the fuel from passing water into the fuel.
Fuel Storage
Storing extra fuel for your vehicles is a priority for family preparedness. If you use propane, consider buying a larger tank. The bigger, the better. That fuel will be like money in the bank. Ditto for gasoline and diesel fuel. That way you can buy during occasional dips in the market as well as have a reserve that will help you ride through any spot shortages. Consult your local fire code for any limits where you live. I generally prefer underground tanks, for both OPSEC and fire safety.
I predict that there will be a long lag time while the price of propane catches up to the price of other fuels. The cost of electricity will also lag behind, especially in regions that have predominantly hydroelectric power. In the long run, however, these prices will also undoubtedly catch up. Exploit this lag time to build up the alternative-energy potential of your retreat. Think through your options, do some comparison pricing, and then get busy. Consider the merits and drawbacks of photovoltaics, wind, micro-hydro biogas, biodiesel, geothermal, wood-fired steam/ co-generation, and so forth. For more on this, see Chapter 6.
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INVESTING, BARTER, AND HOME-BASED BUSINESSES
We are entering perilous economic times. I expect continued massive layoffs and chronic unemployment in this nascent depression. As the fictional Sarah Connor puts it so succinctly: “No one is ever safe.” Anyone can get laid off. You can be an outstanding worker, in a presumably “safe” industry, yet in a depression you can still lose your job.
This chapter will present strategies for ensuring your financial security. I’ll provide advice on savvy investments to make now to protect your money, suggestions for sources of income, and effective bartering techniques you can use WTSHTF.
Inflation Is Insidious and Inexorable
I recently helped some elderly cousins move from their two-story home of many years into a smaller one-story apartment in a retirement community. During the move, we cleaned out a storage space that hadn’t been touched in more than forty years. Many of the boxes had newspapers used as padding in the top. Pulling out these papers, which