Can a Quonset Hut be turned into an EMP-shielded home? With this reader question, the devil is in the details. If you are ready to face them, grab a napkin, sharpen a pencil and then go rent a crane: you have work to do!
First let’s see what it takes to shield something from EMP and how a Quonset Hut is constructed to determine if this building could provide a cost effective solution to EMP under the right circumstances.
I imagine that the reason that leads to this question is something along the lines of: “Quonset Huts have a steel skin, and steel is a conductor, so they must provide some shielding against EMP. Almost 200,000 of the buildings were manufactured for WWII, some are still in use by the military to this day and many others are still knocking around as surplus, so maybe this could be an inexpensive way to build a shielded home or retreat or some sort.
But the subject of EMP is complex, and a building is a major investment. For most people, it would be a considerable waste of resources to erect a building that did not serve its intended purpose.”
The (Very) Basics of How to Shield Against EMP
As you may recall from an elementary physics class (or a diligent 2-seconds of research on your “Inter-web Thingy,”) Faraday cages can be used to shield vulnerable microelectronics from EMP.
For some, but certainly not all, of our readers, that fact and perhaps how to improvise a Faraday cage from a metal trash can (or similar conductive vessel with a tight fitting lid) is about the deep end of the pool when it comes to the depth of their knowledge this particular subject.
Now, that is not a bad thing. Where that not the case, us folks toward the nerdier end of the scale might be doing something other than writing about EMP survival, so I’m good with that.
But society’s ever-decreasing attention span being what it is, that is to whom I orient this type of article, so those of you who are “Walter White-level intelligence”, and beyond, you will have to bear that in mind (or break down and buy the book.)
A Faraday cage provides EMP shielding by creating a conductive skin around what you are trying to protect. Imagine that this conductive skin helps conduct some of the flow of energy around a protected envelope, like a river flowing around a sand bar. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but I think it is an effective analogy for most people.
The idea is that most of river goes around the sand bar. You end up with a lot less intensity of water flow inside the sand bar than outside because the amount of flow that penetrates the sand bar is reduced by the (shielding effect of the) sand bar. The bulk of the flow of water is “conducted” around the sand bar like the conductive skin of a Faraday cage conducts electricity around the occupant of the cage.
Click here to find out more about building your own Faraday cage.
Another way to say this is that the Faraday cage attenuates (or reduces) the intensity of the field strength of the EMP that is able to penetrate the shielding provided by the cage.
Back to the sand bar analogy, the shielding provided by the conductive skin of the Faraday cage is the difference in EM flow outside and inside the cage. So the cage does not completely stop or shut out the EMP, it just “turns down the volume” to point that it doesn’t “blow the speakers” (so to speak) of electronics protected by the cage. The volume of sound, EMP wave flow or sound wave flow is lower or quieter inside the cage than outside it.
This protective skin needs to have the following properties:
1. It must completely encapsulate whatever you are trying to protect. Depending of the frequency range of energy you are protecting against, the skin can be a cage or a mesh. But for our application, openings as small as a quarter inch could allow EMP inside, compromising the protected space. So mesh would have to be roughly 20 openings per inch or finer. If you are trying to shield a multisided space such as a cube, all six side would have to be shielded. I often see people forget about the floor! EMP is not like rain, you cannot just drape a space blanket over the object and call it good.
2. The flow of electrons through the skin must be unimpeded. If you join two or more sheets of conductive material to form the conductive skin, the seams where they mate must be free of non-conductive paint or any other insulation. I see people make this mistake a lot with metal ammo cans. They fail to remove the paint where the lid fits onto the box and remove the rubber gasket. Gaskets are still helpful, but they need to be conductive gaskets as opposed to the non-conductive rubber gaskets that come in the cans.
3. Any insufficiently shielded wires or other conductors penetrating the skin compromise its integrity.
4. The conductive skin must have a non-conductive layer gap of air between the skin and whatever you are protecting. If the object touches the skin or is too close to it, the electromagnetic energy can be conducted from the skin into what you are trying to protect.
5. The conductive material must provide sufficient electromagnetic shielding (measured in decibels) to protect against EMP. The thicker the conductive material, the more shielding it will provide. To shield against the field strength of an EMP generated by a nuclear weapon detonated high in the earth’s atmosphere, directly above your location, would require approximately 73dB of shielding. If the weapon was detonated hundreds of miles away, this number will be lower.
Just keep in mind that the relationship of shielding thickness to the number of dB of shielding it provides is logarithmic, so doubling the shielding layer thickness does not double the dB of shielding.This means that if you buy a Faraday bag that provides 40dB of shielding, and you put your bag inside another 40dB you don’t end up with 80dB of shielding. You would end up with less than 50dB of shielding at that level.
And to protect against a super-EMP weapon (a nuclear weapon optimized to yield the maximum amount of energy released in the form of EMP as opposed to light or heat) this number would have to be much higher. You would not be talking Mylar bags, aluminized bags or tinfoil anymore, you would need a shielding material more along the lines of an aluminum pressure cooker for that.
How Does the Quonset Hut Stack Up As a Faraday Cage?
Once assembled, a Quonset Hut is essentially a semicircular cross-section of corrugated, of galvanized steel that can be moved by crane and set on a concrete slab or wooden floor. Steel is a conductor, so won’t that offer some electromagnetic protection?
If you have been paying attention, you may already know the answer. IF the steel sections have been properly joined THEN you have a start.
Notice that the answer is conditional and that even then, a Quonset Hut can only be viewed as possible place to start or source of raw material in the form of steel. Even if the integrity of the building’s steel skin is maintained, you would still have some major issues to deal with in order to turn it into an EMP-shielded structure.
Here is what it would take to turn a “Q-Hut” into an EMP-shielded stronghold:
- Any sealant, lacquer, paint or other non-conductive material between the seams of steel sections, any holes or gaps a quarter of an inch or larger will compromise the free flow of electrons through the shielded “skin” of the structure so they would have to be stripped and replaced with conductive product.
- Any holes or gaps a quarter of an inch or larger will compromise the shielded envelope, including any windows, doors and the entire floor would not be shielded by “upside down steel half pipe” formed by the steel portion of the Quonset Hut. All these areas would need to be covered with material that meets our shielding requirement of greater than 73dB (for a normal nuclear weapon used to initiate Compton Scattering, generating a nuclear high-altitude EMP, not a super-EMP weapon.) As mentioned, 20OPI or smaller mesh could be used for the windows and to encapsulate any solar panels you add. To add solar panels to the project, please refer to my past articles on the subject starting here: How to Protect Your Solar Gear from EMP (Part 1)
- No unshielded long conductors such as electrical wiring should be attached to the building without first being shielded, shunted through EM-shielded gaskets, fitted with fast switching (less than a millisecond) surge protection with power handling in the same range as lighting protection circuits. They should also be properly grounded.
- The conductive skin should be separated from the building interior by a gap or suitable non-conductor. A non-conductive spray-on bed lining material or any other non-conductive material could be used for this purpose, just do not forget the floor!
There you go! If this does sound like a fun project, let me know, I just might squeeze you into my consulting schedule so I can see how it turns out, so shoot me an email.
Better yet, leave your comments below. Either way, I enjoy reading them, and have even been known to respond to reader questions and comments from time to time.
This article has been written by Cache Valley Prepper for Survivopedia.
Rambuff | February 4, 2015
|
CVP – GOOD JOB!!!
For the very first time, a “survival writer” has, in this engineer’s opinion, done a great, accurate – and especially – TECHNICALLY ACCURATE paper on EMP protection!
I’ve worked on this type of shielding necessity for over 35 years, shielding and prepping radio and TV broadcast head ends against EMP & CME, in addition to lightning damage prevention….so I know quite a bit about the subject; you covered ALL the bases in my opinion.
Again – this Engineer says: “Good Job”!!
Cache Valley Prepper | February 16, 2015
|
Thank you very much Rambuff. My physics professor would be proud.
eastofaustin | February 4, 2015
|
RAMBUFF, you give me pause. I was getting ready to criticize the article on the basis of theory. My degree is in physics but I have not worked in this area in a long time. What I know is that a charge runs on the surface of a conductor. I remember running demonstrations which revealed the thickness of the material had NO bearing on the effectiveness of the cage as long as the cage was electrically continuous. (The fact that the charge flows on the surface of a conductor was Faraday’s great discover.) I understand that holes smaller than the wavelength of energy (proportional to the inverse of the frequency) can allow for small openings. What am I missing? How and why does the thickness of the material contribute to the issue (unless of course that there was enough power dispensed to destroy the material used, as lightning strikes might do). Again, what am I missing. Thanks in advance.
Mahatma Muhjesbude | February 4, 2015
|
EOA! whaddya say! You’re not missing anything. Everybody else might be, though, lol? The ‘thickness’ might matter only in the relative superior/inferior molecular conductive capacity and to a point, the capacitative ohm also relative to the intensity of the EMP as there are considerable differences in EMP intensity due to many physical variables.
That’s why copper mesh/simple door screen type, also works well enough for all pragmatic functional benefits if the wavelength obstruction is small enough because it conducts better than steel or aluminum? After a certain ‘thickness’, which is situationaly/conditionally relative, as it is to types of wavelength, frequency, and intensity equations there are diminishing returns as far as thickness of conducting elements go, and there’s no ‘extra’ protection after a point. In a primitive basic ‘cage’ to shield maybe your cell phone which won’t be useable anyway even if it’s not fried, but maybe to protect an emergency radio, Ham set, or regular 5w handhelds for personal closer proximity usage, you might want to waste your time on an ‘el cheapo’ as everyone seems to need/want these days– max shielding is better achieved with ‘layers’ of aluminum foil between non grounding insulations (foam) for these items.
But here’s the bullshit beheading. I personally, and many of the ‘specialists’ i know DO NOT think HEMPB attacks are a major concern for preppers/survivalists. Or at least shouldn’t be their PRIMARY headache concern for many reasons to expansive to touch at the moment. It’s a matter of ‘fear warped’ perspective. Even though, having said that, there is an inevitability factor with Serious Solar Flare/MCE’s coming soon, to a theater near us. Most damaging Mainly in the East Coast Areas where unfortunately lots of major grid origination due to the nukeplant concentration, and other parts of the world. When i get time, I’ll elaborate and enlighten for specifically pragmatic purposes.
For now, let me say that when i was building custom bomb shelters for rich people from the big city, (not in the city but out at their country land) i contracted serious knowledgeable and experienced electrical engineers to make sure we were properly resistant to EMP’s as well as radiation. I wanted to know if we should place any extra special purpose shielding equipment especially over the fiberglass shelters as opposed to the concrete ones? He didn’t seemed to be too concerned about Solar Flares, even the bad ones we are inevitably going to experience. He said that Powerful Mass Coronal Ejections will mostly certain disable the larger capacity Transformers on the main power grids. So protecting your cell phones, and other sensitive micro processors won’t matter much anyway because we are too dependent upon our primary infrastructure for every day living, and that is not currently being addressed! So if that fries, we all are ‘fried’ even if we manage to keep some of our fancy electronics intact. Because our lifestyle will be changed so dramatically everywhere and will be ‘down’ for years because there are not too many, if any, SPAREs of these critical transformers. And neither was he too concerned about your vehicles or less sensitive EMP computers. I re-verified his assumptions and he apparently was pretty much on the money. Truth be told, if it happens you’ll be wishing you spent all that EMP protection money and energy on more beer and cheese storage!
But he said that as long as you’re down underground below about 4 or 5 feet which all of my shelters were because i liked to keep them below the area frost lines for stabilization purposes. Then you you won’t even be affected that much even by very intense gamma radiation.
So, it seems much more ‘prudent’ to me that if EMP’s concern you that much to go to all this trouble with building complicated house sized Faraday cages on steriods, then wouldn’t it be possibly more ‘cost effective’ and multi-purposeful the just bobcat/backhoe (one day and about a grand) a nice 20×20 underground bunker out of cinderblock sides and a super-reinforced eight inch poured concrete roof, toss in a couple mopeds, and store enough gallons of gas somewhere to last a couple years because that’s how long it’s going to be before they get the major grids back up so there won”t be much fuel available that’s not strictly rationed. Meaning you won’t get any before the G and police do?
But look, again, if you really want to ‘survive’, you can’t let fear ‘hype’ alter the reality. The likelihood of an all out Nuke war is not that high compared to other equally serious scenarios. And even a protracted war will likely NOT be what anyone thinks. In just the last five years the anti-missile technology has advanced more than it has in the entire industrial age. If we hang on for another year or two, the pulse lasers NOW actually IN deployment on special NAVY vessels recently commissioned, instead of just in the experimental stage, along with other state of the art incoming missile defense satellite instant launch detection systems, will literally stop most, if not all of what they try to hit us with almost before they even get off the ground!
Put another way, what good is it to get so carried away with trying to transform an old Quanset Hut when..like the song sings…
…In the end, it doesn’t even matter….
eastofaustin | February 4, 2015
|
In a Carrington type event, the long wavelength means that transmission lines are the most susceptible to induce a current. That’s what makes the transformers so vulnerable. Other electrical components are probably more or less susceptible based on being an electrical multiple/fraction of the wave-length. A quarter, half, 5.8’s, full wavelength antenna will work well to put out a radio signal. A random length wire needs a tuner or coil to electrically modify the electrical length of the antenna to get a low SWR. My hunch is that with a coronal mass ejection (of a yet to be determined but generally long wave length) would effect some items while not disturbing others. Some of it becomes the luck of the draw on unprotected stuff.
You are right about the transformers being the weak link in the system, but I think you are optimistic in terms of the time required to get them back on line. There are few places in the world that can make them. I understand that they are so heavy that it takes special trailers to handle them. And they are expensive beyond believe. Going back to our previous discussion on money, how do you induce hundreds of people to spend tens of thousands of man-hours and tons of material to do something for someone on the other side of the world if there’s no working monetary system?
Mahatma Muhjesbude | February 5, 2015
|
Yes, thanks for the correction. I need to be ‘corrected’, or at least have a ‘tune-up’ daily, or my I’ll have a brain M(C)E. (mass cognitive ejaculation, lol!
You are right. I was too optimistic. I usually ‘err’ on the side of Worst case scenario’ but maybe it was the residual delusional religionism in me that precipitated the unrealistic assessment.
These ‘transformers’ take months to manufacture even in normal conditions but in an environment where almost every operational function depends so much on electrical power, and the continuous downward breakdown spiral of our electricity dependent social existence, it would more likely, than not, take years to fully recover the ‘current’ status quo? that would be assuming that the drastic lifestyle alteration would not cause an environment where reconstruction would constantly be inhibited by widespread anarchy and further unforseen setbacks?
Some say it will NEVER be the same system again anyway because our electrical grid system was already antiquated compared to what it could be? And there is always a lingering circumstance that changes everything in the form of a point or level in the damage break down that precludes repair, and necessitates a complete replacement?
Add a few more years, then.
So the hanging question is, will a very ‘bad’ Solar event kick our lazy electronically dependent asses back to the 1800’s lifestyle?
Well, not exactly. And here i won’t be too optimistic. We no longer have a pervasive enough infrastructure base for ‘1800s’ style of life. With the exception of maybe, the Amish, and a few totally off grid self sustaining farm-ettes, the rest of us would thrown– rather harshly– back into the ‘Stone Age’,
So if someone is really really distressed over Bad Solar Events, thinking ‘outside’ the Faraday Box might also be a worthwhile endeavor?
(I didn’t forget about our previous thread discussion, I just like to think about some things to extent before i further analyse. I also have to ‘take a test’ for Jason, so i’ll probably answer back from the other blog posts. So watch for my thoughts on that coming…)
Cache Valley Prepper | February 16, 2015
|
From a purely statistical point of view, there is no greater chance that Carrington-type event will occur within a given time fame (day/month/year/lifetime) than any other. But I get what you are saying. But is there is a huge difference in the EMP from a geomagnetic event like an X-class CME than from the detonation of a nuke above the mid-stratosphere.
If you do a quick search on Compton Scattering and the E1, E2, E3 elements of EMP you will see that while the sun certainly has more energy than nuclear weapon it is Compton scattering of high-energy electrons in the atmosphere that gives HEMP it’s “oomph.”
MissouriBob | November 15, 2017
|
Thank you for the well written response. Just to be a nit-picker I would advise storing diesel fuel, not gasoline. It has a longer shelf life and will be easier to scavenge from the trucks broken down along side of the road. Plus the possibility of making your own bio-diesel fuel. I would also store a few small electronic engine parts in a small burried emp resistant box.
Ruth | April 26, 2018
|
SO…just a trash can or two to put ones pc, phones and radio etc. is about all that would be needed and forget the rest?
What about a car in something to protect it? Here I am thinking of a metal shed retrofitted to hold it? and other things
like food to protect form EMP and other things? Not all of us have others to help with such and have to plan on all of this
for ourselves.
Cache Valley Prepper | February 16, 2015
|
Yes, East of Austin, thank you for calling my attention to that. I did not communicate that portion very well. Sometimes have difficulty describing certain subject matter in way that simplifies complex problems for the majority of reader yet still holds up to scrutiny for readers with a more advanced understanding.
Yes, nesting thinner layers of shielding is more effective than using a single, thicker layer.
I think that will help the readers without confusing or boring them.
My family lived in Barton Creek West for a while. I enjoyed Austin.
Thanks for commenting. : )
cATHERINE mCcOY | February 4, 2015
|
Great article
Heres an article on smart meters:
http://www.globalresearch.com/digital-electronic-internet-of-things-and-smart-grid-technologies-to-fully-eviscerate-privacy/5428595
Mahatma Muhjesbude | February 4, 2015
|
Hey Catherine, you never answered my question a while back, (i think it was you) when you said ‘you wouldn’t be bugging out’ in a major event? How come?
cATHERINE mCcOY | February 4, 2015
|
Hi Mahama, I DID reply. I would be willing to bug out for a short time ( If by “bugging out” we mean doing the SEALs type thing and camping out on a diet of bugs and snakes). But Im too used to decent living to do that if that was the way it was going to be from now on.
Im still on city electric, with the imbeciles watching everything that goes on in my house with smart meters. Three months ago they also added a smart meter to my gas read-outs.
I decided to keep my solar panels in faraday cages for when I might really need them.
I didnt stock up on beer. I bought the equipment and supplies to make beer. I think it will be very popular when TSHTF.
Gary | September 29, 2023
|
Alcohol lowers your vibration. Matrix foods in any form also.
Mahatma Muhjesbude | February 5, 2015
|
Okay, i was just worried about you that you had some disability or other issues preventing you from escaping if necessary. But you sound like you are ‘down’ with your prepping! Especially on the ‘beer survival prep’, lol!) Even though i can’t deny that i experienced at some early points in my misspent youth a variety of serious remote survival practice by literally living off the ground/jungle i was trapped in, i currently am of the disposition that staying in a cheap motel is the equivolent of ‘camping’ to me, LOL! But these days, i don’t think you’d have to be eating insects or snakes if you prep properly. What city are you ‘unfortunately’ in?
cATHERINE mCcOY | February 6, 2015
|
Mathata, The good thing about beer supplies is that they take up less space and I can make an ocean of it. Plus barley and hops seeds to make it endless.
Did you make an underground shelter for yourself? If you havent with your experience you should do it.
Underground prepares for more than above ground. Radiation, severe weather,wandering bands of desperate people looking for food, EMPs, harder for bad guys to enter or even find. You could even put up layers of irregular shaped mylar blankets to create air spaces while filling it in to both make it hard to find,and waterproof.
I live in Riverside CA, a desert with only bugs an snakes As a child camping with my family, I had to sleep in the car at night. Im just not the rugged outdoors type.
Older Cow Girl | March 3, 2015
|
I copy/pasted your link http://www.globalresearch.com/digital-electronic-internet-of-things-and-smart-grid-technologies-to-fully-eviscerate-privacy/5428595 and this website appears to have highjacked your link https://davidlawsandcompany.wordpress.com/
I really wanted to see your link about Smart Meters (because we have one). Please send me your info about Smart Meters to [email protected]
This is the first time I’ve put my email out there…so please be kind
cATHERINE mCcOY | March 4, 2015
|
Hi Older Cow Girl, The Feds dont want you to read the article. Actually if you are on public gas, electric, and water you have THREE smart meters on you house and they are far more invasive than people thought. They are spying devices.
cATHERINE mCcOY | March 4, 2015
|
Since the Feds blocked this article, I hope one of the writers on Survivopedia will look up the info and write about it
Cache Valley Prepper | March 27, 2015
|
I saw what you where saying about the link. I will to paste it again.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/digital-electronic-internet-of-things-and-smart-grid-technologies-to-fully-eviscerate-privacy/5428595
Cache Valley Prepper | March 27, 2015
|
I was able to duplicate the hijacked link. If you copy the new one and paste it to your browser, it should work. If you still have trouble, please post to this thread. If I do not respond, feel free to email me at
[email protected]
since I do not have unlimited time to follow up on comments, but I certainly want to help where I can.
I will see if I can get your email for the site admin and email it to you OlderCowGirl. If you would rather avoid posting your on websites, using a forwarding service such as Blur will enable you to mask emails, phone numbers, credit cards and other sensitive information, improving your privacy. The service generates random email addresses anytime you need to create one for a site and forwards the mail to you, so each is a real, working email address, but you can block it with a single click if anyone misuses it without having to change the email address you use to create the Blur account.
https://www.abine.com/blog/2014/blur-protects-passwords-payments-privacy/
This service can protect you against a lot of spam and crime and lets you block anyone with a single crime if you slip up, but will it will not help against a wiretap warrant, which some agencies have interpreted a single wire tap to cover hundreds of thousands of people so with that type of overly-broad interpretation of the power granted them by the consent of those they govern, why do they even bother? Why not just add another couple of zeros and interpret it to cover the entire world? It will however, cause many agencies to have to follow due process, and unless you are a high priority for some reason, they may lack resources to keep searching. But keep in mind that each agency has different oversight and interprets the law as it applies them. Most of them have far greater levels of transparency than those in the intelligence community and information is usually compartmented, meaning not all agencies can share all information with each other. One hand often has no idea what another is doing.
Pingback:How To Turn Your Q-Hut Into an EMP-shielded Home | February 5, 2015
|
eastofaustin | February 5, 2015
|
Now I think you’re being a bit pessimistic. I don’t think that we would be kicked back to the stone age because we have both experience and knowledge– perhaps not the knowledge of the 18th century, but post 18th century knowledge. Perhaps individuals don’t know electrical and mechanical theory, but almost anyone can tell you that electric lights and wireless communication can exist. Most people can read (on some level). There is a world of knowledge in books on all levels. Resources and machines will have been accumulated. Many of them will be passed over in the initial chaos, but on “second pickings” during the rebuilding phase, electrical switches, insulated copper wire stripped for houses if not warehoused, exists. There are motors of all sizes everywhere and motors are inefficient generators in reverse. We know that there is water underground that can be pumped. I’m just throwing out random thoughts that don’t scratch the surface of what’s possible. Knowing what’s possible is a big part of the battle in any projects development.
One place that I think you are really on target is that recreating the existing system may not be the direction we recreate society. I know that prior to REA (Rural Electrification Act?), lots of farms and ranches and rural people had wind generators. Lots of them were DC. There were some AC systems but the frequencies were not well regulated. Likewise, most small towns had their own generating plants. In order to hook up to the REA system, all generation equipment had to be destroyed with proof of destruction shown to the government. (There was a practical reason for this in that REA didn’t want a bunch of generators hooked into their system which would wreck it.) I think their view was short sighted. The result was “the grid”. We moved to a centralized system that makes us all vulnerable. If the grid comes crashing down, people will see the danger, and I hope people will reconsider appropriate scaling of resources. Some things are best dispersed; some things better consolidated. Bigger does not mean better and when the big hits the ground, I think people will be hesitant to see restoration of the existing as the goal. There will be thousands of communities who have found different solutions to similar problems, and each would be wise to be leery of destroying what is in favor of a promise of what might be, particularly when some unknown people way up the line will control the “might be.”
Enjoy the conversation.
eastofaustin | February 5, 2015
|
I thought the above was a reply to Mahatma’s last post to me. Sorry it appeared in the wrong place.
Older Cow Girl | March 3, 2015
|
I’d have to give you a yes..and a no. Most of us would be kicked back to the stone age, and die. Those who rely on everyone and everything else.
But there are those of us (minority) who know that we will be back to the 1850’s in terms of living conditions. My husband and I are nearly living that way today. We still use electric for pumping the well, or heating water…but we are prepared to not use electric, if necessary. We’re just waiting for the day…
Cache Valley Prepper | March 27, 2015
|
Hey Eastofaustin,
I you enjoy this topic, there is a very good book on this subject by a British rocket scientist named Lewis Dartnell. It’s called The Knowledge: How To Rebuild Our World From Scratch. He examines the path and process of innovation necessary to get back to a post-electric state.
It is certainly possible that we could fall from this state. The grid-powered, transport, communications and information-dependent global society we live in was built over many, many generations and is complex and fragile. Nearly everything now runs on “just-in-time” inventory. There is no comprehensive library on how to rebuild it and certainly not an antifragile one other than what is locked into our DNA and instinct … and that is a slow process.
He argues that the significant obstacles to the progression of mankind occur at making the jump from pre-industrial revolution to industrial revolution. Many civilizations made it all the way to the state that preceded the creation of machinery and mass production but never made the just. You don’t need machines when labor is cheap and you need an available power source to power it. Only in Europe, after the renaissance did the right socioeconomic conditions exist to make the jump: high wages to justify building machines, and plenty of waterfalls to power early mills.
Books are being replaced by digital publishing. After the current generation the knowledge would be lost in large part because we will lack any way to pass it on and provide the level of education necessary to sustain it.
Without transport of raw materials over great distances and on a large scale, we would quickly use up available raw materials and then recycle them to the point that they become nearly useless … especially without the other materials and energy to do so. A while back an artist tried to build a basic electric device … a toaster from raw materials. He traveled all over the place and ended up cheating and still cost him thousands of dollars to create a vastly inferior version of what even you and I can buy at the store for $10. Even something as simple as a pencil requires specialized materials and knowledge … rubber, graphite, wood, paint, metals.
Without a quick recovery, the profundity of a global breakdown would deepen with every generation. Past failed empires have always been regional. We are are now dealing with a different animal, which has the potential to be global.
… but of course, that is impossible because mankind is such a wise and effective steward and now understands and controls every aspect of our universe. ; )
eastofaustin | March 27, 2015
|
I’ll check it out. I read one twenty five years ago by Buckminster Fuller. I think the name was “Critical Path Thinking.” It was on the not only the necessary steps on the road to civilization but the attractive dead end detours that so often lead people to failure. I believe that what will be hard to maintain is liberty. My hunch is that the world will quickly divide into “engineers” and those who serve them. I use the word “engineer” in a very broad way– as the one who drives the machine to the future, and as one who defines a problem and creates a solution. Way too few people study the hard sciences (or arcane arts). Even agriculture is largely following the directions of those who make the GM seeds and the chemicals of the field. We are in for a rough road if/when it crashes. I don’t worry much about myself for most of my life is over regardless of world events. However, I have a great investment in kids and grandkids (and the species as a whole). Does the book offer any suggestions or solutions?
Cache Valley Prepper | April 4, 2016
|
The book itself is a solution in that it contains all of the major scientific breakthroughs that would be necessary to make another industrial revolution happen. The author couldn’t find any single volume that did it, so he wrote one.
Pingback:Top 10 Vehicles For Your EMP Survival | Survival skills, survival guns, survival guide | February 24, 2015
|
Pingback:Top 10 Vehicles For Your EMP Survival - Bio Prepper | February 27, 2015
|
Great Grey | April 5, 2015
|
One needs to have an entry room at each door to keep the protection intact as you entered or left. It would be smart to have smaller cages inside for sensitive and/or critical items, and don’t remove more one of any item from protection at the same time, when servicing them so if an event happens while you are doing maintenance you won’t lose all your backup of some item. Also best to have duplicate items stored in separate cages.
eastofaustin | April 5, 2015
|
If the cause of EMP is intentional, it seems to me as if any “logical” enemy would create a second and third events spaced a few days apart after the initial event. If someone is intentionally attacking a society, that person or group would recognize that there are shielded systems and backups. I would suspect that if “the event” took place, those who were prepared would have their backup systems up and running a week later. Once they are out and on line, the “backups” are a whole lot more vulnerable as they come on-line. The issue becomes how do you shield operating equipment. If you don’t use equipment, you might as well not have it. Simply hooking up an antenna to a radio makes it vulnerable as the antenna can induce a current. Likewise, power lines connecting a generator or solar system can be inductors which overload stuff at either end.
Great Grey | April 20, 2015
|
Some of your logic is same as why it is hard to find cars good spare tires. rarely used so just AAA and wait 10 hour for help. You make it sound like having 2-3 spares is a bad idea. All I’m saying is don’t expose your backup all the same time. Protecting your everyday equipment as much as possible is good practice but, don’t depend on it working for the next 50 years with no problems even without an EMP event.
Cache Valley Prepper | April 4, 2016
|
That is true if the enemy has the capability to do so. The scary thing about nuclear HEMP is that an enemy doesn’t have to be sophisticated to pull it off. A well-funded terrorist organization could be capable of pulling off a single nuclear HEMP, but it may not be something they are able to repeat.
Also, it would really only take one HEMP to destroy the US in terms of offensive capability to put boots on the ground and economics and a single shot would leave very little forensic evidence but multiple attacks would make it easier to determine who perpetrated them.
jack russells and finches hanover | October 16, 2015
|
But before we completely give up for the breed
or on Jack Russell Training, we also have to pay attention for the consensus among JRT experts who say that these dogs can in fact be trained, but instead, only in a
different way. Continuously try over to figure out exactly what the canine desires if you happen to become attempting to change behavior problem.
It’s additionally a simple thing to rotate the plants every season.
Dee Hammett | February 11, 2016
|
This is all great information. You obviously have it all down to a science. And what a threat this now poses! I have a question. I have a big metal building on my farm. The building has three sides leaving the front open all the way across to store tractors, trailers and our motor home. The back part of the metal building is an enclosed and insulated workshop. There are no windows and the doors are metal. The metal beams of the building are exposed in the workshop. I know I should cover them with a non conductor material. Any suggestions? Would paint be enough? The floor is concrete and about 60 feet by 40 feet. What should I do there? Do I need metal on the floor and cover with a non conductor material? Like a fine metal screen? And then bed lining sprayed over it??
Pingback:Top 10 Vehicles For Your EMP Survival - Prepper Dome | May 21, 2016
|
joe mills | August 9, 2016
|
Hi, Wondering on thoughts about shipping container as Faraday cage?
Pingback:How To Prepare Your Tractor For An EMP | Survivopedia | January 6, 2017
|
Joe | March 17, 2021
|
I like the idea, as we are looking to build a quonset hut for cost effectiveness as a living space. Although, “if” I were to do so, I’d keep it to the rear of the hut, sectioned off as it’s own faraday cage. It wouldn’t make sense to use the entire living space, due to exterior doors, etc. I have a REAL concern about another Carrington event coming in the next 5 years, maybe sooner, and with the magnetosphere in decline, I’m not sure it would take another X40 CME to produce the same results. I’ll likely bury a shipping container in the ground with items such as hydroturbines, cases of LED lighting, power tools, batteries, redundant spare electrical components for carbureted vehicles, etc. I suppose steam engines could make a comeback.
Bruce D. Latham | November 5, 2023
|
Question: My electronics are packed in a grounded trash can. I ground my pick-up when parked. You suggested not to do this. Other than a total re-wiring, or late model vehicle, can you direct me toward one of your articles on protecting transportation. I no longer have my horse.
Doc