We just purchased 24 high quality Solar Panels to be used either here at our home in Apple Valley, or for an " off the grid " home in Northern CA at some future point. We had a well installed on our 20 acres up near Redding CA, and had a type of well pump installed that uses a wide variety of power levels, AC or DC. The pump installer said you could hook up 4 of the solar panels we purchased, directly wired to the pump with no inverters or anything else, and the pump will work on just that power source. Were putting a 2500 gallon storage container to store water pumped from the well, putting the container high enough up an adjacent hill to get a pressure adequate for a gravity feed system. Were having the original smaller housepad at the site enlarged big enough to provide enough room for a home of the size we would want, 2.500 to 2000 square feet. I'm also going to purchase two 40 foot Sea Containers, and will put them on pads back in the trees near the house pad. They will provide good solid, long lasting structures for general storage. For the time being we are going to purchase a 30 to 40 foot travel trailer to put at the site, to give us a place to stay when we visit, and will provide and abode during the time we would be building a home, at whatever point we might choose to move up there. My brother has installed a small but quite useful hydro system, which has provide plenty of extra power in the winter when it rains, and the solar is not as productive. There is a 300 foot high, seasonal ( rainy months ) cascading water fall not too far from our homesite, and it will provide a good location to put a small containment pool, from which to run the downhill pipes which feed a hydrosystem. We would also be looking to purchase smaller wind power systems, to back up the solar and hydro. My brother has been selling his properties in the area, specifically to people who are interested in developing a small community of solid people, who can help eachother in various ways, given what looks like the coming of tuff times ahead for the US, and its economy. The area is heavily forested, which will provide food for cooking, and for heating if needed. My brother currently has four, 250 gallon propane tanks. He also has a tankless water heater, which helps out on the propane use. These are some of the things we are working on, to develop a plan B for ourselves. In my SC post, I have tried to present various forms of " evidence ", that I think show that the " business as usual " realities of, world geopolitics, the US economy, the availability of abundant and cheap energy which has created exponential growth in people, and in infrastructure worldwide in the last 150 years, looks likely to see dramatic changes toward the negative side in the realatively near future. For now we plan on continueing to reside at our new home in Apple Valley. We are fortunate to have our house paid for, as well as our property in the Redding area, we also have no other debt, and significant investments. My wife has been working for Roadway Trucking for 20 years, and would like to retire from there in about 10 years. Her employment provides our medical, so important to have in these days of astronomical medical cost. Even though we have more than adequate investments in her 401K and with her pension presently for our future needs, these kinds of investments could vaporize in a collapsing econmy, so these assets may, or may not be there to use when we need them. And of course we all know that its clearly questionably if Social Security will be viable when, and depending on the way things go, if, we can retire. Another quandry of us staying in Apple Valley for now, is that the other main essential asset, our home, may very well face the same loss of value in the same economic circumstances, a collapsing economy. It could be the case, that when we see things starting to go down with the economy, and feel its time to move, that trying to transfer the value of our home here, into something comprable at our property, will be much diminished, or not even feasible, if you could not sell your home. So for now we are leaning toward the option of remaining in Apple Valley, hoping things don't tank for the US, which would allow us to utilize the important benifits of what my wifes job offers, and hope that our other investments remain intact, for our use later. I know my brother's feelings are that we should move now, reather than wait, since he feels we are at the edge of the precipice, close to the edge of dramatically declining economic conditions, and a a result increasing social disruptions. I do think his sentiments are not without merit. Its certainly a hard thing to predict how the future will actually play out, with such a vast array of variables to consider. Its a catch 22 circumstance, and each choice, stay or go, has its advantages. Anyway, it will be to everyone's benifit, to make what preperations they can, like eliminating debt where possible, adjusting mentally, and realistically in your lives to a world that will have more constrained energy reallities, less abundance of resources in general, with economies through out the world that will have to become more localized to cope, just like the ways we will all have to cope in our own lives, in what ways we can.