Mankind has had reliable sources of power ever since we started finding ways to generate electricity, either through mining coal and burning that for fuel or even nuclear or solar energy. Because of this, we’ve gotten pretty comfortable with electricity dictating our lives. To be perfectly honest, we can’t really live without it. From cooking to heating and even working, we’re dependent on having our power on. That’s why unexpected outages can lead to disaster. You could lose hours’ worth of work in an instant. That’s why having a backup source of power can be handy in uncertain times.
UPS
The most common and reliable power backups come in the form of a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). The small devices aren’t geared to keep your devices up and running for hours. That’s just not what they’re geared towards. The small, lightweight nature means that they can be taken nearly anywhere and, most importantly, will stop your computer or laptop from unexpectedly turning off. For desktop computers, they won’t last long, but it should be enough time to save any work.
Generator
Generators are a tried-and-true method of keeping the lights (and possibly more) on. Just be ready to have to have maintenance done on them regularly. If you’re capable, you can even service them yourself. They are just a small (or big) engine, after all. The additional expense will be fuel, and with gas prices only going up, it might not be sustainable forever.
It all depends on the size of the generator, but more powerful examples can power pretty much and entire house. They are cost-effective, but they have their drawbacks. The bigger you go, the heavier they are, and you might even get some noise complaints. Still, when you can use them, they are amazing at keeping everything powered as long as you top it up with fuel.
Solar Panels
A solar setup is something that most people dream of. They’ll take the power from the sun and use that to power your home. You won’t get much cleaner energy than that! Just give them a clean every now and then.
They are reliable and low maintainence, but are costly investments. Over a long period of time, solar power will pay itself back and you’ll be mostly independent and off the grid. They also have the added benefit of reducing your carbon footprint, especially compared to a generator.
Source:
https://medium.com/@avishek.roy_69403/whats-the-best-power-backup-option-for-your-home-in-usa-d4b4dc731d40
