The energy suppliers in my area all have contracts I do not agree with. My gas & electric service may be cut in a couple weeks.
What’s my best move? I need enough electricity to power a mid-sized refrigerator (but could downgrade to a minifridge if needed), a few lights, router, laptop.
My boiler is gas but I have an old previously used mazut tank and furnice which I could possibly get working again with some effort.
Not sure what to do for cooking. Maybe use a portable electric cooktop.
(updates)
I’m favoring diesel over gasoline, for these reasons:
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My large mazut tank could store a year supply diesel but I doubt I could safely store gasoline in that quantity. It’s questionable though because it has mold or something growing in it so I’m not sure if it needs to be cleaned (or whether cleaning it is even possible). Or maybe the mold is harmless.
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Mazut and diesel may be compatible (not sure). That is, maybe a diesel generator can burn mazut or perhaps the mazut furnice can burn diesel. Guess I should find out how different they are.
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Clean biodiesel can be made in a basement from waste cooking oil and lye. I can probably get the waste oil at no cost.
W.r.t renewables, it’s in a densely packed city with a tiny terrace so wind turbines are probably impossible. Solar panels may be viable, I need to look into that. But I would be really surprised if solar could warm the house in the winter – it’s not a passive house (in fact not even insulated). I think solar would be a nice clean & quiet supplement.
Camping propane or butane stove may be the way to go for cooking.
Skip the batteries for now, get a few solar panels and an inverter. Skip depending on a fridge until you can get batteries in. But more details about your must haves, want to haves and nice extras would enable more exacting calculations.
Details on basic setup can be found here: https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/p/offgridsolar
I agree. skip the generator and skip batteries for now.
Put some ice blocks on your fridge that will help it stay colder longer and run less often. Also add some rigid foam insulation around the outside of it and the door (don’t cover any cooling coils or fans or anything like that) OR get a small chest freezer and use it as a fridge, you can often find them used for cheap or free. Freezer tend to be better insulated also a top opening chest freezer is less convenient to store/organize stuff in but it holds cold better because it doesn’t dump out the door every time you open it.
The guy suggests not mounting the panels on the roof. That would be my only option. Then he mentioned hail. Well that would seem to blow it. We get flash hail storms. They’re short enough that in the time it would take me to protect the panels (assuming I’m home) the storm would stop and the damage would be done.