The intention of this post was not really for my location. I don't own my home and I don't have a bugout location of my own . I have good hiding places, however. I thought it would be helpful to everyone, and I hope it is.

Wind isn't a real viable option here. The water wheel, however, is. The key to the alternator is gear ratio(I think).

Put a water wheel in a small creek, and you're not going to get more than 100 rpm. If an engine idles around 700 rpm...and the alternator turns at approximately 2-3 times the engine speed, you're going to have to have some serious overdrive.

Using bicycle cogs, driving a 50 tooth with the water wheel, and a 7 tooth on the other end, you end up with a gear ratio of 1:7.14, a 7 to 1 overdrive. The 7 tooth cog drives another set of 50 driving, 11 driven and you get 1:4.55.

If my calculations are correct, you can turn the alternator at 1,949 rpm with 60 rpm input. I have no idea what kind of force would be required to drive that.

I may be completely overthinking this, too. I once ran into a mess with a Mustang I had. When I bought the car, I was given a long list of modifications. Omitted were the underdrive pulleys(factory-appearing ones.)

The alternator failed and I replaced it. The one I purchased had a pulley installed, so I turned my core in. After 3 replacement alternators didn't quite charge enough, I mentioned it to the previous owner. I had explored all other options, and he asked if I retained the underdrive pulley.

That little difference in RPM caused by a pulley 1/2" larger in diameter caused my lights to dim and stereo to kick off at idle. A replacement UD pulley and I was good to go.

Before anyone bashes me, I went through the rounds with load testing batteries, checking Vd on cables, parasitic current draw, etc.

Para: You're absolutely right, a poorly placed windmill, hydro setup or solar panel could prove to be a "here I am" sign when SHTF.

Thanks everyone for their contributions, please correct me if this stuff doesn't make sense.