When de-centralised is more sustainable

A month ago, there was a power outage in my apartments building for a hour, two days in a row. Coming from India, a power outage like this is insignificant to daily life.

However, in Germany, it was significant.

• I (obviously) could not watch TV
• I could not connect to WLAN and work on my charged laptop
• I could not cook myself some food for myself
• I could not heat food from the refrigerator
• I could not even get my car out of the parking garage (because the gate was stuck)

A couple of days back, when it was -7 degree centigrade outside, the centralized heating system was down for a few hours.

• I could not take a shower
• The room started to become cold

I thought to myself, in India, having the LPG (liquid petroleum gas) alternative along side electricity proves to be very effective.

There is always a back up. One or the other would work - keeping centralized systems up and running on a constant basis takes up quite a bit of resources and effort.