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I often wonder why new homes dont have built in alternative energy generation.
There are some disadvantages to local vs centralized energy production, notably less efficient and stable.
But then after having no power for three days last week due to wind storms due to risk of wildfires...which is likely to be a more common trend going forward...combined with the growth and lower cost of batteries, I wonder if the stability issue is becoming less of an issue.
Agreed, federal code should be amended to require solar roofs and battery installation in new construction and renovation of older homes. Expensive at first, but volume will bring costs down.
I often wonder why new homes dont have built in alternative energy generation.
There are some disadvantages to local vs centralized energy production, notably less efficient and stable.
But then after having no power for three days last week due to wind storms due to risk of wildfires...which is likely to be a more common trend going forward...combined with the growth and lower cost of batteries, I wonder if the stability issue is becoming less of an issue.
Australia is going in both directions. On a federal level we have rebates for battery systems, but in my state they are going all-in on large, remotely located solar farms and building a massive transmission line over prime farmland. Not that the line, per se messes up farmland, but it does mess up arial spraying and the service roads mess up drainage to the farm dams.
The fire thing is a real issue. Some of the worst fires here recently were started because high winds and transmission lines don't mix.
I'm in favour of local production because of the line losses in transmission lines. Why waste that energy getting the electricity to where it will be used? Besides, a wide geographic distribution builds redundancy into the system.
The one place I see a potential big advantage for large scale systems is placing panels over irrigation channels. This has been done successfully in India. You aren't removing any farm land from production and the access infrastructure is already in place. The panels shade the channel, significantly reducing evaporation, saving water.
I often wonder why new homes dont have built in alternative energy generation.
There are some disadvantages to local vs centralized energy production, notably less efficient and stable.
But then after having no power for three days last week due to wind storms due to risk of wildfires...which is likely to be a more common trend going forward...combined with the growth and lower cost of batteries, I wonder if the stability issue is becoming less of an issue.
I think the future is in smaller 'micro-grids' that have several sources of input and the ability to cross tie and load shed. We routinely overproduce, even when running AC and the pool, we are typically full by 2:00. Cloudy days have an impact (why we have a lot of battery) - those are rare, but often coincide with storms. Even with lots of clouds we rarely go back to grid power.
Codes in the US are still mostly problematic. The economics of power generation mean that utilities want guaranteed customers before they will build the infrastructure. Fire liability risk is a new variable. Looks like Boulder and several mountain counties were pre-emptively shut down this week for rick mitigation. More of that will get more people doing their own. Unfortunately most people will just by a generator (and hopefully a transfer switch) from Home Depot. The increased noise and pollution will make the neighborhoods worse off. A little planning and foresight would have clean/quiet neighborhoods that don't care if the grid drops. They also would pay less over time for power (big up front cost, but tiny power bills).
We did have one renter this year who was relentless with the AirCon. 2 units on full bore 24/7, plus the pool, plus what appears to be every light in the house and whatever he could plug in. He had several grid failovers when he ran the batteries low. Over 2 months he burned close to 3000 KWhrs (average months when we are here are 400-500KWhrs). With the switchovers about half that came from the grid. Out total usage for the entire year including his two months is just over 7,000 KWhrs so far. So we won't hit our 99% target, but it's because of one guy going nuts. We'll still be well over 90% of our power self generated. We only had one complete power outage, when he ran the batteries completely out and the town's power was out due to a hurricane.
Apparently a couple of companies are selling benchtop induction burners with a built-in battery system. Apparently, the things crank a shit-ton of energy which is especially good for N Americans who can't install a 240V system for one reason or another. As a bonus, they can cook through power outages. Obs, you have all that covered, but it seemed pretty creative.
Interesting. One of the advantages of induction is actually less energy used. I have a big 5 burner unit that will run full tilt on a 20A / 240V circuit (5KW). But I also have a portable single burner in the van. That one runs on 120V, pulls 10A on boost (1.2KW), and will boil a pot of water in about a minute. I run the van unit on a 2KVA inverter, it barely makes a dent in the batteries. There is on 200W solar panel that will easily replenish breakfast cooking in a couple hours with other loads running (mostly fans).
7.5 KVA array, 30KW of battery. The inverters are a pair of 5KVA units providing 240V. The place is pretty small, there are two air conditioners, but both are inverter minisplits. Cooking can be a big load, but it's pretty short. The pool pump is 1.5 KW, but it runs most of the day (totally covered by the solar). The system is all Victron (We are a dealer/installer) and it's got some cool bells/whistles on it.
Edit/Add: I just pulled the year to date numbers. Total consumption is 1970KWhrs, power from the grid is 18.6KWhrs. So 0.9% of the power consumed has not been from the sun. This number should continue to trend down, but may get a few bumps depending on renters and what happens during storm season. But I'm looking forward to a year end with 99% of the power being solar.
Also noting that there are few concessions made other than a small footprint. The house is very comfortable/livable. We cook a lot. We run the AC when needed (sometimes we run it when not needed). I have some advantages in sourcing and my own labor was pretty affordable, but even at retail, this is a 20 year system with a 8-10 year ROI (maybe less depending on price escalations). This is all doable for a good portion of the world, we should be doing a lot more of it. Most of the power in the region is provided by fossil fuel generation, every KW that is not provided by the grid is a bit of dirty carbon fuel not burned up.
I often wonder why new homes dont have built in alternative energy generation.
There are some disadvantages to local vs centralized energy production, notably less efficient and stable.
But then after having no power for three days last week due to wind storms due to risk of wildfires...which is likely to be a more common trend going forward...combined with the growth and lower cost of batteries, I wonder if the stability issue is becoming less of an issue.
7.5 KVA array, 30KW of battery. The inverters are a pair of 5KVA units providing 240V. The place is pretty small, there are two air conditioners, but both are inverter minisplits. Cooking can be a big load, but it's pretty short. The pool pump is 1.5 KW, but it runs most of the day (totally covered by the solar). The system is all Victron (We are a dealer/installer) and it's got some cool bells/whistles on it.
Edit/Add: I just pulled the year to date numbers. Total consumption is 1970KWhrs, power from the grid is 18.6KWhrs. So 0.9% of the power consumed has not been from the sun. This number should continue to trend down, but may get a few bumps depending on renters and what happens during storm season. But I'm looking forward to a year end with 99% of the power being solar.
Also noting that there are few concessions made other than a small footprint. The house is very comfortable/livable. We cook a lot. We run the AC when needed (sometimes we run it when not needed). I have some advantages in sourcing and my own labor was pretty affordable, but even at retail, this is a 20 year system with a 8-10 year ROI (maybe less depending on price escalations). This is all doable for a good portion of the world, we should be doing a lot more of it. Most of the power in the region is provided by fossil fuel generation, every KW that is not provided by the grid is a bit of dirty carbon fuel not burned up.
Apparently a couple of companies are selling benchtop induction burners with a built-in battery system. Apparently, the things crank a shit-ton of energy which is especially good for N Americans who can't install a 240V system for one reason or another. As a bonus, they can cook through power outages. Obs, you have all that covered, but it seemed pretty creative.
Wow, that's impressive. I backtracked and read some of your earlier posts but didn't see anything about how big your panel installation is.
7.5 KVA array, 30KW of battery. The inverters are a pair of 5KVA units providing 240V. The place is pretty small, there are two air conditioners, but both are inverter minisplits. Cooking can be a big load, but it's pretty short. The pool pump is 1.5 KW, but it runs most of the day (totally covered by the solar). The system is all Victron (We are a dealer/installer) and it's got some cool bells/whistles on it.
Edit/Add: I just pulled the year to date numbers. Total consumption is 1970KWhrs, power from the grid is 18.6KWhrs. So 0.9% of the power consumed has not been from the sun. This number should continue to trend down, but may get a few bumps depending on renters and what happens during storm season. But I'm looking forward to a year end with 99% of the power being solar.
Also noting that there are few concessions made other than a small footprint. The house is very comfortable/livable. We cook a lot. We run the AC when needed (sometimes we run it when not needed). I have some advantages in sourcing and my own labor was pretty affordable, but even at retail, this is a 20 year system with a 8-10 year ROI (maybe less depending on price escalations). This is all doable for a good portion of the world, we should be doing a lot more of it. Most of the power in the region is provided by fossil fuel generation, every KW that is not provided by the grid is a bit of dirty carbon fuel not burned up.
power bill update - $62 pesos. That about 3 dollars. That's a two month bill. We are basically paying for backup connection to the grid at this point, all of our consumption is covered by the solar. We did have a very brief failover to the grid for some reason back in March. The system recorded 0.06 KWH of consumption, but the power company didn't even charge us - their metering might not be sensitive enough to pick it up.
Wow, that's impressive. I backtracked and read some of your earlier posts but didn't see anything about how big your panel installation is.
Amazing how an industry that was conceived in the US has been completely ceded to China to become the leader in the world. So much for American Exceptionalism.
There are more solar installers in the US than there are coal miners. And yet...
Amazing how an industry that was conceived in the US has been completely ceded to China to become the leader in the world. So much for American Exceptionalism.
power bill update - $62 pesos. That about 3 dollars. That's a two month bill. We are basically paying for backup connection to the grid at this point, all of our consumption is covered by the solar. We did have a very brief failover to the grid for some reason back in March. The system recorded 0.06 KWH of consumption, but the power company didn't even charge us - their metering might not be sensitive enough to pick it up.
Awesome! Hope to implement solar on my home in the near future.
power bill update - $62 pesos. That about 3 dollars. That's a two month bill. We are basically paying for backup connection to the grid at this point, all of our consumption is covered by the solar. We did have a very brief failover to the grid for some reason back in March. The system recorded 0.06 KWH of consumption, but the power company didn't even charge us - their metering might not be sensitive enough to pick it up.
The equipment company I rep won't even bother bringing solar panels to the US. We get the rest of their gear, but they say 'just source them in your market, it's too expensive and too much hassle to bring ours to you because of the tariffs'. These are tariffs started under Trump V1, and extended by Biden. Solar panels have gotten incredibly cheap for the power they provide. I did our system in Mexico for about 30% less than we could have in the states (panels only). The rest of the world is installing solar and wind all over the place and reaping the rewards. We are actively thwarting implementation.
The combined states of Baja California (roughly the size of our California) have over 100MW of wind and solar. In 2024, they exceeded their goal of 33% of their energy from clean sources. They sell power to California.
Anti-China sentiment and tariffs aren't going help the US' laggard status. Also wind power gives you cancer...
It's bound to be uneven across states in the US, but there's some progress.
The equipment company I rep won't even bother bringing solar panels to the US. We get the rest of their gear, but they say 'just source them in your market, it's too expensive and too much hassle to bring ours to you because of the tariffs'. These are tariffs started under Trump V1, and extended by Biden. Solar panels have gotten incredibly cheap for the power they provide. I did our system in Mexico for about 30% less than we could have in the states (panels only). The rest of the world is installing solar and wind all over the place and reaping the rewards. We are actively thwarting implementation.
The combined states of Baja California (roughly the size of our California) have over 100MW of wind and solar. In 2024, they exceeded their goal of 33% of their energy from clean sources. They sell power to California.
