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Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

powerwall.tesla.com

221–230 of 341 posts

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm for that price I can install a natural-gas generator. Have power for days if necessary, full power on all circuits.

3 of my 4 adjacent neighbors have natural-gas generators. That gives you an indication of the power reliability here. Note that I don't blame the utility, and I'm not in some backwater ($1M+ homes around me). It's just that we really like our trees here, and sometimes a branch will break in a storm and take out the neighborhood. My gripe with the generators is they are noisy. A Powerwall would be silent and would han…

How do you convert VA to kWh?

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#222
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In CA, it is illegal for HOA to block solar installations

What is HOA?

Crazy US shit, never heard of it anywhere else. Basically a group of your neighbours who say what you can and cant do to your own property.

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#223
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We use heat pumps as well in Northern Europe, but to transfer heat from outside to inside. You can get even five times more heat for the invested electricity compared to direct (resistive) electric heating. The best winter optimized air-to-air pumps work down to -20 °C (-4 °F) with efficiency ratio over 1. For example, I heat my entire house with a single heat pump through the year. Our average electricity bill is ~1…

I heard great things about heat pumps efficiency-wise, but that their downside were noise. However, that information is dated because I haven't looked into it in a long time. Has that improved? I'd expect the market in Scandinavia to be much more developed than in my country.

It's unfair to compare European and American heat pumps. The market is much larger more mature here in Europe and the differences in how you think about heating are large. I've heard that american heat pumps are quite noisy, mainly because you place them away from the living area (there's no reason to lower the noise). In new-built houses here in Europe they are most often placed directly within the living area so the heat pumps must be very quiet.

Disclaimer: I work for one of the heat pump manufacturers in Europe (albeit with connectivity solutions and not actual heat pump technology)

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#224
post #118

Quick question for the people living in the US (Target customers of the Powerwall). What is your yearly power usage? On the website[0] they put for sizing 10kWh/day/BR. Which means 14600kWh/year for a 4 bedroom house. Here in Germany, working from home with a 4BR+office house, we are using 2550kWh/year. So, I suppose the Tesla sizing is to support a "peak day" usage, but still, I am surprised by the calculations. Thi…

I'm guessing that would be below peak day usage for me--i.e. two window AC units running (which isn't common)--but 14600kWh/year seems pretty close as an average based on my $100 or so monthly electrical bill. That's for a 4BR house, albeit a smallish one, that uses oil heat almost exclusively in the winter and runs fans, and only sometimes AC, in the summer.

My electric company sends out a comparison statement periodically and says I'm about average for similar-sized neighbors. (Albeit, it thinks my house is a bit smaller than it is.) So I'd say Tesla's calculator is about right for the US although it's going to vary a lot based on AC and electric heat.

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is HOA?

Crazy US shit, never heard of it anywhere else. Basically a group of your neighbours who say what you can and cant do to your own property.

I actually find neighborhoods with HOAs pretty desirable. Protects me from people moving beside me and destroying my property value.

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#227

His argument about the solar roof starts by equating the situation to how Tesla started out - electric cars were slow and ugly and needed to be sexy and cool to be attractive, and the same is true for solar. Except I highly doubt this is true here - do people really mind the look of typical roof-mount solar? My impression is that the upfront cost is just too high and cost recoup is just too slow. The argument for the…

One problem with solar traditional roof mounts is that they are heavy, and many houses aren't rated to carry that much additional weight. In addition, they can affect the water flow on the roof, and then when you need to replace the shingles, you've got all of these panels in the way.

However, some people do think some solar panel installs are ugly: http://www.greensunnj.com/SolarHallofShame

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#228
post #118

Quick question for the people living in the US (Target customers of the Powerwall). What is your yearly power usage? On the website[0] they put for sizing 10kWh/day/BR. Which means 14600kWh/year for a 4 bedroom house. Here in Germany, working from home with a 4BR+office house, we are using 2550kWh/year. So, I suppose the Tesla sizing is to support a "peak day" usage, but still, I am surprised by the calculations. Thi…

Throw in charging a Tesla in your figure..

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#229
post #118

Quick question for the people living in the US (Target customers of the Powerwall). What is your yearly power usage? On the website[0] they put for sizing 10kWh/day/BR. Which means 14600kWh/year for a 4 bedroom house. Here in Germany, working from home with a 4BR+office house, we are using 2550kWh/year. So, I suppose the Tesla sizing is to support a "peak day" usage, but still, I am surprised by the calculations. Thi…

My 2300 ft^2 (210 m^2) house in NC uses 11000kWh per year. I needed less than half my roof (the southern half) to be covered in solar panels to generate almost all my electricity (I do have gas air and water heating, however).

I'd like to build my next house to PassivHous or similar standards. I think I can get the energy usage to 5000 kWH anually. With the whole roof sloping southward, I think I'd be able to generate more than what I need for the house, even accounting for electric transportation.

Re: Powerwall 2 and Integrated Solar

#230
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The content of his presentation is always interesting. The delivery is always incredibly awkward and cringy.

I dont agree. Not cringy and awkward, but human and real. Who cares if he stutters and doesn't bring a polished salespitch. And he's nerdy for sure, but why have it any other way. Also the few jokes thay occur are typically funny as they are genuine and not silly jokes practiced before hand like Apple seems to like.

That sounds like a false dichotomy. Recent Apple keynotes are more polished, but the content is often cringy too (that whole "courage" thing will go down as one of the most ridiculous things ever said in an Apple keynote). Not a good counter example.

But Louis CK sounds human and real and he can deliver something without stuttering, bad comic timing, and awkward pauses. You might say it's his job — but that's the point. It's a job. It takes skill.

Musk is just not a good public speaker, that's all. I don't think even he would disagree with that.

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