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Lithium-ion battery pack prices hit record low

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Re: Lithium-ion battery pack prices hit record low

#21
post #11

I'm trying to think of the second order effects of solar and battery storage if it becomes cheap enough to run your entire house without the grid. Wouldn't it make sense to design houses with DC power from the ground up? Why go through the inefficient inverter if you are generating DC from a solar panel and using DC power internally in all of your appliances? Assuming $3-5 per watt fully installed and a 6 kWh solar p…

I don’t understand the draw of your house being “off the grid”. It’s a house. Do you want to be off the water, sewer, gas, garbage, postal, newspaper, legal, and firefighting grids too, or just specifically the electrical grid? And your neighbors too or just you?

Saving money. If it is cheaper to generate your own power, a lot of people are going to do it. Practically speaking, you would probably still need (and pay for) a connection to the grid but just not need to use it. This isn't a reject society and live alone in the woods kind of appeal. You are going to be spending money on power for the foreseeable future, why not minimize that expense if you can?

Also in developing countries where there isn't a reliable power grid, would you just skip that step entirely? I know some places in Nepal where they have daily rolling blackouts and it is extremely annoying.

Re: Lithium-ion battery pack prices hit record low

#22
post #11

I'm trying to think of the second order effects of solar and battery storage if it becomes cheap enough to run your entire house without the grid. Wouldn't it make sense to design houses with DC power from the ground up? Why go through the inefficient inverter if you are generating DC from a solar panel and using DC power internally in all of your appliances? Assuming $3-5 per watt fully installed and a 6 kWh solar p…

Another effect is replacing gas/oil heating with electric (heat pump). Fewer risks, less maintenance, less pollution.

Re: Lithium-ion battery pack prices hit record low

#23
post #11

I'm trying to think of the second order effects of solar and battery storage if it becomes cheap enough to run your entire house without the grid. Wouldn't it make sense to design houses with DC power from the ground up? Why go through the inefficient inverter if you are generating DC from a solar panel and using DC power internally in all of your appliances? Assuming $3-5 per watt fully installed and a 6 kWh solar p…

I wouldn’t want to power home out of ordinary lithium - e-scooter explosions are already disastrous. There’s LiFePO4 but it’s more expensive.
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