22 Jan Going Solar?
As solar availability grows and prices decline, a growing number of homeowners are turning to battery-backed solar energy systems to power their homes. Many choose to remain tied to the grid, so that they have the opportunity for net metering.
All works well – until a natural disaster or storm removes the grid from the equation. Then the homeowner is completely dependent on their solar system, and its backup batteries.
The problem is, buying enough batteries to have home life go on interrupted can quickly get expensive. One 9.8kWh battery – costing thousands of dollars – has enough energy to power a load of clothes in the washing machine and dryer, and maybe a few hours of other appliances. It would take three such batteries – and 3X whatever thousand the first one costs – to air condition the average house … for six hours!
Then, again, all batteries have a shelf life, and you face the cost of battery replacement(s) sometime in your future.
The solution is to include an ultra-efficient generator with the solar system, and the best upcoming solution is the E|ONE, a private home generation appliance. In-development, the E|ONE will run on gaseous fuels and low carbon fuels. The E|ONE readily integrates with solar to provide a reliable flow of electricity, and unlike other generators, also provides space heat and hot water for the home. It’s well beyond what other generator systems offer.
The E|ONE will complement a solar system extremely well, and REPLACE one in regions where sun is scarce. But that argument is for another day and another blog!
So if you’re all about solar, have at it, going green is great – just team it up with the upcoming E|ONE. You won’t have to invest a huge chunk of change into backup
batteries that you may never use, or that fall short of expectations. And then it comes time to replace them.
Jacques Beaudry-Losique | Chief Executive Officer
