those are the magic work, gas heat!! I am 99% electric. So I can easily use 50 to 80kwh per day this time of year.
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Generac "solution" generator, panels, batteries
- Thread starter sunwarriors
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I think this is all good and fine as a goal but the reality is until these systems can allow you to be fully off grid they'll never meet the "live like normal during an outage" criteria. My reality with 1 Powerwall and an extended outage is "it won't be dark at night, groceries won't expire, we can take a hot shower, and watch some movies".
We've had some pretty windy/stormy weather lately and we were spared the last big windstorm but a moderate one this week knocked our power out. We only get 6-8kwh/day on a good day from solar these short winter days (down from 50kwh+ during peak summer days) and since the weather was just kicking up we were a bit worried that we were facing a multi-day outage. I did something similar to you which was making sure the vampire loads were disconnected, during the summer we'd have more than enough solar production that it wouldn't matter (sunlight is pretty use-it-or-store-it-or-lose-it) but during these low production days every watt hour is important. I also broke out the poor man's V2H setup I had to limit the Powerwall draw during the day.
Luckily power was restored in about an hour and a half but it was a good dry run for a substantial outage.
My relatives in Austin that lived through a week of the snowpocalypse would have been happy to have had the capability your 1 Powerwall provided.
But I hear you about winter production being down. We are getting 8-9 kWh/day. We peak 2.5 kW around 10 AM, and then bounce between 1.5 or less as various trees block different parts of the roof. I am pushing my reserves up because I cannot depend on even multiple sunny days to fills the PW enough to last all night. I can't wait for some of the leaves to start dropping and getting past the Winter Solstice on Dec 21.
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On sunny days I get around 20-25 kWh a day here from my system. My daily "live like normal" power usage is around 30-31 kWh a day. If I shed a few loads, I can still live "mostly" normal at 15-20 kWh a day. I have 2 powerwalls, so, in my case, I can shed enough loads to live mostly like normal as long as its "mostly sunny".
This is going to be different for everyone though, and if it was a power outage because of weather, I would go into extreme load shed mode right away. If its a planned outage of some sort, I likely wouldnt. SCE just notified me a few days ago that they would be turning my power off from 8am to noon or so, because they are replacing a transformer I am connected to in my neighborhood.
I likely wont change a thing about how we are using power, other than to ensure the night before my reserve is set to 70% or something. I may even disconnect myself from the grid that morning so there wont be any potential of a blip.
"live like normal (depending on circumstances" is likely what would fit better, but in most cases I wont have to change anything.
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
I too generate about 20-23 kWh a day on a sunny winters day. I have two heat pumps but LP water heating. If the overnight temp does not get below 45F I can just about break even on the two PWs. No sun and/or colder temps and we will crank up the wood stove and just run the HVAC fan to move air through the house. Because of environmental impacts over the last several years, we have about an unlimited supply of firewood.
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New California rules move state away from natural gas in new buildings
California energy regulators on Wednesday approved energy efficiency standards aimed at vastly expanding the use of electric appliances for space and water heating in new homes and businesses, in a shift away from using fossil fuels to heat and cool buildings.
www.reuters.com
)copy paste from article above, below this line.)
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The state's update falls short of an all-out ban on natural gas in new construction proposed by environmental groups. However, it includes a requirement to install solar and energy storage systems in most new commercial buildings, demands that single-family homes be built "electric ready" to support electric vehicles and appliances and strengthens ventilation standards to improve indoor air quality.
Homes and businesses in California, which updates its building code every three years, account for a quarter of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. If approved by the state's Building Standards Commission in December, the new code would take effect in January 2023.
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What "natural gas BAN" are you talking about in california? You mean this above, which "falls short of an all out ban on natural gas" and also would take effect in 2023? You said "banned" which is past tense. Can you share where that is, in CA?
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Generally speaking, this is my situation as well. Also, a good number of our utilities are powered by natural gas (heater, hot water, range, dryer) which has NEVER failed even in the worst of weather conditions, and that helps stretch the power a bit in outage situations. But yes, after 12 hours or so, I start going around to unplug anything that isn't absolutely necessary.
And I hear you about the TV - we've got a huge HD plasma TV with picture quality that I think is unrivaled by even the latest OLED models, but from a power consumption perspective, it's like having a hairdryer on constantly, it draws so much wattage. Yes, we definitely switch to the LED TV at such times. Sucky picture quality, but we're probably watching the news anyway, and it's like 10 or 12 watts tops.
Fruitcake
el-guapin
Trust no One
NathanielHrnblwr
Member
New California rules move state away from natural gas in new buildings
California energy regulators on Wednesday approved energy efficiency standards aimed at vastly expanding the use of electric appliances for space and water heating in new homes and businesses, in a shift away from using fossil fuels to heat and cool buildings.
)copy paste from article above, below this line.)
==========================
The state's update falls short of an all-out ban on natural gas in new construction proposed by environmental groups. However, it includes a requirement to install solar and energy storage systems in most new commercial buildings, demands that single-family homes be built "electric ready" to support electric vehicles and appliances and strengthens ventilation standards to improve indoor air quality.
Homes and businesses in California, which updates its building code every three years, account for a quarter of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. If approved by the state's Building Standards Commission in December, the new code would take effect in January 2023.
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What "natural gas BAN" are you talking about in california? You mean this above, which "falls short of an all out ban on natural gas" and also would take effect in 2023? You said "banned" which is past tense. Can you share where that is, in CA?
Encinitas Bans Natural Gas For New Construction
Leaders say the building electrification ordinance is part of the city’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gases, but critics say the move is a political ploy that won’t do much to impact climate change.
www.kpbs.org
Encinitas banned NG in all new construction.
It's not off-grid. When there's bad weather you can still draw from the grid.
Doesn't that just put the greenhouse gas emmissions on the power company unless people know the power company only uses hydro/wind or some other lower greenhouse gas emmitting source?
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
I think these situations are a good starting point but they still have that ultimate limit of what is achievable when renewables are not available. In todays world we still have considerable base load that is provided for by fossil fuels in most areas. As we move to more energy efficient buildings one can hope to be net neutral on energy consumption on average, but not 100% of the time. Something has to 'plug the hole' when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. And even worse what to do with the energy no one wants that is over produced at certain times of the day.
How this 'new' base load is provided for remains to be seen. Some advocate batteries but in many areas it's not just getting over the loss of sunlight, overnight, but for days or even weeks on end with cloudiness for example. Some are hoping that nuclear fusion will be the answer for a new clean base generation but it ramps very slowly. Others are advocating for using renewables to create hydrogen and store that in tridiagonal power plant settings to be used as a fast ramping base generation. All TBD.
Natural gas like electricity can and does fail. As an owner of a home in Austin, TX that experienced this last winter I know this happens.
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