Energy Matters Global and Domestic

[bobins]

The company offering the service is the battery maker/supplier the batteries have a ten year warranty so as I'm ninety it seems to me they'll outlive me anyway.

Can't fault the logic

As an aside - any ideas if a working solar and battery storage solution adds to the house value when it comes to selling up ?

[mickthemaverick]

Judging by my knowledge it may enhance the value, but it does tend to increase the appeal! . A few buyers may be put off by the complexity but on the whole it will improve saleability!

[bobins]

Yes, I can certainly see it appealing to some, but I wonder if the estate agents automatically add £xk to the house valuation once they learn of the complete solar and battery solution. As in - it'll be worth some thousands more irrespective of the quality and scale of the installation.

[Gibbo2286]

That's a wait and see question Bobins, I'm not selling so it will be my daughter's decision.
She's a realtor (estate agent) in Annapolis USA at the moment so she has the skills.

[Gibbo2286]

The latest podcast from Imogen...........................and Miliband.

[thorter]

The belief that greatly increasing the capital invested in order to generate the same amount of electricity will somehow reduce the selling price is a delusion. By a similar argument you can fool yourself that you can reduce your motoring costs by buying a couple of bangers so that the average cost will be lower.

Here is a question. Globally across all energy use, how much of it comes from wind and solar generation, according to the latest Energy Institute Statistical Review (previously produced by BP).

Is it less than 1% or 3% or 10% or 30%?

[bobins]

I'll take a punt at 3%

[Paul-R]

Let me be optimistic and say 30%.

[thorter]

Well one commentator on the extremely complex review gives a figure of 2.8% of total world energy. There is no doubt it is of that order, though I failed to find it specifically after a limited browse of the report. There is no doubt the renewables total is small even including biomass (such as Drax wood burning etc but also third world cooking), and hydro. This raises the question of whether we should be focusing on mitigation measures rather than the present policies that seem certain to fail miserably, since most of the world shows little interest in following out example.

[bobins]

I don't even think it's realistically worth going for much in mitigation - the global numbers are just too damned large and they're getting larger. More people are wanting more 'things', and the global population is ever increasing. It's not even possible to keep up with the population, let alone make a meaningful dent in emissions.
The cold, hard, reality of... reality comes into play. The open energy market will ensure energy is not and never will be 'cheap' but that it is priced at a (high) level that the market will bare - that's just how it works.
An awful lot of nations and governments will be more interested in having a large GDP and good exports - being 'green' will be a bolt-on requirement or commodity which they'll buy or use only as necessary.

To me, the whole quest for net-zero is akin to someone saying:
"Look at how much money I've saved on footwear.......... by cutting off my legs" whilst everyone else thinks 'WTF ?' and then carries on as before.

[myglaren]

Another iteration of the Jevons Paradox.

[bobins]

In a sense, the Jevons Paradox goes some way to illustrate one of the main issues with 'green-ness' and the decarbonisation issue in that the Jevons Paradox is a known human trait - it illustrates how people actually behave. Actual human behaviour - and its consequences - seems to be largely missing from the debate about moving to 'green' It's mostly about idealism - 'we're aiming for this ', or 'we could do that ' etc

[Gibbo2286]

All the 'green or not green' arguments mean nowt to me, all I know is that by using solar panels, battery storage and an electric car my expenditure is less.

[bobins]

I absolutely see your point, Gibbo, and I'd do the same if I could (and could make the sums add up), but to so many it's seen as some how 'saving the planet'

[bobins]

All the 'green or not green' arguments mean nowt to me, all I know is that by using solar panels, battery storage and an electric car my expenditure is less.

Any ideas if your battery storage will function to power your home in the event of a major power cut ? i.e. does it need mains voltage to function, or can it work on a wholly standalone basis ?
It's a genuine question on my part as I don't know the answer