JHK on Tesla's "Power Wall"

[Binkie The Clown]

---SNIP---
The PowerWall roll out highlighted the “affordability” of the sleek lithium battery at $3,500 per unit. The average cluck watching Musk’s TED-like performance on the web was supposed to think he could power his home with it. Musk left out a few things. Such as: you need the rooftop solar array to feed the battery. Figure another $25,000 to $40,000 for that, depending on whether they are made in China (poor quality) or Germany, or in the USA (and installation is both laborious and expensive). Also consider that you need a charge controller and inverter to manage the electric flow and convert direct current (DC) from the sun into usable alternating current (AC) for your house — another $3,500. So, the cost of hanging a solar electric system on your house with all its parts is more like fifty grand.

What happens when the solar panels, battery, etc., reach the end of their useful lives, say 25 years or so, when there is no more fossil fuel (or an industry capable of providing it economically). How will you fabricate the replacement parts? By then the techno-wizards will have supposedly “come up with” a magic energy rescue remedy. Stand by on that, and consider the possibility that you will be disappointed with how it works out.
---SNIP---

Read on at the link

Kunstler exposes, once again, the myth that we can substitute technology for energy.

[bananas]

1. Kunstler is a crackpot.

http://peakoildebunked.blogspot.com/2006/05/305-kunstler-thought-y2k-was-end-of.html

Saturday, May 27, 2006
305. KUNSTLER THOUGHT Y2K WAS THE END OF THE WORLD

Using the Wayback Machine, emersonbiggins from peakoil.com has kindly unearthed the Y2K predictions of James Kunstler written in the pre-Y2K period. This is all very amusing because it turns out that Kunstler made exactly the same predictions for Y2K as he is now making for peak oil.

<snip>

[leftofcool]

2. He is indeed a crackpot but right on the cost of the Tesla PowerWall.

We just checked with an installer for this, a roofer to change out our roof and other things that will need to be done. The cost was around 55K. If hubby and I were in our 20's this would be fine but in our mid 60's we won't use 55K in electricity before we kick the bucket. Not cost effective for us and many others.

[mahina]

3. There are several alternative deals, like Solar City's, that saves on the monthly bill

And will replace if the rooftop install is ripped off the roof or damaged in a hurricane etc. But people dont hear about them much as they don't advertise. They do a ton of installations and are Tesla-affiliated.

I am considering and leaning towards them. The 30 k it would take for me to own doesnt pencil out for me either and I'd like to get off the CO2 machine and save money.

[TexasProgresive]

5. I don't know if Kunstler is a crackpot- I wish we could see into an alternate universe

where armies of aging computer experts had not worked tirelessly behind the scene rewriting COBAL, FORTRAN and other arcane computer languages. The are unsung heroes because they succeeded. Anyway if we could visit the Earth where Y2K was unchecked so that we could celebrate these men and women who prevented a catastrophe. When the clock rolled over 01/01/2000 we were on pins and needles at work. We breathed a sigh of relief as all major systems were stable and the only thing we lost in our local was an ancient piece of test equipment. It never worked properly again. That was proof enough for us that Y2K was real.

[Binkie The Clown]

8. I hve to agree. As a retired programmer...

... I can tell you that few people appreciate the enormous effort that went into preventing Y2K. It could very easily have been a disaster except for the hard work of programmers and systems analysts working furiously against a tight deadline.

[TexasProgresive]

9. I thank you for your hard work. n/t

[TexasProgresive]

4. TANSTAAFL

"There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch"

[mopinko]

6. well, i dont think he was listening very closely, then.

i watched the announcement. i am well aware of the cost of a solar array. i knew it was just the battery portion of the system.
bfd.

[TexasProgresive]

7. Some here at DU seemed to be thinking

that this device was a source of energy.