Home solar in rural America: a storm just took out your power, now what?

There’s no shortage of advice on how to size a home solar and battery system, but most of it assumes a suburban home with city services and outages measured in hours, not days. Rural homes play by different rules, especially during summer storms. When heavy winds take down power lines and your utility prioritizes restoring urban neighborhoods first, having a home battery isn’t about convenience —…

Musk abandoned his own ‘solar electric economy’ to burn gas for an AI chatbot no one uses

Elon Musk spent years telling the world that solar power was the obvious answer to Earth’s energy needs — that a small patch of desert could power the entire United States. Now, he’s burning millions of tons of fossil fuels to run an AI chatbot that has lost 60% of its downloads, selling the unused compute to a company he called “misanthropic and evil” three months ago, and pitching space-based…

Read more →
Maxis Home Solar now offers outright purchase option, with up to 80% electricity bill savings

After introducing its subscription-based solar plan last year, Maxis is now expanding its Maxis Home Solar offering with a new outright purchase option for homeowners in Peninsular Malaysia. The new option is aimed at users who prefer full ownership of their solar photovoltaic (PV) system instead of committing to a long-term subscription plan. According to […]

Tesla owner uses emergency solar to trickle charge after running out of battery in desert

A YouTuber driving a Tesla Model X the entire length of the Americas ran out of battery in Chile’s Atacama Desert — the driest place on Earth — and had to deploy emergency solar panels on the side of the highway to survive.

The whole ordeal, captured on video, is a fascinating look at both the promise and the very real challenges of long-distance EV travel in regions where charging…

Batteries become the new home solar as net metering evolves and energy prices soar

Net metering — the ability to sell excess electricity back to the grid for fun and profit — has helped make rooftop solar panels the centerpiece of the home energy transition for more than a decade. But, as net metering rules change and electricity prices keep climbing, the value proposition isn’t as clear as it once was. Instead of sending extra power back to the grid, homeowners are…

C
A Backup Battery For The Rest Of Us

Zachary Shahan’s review of the Bluetti Elite 400 battery made me smile, I have to admit. Let me explain. Perhaps you might smile as well. I have been interested in getting a solar power system for a very long time. So long, in fact, that I remember talking about such ... [continued]

The post A Backup Battery For The Rest Of Us appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Page 1