I know this has been discussed before, but I think one of these would be great here.
[INDENT]When Nick Pfitzner recently claimed his power bill had dropped 92 per cent in a year after installing a Tesla Powerwall, many were sceptical.
So sceptical, we decided to get our hands on his bills and do our own analysis.
Mr Pfitzner, a programmer from Sydney’s northwest, his wife and two children were the first to have a Tesla Powerwall version 1 system installed in Australia, and therefore the first capable of a full year’s analysis of use during all seasons.
He gave us five Energy Australia bills covering 426 days up to February 17, 2016, the changeover date, and another five from Diamond Energy from that date covering 350 days. Because of the unevenness of these time periods, amounts were converted to per day values for a comparison.
On the surface there’s no comparison. His five Energy Australia bills totalled $2578.26. His five Diamond Energy bills after Powerwall was installed totalled $178.71; that’s way less than a single Energy Australia bill.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/teslas-assault-and-battery-on-households-power-bills/news-story/bf6383d0b74ee5a5e3fc05c1dd2e2236[/INDENT]
As an avid follower, amateur researcher and implementer of off-grid living (in Oz) I can make a few points here, in regard to the Tesla home battery system.
1: Tesla are not the only ones that have systems like those offered by them but they have captured the attention of the world wide market and for that they must be applauded.
2: One of the advantages of the Tesla system and those like it is that they are still connected to the 'grid historic' and have a computerised component in-built to top up battery storage from the grid at the cheapest times. i.e. set and forget. This doesn't foster energy usage change by the consumer.
3: Tesla only guaranty the diminishing life of their battery for 10 years and the life of those batteries is diminished with every charge cycle when the battery's storage capacity has dropped to 20% of its ability and that's where the grid connection and computers kick in.
4: Air-con and refrigeration are hands down the most significant users of electricity and currently there is no way around that.
5: Start up costs for a Tesla Power Wall and its ilk are prohibitively expensive and rely on toxic battery systems but it is a good start.
I have modified my energy usage (again in Oz) and have wired a 12V solar system to my small, humble abode. The fridge is gas powered and has a top door that when opened lets the cold air sink back into the fridge and not out the bottom of a more traditional fridge when you open those doors. My solar storage is a long cycle battery system, charge controller and it relies on me being aware of my energy needs and not that of a computer. There is not much that you can't do without 12V these days unless you need to use an arc-welder or plasma-cutter and even then you can convert, with the aid of inverters, to 24V and extra, long cycle batteries.
In Bali it would not be an economically beneficial choice to make, given the low cost of 'listric' but it would give you power when it's cut or fails.
Here I still have small devices like camera, computer, telepon, torches etc that are charged by a couple of small book sized solar panels. I don't need to but when the lights go out I'm covered. In Bali you might want to check out Kopernik in Ubud. They have small (tiny) solar tools/panels that, once again, are a start. It's just economics.........or is it?
