Tropical storm Zeta ripped through Georgia last week and it was our Tesla powerwall that
kept our lights on through it all.
Hey y'all hey! It's Ashley Renne and welcome back to my little corner of the world where
I show you sustainable ways to have a healthier body, home and planet. Today's video is an
update about our Tesla Powerwall, which for those of you are new to this topic, a Tesla
Powerwall is a battery storage system designed to store excess energy generated by solar
power panels.
In my last powerwall video, I went more into depth into what a power walls is, how it enhances
our solar setup, what happens to excess energy once the power wall reaches capacity, our
strategy for maximizing our energy usage, a breakdown of our energy plan, and whether
or not it is worth the cost - which it may or may not be, depending on your situation
and your reasons for wanting it. So if you are new to power walls, I suggest you check
that video out.
In this video I want to talk about the benefits and how it has become particularly useful
for us.
I made my last video about cost, because some people get power walls for financial reasons
and are hoping that a power wall will provide a monetary return on investment. I explained
that in our situation, because of our pretty awesome energy plan, it wouldn’t make sense
for us to have a power wall purely for money saving reasons. But here are some other reasons
why having a power wall does make sense for us and might make sense for you too.
1. Power Outages
Since I’m on the board of a climate organization, I see statistics every day that are so alarming
y’all. So while I acknowledged in my last video that a power wall is an investment,
it can be beneficial to those who live in areas being affected by severe weather and
climate change.
Growing up, power outages weren’t really something I had to worry about where I live in Georgia,
but that’s all changing now. It's not the case anymore.
Climate disasters are happening left and right. Just in the past few years, major disasters linked to climate change like hurricanes,
floods, and wildfires have taken thousands of lives and cost more than $478 billion dollars
in damages. As of today at the time of recording this video - in Georgia where I live, 115,000
people are still without power from Tropical Storm Zeta that tore through our state last
week. At its peak, 2.1 million people were without power.
And in California, where my sister lives, her family has had to deal with some really
scary fires in her area. There are currently 41 large wildfires burning across California,
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona. Nationally, over 8.5 million acres have been
burned this year - and that’s in the United States alone. We can't ever forget about the
unprecedented bushfires season in Australia that raged on from 2019 into 2020.
The amount of smoke in the atmosphere has been so severe that it caused an upsurge
in fatal heart attacks and hospitalizations for people with asthma — and it might also make
people more vulnerable during the pandemic we’re currently facing.
SO not to be all doom and gloom but backup battery storage is a conversation you and
your family should have given the times we’re living in. For us, our Tesla Power Wall kept
our lights on when Tropical Storm Zeta hit us a few days ago. Many people in our area
went days without internet, phone service, and power - and it made me all the more grateful
for our solar panel + Tesla powerwall setup.
2. Excess Energy Storage
If you have a solar energy system like we do, the addition of a Powerwall helps to enhance
your setup. It can essentially aid in your goal to self-power your home, be less reliant
on the grid, and be more environmentally conscious by relying more on clean energy. The Tesla
Powerwall will charge from your solar panels during the day and then continue to provide
your home with power at night once the sun has gone down. Because remember solar power
is generated during the day, so once the sun sets, unless you have battery storage, you
can no longer power your home through solar at nighttime. You have to rely on the grid
at night. However the excess solar power you generated during the day that was stored in
your powerwall, can kick in and you can use that. When the sun rises again the next day,
the process begins all over again and your Powerwall will begin to recharge.
So if you’re trying to decide between a powerwall and say, a backup generator, remember
to keep in mind that a backup generator is only useful during a blackout, whereas home
batteries like a powerwall, are beneficial every day. One thing to note, the Tesla powerwall
has an energy capacity of 13.5 kWh - which means it likely isn’t going to power your
home ALL night. Some people end up getting ADDITIONAL power walls to expand their powerwall
usage, but just know that’s extremely expensive to do.
3. Demand is Rising Due to the increase in weather events there
has been a massive surge in home battery demand. And as climate change continues to worsen,
that demand is only going to get higher. I went over the costs in the last video and
it’s not cheap. Due to the increase in demand, prices are going up even more. Incentives
do exist for installing home battery systems, but because of those incentives, coupled with
an increased need for battery storage, that has created more demand than Tesla can handle
right now. And keep in mind they are the ones leading the market. So if home batteries are
something you’ve been on the fence about, I’d take into consideration the possible
drawbacks of continuing to wait.
So that’s my Tesla Powerwall Update for today. I’m curious if you’ve gotten one
yet or if you’re planning to get one - what are your reasons for wanting battery storage
in your home? Drop a comment below with your answer. Also if you enjoy binge watching smart
home videos, download the Smart Healthy Green Living app, where you’ll find all my smart
home videos as well as a ton of home improvement videos by other content creators. I’ll put
a link down below for you to grab that app. I hope you enjoyed this video and if you did,
be sure to give it a huge thumbs up and subscribe for more sustainable tech recs and lifestyle
videos headed your way. Until next time, stay green y’all.