Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I would not be investing in electric companies

Storage of energy, ie batteries, are definitely where it's at.

The University of South Carolina is heavily invested-in and being funded-by the battery industry to do research into next generation batteries. Some of the new technology is amazing. Lithium has been around for awhile ... we were using lithium batteries in our PRC77s in the 70s. But how far they have come is just amazing.

And now they have all these hydrogen fuel cells coming along ...

But here's the thing Dixie Dude.

Electric companies will still own it all. They are already into wind and solar leasing ... plus, don't forget, they already own most of the hydro rights.

Don't believe for a minute that the utilities are going to sit idly by and die off anything in the near future. It'll be a long long long time before energy is ever controlled solely by the homeowner.

I'm saying this as someone who has $48k in top shelf panels, mounts and trackers on my roof, and another $21k in the field behind the house, right now and another $12k in batteries, inverters and related wiring in a separate building off the house.

Sometimes it's still not enough to run the HVAC during long hot humid spells here in the summertime.

It'll be another century before they get it all worked-out enough to make it affordable to the average homeowner.

In the meantime I predict there will be a cottage industry boom for homemade solar panels from kits that will make it more affordable, and reliable, to some.

telsa ... run a whole average house for around 3500.00. ... it came with a 10yr warranty.

i read online a few months back where telsa was coming out with a complete solar system that would run a whole average house for around 3500.00. they said the battery would be basically the size of a refrigerator. they said telsa was already selling it overseas and it came with a 10yr warranty.

So for $70k you have a system that can't meet your max load, and will take 30-40 years to pay off ignoring the cost of repairs and replacement batteries???

So it will be a while, but you can bet this is the future.

I see an opportunity. Camo electric cords in lengths to reach your neighbors outdoor outlets.

Of course, you could always tap directly into the power lines (no don't really try to do that)

I worked for a utility for 39 years. Never did I say utility companies were going out of business. In the south peek demand for electricity is in the summer, in the afternoons. If you charge your house battery or car at night during off peek, then use your car during the day to work, shop, etc, even a plug in hybrid, you might never use gasoline except on road trips. As far as your house goes, if you can install a demand meter and use, say your charged battery, as Tesla house battery envisions, you can get lower rates for power by not using it during peek demands. That is one solution getting off fossil fuels, not for green sake, but if you use nuclear power, or hydro, then one wouldn't have to use other fuels.

I think a combination of nuclear, solar in the southwest, wind in the plains states, and large scale battery storage could cut coal and fossil fuel expense. So will small scale firewood use.

Tesla is building a very large battery factory in Nevada that Elon Musk says will lower the large car/house size battery prices by half, he hopes. This alone will revolutionize things. He said about 2/3's of the price of his Tesla cars is battery, cutting a vehicle from $90k to $60k is a major cut. It puts it in the luxury car price range. Also, if the battery costs come down, he could increase the battery size in his cars and get 500 mile range. He has already cut the charging times way down by using 240v chargers. I think he is going 440 at his quick charging stations. He is also considering battery change outs at special service stations, but I think he prefers not to do that.

Another thing. Hydro power only produces about 5-10% of Americas demand for power. Hydro played out even before WWII as the primary producer of power. Natural gas is the primary power supply now at about 35%. Coal has fallen below natural gas. Nuclear is about 20%. Wind and solar are about 5-10% right now, but they are just getting started.

The topic was not investing in electric companies. Well, they aren't going away anytime soon. Tesla is only for small use like cars, house batteries, and they have a sister solar panel company. But home use and personal use is small potatoes compared to industrial and commercial needs. We still need massive amounts of power.

Lockheed skunkworks might be making a breakthrough in nuclear fusion within 5 years. If so, fusion power plants will eventually do away with coal and natural gas, and the old nuclear fision power plants.