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I would rather spend a few thousand more for a natural gas generator, it will run indefinitely as long as you have natural gas.

cogman10 5y ago
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/ https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-st... If the whole grid goes down, your gas likely won't be there. If you add solar, then you could indefinitely run in most circumstances.
- quickthrowman 5y ago
  I don’t live in Texas, I live somewhere that the natural gas doesn’t go out because people will die if it does, so our infrastructure is winterized and maintained. We get some -30F every winter and the natural gas service is always there. You could swap out the NG generator for a diesel one with a day tank and then you don’t have to worry about NG service :) A 30kwH battery wall is going to last 6-12 hours at most anyways. I can’t recall NG service disruptions on a large scale in my state, and I’m 37.
  - cogman10 5y ago
    60kWh for 4k then? What about 120kWh for 8k? Point being you could target your outage range based on what you want to prep for at a fairly low cost (assuming $50/kWh). Add on a solar system to any of these and you'd have indefinite power without a reliance on surrounding infrastructure. For my home, 30kWh would give me ~24hr of power. Even if you want a fossil fuel generator, you could have an auto switch to battery for the short outages so you don't have to go crank on the generator.
    - brianwawok 5y ago
      My whole house generator runs on natural gas. Indiana natural supply gas is stable and afaik never stopped in the last 20 years. It automatically fires up 6 seconds after power goes out and runs my entire house including EV charger. It’s fairly quiet, cannot hear with windows closed. Cost like 5k and 2K install. Really hard to beat that in the near term with battery. No it doesn’t do the demand shift part of a battery, but it’s pretty clearly better as an emergency solution, at least for my needs.
dylan604 5y ago
And when the natural gas runs out you use what?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- quickthrowman 5y ago
  It doesn’t go out where I live, but you could instead get a diesel generator and not have to worry about utilities
  - int_19h 5y ago
    You can actually get a tri-fuel generator that can run off gasoline, propane, or NG (with some minor fiddling required to convert between the three). However, it's still a lot more hassle to set this up compared to a battery pack that "just works".
  - dylan604 5y ago
    That's not what I meant. Eventually, it will go out for the entire planet. It is not an unlimited resource. Then what?
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification
    - aillarra 5y ago
      People in general is not aware there are physical limits with energy sources and materials. We won't grow forever, actually we'll probably shrink once we hit the limits. It's going to be a shock for a lot of people, specially in techno-optimistic communities as HN.

cogman10 5y ago

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/ https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-st... If the whole grid goes down, your gas likely won't be there. If you add solar, then you could indefinitely run in most circumstances.

quickthrowman 5y ago
I don’t live in Texas, I live somewhere that the natural gas doesn’t go out because people will die if it does, so our infrastructure is winterized and maintained. We get some -30F every winter and the natural gas service is always there. You could swap out the NG generator for a diesel one with a day tank and then you don’t have to worry about NG service :) A 30kwH battery wall is going to last 6-12 hours at most anyways. I can’t recall NG service disruptions on a large scale in my state, and I’m 37.
- cogman10 5y ago
  60kWh for 4k then? What about 120kWh for 8k? Point being you could target your outage range based on what you want to prep for at a fairly low cost (assuming $50/kWh). Add on a solar system to any of these and you'd have indefinite power without a reliance on surrounding infrastructure. For my home, 30kWh would give me ~24hr of power. Even if you want a fossil fuel generator, you could have an auto switch to battery for the short outages so you don't have to go crank on the generator.
  - brianwawok 5y ago
    My whole house generator runs on natural gas. Indiana natural supply gas is stable and afaik never stopped in the last 20 years. It automatically fires up 6 seconds after power goes out and runs my entire house including EV charger. It’s fairly quiet, cannot hear with windows closed. Cost like 5k and 2K install. Really hard to beat that in the near term with battery. No it doesn’t do the demand shift part of a battery, but it’s pretty clearly better as an emergency solution, at least for my needs.

dylan604 5y ago

And when the natural gas runs out you use what?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
quickthrowman 5y ago
It doesn’t go out where I live, but you could instead get a diesel generator and not have to worry about utilities
- int_19h 5y ago
  You can actually get a tri-fuel generator that can run off gasoline, propane, or NG (with some minor fiddling required to convert between the three). However, it's still a lot more hassle to set this up compared to a battery pack that "just works".
- dylan604 5y ago
  That's not what I meant. Eventually, it will go out for the entire planet. It is not an unlimited resource. Then what?
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification
  - aillarra 5y ago
    People in general is not aware there are physical limits with energy sources and materials. We won't grow forever, actually we'll probably shrink once we hit the limits. It's going to be a shock for a lot of people, specially in techno-optimistic communities as HN.