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> Most people around here buy enough battery or generators to keep the power on. This is a surprising assertion to me. How can “most people” afford batteries a

> Most people around here buy enough battery or generators to keep the power on. This is a surprising assertion to me. How can “most people” afford batteries and generators?

Waterluvian 3y ago
Depends on what “here” means. If it means California I’m going to guess 99% of homes don’t have battery backups.
hedora 3y ago
$50-60K is enough to buy a backup system, and not much compared to the price of a house in this area.
- toxik 3y ago
  $50-60K is more money than most people I know make per year.
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    Which is why "around here" is 65% renters, when "here" is San Francisco: https://thefrisc.com/sf-is-65-rental-households-but-knows-almost-nothing-about-them-585adc80c68e https://thefrisc.com/sf-is-65-rental-households-but-knows-al...
    - toxik 3y ago
      You mean almost half SF owns and it's incredibly expensive?
      - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
        If I read the criticisms correctly another 34% is homeless. But that 1% who owns can afford battery backups! :P
        hedora 3y ago
        Circling back, I did say government services are reminiscent of the third world.
- brianwawok 3y ago
  My whole house natural gas generator was closer to 10k and 5-10k install. Provides like 90 amps. Good for all the storms around here. I just turn off my hot tub and EV charging and I can do anything else including AC.
  - hedora 3y ago
    That works if you have natural gas service. My estimate assumes solar panels, batteries and a generator that tops the battery off in emergencies. This year, most people with just batteries lost power due to no sun, and people with just generators lost power due to no propane delivery service/supply.
    - toast0 3y ago
      Most natural gas generators are orderable for propane. Propane delivery is available most places, although you also need to find a place for the tank. It's more convenient to have fuel delivered via pipeline, but somewhat less resilient (although I personally don't have any experience with outages of utility natural gas, it is a possibility). Based on the one ~ 3 day outage I had, my whole house generator's tank is good for probably close to two weeks, although if it were very hot or very cold, that might change. I have a portable generator for my well, that one runs on gasoline and doesn't sip fuel, I'd probably just run it for a few minutes twice a day (did not have that generator during the 3 day outage... we were just stinky)
      - 8note 3y ago
        Pipelines everywhere is also bad for leaking methane from a billion tubes

> Most people around here buy enough battery or generators to keep the power on. This is a surprising assertion to me. How can “most people” afford batteries and generators?

Waterluvian 3y ago

Depends on what “here” means. If it means California I’m going to guess 99% of homes don’t have battery backups.

hedora 3y ago

$50-60K is enough to buy a backup system, and not much compared to the price of a house in this area.

toxik 3y ago
$50-60K is more money than most people I know make per year.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  Which is why "around here" is 65% renters, when "here" is San Francisco: https://thefrisc.com/sf-is-65-rental-households-but-knows-almost-nothing-about-them-585adc80c68e https://thefrisc.com/sf-is-65-rental-households-but-knows-al...
  - toxik 3y ago
    You mean almost half SF owns and it's incredibly expensive?
    - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
      If I read the criticisms correctly another 34% is homeless. But that 1% who owns can afford battery backups! :P
      - hedora 3y ago
        Circling back, I did say government services are reminiscent of the third world.
brianwawok 3y ago
My whole house natural gas generator was closer to 10k and 5-10k install. Provides like 90 amps. Good for all the storms around here. I just turn off my hot tub and EV charging and I can do anything else including AC.
- hedora 3y ago
  That works if you have natural gas service. My estimate assumes solar panels, batteries and a generator that tops the battery off in emergencies. This year, most people with just batteries lost power due to no sun, and people with just generators lost power due to no propane delivery service/supply.
  - toast0 3y ago
    Most natural gas generators are orderable for propane. Propane delivery is available most places, although you also need to find a place for the tank. It's more convenient to have fuel delivered via pipeline, but somewhat less resilient (although I personally don't have any experience with outages of utility natural gas, it is a possibility). Based on the one ~ 3 day outage I had, my whole house generator's tank is good for probably close to two weeks, although if it were very hot or very cold, that might change. I have a portable generator for my well, that one runs on gasoline and doesn't sip fuel, I'd probably just run it for a few minutes twice a day (did not have that generator during the 3 day outage... we were just stinky)
    - 8note 3y ago
      Pipelines everywhere is also bad for leaking methane from a billion tubes