With solar technology, powering a home with a mobile generator is possible. Yes, the generator and batteries will have associated costs, but the long-term benefits make it worthwhile. This assumes uninterrupted access to sunlight over the next 20 years without new restrictions.
Key Considerations:
Energy Need: The average home uses 30 kWh/day, requiring 6 kW/hour over 5 peak sunlight hours.
Multijunction Panels: Lab efficiencies are already at 47% (2023), and with 20 years of progress, 60% efficiency is probable.
Efficiency Impact: At 60% efficiency, panels generate 600 W/m², requiring 10 m² (e.g., 2 m × 5 m) to meet energy needs.
This size fits on most home roofs or could be mounted on a pole or hung through an apartment window.
System Components:
High-efficiency solar panels.
30 kWh battery storage for nighttime or cloudy days.
An inverter to convert solar DC power to home AC power.
Outcome:
A mobile solar generator with advanced panels and efficient storage provides a sustainable and portable solution for powering homes.
So you’re assuming the big competition for home solar is… home solar but ignoring what makes home solar expensive (permits, electricians, tariffs etc panels are already shockingly cheap). Installing solar in 15 years also means you’ve lost 15 years of cheap solar power and are buying panels after inflation, waiting just hasn’t seen instillation costs drop for a while.
But you’re also wildly mistaken about the rest, it’s not actually 47% or now 47.1% efficient when placed outside. Panels get more efficient as extreme levels of light so people going after records create wildly irrelevant numbers as a dick measuring contest.
Further the day someone invents 60% efficient panels isn’t the day we put those suckers into mass production we hit 40% in 2006, but they are nowhere near commercially viable for home installations. We might see widespread use of 60% efficient panels long after we’re dead, but that’s not exactly relevant for these calculations.
It seems like we're talking past each other. My main point, as stated in the parent response, is that there is a plausible future where energy prices, adjusted for inflation, could decline rather than continually increase.
Many here are relying on inductive reasoning, arguing that since this hasn't happened historically, it can't happen in the future. I'm presenting a counterpoint: with current technology and 20 years of advancement, this outcome is entirely possible.
To clarify, I'm not suggesting that mobile generators and solar panels would be free. Rather, the energy they generate could become effectively free. The current challenge is that centralized grids are often necessary because we can't store enough solar energy in batteries. However, with advancements in battery technology over the next 20 years, it could become possible to go completely grid-less. If that happens, we could see significantly lower energy prices—something we should remain as open to as the possibility of higher prices, all on an inflation-adjusted basis.
Specifically in terms of batteries, you can also add batteries to an existing solar installation.
Rather than competition what you’re describing is a way to increase the value of installing solar today.
> adjusted for inflation
I brought up inflation because buying a hedge that keeps up with inflation and selling it in the future results in paying taxes on that nominal increase in value but saving money doesn’t have that penalty. You also lose out on the lost productivity from a solar while waiting for prices to drop so it takes a lot more than just moderate inflation adjusted savings to make waiting advantageous.
With solar technology, powering a home with a mobile generator is possible. Yes, the generator and batteries will have associated costs, but the long-term benefits make it worthwhile. This assumes uninterrupted access to sunlight over the next 20 years without new restrictions.
Key Considerations:
Energy Need: The average home uses 30 kWh/day, requiring 6 kW/hour over 5 peak sunlight hours.
Multijunction Panels: Lab efficiencies are already at 47% (2023), and with 20 years of progress, 60% efficiency is probable.
Efficiency Impact: At 60% efficiency, panels generate 600 W/m², requiring 10 m² (e.g., 2 m × 5 m) to meet energy needs. This size fits on most home roofs or could be mounted on a pole or hung through an apartment window.
System Components:
High-efficiency solar panels.
30 kWh battery storage for nighttime or cloudy days. An inverter to convert solar DC power to home AC power. Outcome:
A mobile solar generator with advanced panels and efficient storage provides a sustainable and portable solution for powering homes.