California Solar Home to be First with Battery Technology

[azul]

By:
Jennifer Goodman

Construction is under way on the country’s first solar home with back-up battery power in KB Home’s Alamosa community in Lancaster, Calif.
Set to be complete this summer, a Lancaster, Calif., home will be a test case for a first-of-its-kind residential solar system with backup battery technology.

Los Angeles-based production builder KB Home has started construction on the prototype dwelling that not only will run on solar power but also capture it in a lithium-FE battery for future use.

Stored in a four-battery charging cabinet in the garage, each 2-foot-by-3-foot battery will hold enough energy to power the house for two to three days, according to Craig LeMessurier, KB Home director of corporate communications. The 15-pound, 10 kWh batteries can be tapped at night or on cloudy days when solar panels can’t generate enough energy to meet the home’s needs.

“With the battery backup system, it will be simple for consumers to understand how they can save money on energy bills by saving energy and then using it at non-peak times,” says Steve Ruffner, president of KB Home’s Southern California division. “We think this will have a long-term effect on their utility bills.”

If the system is as effective at lowering energy bills as the company predicts, Ruffner says, it will become an option on homes in the Southern California market, although a pricing structure has not been worked out yet. In some areas of the country, the company offers related options such as solar panels and pre-wiring to accommodate electric vehicles.

“We’ll operate this as a showcase home for several months and compare its energy use to other homes in the area,” he says.

The prototype’s solar panels, batteries, charging pedestal, and other accessories will be provided by Chinese electronics manufacturer BYD. The city of Lancaster, also a partner in the project, has waived municipal development fees, says Mayor R. Rex Parris.

“This has the potential to revolutionize the way homes are designed and built in the United States,” he adds.

Retrofits?

China may be on to something big with Building Your Dreams for Americans. Guess we are too busy building your war nightmare (BYWN) corporations to see the conflict for the gas (forest for the trees).

[FBaggins]

1. 2-3 DAYS per battery?

I suppose that 2ft by 3ft battery could be five stories tall (no wait... they said they weighed 15 pounds each). There's simply no way that a battery that size can power a home for 2-3 days.

A battery that size could maybe power five or six CFL 25 Watt bulbs for three days... it couldn't possible power a house.

[Statistical]

4. Yeah author I think got facts mixed up.

So the batteries weight 15 pounds that's about 33 kg. The author states that the battery is 10kWh which is improbable but I guess possible.

10kWh / 33kg = 303 Wh per kg. Commercially available lithium ion batteries tend to run 150Wh to 250Wh. Still at least the number is close.

As far as "EACH battery" capable of powering a house for 2-3 days that is just plain silly. The manufacturer clearly states the batteries are 10kWh. Average Amercan household uses 10,000 kWh annually. Thats about 27kWh daily or 50 to 80 kWh in 2-3 days.

So more likely the entire system (5 to 8 batteries) is designed to last 2-3 days.

I hate it when Journalist gets the facts of a story wrong. I mean once you have glaringly impossibilities in the story it makes anything else reported suspect. If they got the capacity wrong by a factor of 8 then what else did they get wrong? Grr.

Science journalism is dead.

[Webster Green]

2. The first? ... Tell that to the hippies in Humboldt County.

Damn near all my friends in Humboldt County were doing this 25 years ago, or more. Granted, most of them were 12 volt systems, but I knew a lot of people with 110 volt systems too. Everyone had banks of big fork lift batteries, and solar photovoltaic panels.

I've seen off the grid 12 volt systems that were perfectly adequate. We even had one of those huge satellite dishes with a remote controlled motor. The receiver and the motor were 12 volt, as was the television, and it worked great.

[azul]

3. But this is like, a mainstream major home builder.

I have solar panels grid tied and 42 x 160Ah 3.2v cell Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFe) battery pack (500lbs) in my car. The Ca rebate on the solar applied only if grid-tied.

If each home had battery packs that tied in to a grid, it could maximize storage for all the wind and solar that could be hooked into it, reducing need for more power plants and keeping it local too.

[kristopher]

5. See for more information

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x245297