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"Home Batteries" Power Houses For a Week
tjansen writes "Panasonic has announced plans to create 'home batteries.' They are lithium-ion batteries large enough to power a house for a week, making energy sources such as solar and wind power more feasible. Also, you can buy energy when it is cheapest, and don't need to worry about power outages anymore."
Wow! "Plans" to develop batteries in 2011. Stop the press!! And, I have "plans" to develop a pocket watch-sized nuclear reactor for my home in 2012. It'll be designed with gum drops and built by my own sense of self-promotion. Perhaps they should have mentioned that each home battery will ship with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever and delivered by Saint Nick. Please...
Dude, your username is at the top of your post, right underneath the subject line.
You *really* don't need to add you initials at the bottom. Furthermore, this is not a formal letter "to whom it may concern", it's a bloody forum post. Would you initial a post-it note in the same way ?
Well actually there is. When you look at the picture it looks awfully similar to a whole bunch of 18650's shoved into a box.
and besides. Lithium ion sucks, anyone who has owned an iPhone/iPod for more than a year will know this. -20% a year at room temperature, 500 cycle life.
The only way this would be a viable way to power a house is if you took an absolute crapload of 'spent' li-ion batteries from consumer electronics for free and assembled the pack yourself then put it in the shed to extend it's short lifetime. I'd say your average spent li-ion will have a better energy density than a brand new lead-acid battery