Comment Re: Energy storage in the grid is 100% efficient! (Score 1) 281
The tiny handful of first-world survivalist kooks trying to go off the grid are not what is causing global warming.
I'm not a survivalist kook by any stretch. I have a suburban home with two cars and two kids with a swimming pool. I'm pretty average as far as American middle class goes and I'm giving some serious consideration to pulling the plug on the grid. A battery and photovoltaic system powerful enough to supply 100% of my power needs (even central air in 100-degree summers) is under $30,000. Name me anywhere you could deposit $30,000 and have a return of $200 or more per month as you would by having no power bill.
So you have a 150 month payback? 12.5 years? In that period there is undoubtly going to be maintenance costs: replacing the battery bank for sure, and potentially unexpected failure of PV panels, or charging / inverting equipment. Further the longer you go past the 12.5 year break even point, the higher the chance of component failure.