Smart Home, Power and Sustainability
14 March 2021
As a follow up to last month’s post Smart Home and Extreme Weather Part 1, where I talked about power sustainability after the Texas Snowmaggedon, I wanted to add a little more here about power and our new home planning. Debbie and I were fortunate that we weren’t really affected much by the cold, power outages and water issues but now we have the ability to plan sustainability into our new home. We can’t do much about grid issues but we can make sure that we’re prepared for whatever may come.
At the front end where we’ll have power coming into the house, I’m considering a “smart” power panel by Span. This option is a little more expensive than your traditional electrical panel but offers so many more benefits short- and long-term. Span replaces the traditional electrical panel in your home with powerful smart technology that lets you manage your home energy and circuits from anywhere via their app. The Span Smart Panel is also purpose-built for clean energy upgrades like solar, batteries, and EV charging. So, whether we build our home with or without an alternative power source, like solar, we’re ready for it. Plus compatibility with home batteries and the eventuality of the need for charging an electric vehicle will already be in place.
I really like the Span app integration as typical battery installations force you to make tough decisions on what you can power during an outage. Span lets you prioritize how you want to power your home during an outage, all based on backup priorities you choose and can change anytime. But for day to day, the Span Home app lets you understand and control your home energy from anywhere, at any time. Span goes beyond monitoring with controls and insights to make sure you get the most out of your home energy. Span is also integrated with Amazon Alexa. They consider Amazon Alexa voice control as an important step in making consumers aware of their personal energy use and making the control of every aspect of their home more accessible and convenient. This is a huge positive to me as we already have Alexa integration in our home and plan to continue using it at our new place.
From our experiences with Louisiana hurricanes we had already made some decisions around the design of the electrical plant in the house. We’ve been considering different options on electrical sustainability from a generator to solar power. We will still probably go ahead and install wiring connections and planning outdoor space to accommodate a generator. But the cons of a generator may outweigh the pros to us when you consider things like safely storing fuel and its availability in a crisis.
Oddly, in the windiest city in the US, wind turbines are not allowed in our development. I don’t know if I’d seriously consider them anyway from an aesthetics perspective or that they’d take up space where’d I’d rather be growing fruit trees and grapes. The options are just less attractive than solar panels on the roof.
We have pretty much moved on from the idea of solar panels on the roof. Although with our home east-facing we’d have the ideal orientation for panels on the west-facing roof on the back of the house to maximize sun exposure. Debbie is not a fan of solar panels on the roof however, even in the back, so that is probably not an option.
Tesla has developed a solar roof system that integrates the solar cells and modules inside the structure of the roof rather than just panels on a roof. But the cost of the roof tiles are significantly more expensive than traditional asphalt shingle and even tin roofs.
As part of the solar solutions, batteries are an integral element of the plan. Basically, it works by storing power in the batteries from the grid and whatever other power source. Power is routed to the home from the batteries. If power from the grid fails the batteries continue to charge from other power source while supplying the home with power. The homeowner never notices the loss of grid power other than being notified by the app.
Tesla, LG and Panasonic have all developed home battery systems. The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable home battery system designed to maximize a home’s energy independence. It features seamless backup and a smaller carbon footprint for your home, and potentially savings on your electricity bill. Powerwall is an intelligent system that can be customized to your energy needs, with the ability to charge from solar or from the grid so energy is always available on demand. When the grid goes down, with a solution solar installed, energy will continue to power your home and charge your Powerwall. With Storm Watch enabled, Powerwall can communicate to the National Weather Service and prioritize charging in anticipation of severe weather. Each Powerwall installation includes a complete home energy monitoring solution. So you can see how your home both produces and uses energy at any given time.
The LG RESUsystem is compact with a sleek design, allowing you to place it anywhere you want, both indoors and outdoors. And the solution is expandable as needed — the RESU models can combine multiple units to increase energy capacity. Typical homes have high energy demands in the mornings and evenings but solar generation is highest mid-day. The LG RESU home battery allows you to store solar energy and use it whenever you need it. The safety of LG Energy Solution’s lithium-ion Battery has also been proven in the automotive and ESS markets.
The Panasonic EverVolt uses the same battery technology they use to power the world’s most advanced electric cars. EverVolt offers a flexible design enabling seamless installation with new or existing solar panel systems and integration with any existing generator, no matter what size your home. Even if your home doesn’t have solar panels yet, EverVolt gives you backup power during outages to run key appliances longer. You can manage energy flow on the go with the EverVolt app — monitor consumption, backup power, charge/discharge levels, and more right from your smartphone in real time.
As you can see, plenty of good options regarding home battery solutions. The technical aspects all look to be very similar as well as the app integrations. So a decision on these for our home may very well come down to budget and smart home integration points. The key will be developing a seamless solution from electrical point of entry to our home to the electrical outlet on the wall where we plug in our refrigerator, washing machine, etc. Another consideration will be around planning for alternative power sources either initially or eventually and designing the infrastructure to support it.
Debbie and I are hoping to have our floorplan work finalized with our architect soon so we can get started on exterior elevations and MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing. As these elements involve a lot of the technology I’ve covered today I’m curious what your thoughts are around sustainable power in your home. Would a generator be safe enough and do the job? Do we think longer term and prep the house for an entirely off-grid solar option? I have a long-time friend from the sports business also in the home building process who’s shared with me that he’s not putting in gas. Is that something we should consider as some US cities are already banning gas on new build projects? Let us know what you think in the comments or send us an email. Until next week …
