James Quazi of Balto Energy helps California homeowners navigate the complex puzzle of optimizing the mix of electrification, solar, and batteries for home decarbonization.
This really appears to be an educational tool as much as a technical/ business tool, and as such, it could be beneficial to deploy it within the public education system concurrently with the solar, HVAC & EV industries.
As discussed, with solar & HVAC installations, timing & having all the information (data) is critical. When I installed solar in CA in 2016, customers were not permitted to anticipate & over-size systems,...period. And practically no one was installing residential heat pumps in my area. Now, I've got an EV & a heat pump, & I might add more solar, but it will have to be an independent system. I just learned that Enphase now has a new control module to make that work without voiding my existing NEM 2 system status.
Excellent information as always! I agree that this would be a great tool for the general public. The problem that many of us have as David stated so well, is that Solar installers are like snake oil salesmen. It is difficult to get beyond the hype and hyperbole to the real facts. It is difficult to know who is for real and if they will be around next year if a problem arises. The general public needs great information without a sales pitch to understand what would be best for them, given their aspirations, financial position climate regimen, current energy provider and possible options which would help to make a sound determination.
Same comment as on the Free the Energy Data podcast-
Has he thought about selling or giving away (or have contractors sell or give away) smart plugs that would plug into the major loads in people's houses? Surely there are smart plugs/meters they could put on the AC, EV, maybe refrigerator, washer/dryer. And then, are there 'plugs/meters' they could put on the gas devices? Run an end route around the utilities.
Another benefit to this approach is to get people to think in a more holistic way.
Utility charges in CA are relatively high, as is gasoline. But the big problem is that FF energy is so highly subsidized throughout the US, that saving a few bucks isn't a compelling incentive (necessity) for many or most homeowners. That's why incentives & rebates are required to help drive the energy transition.
I'm either missing or disagree with the main premise, I think -- Quazi says that under NEM3, solar only pencils if you electrify more stuff. However, it seems to me that if solar doesn't pencil per kWh, adding more electrified stuff just adds more money-losing kWh -- it seems that what you need to do to make solar pencil is to change the *timing* of when the electrified stuff uses energy to better align with the solar production curve. Right? Changing the load shape to be more solar-friendly, to avoid export. Either by adding flexible load (EVs) or midday load (not sure what this would be). But this isn't what I heard. Am I missing something?
The last 3 minutes... "The American Approach." Throughout this pod, I kept thinking... isn't the inevitable outcome the collapse of the grid? Quazi says lots of smart stuff, but not until the end...
This really appears to be an educational tool as much as a technical/ business tool, and as such, it could be beneficial to deploy it within the public education system concurrently with the solar, HVAC & EV industries.
As discussed, with solar & HVAC installations, timing & having all the information (data) is critical. When I installed solar in CA in 2016, customers were not permitted to anticipate & over-size systems,...period. And practically no one was installing residential heat pumps in my area. Now, I've got an EV & a heat pump, & I might add more solar, but it will have to be an independent system. I just learned that Enphase now has a new control module to make that work without voiding my existing NEM 2 system status.
Excellent information as always! I agree that this would be a great tool for the general public. The problem that many of us have as David stated so well, is that Solar installers are like snake oil salesmen. It is difficult to get beyond the hype and hyperbole to the real facts. It is difficult to know who is for real and if they will be around next year if a problem arises. The general public needs great information without a sales pitch to understand what would be best for them, given their aspirations, financial position climate regimen, current energy provider and possible options which would help to make a sound determination.
Same comment as on the Free the Energy Data podcast-
Has he thought about selling or giving away (or have contractors sell or give away) smart plugs that would plug into the major loads in people's houses? Surely there are smart plugs/meters they could put on the AC, EV, maybe refrigerator, washer/dryer. And then, are there 'plugs/meters' they could put on the gas devices? Run an end route around the utilities.
Another benefit to this approach is to get people to think in a more holistic way.
Utility charges in CA are relatively high, as is gasoline. But the big problem is that FF energy is so highly subsidized throughout the US, that saving a few bucks isn't a compelling incentive (necessity) for many or most homeowners. That's why incentives & rebates are required to help drive the energy transition.
I'm either missing or disagree with the main premise, I think -- Quazi says that under NEM3, solar only pencils if you electrify more stuff. However, it seems to me that if solar doesn't pencil per kWh, adding more electrified stuff just adds more money-losing kWh -- it seems that what you need to do to make solar pencil is to change the *timing* of when the electrified stuff uses energy to better align with the solar production curve. Right? Changing the load shape to be more solar-friendly, to avoid export. Either by adding flexible load (EVs) or midday load (not sure what this would be). But this isn't what I heard. Am I missing something?
The last 3 minutes... "The American Approach." Throughout this pod, I kept thinking... isn't the inevitable outcome the collapse of the grid? Quazi says lots of smart stuff, but not until the end...
Clarifying: Quazi wanted to say all that smart stuff that he saves for the last 10 minutes, but couldn't... Dave finally got him to say it.