This course will present findings from the recent Nature Energy paper “The impacts of storing solar energy in the home to reduce reliance on the utility,” by Robert L. Fares and Michael E. Webber from the University of Texas at Austin.
There has been growing interest in using energy storage to capture solar energy for later use in the home to reduce reliance on the traditional utility. However, few studies have critically assessed the trade-offs associated with storing solar energy rather than sending it to the utility grid, as is typically done today. Here we show that a typical battery system could reduce peak power demand by 8–32% and reduce peak power injections by 5–42%, depending on how it operates. However, storage inefficiencies increase annual energy consumption by 324–591 kWh per household on average. Furthermore, storage operation indirectly increases emissions by 153–303 kg CO2, 0.03–0.20 kg SO2 and 0.04–0.26 kg NOx per Texas household annually. Thus, home energy storage would not automatically reduce emissions or energy consumption unless it directly enables renewable energy.
Target audience: General; Prerequisite knowledge: General understanding of solar, energy storage, and the electric grid
Lessons Learned
1) Understand how home energy storage devices could operate to store solar energy for later use in the home.
2) Understand how adding home energy storage impacts households’ power demand and energy consumption, and the difference between the two.
3) Understand how adding home energy storage impacts customers’ bills under different utility tariffs.
4) Understand how adding home energy storage impacts electricity system emissions.
Continuing Education Units (CEUS)
1 hour in
- GBCI
- AIA(HSW)
- Certified Green Professional (NARI & CGP)
- AIBD
- Certified GreenHome Professional (CGHP)
- State Architect / Builder License may be applicable
Instructor: Robert Fares
Robert Fares is an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office working in the Emerging Technologies (ET) program. His current focus is on the potential for building sensors and controls to reduce energy consumption and provide services to the electric grid.
Dr. Fares is a mechanical engineer with a background in the thermal/fluid sciences and energy systems. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, where he developed methods to model and optimize the operation of battery energy storage systems used on the electric grid in order to understand their economic and environmental tradeoffs. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Fares continued as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Energy Institute, where he helped lead an interdisciplinary research project investigating the full system cost of electricity. In addition to his role as an engineering researcher, Dr. Fares also writes for the Scientific American blog “Plugged In,” which covers energy technology and policy.
Course Is Free by scrolling past payment form. Pay to access quiz and take it while you watch the session
Course Certificate Cost: $30.00
GHI Members: Free
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