Three days of battery would greatly increase the expense of new construction at a time when everywhere is trying to bring prices down. The battery capacity you would have to have, especially if you use electric heating, would be very high and therefor very expensive. Looking at some quick numbers online solar and battery like that would easily add ca$100k to a construction project.
True enough, and a valid consideration that must be accounted for in any actual change to building codes.
Keep in mind that I said “by now” not “starting today”. Obviously, having done little to this point, we can’t just jump to perfection in one step.
It’s worth pointing out that Ford claims that their F-150 Lightning can provide up to 3 days of backup power to a household in some configurations. Given what seems to be a trend of building EVs that are capable of providing backup power to households, that should be factored in as we move forward.
And it doesn’t have to be 3 days. Overnight in summer would be a good start, followed by overnight in winter, then moving on from there.
The real issue is that I see $350k houses being built in Saskatchewan with nothing. No solar, no heat pump, no passive heating or cooling, and sketchy insulation. The latter 2 were figured out in the 1980s and nothing has been done since at the building code level.
That same money would build a house 1/2 to 1/3 the size, a still adequate size, with solar, heat pumps, good insulation, and decent passive heating and cooling.
Three days of battery would greatly increase the expense of new construction at a time when everywhere is trying to bring prices down. The battery capacity you would have to have, especially if you use electric heating, would be very high and therefor very expensive. Looking at some quick numbers online solar and battery like that would easily add ca$100k to a construction project.
True enough, and a valid consideration that must be accounted for in any actual change to building codes.
Keep in mind that I said “by now” not “starting today”. Obviously, having done little to this point, we can’t just jump to perfection in one step.
It’s worth pointing out that Ford claims that their F-150 Lightning can provide up to 3 days of backup power to a household in some configurations. Given what seems to be a trend of building EVs that are capable of providing backup power to households, that should be factored in as we move forward.
And it doesn’t have to be 3 days. Overnight in summer would be a good start, followed by overnight in winter, then moving on from there.
The real issue is that I see $350k houses being built in Saskatchewan with nothing. No solar, no heat pump, no passive heating or cooling, and sketchy insulation. The latter 2 were figured out in the 1980s and nothing has been done since at the building code level.
That same money would build a house 1/2 to 1/3 the size, a still adequate size, with solar, heat pumps, good insulation, and decent passive heating and cooling.