by OldGuy » 31 Oct 2023, 23:41
I have invested quite a bit into various portable solar power devices. Although I do see a difference in my monthly electric bill, it is not quite what you may think. Based on what I have seen in my electric bill, it would take about 45 years to be enough to break even on what I invested. The various devices simply will not last that long. The only time it makes a real difference is during a blackout. I will still have power when everyone else is sitting in the dark.
I purchased a couple portable solar power banks to plug in my various small electronic devices. Yes, they work, but you really don't get enough power from the sun no matter how long they sit idle. You have to plug them in to get them to full power and then they have enough to actually charge a few items. They just don't charge enough from the sun to really call them solar chargers. Calling them solar chargers is misleading at minimum. Outright fraud if you want to be blunt.
I also purchased a 1500 Watt Solar “generator” to run the basics at home. I run almost everything I use on a daily basis on this device, and it does charge directly from the solar panel on the roof as long as it is a bright sunny day. If it is a good day, I can even plug the refrigerator into the system during charging hours. There are times I have to switch to using the household electricity when it is cloudy or otherwise poor weather.
Between the power banks and the home system, I can charge all my various electronic devices from the sun at any time. In a power blackout, I can charge all the various devices for everyone in our apartment block almost always, even during cloudy days.
Yes, they are convenient, but they do not cover everything. The original investment gives you emergency power, especially during a blackout, but it will take longer than the life of the devices to actually break even.
Yes, they are “clean” energy, but when you take into account the actual costs of producing these items, it is questionable at best to call them clean energy. There is a tremendous amount of added pollution in the manufacturing process that substantially counters the clean energy in their use.
As for consistent power, the US is subject to major blackouts all the time. It is not unusual for thousands to be without power for hours or days at a time. It is extremely unusual for any state in the US to have a single day without someone sitting in the dark. The power grid in the US cannot possibly support a complete change to electric cars. The power grid can't support everything in use now, much less 10% of the population driving electric cars. Electric cars is a huge pipe dream and ultimately a complete scam on the world. Here's documentation on current US Power blackouts, continuously updated:
https://poweroutage.us/
