Pillar
Power and Energy
Most outage plans fail because nobody added up the watts. Load budgeting first, then the batteries, panels, generators and fuel that meet the budget without killing anyone.
Guides
No guides published in this pillar yet. The resources below are worth reading in the meantime, and the newsletter announces each one as it lands.
Resources worth your time
4 vetted links for power and energy, annotated so you know what each one is for before you click.
- Government or standards bodyGovernment agencyFree
Carbon Monoxide Information Center (opens in a new tab)
CPSC
Generator and heater placement rules, and the reason those rules exist. Carbon monoxide kills more people after storms than the storms do, and the fix is free: distance and a working alarm.
- Government or standards bodyToolFree
PVWatts solar calculator (opens in a new tab)
NREL
Estimate what a panel array will actually produce at your address and tilt. Run it before you buy, because the number is usually lower than the marketing figure by a wide margin.
- Practitioner or communityToolFree
Battery University (opens in a new tab)
Cadex Electronics
Plain explanations of how lithium, lead acid and other chemistries age, charge and fail. Read the storage-state article before you put a battery bank away for a year.
- Practitioner or communityCommunityFree
r/solar (opens in a new tab)
Reddit
Installers and owners arguing about quotes, panels and inverters. Useful for reality-checking a backup power quote, and for learning which questions to ask a salesperson.