Technology advances and declining costs for both rooftop solar and energy storage are the conditions for the perfect storm that will soon make utilities obsolete, according to the new report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, an influential energy policy think tank. “New customers will find solar-plus-battery systems configurations most economic in three of our [five studied] geographies within the next 10-15 years,” says the report. This is not to say that people will disconnect from the grid, if only because of the lure of selling energy back to the grid and the need for a back-up plan. There’s no denying, however, that decentralized solar is emancipating consumers from the traditional power behemoths, lowering their energy bills and creating redundancies that make the overall grid more reliable. Add to it emerging peer-to-peer energy sharing models that put rooftop solar within everyone’s reach, and Internet of Things technologies that will help better synchronized those decentralized operations to the main grid, and things are looking up.
Trend towards consumers’ energy self-sufficiency is about to disrupt the utility model
More of Today's Solutions
Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation regains ancestral lands near Yosemite in major c...
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Nearly 900 acres of ancestral territory have been officially returned to the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, marking a ...
Read More8 fermented foods that your gut will love (and that taste great, too!)
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Fermented foods have been a dietary staple in many cultures for centuries, but in the U.S., they’re only ...
Read MoreBreaking the silence: empowering menopausal women in the workplace
Addressing menopause in the workplace is long overdue in today's fast-changing work scene, where many are extending their careers into their 60s. According to ...
Read MoreInsect migration: the hidden superhighway of the Pyrenees
Insects, while frequently disregarded, are critical to the planet's ecosystems. They make up about 90 percent of all animal species and play important functions ...
Read More
