At that point, wouldn't it be easier if everyone just bought their own? And then whoever has the latest birthday doesn't have to wait a year to get theirs.
yeah sure everyone has 100€ to spend on friends, at least once a month.
What kind of reality does he live in ?
Being able to cut over your entire house from grid power to a battery requires an invasive, expensive change to most connections. I wish people would stop breathlessly promoting batteries (which are good! we need decentralized storage!) because "you can use them to run your fridge, router, etc". Yes you can, but for almost all consumers it's an order of magnitude more effort and cash compared to just buying and plugging in a battery.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Uninterruptible+power+supply+refri...
it's the easiest, safest , most affordable and most reliable emergency solution ever available.
Running HVAC is usually more of a concern, especially in winter or peak of summer, and those aren't device that you can hot-plug, and a small battery wouldn't help there anyway.
I like the idea of whole-house batteries, but to really make it practical you're talking about thousands of dollars to the battery, install, etc. And you still don't have extensive run time, which is why I think you see most people still leaning towards permanent or portable generators way more than batteries.
This seems like the hardest step. The costs of "just a battery" are much lower by comparison.
(plug-in batteries aren’t actually legal here yet, but likely to become so next year!)
While I like the idea in theory, I don't love the inherent nudge towards off the shelf productized energy storage that will be placed somewhere without much of a plan, and then basically invites rewiring with extension cords. I get how those things are appealing for camping or determined apartment DIYers at the like, but moving them from a seek-them-out "pull" dynamic to a here-you-go "push" dynamic seems like asking for problems.
Those prices are high. You can get 2.56kWh for 270€ on Aliexpress, delivered locally from Germany.
https://solarunitedneighbors.org/
Europe has lots of clean energy, and needs all the storage it can get (residential, commercial, utility scale) to convert curtailment into realized clean energy offsetting potential fossil energy usage.
Solar Power Is So Big in Europe That Electricity Is Being Wasted - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-13/europe-so... - May 12th, 2026
* Hundreds of millions of solar panels have been installed in Europe, turning solar into the region's biggest source of power during summer months, but the system around it hasn't kept up.
* A record amount of electricity is being wasted because grids can't handle the surge in output, with about 40 terawatt-hours of electricity expected to go to waste in the coming months.
* The glut of solar power is pushing power prices deep below zero during peak solar hours, eroding returns for producers and forcing them to shut down plants, with consumers potentially paying twice for the subsidies and compensation.
You may not have £100,000 but if you get £1000 people with £100 then you can buy a house.
Obviously the birthday system doesnt address the interest, but I'm sure your friends would be ok paying interest right?
But I would advocate that "zero resiliency" needs to be seen as being socially irresponsible. It is socially irresponsible that as soon as a service goes out that you are immediately in an emergency. You should not offload basic resiliency on to emergency services. Yes, if you take a direct hit from a tornado you're going to be leaning on emergency services, but the house a quarter mile from touchdown that may be out for three or four days needs to be able to deal with that. If nothing else, emergency supplies are a lot cheaper when it's not an emergency.
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and especially so when perfect is so much more expensive and so much less relevant than the good.
What other option is easier or more affordable? A generator has to remain outside, so it needs panel connection ($$) , lots of extensions ( $, hassle), needs a generous fuel supply, and regular maintenance.
And plug-in solar is becoming legal in the usa. within 3 years everyone will be running these little things, and you'll come around.
wheatone•49m ago
Where do people store these things? They're very dangerous once afire! Worse than a can of petrol by far and can't be extinguished with water.
domenkozar•36m ago
Install it outdoors or in a detached garage, away from anything flammable. Never in a bedroom, hallway, or escape route.
There are newer batteries tech that can't inflame.
beaviskhan•32m ago
fhdkweig•26m ago
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tesla+powerwall&ia=images&iax=imag...
thejazzman•24m ago
Where are you buying your pizzas?!
ykl•13m ago
[1] https://www.scottspizzatours.com/blog/worlds-largest-deliver...