For a five-hour transcoastal flight, what kind of power source is this?
Yeah, it’s a regular US power outlet but with the ubiquity of USB ports, these standard outlets aren’t as useful (especially when I packed all power bricks in checked baggage).
Minus one point for United Air.
Other than being stuck in traffic as the First Family’s motorcade makes its way to an Air Force One departure, when are the other times you Barack and chill? It’s got to be all those times Hawaii residents experience power outages, inexplicably when POTUS is in the islands. This started back in December 2008 when Mr. Obama’s visit coincided with a 12-hour, island-wide outage, and yes, we used candles from Pay ‘n Save.
In 2010, the power outage precipitated POTUS’ arrival as Ala Moana went dark leading up to Christmas. This untimely exit of electricity brought on the first sentiments of Barack and Chill with this sign offering irate shoppers apologetic “Mahalo’z.”
According to my blog posts, I did not record a power outage for the next five years although I don’t believe it. In any case, the next Barack and chill moment came in 2015 as stormy weather blacked out Hawaii.
Then almost one year later as we left 2015 and entered 2016, there was Hawaii’s (or at least Kailua’s) Barack and chill moment. With gusty winds clearing the skies, total darkness unveiled our starry skies.
During this most recent outage, as I pondered the Pulpconnection conspiracy theories about the timing of these outages, I sat back, realized, and defined “Barack and chill.” Perhaps, these nighttime outages could have led to Netflix and chill opportunities, especially if you queue up Barack Obama’s “Night” summer playlist on Spotify. But for me, this Barack and chill moment meant doing dishes by flashlight.
It’s been some years, but whenever POTUS visits Hawaii during the holidays, there’s a very good chance that a power outage will ensue. That tradition continues tonight on the eve and first day of 2016 with power going out around 11pm and coming back around 5am.
Lots of stars out on a clear night (see the little white specks).
The moon was shining bright as well.
I’m intrigued by all things Tesla including their newest product, the Powerwall. The Powerwall is essentially a Tesla battery installed in the home to store excess power which can then be used later like during a power outage. Additionally, the Powerwall can charge itself when electricity rates are cheaper and then provides power to your home to avoid high cost peak times. But since Hawaii doesn’t tier its electricity rates for residences, that downplays a big feature of the Powerwall.
Couple the Powerwall with PV solar and the situation becomes more compelling. Assuming you don’t have enough solar panels to “zeroize” your electricity bill then the Powerwall could store excess electricity produced by the sun and when your home’s power consumption increases, the Powerwall provides the free power rather than getting it from (and paying) HECO.
But is this worth the $3000-3500 price tag of a single Powerwall (not including installation and other ancillary equipment)? I don’t know if there are tax considerations. More than one Powerwall can be interconnected by the way if you’re trying to live off the power grid.
Supposedly, Hawaii has the highest electrical rates in the country, and the U.S. Energy Information Admininstration says the average American home consumes about 11,000 kWh per year or about 30 kWh per day. This equates to getting three 10 kWh Powerwalls for $10,500 to store enough power daily (generated from solar) and remove your home from the commercial power grid.
Looking at my power usage (and assuming I’m doing the math right), it looks like my household averages usage of 4.3 kWh per day for months that we get power from HECO. That’s far short from the estimated 30 kWh for an average home. Anyways, with that 4.3 kWh daily usage, the 7 kWh Powerwall unit for $3000 should suffice and with room to spare.
But looking at my HECO bill, my solar panels don’t generate enough to juice up the Powerwall. So I’m not sure how it works. Do you initially charge the Powerwall using HECO and solar. Then when charged, your house draws from the Powerwall first then when depleted falls back to HECO? If that’s the case, I should be good shape with my daily average of 4.3 kWh. I would have to see the solar production numbers to verify that it can keep up that 4.3 kWh depletion. Then in theory, I would be paying the minimum monthly bill to HECO (after that Powerwall charge up).
Looking over one year’s worth of electricity bills and factoring out the roughly $18 minimum bill, I’d be saving around $360 in one year. So roughly, that equates to a 10 year return on investment?? The Powerwall does include a 10-year warranty with optional 10-year extension. Having power when the grid goes down (which seems to happen at least once a year for us) is a benefit although the 7 kWh Powerwall wasn’t designed for this (that’s the intent of the 10 kWh model but assuming only capacities differ, I’m guessing the smaller unit can serve as a power backup for a home).
Again, I’m not sure if my rough calculations are on track. But looking at my power usage, there seems to be enough benefits for Tesla’s Powerwall – paid off in about ten years (under warranty), not relying on HECO (as much), and having power during blackout and brownouts.
Gotta love the coincidence. Each year when the First Family spends their holiday vacation in Hawaii, there’s typically a power outage. I believe this started happening from 2008. The start of 2015 is no different. On this stormy night, several locations are without power.
Good night and thanks to AT&T for their LTE network that’s still working.
According to HECO, a major section of Kaneohe was without power this morning mainly affecting commercial businesses like Starbucks. The 24-hour drive-thru rendered worthless, the early-opening-but-can’t-access Starbucks inside Windward Mall unavailable. Still though, the green aprons of the mermaid showed up to work, just to apologize to caffeine-addicts.
Maybe the Windward City location had power and could serve up coffee or a Dirty Oprah.
Image from KITV news.
With major power outages island wide, we experienced a modest outage lasting about two hours from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. How’d we survive dinner time with out electricity? Like this.
After a windy, rainy night, I’m sitting in the dark. Amazingly the network is running, not sure how long my UPS and laptop battery will last.
