Battery Storage of Energy for Heating Canberra Homes

Greetings from "Creating Energy Efficient Cities in Switzerland and Australia" at the Australian National University in Canberra, where a representative from the ACT's Environment and Planning Directorate, is outline their next generation renewables strategy incorporating an innovative pilot program of distributed energy storage using home battery storage. What was curious is that the winter peak electricity use in Canberra is for space heating, which conventional wisdom says is not a good use for battery storage of energy. The storage of heat directly has been the usual way to provide space heating storage. The drop in the cost of PV panels has resulted in these now being cheaper than use of direct solar water heaters for domestic supply, however, even hear storage as hot water is used.

It would be interesting to see if the ACT Government would consider energy saving options as an alternative to provision of PV panels and storage. That is, if technology can be used to reduce or shift energy consumption, at a lower cost than generation or storage, then that should be used. This approach was taken up by Ms Martina Blum, Energy Officer, City of Zurich in a talk on the "2000-Watt society – Zurich’s path to sustainable energy use". Zurich’s approach to reduce energy use could usefully supplement the ACT's renewable energy approach.

Dr Andreas Luzzi, CEO Laros Technologies, will then speak on "Passivhaus brought to Canberra". This is an example of a home designed for the 2000-Watt-Society  initiative.