Future Technology
Elon Musk’s SolarCity
What It Means for Tesla, the World, and You
Elon Musk’s SolarCity
In most people’s minds, solar power is synonymous with solar panels. But it’s so much more than that. It’s such a big part of the future of energy that it’s even incorporated into science fiction.
The fictional Solar City in the television series “The Tesla Boys” is a micro example of what’s possible when we start thinking from an energy system perspective.
A micro-utopian energy system combines small, independent power producers (i.e. micro-farms, micro-retails, micro-manufacturing, etc.) that work together to create a micro-utopian energy source. In this case, “micro-utopian” refers to a utopian society in nature or world-changing.
What is SolarCity?
SolarCity is a company that installs solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses. The panels produce electricity and store that electricity in a battery used when the panels are not producing. SolarCity then sells excess electricity back to the grid at the local utility's rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
This way, the homeowner does not need to draw from their neighbour’s grid when their panels produce excess electricity. For…
