“The only constant in life is change”. A Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, from a long time ago (~500BC) said that.

The same can be said for our world of energy – first we had fossil fuels such as oil, gas & coal that are not renewable. Once you used them, they were gone. Then clever people discovered how we could harness renewable energy sources such as wind, waves and solar.

Solar energy is starting to make big inroads into the consumer market via programs like the ones offered by George J Keller & Son’s Solar Division. In these programs there is very little out-of-pocket expense for the homeowner and the energy generated by solar panels is fed back into “the grid” and homeowners then enjoy discounted energy pricing for up to 25 years.

That model may now be changing again with the planned introduction in 2016 of Tesla’s Powerwall battery pack. The battery pack uses the same technology as the Tesla battery-operated car but for the home. The Powerwall will give homeowners the opportunity to store power – power either from their own solar panels or obtained “off-peak” from the grid.

Whether there’ll be large scale consumer acceptance of these battery packs is still a matter of conjecture and in any case will be many years out. There will undoubtedly be speed bumps along the way but it does look as though the solar energy model we’re just getting used too will be changing again – Heraclitus will be smiling somewhere!