What Elon Musk got Wrong

Now I happen to be a pretty big fan of Tesla Motors. They’ve done more work than anyone to show just how cool Electric Vehicles can be.

So, when the video premiere was released of Elon Musk revealing the new POWER-WALL, I was pretty excited. That is, until the end of the video….

Near the beginning of the presentation, Musk shows a chart of atmospheric CO2, with the classic “hockey stick” projection of exponential growth now and into the future. Of course, this is NOT what we want. The presentation then shows how renewable energy, combined with home battery technology (Tesla’s new product…) can get us off fossil fuels and stop the increase in CO2.

However, the last slide of the presentation shows exactly that – a flat line in CO2 production in the not-so-distant future. However, even in that prediction, CO2 is still going up in the near term. CO2 levels are ALREADY TOO HIGH. We need to get them DOWN! It’s generally thought that we need to be around 350 parts per million for long-term climate stability, whereas we are already above 400ppm.

So, Elon Musk got it wrong.

 

Not to be one of the neigh-sayers here. There are some folks out there who drive me a bit crazy, saying that nothing is ever good enough. “Why bother driving an electric car, you are just burning coal that way?”

Nope. I’m not going to be one of them. I love the work Telsa Motors has done, and I’m pretty sure Musk is now up there with Edison. (Not technically a genius, but an AMAZING business person who can assemble an incredible team to change the world.)

We NEED big corporations to be able to make technology that’s affordable and “off-the-shelf” that everyone will want to use. But we also need EVERYBODY doing something. Seriously – every solar panel that goes up, and every lightbulb you turn off when you leave the room helps.

So, yes, Thank you Tesla and Mr. Musk for the work bringing home battery systems to the masses, but let’s ALL get out there, plant a tree, conserve some energy, and save the world.

For some more ideas on DIY home energy use, check out the Poor-Man’s Smart Grid and the Solar-Powered Swing-Set.

Stay charged up!

-Ben

PS: A PowerWall is likely the quickest way I will every have a Tesla in my garage! In the mean time, I’ll just have to settle for my 400-watt swing-set. Look for posts this summer about my Solar-Powered Garage!