I find this argument short sighted time and again based on personal life experiences as a former electrician given the life impacting results I have witnessed from power losses.
My electrical experiences are regional to my area in the NorthEast US where long duration events have caused many thousands of US dollars in lost food, tens of thousands of dollars in losses from flooded basements, and when temperatures in Winter often drop below freezing and the power goes out pipes begin to freeze causing even more damage structure wide. In time we will see insurance companies reducing rates for those with local energy storage as the corporate insurance machine catches up to understand the benefits of having such power storage locally. I laugh when people make this exact financial reasoning argument because so few people look at the big picture and fail to comprehend the impacts to their life when that switch on the wall leaves one in the dark. Then again I have designed and architected many successful software systems for high availability and my foundational starting point with any system is always energy. Most of those in society assume that switch will always turn on that light and when it does not then those impacted begin to realize what a "centralized grid" truly means.
Decentralizing the grid is already happening as CA very recently announced any new residences built as of 2026 and beyond must be constructed with PV and storage. Individuals can act in ignorance on the energy problems for now however in time everyone will be forced to participate as the issues continue to compound.
Proactive versus reactive, because by the time it matters it will already be too late.
My electrical experiences are regional to my area in the NorthEast US where long duration events have caused many thousands of US dollars in lost food, tens of thousands of dollars in losses from flooded basements, and when temperatures in Winter often drop below freezing and the power goes out pipes begin to freeze causing even more damage structure wide. In time we will see insurance companies reducing rates for those with local energy storage as the corporate insurance machine catches up to understand the benefits of having such power storage locally. I laugh when people make this exact financial reasoning argument because so few people look at the big picture and fail to comprehend the impacts to their life when that switch on the wall leaves one in the dark. Then again I have designed and architected many successful software systems for high availability and my foundational starting point with any system is always energy. Most of those in society assume that switch will always turn on that light and when it does not then those impacted begin to realize what a "centralized grid" truly means.
Decentralizing the grid is already happening as CA very recently announced any new residences built as of 2026 and beyond must be constructed with PV and storage. Individuals can act in ignorance on the energy problems for now however in time everyone will be forced to participate as the issues continue to compound.
Proactive versus reactive, because by the time it matters it will already be too late.