Economy
By Drew Harwell April 25
@drewharwell

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The batteries that fuel our cars, laptops and lives have rarely, even in an always-on age, been wired to America’s biggest energy users: our homes. Only a few hundred U.S. homeowners — frustrated by their utility or seeking to go green — have worked with a small corps of battery makers to reduce their reliance on the national grid.

But improving technology, falling prices and backing from electric-car giant Tesla could soon make the battery-powered home cheaper and easier than ever, challenging the long-held utility model of dependence on outside energy — and revolutionizing how America flicks on its lights.

{Report: The way we power our homes may be on the verge of a major change}

Homeowners have used solar panels for years, but the technology has a crippling flaw: They can’t work at night or under cloudy skies. But by storing solar power for anytime use, batteries could help tear down the biggest roadblock to mainstream home-grown energy, especially as the prices for both technologies rapidly decline, according to a report this month from the Rocky Mountain Institute, an influential energy think tank.

But home batteries are already hitting resistance from big utilities, which are now fighting a broad battle with the budding solar industry. And before batteries can secure space in middle-class Americans’ garages and power grid, they will first need to make sense in their budget. The home-battery revolution, experts worry, could prove easily squashed if homeowners aren’t convinced the high-tech safety blankets are worth the cost.