Here’s When You Shouldn’t Buy Solar + Batteries

Solar and batteries are great. But they’re not a get-out-of-jail card for bad houses.

Today I saw someone ask online:

“Should I spend $20k on double glazing or $20k on solar + battery and run the air-con 24/7 when necessary?”

If you even have to ask, the answer is simple: don’t build a crap house and try to plaster over it with panels and a battery.

Build the Cake Before You Add the Icing

If your house leaks heat in winter and cooks in summer, solar and batteries won’t save you. You’ll run the air-con flat out, chew through energy, and still feel lousy.

Build it right – insulation, airtightness, double glazing, orientation – and suddenly you don’t need so much cooling or heating. You also don’t need a monster air conditioner or a giant battery. A smaller kit means lower bills and less stuff to break.

And insulation and windows don’t stop working if a capacitor blows. They don’t need an app or a switch or any mental bandwidth. They just keep performing, day after day, year after year.

Houses should last a century. Yet we build them like throwaway shells and hope a solar battery system will cover the cracks.

This Is About Health Too

Living in homes that regularly drop below 15 °C or climb above 28 °C is linked with worse health and wellbeing. And it’s miserable.

You may be able to keep the temperature stable with bags of air conditioning, but most people are not going to run it 24/7. Even with a giant solar battery system, frugality and practicality will leave the house too hot or too cold much of the time.

A house that effortlessly stays warm in winter and cool in summer keeps you healthier and happier. And it’s not only about you: when you build, you’re also shaping the lives of the people who’ll own the place after you. Old-fashioned, maybe, but I reckon you have a duty to pass on a house that’s good for their health and happiness, too.

Solar and Batteries Still Shine – Later

Once the house is right, solar and batteries are brilliant. Pre-heat or pre-cool during the day, ride out peak prices at night, shrug off blackouts.

But don’t get lazy. If you’ve only got the money for one or the other, spend it on the house. Solar and batteries are easy to add later, often with no upfront cost and payments cheaper than regular electricity bills.

Phase Shift is a weekly opinion column by SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock. Subscribe to SolarQuotes’ free newsletter to get it emailed to your inbox each week along with our other home electrification coverage.