Weekly conversations - Tesla

Over the last week, renewable energy on its own hasn’t been brought up much in conversation, but a connection to renewables has, in the form of Tesla, Elon Musk’s brainchild. Now whilst this company originally specialised in high tech electric cars, the company has used its success in this field to push the sustainable living to the next stage. Powerwall battery systems have been linked with solar panels and even solar roof tiles, which allows storage of electricity generated, so that it can be used at night for example. This has been shown to be highly effective in Australian homes, at a similar cost to paying for fossil fuel generated electricity – surely a win-win.

Tesla is precisely what the developed world needs to push forward renewable technologies. They have created products which as technologically advanced, whilst also generating demand from ‘normal’ households. Typically eco-homes and solar panels have been restricted to eco-warriors or those who benefit from government grants, but this allows it to be opened to the market, for all to access, at an affordable price – something which will become even more apparent with the release of the ‘Model 3’ car, an affordable electric saloon.

By combining environmental benefits with state of the art technology, such as autonomous driving, Tesla offers consumers more than just peace of mind that they are more environmentally friendly, they also provide great products, at reasonable prices. A lot of the renewable methods and innovations discussed have been in very preliminary stages, and have significant barriers to overcome before they can be applied, but Tesla already has these products available now, and the products are extremely popular. Perhaps the market approach, rather than the infrastructure and government-side approach to renewable energy, is the way forward. It has certainly gained enough traction.