According to a new study, if you use residential batteries to reduce electricity costs, you increase CO2 emissions. If you use them to reduce emissions, the batteries operate like a carbon tax costing $180 to $5,160 per metric ton for the small percentage (2.2 – 6.4%) of emissions avoided. So energy storage technology doesn’t even work on a small scale in homes — yet US electric utilities are announcing coal shutdowns in hopes that battery technology will somehow and someday be able to economically store wind and solar power on utility-scale.
