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Saturday, December 27, 2008

We Love Our Subaru, But...

Remember our new generator?
Turns out, if we owned a Toyota Prius or any other hybrid vehicle, along with an inverter, we could have used the car as a generator to power our home!
Really. A family in Harvard, Massachusetts did just that during the power outage following the big ice storm. You can read about it here and read more and watch a news video here.

Now if Subaru would only hurry up and make a hybrid Outback wagon...

4 comments:

purpleronnie said...

WOW!!!

Claudia Snell said...

You did hear that those hybrid batteries cost thousands of dollars? LOL!! On the other hand, they say the batteries last for 80-100k miles.

I wonder if the warranties cover use of your car as a house electricity generator?

Also, wouldn't it be a great idea if someone came up with an actual generator that uses those wicked-cool batteries. It would cut down on bad emissions AND on people having carbon monoxide accidents.

Just a thought but I'm a designer, not an engineer ;-)

Sue said...

I am so in love with the Prius... if only I could afford one!! And what about international government subsidies to those who are prepared to go green on our roads?? Hmmm....

Pink Granite said...

Hi Ronnie -
That's exactly how we felt when we heard it!
;o)
- Lee


Hi Claudia -
We also wondered about the warranty issue due to tinkering around with an inverter. But if the car companies are smart they'll add the function as an featured accessory and market the heck out of it!

The stand alone gasoline generators are noisy - and stinky but still and all we are deeply grateful for ours! Apparently there is an Liquid Propane (LP) whole house back up system which can be installed for several thousand dollars. Something to put on the home improvement wish list!
;o)
- Lee


Hi Sue -
Oooh! International subsidies? Sounds good to me!
;o)
- Lee