Stealing office electricity for home: dream or nightmare?
An employee planned to charge batteries at the office to heat his home. The reality: 1,000 kg of batteries and years to break even. Does it make sense?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The pipe dream of charging batteries at work to save at home
An office worker with access to empty desks came up with the idea of storing electricity in a portable battery to later use it with his home radiator. The verdict was unanimous: unworkable, dangerous and, at best, ridiculously expensive.
The weight of energy reality
To store enough energy to run an electric heater for a few hours, you would need a lead-acid battery bank weighing roughly 1,000 kg. No small figure, and one you would have to haul back and forth between office and home every day. Add the purchase cost: thousands of euros that would take decades to pay off with daily savings of a couple of euros. The weight-to-energy ratio of conventional batteries rules it out entirely.
The ethical problem (and the padlocks)
Using other people's outlets without permission borders on the illegal. Some commenters predicted that, with the arrival of the electric car, companies would start fitting locks on their sockets. In fact, there are already smart-home systems that cut power to outlets outside working hours, and there must be a reason for that. What began as an innocent question turned into a debate about where mischief ends and crime begins.
But the figure that really stuns is another one: even if you could do it, the savings would be minimal. A 2,000 W heater running for four hours consumes 8 kWh. At €0.15/kWh, that's €1.20 a day. With a 1,000 kg battery costing €2,000, the payback would take more than four years... if the battery doesn't die first. The math doesn't add up.
Related debates in the forum
An office worker with access to empty desks came up with the idea of storing electricity in a portable battery to later use it with his home radiator. The verdict was unanimous: unworkable, dangerous and, at best, ridiculously expensive.
The weight of energy reality
To store enough energy to run an electric heater for a few hours, you would need a lead-acid battery bank weighing roughly 1,000 kg. No small figure, and one you would have to haul back and forth between office and home every day. Add the purchase cost: thousands of euros that would take decades to pay off with daily savings of a couple of euros. The weight-to-energy ratio of conventional batteries rules it out entirely.
The ethical problem (and the padlocks)
Using other people's outlets without permission borders on the illegal. Some commenters predicted that, with the arrival of the electric car, companies would start fitting locks on their sockets. In fact, there are already smart-home systems that cut power to outlets outside working hours, and there must be a reason for that. What began as an innocent question turned into a debate about where mischief ends and crime begins.
But the figure that really stuns is another one: even if you could do it, the savings would be minimal. A 2,000 W heater running for four hours consumes 8 kWh. At €0.15/kWh, that's €1.20 a day. With a 1,000 kg battery costing €2,000, the payback would take more than four years... if the battery doesn't die first. The math doesn't add up.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (12 replies).
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