The New Joneses Show Off Renewable Technology In Melbourne This Month

The New Joneses is a fully-functional, sustainable, off-grid pop-up home that is launching to the public in Melbourne tomorrow. The project is a collaboration between more than 10 companies providing eco-friendly home solutions — one of which is Enphase Energy, who have brought to the table a modular home battery that is shaping up to be a very real competitor for Tesla’s Powerwall.

The New Joneses house will be equipped with the full Enphase Home Energy Solution — a system that combines solar generation, energy control and energy storage — for its first public display anywhere in Australia. Where it differs from the Powerwall is that Enphase’s system is made to work together as a whole.

The company’s solar micro-inverters maximise performance of each solar panel in an array, while their software, Enphase Enlighten, monitors both energy consumption and energy production to estimate a home’s individual battery storage requirements.

Enphase announced a partnership with SA Power Networks last year to trial its Home Energy Solution, and Australia will subsequently be the first market for its release in Winter 2016. For Melbournians interested in the technology, Enphase will be holding free talks at the New Joneses house on February 10 and 19, from noon to 1pm.

The New Joneses pop-up also boasts a number of other sustainable living solutions, including BMW’s i3 electric vehicle, Sengeled’s smart LED light bulbs and a pre-fab building to house it all from Ecoliv Buildings. The home will be open to the public from Feb 9-27 at Melbourne’s City Square.

[The New Joneses]


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