Why start Franklin Energy Company?
Introduction: The Problem With the Grid
When the grid goes down for even half an hour, it’s all anyone talks about. I remember Winter Storm Uri—suddenly, nothing worked. No WiFi meant no communication. My phone was only useful as long as it held a charge, and when that ran out, I resorted to using my laptop as a backup battery. School was canceled because there was no internet. I was lucky: my college campus had big generators for emergencies. But most people weren’t so fortunate. Without electricity, you can’t even cook in most homes today, since nearly everything runs on electric stoves.
When it’s gone, our routines and connections unravel almost instantly. And yet, despite how much we rely on it, our grid is fragile—one storm, one failure, and millions are left scrambling.
We take electricity for granted until it disappears. The question is: why, in a world so dependent on power, do we still have a system so easy to break?
By Staplegunther at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34848724
Why Current Solutions Fall Short
A lot of people—myself included—thought solar panels would be the answer. You invest a significant amount upfront, expecting cheaper electricity during the day and maybe even earning something back by sending excess power to the grid. But that’s not how it usually works. For one, the sun isn’t always shining, especially in most parts of the US, so you don’t generate as much power as you expect.
Even when you do produce extra electricity, the grid itself isn’t designed to handle it. Our current grid can’t store surplus energy, and its ability to transfer large amounts from household to household is limited. On sunny days, when everyone’s panels are generating more than they need, there’s nowhere for all that energy to go. The grid operators sometimes have to stop accepting electricity, simply because there’s no place to store it.
The core problem is storage. We have built our modern lives around electricity, but the grid we rely on was never designed for the way we live now—more devices, more dependence, more risk when it fails. Without a way to store energy at home, we’re left exposed every time the grid stumbles.
If solar panels and the current grid can’t keep up, then what’s actually missing from the picture? That’s where storage comes in.
The Case for Home Energy Storage
If you think about it, nearly every device we care about—phones, laptops, cars, even flashlights and toothbrushes—stores its own power. We expect them to work when we need them, no matter what’s happening on the outside. But our homes, where comfort and safety matter most, are still almost entirely dependent on the grid.
This reliance doesn’t make sense anymore. Our usage has grown, but the grid hasn’t kept up. When the power goes out, everything stops: hot water, heating and cooling, cooking, and, most frustratingly, all the “smart” devices that are supposed to make life easier. I’ve lost count of the times a power outage has left my lights, thermostat, and smart speakers offline, only to spend hours afterward resetting everything once the power returns. Most devices today are designed with an assumption that people don’t lose power.
But my understanding of this problem started small—literally. Growing up, I had a battery backup for my computer, about the size of a microwave. If the power went out, it would keep my computer alive for five or six minutes. Usually, I’d be in the middle of a game or some homework, and those few minutes were just enough to save my work or finish a level before everything shut down. It wasn’t meant to run the house, just to buy a little time. But what stuck with me was how normal it felt to have a backup for something important.
What’s strange is that we’ve stopped at our gadgets. We expect our phones and laptops to have batteries. We expect our cars to have batteries. But our homes? For some reason, we’ve decided the grid should be enough. Even as outages get more common and our lives get more electrified, we haven’t made the leap. Maybe it was cost, or maybe it was just habit. But batteries have gotten cheaper, and the technology is better than ever. If we’re already comfortable with battery backups for the little stuff, why not for the biggest thing we own?
Real-World Examples & Technological Progress
Over the last few years, I’ve watched as the idea of local, reliable energy has gone from a thought experiment to something you can actually see in the wild. There was a story about a gas station losing power in a grid outage, but a Tesla Cybertruck just happened to be there. Instead of shutting down, they plugged the building into the truck and kept the essentials running. Same thing with the Ford Lightning EV Truck—people have started powering their entire homes during blackouts using their trucks’ batteries. These aren’t just clever hacks; they’re signs that the future is already here, just not evenly distributed.
by TikTok u/misssbaaah
At the same time, battery technology is moving fast. It wasn’t long ago that lithium-ion was as good as it got. Now, every few months, there’s news about solid-state batteries, lithium metal, or even graphene-based supercapacitors. Each new development means higher capacity, faster charging, and safer storage. We’re getting closer to a world where having a battery backup for your house is as normal as having one for your phone.
The technology is ready, the examples are real, and the need is obvious. The only thing left is to make it standard in our homes.
But abundance of energy isn’t just about having enough storage or the latest tech—it’s also about how we use what we have. The real gains come when we combine better tools with better habits and smarter timing. That’s where understanding and knowledge start to matter just as much as hardware.
Of course, technology alone isn’t enough. How we use energy—and how much we understand it—matters just as much.
The Role of Knowledge and Habits
Most people’s understanding of energy use is a mix of old habits and half-remembered advice. “Turn off the lights when you leave the room.” “Set the thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter.” Maybe you’ve heard someone brag about saving a few bucks by giving extra power back to the grid from their solar panels. But the truth is, most of us are just guessing. We don’t really know how much electricity our devices use, or what it costs to run them.
It doesn’t help that everything is measured in watts, volts, and kilowatt-hours—units that don’t mean much for most people. What people actually care about is money. How much does it cost to run the AC for an hour? What’s the real price of leaving the lights on overnight? If we had that information in dollars and cents, decisions would be a lot easier.
The problem isn’t just technical—it’s about knowledge. If people could see, in real time, how much each device costs them, habits would change fast. No need for guilt trips or complicated math. Just clear, simple numbers. That’s how you get people to use energy smarter, save money, and shrink their carbon footprint—without having to become an electrician.
But knowledge isn’t just about cutting waste or saving a little money. It’s also the foundation for using energy in ways that make a bigger impact—both for your wallet and the world. That’s where timing comes in.
Clean Energy Timing and Economic Benefits
There’s something I first noticed in the Apple Home app: it shows you when your house is getting clean energy from the grid. At first, I didn’t think much of it. But then I started to wonder—what if all the little things in our homes, like toothbrushes, robo vacuums, and other battery-powered devices, only charged when the energy was cleanest and cheapest? The grid has moments when it’s running on solar or wind, and the emissions are much lower. If millions of devices across the country synced up to charge at those times, the impact would be real—not just for the planet, but for our wallets too.
By This isn’t just a climate thing. Utility companies could offer variable pricing, giving us cheaper rates when the grid is flush with renewables. Coal and gas prices swing wildly with global politics, but the sun and wind don’t care about any of that. If we time our energy use right, we get lower bills and a smaller carbon footprint. Cleaner power, lower costs, and less dependence on the global energy rollercoaster. That’s a win for everyone.
Economic Ripple Effects
Let’s talk about bread. Not because it’s exciting, but because it’s the kind of thing you buy without thinking—until the price jumps. Here’s how that happens: Imagine oil prices double overnight. It’s not just gas that gets expensive. Oil is in everything: the fertilizer for wheat, the fuel for tractors, the trucks that haul flour, and the machines that bake and package the bread. Every step, from farm to a grocery store shelf, gets more expensive when energy costs go up.
As costs rise, bread manufacturers raise their prices, the grocery store passes those costs on, and suddenly your regular loaf costs a lot more. People start looking for cheaper options, maybe cutting back, and the whole market shifts. Over time, some new technology or process might bring prices down again, but it’s a slow, bumpy ride.
This isn’t just about bread. Energy is the invisible thread running through every part of the economy. When it’s expensive or unreliable, everything gets harder—food, transportation, manufacturing, you name it. But if we can make energy cheaper and more stable, the benefits ripple out everywhere. Lower energy costs mean lower prices for goods, less economic stress, and more room for everyone to thrive. That’s why fixing how we generate, store, and use energy isn’t just a technical problem—it’s a way to make life better for all of us.
Which brings me back to why I started Franklin Energy Company.
Conclusion: The Mission of Franklin Energy Company
I’ve seen firsthand how fragile our energy system is, and I know how much better things could be. We’re not talking about a niche problem for techies or survivalists—this is about basic comfort, security, privacy and freedom for everyone. When energy is reliable and affordable, it ripples out into every part of life: lower bills, less stress, more time for the things that matter.
But this isn’t just my personal crusade. It’s a chance to make a real dent in how we live and work. If we can help people store clean energy at home, we’re not just solving for the next blackout—we’re building resilience into the fabric of daily life. We’re giving people more control, and we’re pushing the whole system toward something fairer and more sustainable.
Franklin Energy is about making that future real. If you’ve ever felt powerless during an outage, or frustrated by a bill you didn’t understand, or just wondered why your house can’t be as smart as your phone—this is your fight, too. The technology is here. The need is obvious. All that’s left is to get started.
Definitions
Grid: The network of wires, substations, and power plants that delivers electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s used. When people say “the grid is down,” they mean this whole system isn’t working.
Solar panels: Devices that sit on rooftops or in fields and turn sunlight into electricity for your home or to send back to the grid.
Storage: The ability to save electricity for later use, usually in batteries. Without storage, any extra energy you make or buy is wasted if you don’t use it right away.
Battery backup: A system that stores electricity and automatically supplies power to your home when the grid goes down. Like the battery in your phone, but for your whole house.
Solid-state battery: A newer type of battery that uses solid materials instead of liquids inside. They’re safer and can store more energy than older batteries.
Lithium-ion battery: The most common kind of rechargeable battery today. They’re in your phone, laptop, and electric car, and are starting to show up in home energy systems too.
Smart devices: Gadgets in your home—like thermostats, lights, or speakers—that connect to the internet and can be controlled remotely or automatically.
Resilience: The ability to keep things running even when something goes wrong, like a power outage. In this context, it means your home can stay powered up when the grid fails.