interlock failures

Do you track interlock failures? Seems like the issues you describe aren't with the interlocks themselves, but perhaps with installation or the breakers they interlock. Some inspectors don't even pass them on new home construction or renovation because some interlocks are attached to the front panel of a home's main panelboard, which could present a safety hazard to the homeowner.

All this is to say that these issues don't substantiate any failures with backup batteries or generators directly, but instead with interconnection equipment.

To be safe though, people should use interlock kits designed by the same manufacturer as their panel to avoid any compatibility/warranty issues, and maybe install interlock kits directly on the breakers themselves.

An even safer measure would be to install transfer switches between the main panel and the utility/backup battery/generator inlet. You may cite this as needing professional installation, but in reality any electrical work done to a home should be conducted by professional and qualified personnel. There are indeed advantages of transfer switches, whether automatic, non-automatic, or manual, over interlock kits.

Unexpectedly energized lines are not something an average user understands

Expectedly energized lines are sometimes not something an average user understands either! Point being: have professionals do the work.

so many dead linemen

If we're talking residential installations of interlocks or transfer switches alongside backup batteries or generators, I believe you should be referring to wiremen (in-building & often premises scope) not linemen (out-building & often utility scope).

Even so, where are you gathering your data about safety incidents that have a root cause with interlocks? Can you show me the OSHA statistics?

feeding back into the grid during an outage

Interlocks prevent this, as do transfer switches. The only case this would happen is if a homeowner removed their interlock, never had one installed, or plugged their battery/generator into a different circuit not controlled by the interlock/transfer switch. I would think that my previous comments about having profession, qualified personnel make changes to a home's electrical system, even adding a generator, would solve most if not all of this.

Are you suggesting homeowners do unqualified, potentially life threatening work to their homes?

every municipality requires a generator interlock

That's a wide claim. The US Census Bureau identified 38,736 local general governments (county, municipal, township) in their 2022 Census of Governments.

Can you say for sure that every one of those requires interlocks specifically?

May I remind you that AHJs can choose to adopt or amend any part of the NEC for their jurisdiction, and may refuse to accept interlock kits as compliant installation.

installed at the box

Which box? There are many boxes in an electric installation. Can I just choose any box? Can it be my TV set box, or my junction box downstream my sub panel, or my main service disconnect box?

prevent this danger

The main failure with interconnecting generators with the grid is desynchronization. This can be fixed with relays, but you won't find these in residential installations. Again, the way to prevent this is with proper use of interlock kits or transfer switches installed and used according to qualified professionals.

not restricted by things like space constraints

Where is this hallucination coming from?

Most people installing home backup batteries either have garages where they can put them, or space around their homes to do the same.

Are you implying that all people stuff and cram their living spaces and properties so that there is no excess room for batteries that maybe take up 4'x10' at most? The same goes for generators.

or residential safety concerns

Residential dwellings are built according to the National Electrical Code, which many municipalities adopt or amend.

What safety concerns are there in residential applications that there aren't in municipal applications that the NEC doesn't address? Should you maybe refer these concerns to the NFPA themselves rather than alluding to them online? Do you not want people to be safe?

impractical (or feasibly impossible) to be implemented on a residential scale

What are you talking about?

Here's four examples:

• Tesla
• EcoFlow
• Anker
• Bluetti

handicap residential units

Not if your Battery Management System (BMS) has active balancing instead of passive.

active cooling on small packs is a huge drain for little return

Active air cooling is currently the most economical cooling method for battery storage.

can even use geothermal cooling

Can you point out one resi, C&I, or utility scale BESS installation that uses geothermal cooling? Most use forced air or liquid cooling thermal management systems.

alternative techniques

Like what

municipal standby generators are more efficient than large numbers of residential standby generators!

Ok, irrelevant given that we're talking about improving home resilience through the use of home microgrids - not municipal or utility backup systems.

which just isn't fair

And it isn't fair that you aren't recognizing progress, instead fear mongering about how nothing is being done and we're all doomed.

do the same thing

Except I wasn't hyperbolizing. I presented scientific research, not some back hand imagination from someone clearly not part of either the industry or research fields.

the future will improve things

No, the future itself won't improve things. Humans in the present, doing research, making policy, sharing their success stories about their own home backup microgrid solutions with their friends, family, and neighbors will do this.

very biased to assume that things will improve as time goes on

Your pessimistic worldview is the antithesis to progress. You have to have the belief that things will get better, to have hope, if you want to make an inch of progress in that direction, or to push back on proponents that wish to destroy that progress.

Things are improving by the way, but I think the global economic order under capitalism is to blame for why things are still worsening overall. If we want to improve human well-being, rewild the planet, reduce pollution, reverse climate change, and allow increase our population, maybe we should consider other economic organizations.

municipal installs are better than home installs

Why do you say that? Are you implying the same electricians that do residential and municipal installs are lazier with the former? Sounds like this could be grounds for litigation. Do you have any complaints that you could make with your state's or municipality's licensing boards where they could launch investigations and revoke electricians'/contractors' licenses?

not that batteries as power storage solutions are inherently bad

Glad that we've settled that.

Just that the technology for home use, right now, is.

I've shown above that batteries are fine, and that issues may come down to installer error or faulty interconnection equipment, not the batteries themselves. Although I still recognize that batteries can fail. I don't think we have good enough evidence to say what the primary failures and failure rates are. Maybe you can start tracking that!

miscommunication

If you call fallacies and misconceptions miscommunication, then that's not my problem.

slightly less aggressive conversation

No :)

home units are still restricted

LFP batteries are the right home solution (Sodium Ion soon enough). US is tariff/capacity/policy restricted. Utility monopoly restricted if you want to export to grid, or use your EV as V2G. Utilities are also protected from off grid choices, and are changing their pricing with extortive fixed portions of utility bills. Biodiesel is not a sustainable (worse than ethanol if produced intentionally) solution.

though the generator is going to be far more eco friendly than the batteries over their respective lifetimes

That's just not true.

vastly inferior solution to the implementation of even local grid scale solutions.

Same as solar. But you seem to be pro rooftop solar but not home grids and no explanation why.

Also because there is essentially 0 infrastructure designed to handle said batteries,

Makes no sense because the struggles the grid currently has with solar will be offset. Home batteries reduces demand on the grid and internalise production and demand more into the house.

they wear out quite quickly at home scales (unless you're using uncommon chemistries, but if you're using iron-nickle batteries you're not the target audience here)

In a cost exercise if the batteries last longer than the payback period they are worth it. Which is the case so that point is meaningless.

and because Elon popularized them with his "powerwall" bullshit entirely to pump the stock value of Tesla's battery plant (which is it's own spectacular saga I encourage you to look up, it's a real trip).

I don't under a CEO pushes a good product that helps the grid and helps consumers make money. Your bias against Elon is just limiting your world view.

Batteries in the walls are useful in niches, but the current technology which uses lipo/lion/lifepo4 chemistries is inherently flawed and a route to both dead linemen and massive amounts of E-waste.

Chemistry has nothing to do with electrons on the wires so that doesn't make sense. Lithium ion batteries are recyclable. Yes batteries are Bette Ron the grid but getting them connected is hard. Same solar, waste on roofs but thats how it goes. The arguments are the same.

They could be useful potentially, but as it stands, it's really bad right now.

They are useful. They aren't bad.