MatijaFeb 23
Everything™
Feb 20 at 5:46amWeb
Show threadFusselwurmFeb 23

@everything
I agree with the sentiment, but the argument kinda falls flat:

you absolutely can afford coal-fired or gas-fired heating systems for your home, which would be on the same scale as your rooftop PV installation.

Conversely, you absolutely cannot afford an industrial-scale wind turbine.

Show threadEverything™Feb 23
@fusselwurm Following your argument, how exactly would you get to the coal or gas to run your hypothetical “affordable” heating system? That’s the core of this argument/sentiment.
Show threadManchuckFeb 23
@everything I've been talking to alt-right people about my journey. I've been phrasing it as a way to self sustaninability. I don't have to rely on the grid, and I don't care about fossil fuel anymore. Also, once you get over the Capx for renewables, the savings you get from Opx are astounding
Show threadPhilSalkieFeb 25

@everything

13KW on our roof.

It was a sizeable investment, even with the solar co-op discount - would be much cheaper today.

If you're an apartment dweller or a roof system is out of reach, look into community solar. They're kind of like condos of solar panels, you buy shares of a commercial solar installation and get money or utility credit for the power your shares produce.

Show threadRiverFeb 25

@everything Noteworthy in this: You might be able to run power on your house with an on-site coal or gas generator, but it would require a constant stream of input money to buy coal or gas.

You could probably also buy a windmill, but you wouldn't get the efficiency you want out of it, and if I recall, maintenance is the major price point for them. Good tech, but not decentralized.

Solar on the other hand can just run on your roof, and totally take over your energy bill. They require practically zero maintenance, and have no moving parts. They stop working when it gets cloudy or snows, but can immediately get back to work when things melt, no manual intervention required.

A lightweight wind-powered energy grid with heavy reliance on per-house solar controlled by the home owners would be ideal. Great stuff. I'm really looking forward to this future one day coming to pass.

Show threadRiverFeb 25

@everything I'm also hoping tech for long-term energy storage gets better, which could help cover our asses in those occasional situations where things break (this already happens from time to time, but we just burn more gas usually I think).

I think our current best tech for it is just pumping water uphill to charge the storage, and then running the water down a generator to pull the energy back out.

I'm not really an expert tho, this info is probably slightly outdated.