Quixoticgeek1d ago

I saw a comment the other day about how renewables and EVs are only viable cos of subsidies. I wish it was better known by the general population just how much governments subsidise the fossil fuels industry. In .NL it's something like €40bn a year. Now imagine if we spent that on district heating, and public transport, and heat pumps? And actually built the offshore wind farms that noone tendered for.

This all seems so fucking obvious.

Show threadMark Koek1d ago
@quixoticgeek Do these people know how cheap solar panels are even without subsidies? And that you can use them to charge an EV for free?
Show threadQuixoticgeek
@mkoek that assumes you can put solar panels up where you live and run a cable to your car. I live 8 floors up. I can't run a cable to a car from there.
Mar 22 at 6:26pmWeb
Show threaddisorderlyf1d ago
@quixoticgeek @mkoek tbf, you personally might not be able to, but if part of the rent from everyone in the building went to it, the landlord could likely easily fit solar on the roof
Show threadQuixoticgeek1d ago
@disorderlyf @mkoek still wouldn't be able to charge cars directly off it. The only way would be for the landlord to sell the power to the grid and give some of the money to us. Which is unlikely.
Show threaddisorderlyf1d ago
@quixoticgeek @mkoek I'll give you that landlords are typically not to be trusted with this sort of thing and I would mostly require legal mandate to expect it to happen. Although, I suspect while not currently probable that the buildings also having charging stations that are charged partially by the building's solar are technically possible. Hell, there are already apartment buildings with charging stations built it. I just haven't seen apartment buildings with both yet.
Show threadMark Koek1d ago
@quixoticgeek @disorderlyf Such systems exist. Each tenant is assigned a couple of panels on the building’s roof and the power is fed to their apartment, which can sell any excess power onto the grid. Landlord charges some cost. I have a colleague who has that.
Show threaddisorderlyf1d ago
@mkoek @quixoticgeek I was unaware there were already apartment buildings which already implemented solar panels and charging stations reserved for tenants. I desperately hope more buildings than your colleague's implement this, because the only people I see losing from this are C-suite executives of Exxon-Mobile or BP.
Show threadMark Koek15h ago
@disorderlyf @quixoticgeek The challenge now is that there is so much solar in the Netherlands, electricity is mostly free when it’s really sunny so yield is decreasing a lot. Smart devices will help, using power at those times even when you’re away.
Show threadMark Koek1d ago
@quixoticgeek I agree that that would be a challenge :)