3 ms·

Don't forget that his friend had to endure a crazy hot day without AC - and still paid much more than usual for electricity. Most people don't want to gamble on

Don't forget that his friend had to endure a crazy hot day without AC - and still paid much more than usual for electricity. Most people don't want to gamble on these things.

reitzensteinm 7y ago
Running the AC on that day is not expensive due to financial agreements. It's intrinsically a resource intensive thing to do. When you sign up for a fixed rate, it's baked in to the price that you will fire up your AC if you feel like it even when the grid is at capacity and power is extremely expensive. Paying market rate doesn't mean you are blocked from firing up the AC. It might cost you $100 during a heat wave, but you've paid your power company $100 less throughout the year because you haven't been paying in instalments for your peak consumption days. Being able to say fuck it, I'd rather be uncomfortable and save $100 is empowerment, not a burden. In aggregate, those that make this decision would provide a lot of economic benefit. The peak is reduced and whole power plants can be decommissioned.
- carlmr 7y ago
  >Being able to say fuck it, I'd rather be uncomfortable and save $100 is empowerment, not a burden. Also you can decide to hang out at the mall until prices go down.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    Some years ago (around five?) there was a big heat wave in Shanghai, and the subway stations filled with people who didn't want to pay for their own air conditioning.
    - carlmr 7y ago
      That's a good thing, it drives down peak demand and increases overall energy efficiency.
      - sokoloff 7y ago
        It comes at the cost of many people wasting a portion of their lifetime waiting in a subway rather than doing almost anything else that they'd probably prefer doing. For every 60K people that spent 12 hours sheltered in the subway, 80 human-years of life was consumed.

3 ms·

Don't forget that his friend had to endure a crazy hot day without AC - and still paid much more than usual for electricity. Most people don't want to gamble on

by danmaz74 7y ago

Don't forget that his friend had to endure a crazy hot day without AC - and still paid much more than usual for electricity. Most people don't want to gamble on these things.

reitzensteinm 7y ago
Running the AC on that day is not expensive due to financial agreements. It's intrinsically a resource intensive thing to do. When you sign up for a fixed rate, it's baked in to the price that you will fire up your AC if you feel like it even when the grid is at capacity and power is extremely expensive. Paying market rate doesn't mean you are blocked from firing up the AC. It might cost you $100 during a heat wave, but you've paid your power company $100 less throughout the year because you haven't been paying in instalments for your peak consumption days. Being able to say fuck it, I'd rather be uncomfortable and save $100 is empowerment, not a burden. In aggregate, those that make this decision would provide a lot of economic benefit. The peak is reduced and whole power plants can be decommissioned.
- carlmr 7y ago
  >Being able to say fuck it, I'd rather be uncomfortable and save $100 is empowerment, not a burden. Also you can decide to hang out at the mall until prices go down.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    Some years ago (around five?) there was a big heat wave in Shanghai, and the subway stations filled with people who didn't want to pay for their own air conditioning.
    - carlmr 7y ago
      That's a good thing, it drives down peak demand and increases overall energy efficiency.
      - sokoloff 7y ago
        It comes at the cost of many people wasting a portion of their lifetime waiting in a subway rather than doing almost anything else that they'd probably prefer doing. For every 60K people that spent 12 hours sheltered in the subway, 80 human-years of life was consumed.