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Even with 4 hours of battery storage solar should be substantially cheaper than gas peakers. There also should be a huge amount of opportunity for demand side
by Brakenshire 7y ago
Even with 4 hours of battery storage solar should be substantially cheaper than gas peakers.
There also should be a huge amount of opportunity for demand side behaviour. For instance someone coming home at 6 could precool their house at 3 and save money, we just need to make that easier for consumers.
- seniorThrowaway 7y agoPre-cooling your house at 3 in the Texas summer will last until about 3:30 at the latest.
- ceejayoz 7y agoThat's particularly frustrating, because effective building techniques for keeping houses cool in hot climates have existed for millennia.
- imglorp 7y agoThe problem is all those ancient tech items require long term thinking, such as shade trees, masonry, insulation, subterranean, etc... This sounds more like a cultural shift from cheap and fast stick-built: they're spoiled by that mentality but paying the price now.
- todd8 7y agoYeah, but I don't want to do this: The town where people live underground: Welcome to Coober Pedy [1]. :( [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFA-OB-nJ_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFA-OB-nJ_I
- ceejayoz 7y agoNo one said you have to go anywhere near that far. Thicker, solid walls with more thermal mass that soak up the overnight cool to release throughout the day. Better insulation and air sealing. Trees, roof overhangs, and shade cladding to prevent direct sunlight from hitting the house. "Just add a bigger AC" has been the approach for far too long, and it's not sustainable.
- dubya 7y agoOvernight low of 81° F in Houston tonight, and it probably doesn't get that cool until 2 am or so. There's no overnight cool to soak up. It's also super humid just to cooling more challenging.
- ceejayoz 7y agoSure, there will always be some nights in the height of summer where you want some AC. The goal isn't total elimination; it's reduction. Running AC in the dark night to cool that thermal mass will benefit during the day. Using some energy, but substantially less and at non-peak times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Houston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Houston indicates 81 is above the average... and again, thick walls aren't the only available approach. Any approach will involve a collection of different tweaks.
- Brakenshire 7y agoThe production cost of peak solar is probably a tenth of the cost for a gas peaker. You'd really have thought in a rational market there would be enough value there for people either getting a distinct thermal storage option or good enough insulation to make precooling work.
- cannonedhamster 7y agoSounds like Texas needs better insulation standards for their housing.
- Pulcinella 7y agoThere are cooling systems that freeze a tank of water at night when power is cheap and run the A/C system though it during the day. I’m not sure how effective it is though.
- joezydeco 7y agoHere in Chicago we cool entire banks of skyscrapers using that method. It's very effective. https://enwavechicago.com/how-district-cooling-works/system-operation/ https://enwavechicago.com/how-district-cooling-works/system-...
- bradknowles 7y agoIt’s called an “ice bear”, and is actually very effective at the level of an individual home. I don’t know why more people don’t install them here in Texas.