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On the bright side, it’s a good time for society to seriously start taking steps to help decentralize power production through a combination of solar and home b

On the bright side, it’s a good time for society to seriously start taking steps to help decentralize power production through a combination of solar and home batteries from vendors like Tesla. It’s easier for consumers to account and plan for vs a real disaster like an overdue earthquake

rtkwe 7y ago
Most home solar installations don't come with proper grid isolation and the inverters aren't designed to create a stable AC signal in the absence of a grid power signal so they can't really solve this problem.
- guntars 7y ago
  But they could, though, with a small increase in complexity and cost. People didn’t find it worthwhile because the grid in the US has been fantastically reliable, until now.
  - rtkwe 7y ago
    It's not really low cost, to truly do off grid solar you need to have a battery pack plus the isolator (so you don't fry the people trying to fix the system with back-fed current) and a true sine wave inverter which is pretty expensive. You have to have the battery pack because solar has a very harsh drop off in produced energy if you try to extract too much and that level moves around a lot as the light level on the cell changes. Because of this you have to have a reserve that can power the entire house by itself since a cloud can drop out 90% of the solar energy completely randomly.
- chaostheory 7y ago
  Yes, which is why I specifically mentioned Tesla. They can install both the solar roof and their powerwall batteries as a package. It isn’t cheap, but we can start solving this problem right now. The people I know who own it are pretty happy. In terms of long term cost, it’s more or less the same as buying power from a utility like PG&E... the only problem is the upfront cost unless you find a solar & battery company that still has a lease option
RestlessMind 7y ago
So something which should be reliable public infrastructure available to everyone is in decrepit conditions and reliable solutions are available only to elites who can afford expensive solutions like Tesla powerwall? It will be one of the most effective ways to provoke (or worsen?) mass outrage. What next - safe drinking water? good schools? police protection?
- chaostheory 7y ago
  1. If you actually do your homework, the long term costs are either inline with your current utility bill or lower. That doesn’t include tax incentives or the option to lease, which is near equivalent to paying your local utility. This isn’t just for elites. 2. In certain disaster prone regions, you can only do so much to shore up a centralized power utility even if corruption magically disappeared. This is mainly because there’s only so much tax revenue even in high tax states like CA 3. It’s better than doing nothing and waiting for Superman to come.

rtkwe 7y ago

Most home solar installations don't come with proper grid isolation and the inverters aren't designed to create a stable AC signal in the absence of a grid power signal so they can't really solve this problem.

guntars 7y ago
But they could, though, with a small increase in complexity and cost. People didn’t find it worthwhile because the grid in the US has been fantastically reliable, until now.
- rtkwe 7y ago
  It's not really low cost, to truly do off grid solar you need to have a battery pack plus the isolator (so you don't fry the people trying to fix the system with back-fed current) and a true sine wave inverter which is pretty expensive. You have to have the battery pack because solar has a very harsh drop off in produced energy if you try to extract too much and that level moves around a lot as the light level on the cell changes. Because of this you have to have a reserve that can power the entire house by itself since a cloud can drop out 90% of the solar energy completely randomly.
chaostheory 7y ago
Yes, which is why I specifically mentioned Tesla. They can install both the solar roof and their powerwall batteries as a package. It isn’t cheap, but we can start solving this problem right now. The people I know who own it are pretty happy. In terms of long term cost, it’s more or less the same as buying power from a utility like PG&E... the only problem is the upfront cost unless you find a solar & battery company that still has a lease option

RestlessMind 7y ago

So something which should be reliable public infrastructure available to everyone is in decrepit conditions and reliable solutions are available only to elites who can afford expensive solutions like Tesla powerwall? It will be one of the most effective ways to provoke (or worsen?) mass outrage. What next - safe drinking water? good schools? police protection?

chaostheory 7y ago
1. If you actually do your homework, the long term costs are either inline with your current utility bill or lower. That doesn’t include tax incentives or the option to lease, which is near equivalent to paying your local utility. This isn’t just for elites. 2. In certain disaster prone regions, you can only do so much to shore up a centralized power utility even if corruption magically disappeared. This is mainly because there’s only so much tax revenue even in high tax states like CA 3. It’s better than doing nothing and waiting for Superman to come.