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This is what happens when millions of people decide to live in a desert
by Group_B 4y ago
This is what happens when millions of people decide to live in a desert
- LtWorf 4y agoAnd I guess most homes are cheaply built and with insufficient insulation.
- falcolas 4y agoBut it doesn't get cold... why do you need insulation? /s (Yes, I realize that northern California can be snow-bound in the higher elevations) Seriously though, I watch a few builders on YouTube, and the amount of insulation they put on spec homes is the minimal amount they can get away with. A shame, considering how you can get a home well enough insulated that you could heat it in a Canadian winter with a hair dryer.
- kayodelycaon 4y agoTemperatures in Silicon Valley can easily get into the low 50s. That gets pretty uncomfortable inside. My uninsulated 1930s house in Ohio holds heat better than my friend's Palo Alto apartment.
- boldlybold 4y agoLow 30s in Palo Alto and Menlo Park where I live. Cold enough to have frost on windshields or grass early in the morning. Biggest change for California weather was the delta between day and night!
- Gravityloss 4y agoDo people calculate total cost of living, including heating and cooling electricity? Or AC size? There's some SAAS opportunity there...
- falcolas 4y agoSadly, right now people are happy to have the roof, regardless of the ongoing cost. And landlords... they'll just pass those costs on to the renters.
- Gravityloss 4y agoBut surely, if you're thinking of buying house A or B, the actual monthly costs should be a very big part of the decision, and affect the price you can pay for each house (size of mortgage payment). Say, after salary, taxes, food you have 1000 euros per month that you can spend. There are two houses, where in one, you can spend 500 on mortgage and 500 on energy bills, and in the other, you can spend 700 on mortgage and 300 on energy bills. But if you just buy the house that has 500 on mortgage because "it's cheaper", it's not actually cheaper in total. This should also interest banks that give people mortgages. Also, if you rent that house out, if the energy cost is directly part of the rent, the house with the higher energy cost has a higher rent, hence it's less attractive. Again, market forces. So in reality, you can get more profit out of the house that has the lower energy cost, because in reality, the cost is not be passed directly to the renters.
- tomatotomato37 4y agoArizona seems to be doing fine
- erellsworth 4y agoFor now... https://www.kvoa.com/community/drought-threatens-power-supply-in-the-southwest/article_48162eec-1ea6-11ed-b0ad-cb05f76edf8f.html https://www.kvoa.com/community/drought-threatens-power-suppl...
- Entinel 4y agoArizona's population is around 7 million. California's population is around 40 million.
- bombcar 4y agoThis is what happens when you continue to build new demand but don't build new capacity to match: https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/electric-generation-capacity-and-energy https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/califo...
- epistasis 4y agoWell when you balance the new demand with energy efficiency for a long time... The real problem is that the demand models did not account for a worsening climate at the pace that it is encountering record hot days. Though for that matter, almost nobody accounted for that, so it's hard to blame the grid planners too much.
- galangalalgol 4y agoIf this is driven by air conditioning (which I would have assumed) why are they asking people not to charge EVs? Surely most people charge at night?
- toomuchtodo 4y agoBecause that is (possibly) flexible demand that might have the ability to be shifted to low demand periods to prioritize cooling (or in general, higher priority loads). https://www.energy.gov/oe/activities/technology-development/grid-modernization-and-smart-grid/demand-response https://www.energy.gov/oe/activities/technology-development/... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_response https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_response https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_demand_management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_demand_management
- bombcar 4y agoWhen you're at the edge you can ask for anything - and electric cars is an easy one to describe. You could also ask people to reduce electric range cooking, electric dryer usage, etc, but that can be harder to describe and offer more inconvenience. Also, most people with an electric car probably have another mode of transportation they can switch to.
- Mountain_Skies 4y agoCalifornia is now losing population so maybe the situation will rectify itself.
- spaceman_2020 4y agoLarge deserts with plenty of open space would be perfect for solar power to be honest.
- falcolas 4y agoDepends on the dust and sand. The upkeep of solar facilities in deserts can cost more (compared to rooftop/agricultural solar installations) due to maintenance requirements.
- jiggyjace 4y agoIt takes less energy to cool down an interior space by one degree than heat it by one degree. You don't see active water crises in Arizona or California like you have in Jackson, Mississippi.
- falcolas 4y agoWhen you use heat pumps, you can get roughly equal efficiency. They're pretty impressive tools.